week 3

I am halfway through my summer here in Montana at Trail's End Ranch.  I have been here for a total of five weeks (two weeks of staff training and three weeks of camp).  As I was telling my best friend today on the phone, camp is exhausting but I truly am enjoying it.

This week started off kind of rough with some issues in my cabin.  Tuesday night during our staff meeting I shared it with the girls I was praying with and we all poured our hearts out in prayer over these situations.  After the meeting, I talked with Pat asking for advice on how to properly handle it.  We talked for a while and she gave me a lot of insight and background information.  I applied her advice and saw a little bit of improvement, but in talking to her today and thanking her for her advice, she even noted that she had seen a huge change in this young lady's personality.  All praise to the Lord for working through these issues!

This week very well may have turned out to be my favorite week.  There were two particular girls in my cabin that I really hit it off with.  I was able to have fun and pick on them and we just had a lot of laughter all of us together.  I felt more relaxed as a counselor where I was able to maintain authority while still being a friend.  On Tuesday they began calling me mom, and today I was informed that I pass the "Good Mom" test.  Woohoo!

Wednesday night we had a fun camp out which ended up being all girls.  The high adventure path people got to go rappelling off the cliff, and one of my girls went down at least four times.  She loves high adventure!  Here are some pictures of our evening and morning out at the cliffs...

 This is the scenery from off the cliff.  The cliff we rappel off of is 60 ft.

 This is the campers tent.  Three of us counselors plus two campers (per request) stayed out in the middle of the grass and enjoyed the stars (while being thankful it didn't rain as forecasted).

A view of the campsite from the campfire. 

Abby hates Styrofoam, so she eats off of a Frisbee.

On Friday, for our morning meeting, Jim did something different.  He used the passage in the New Testament that talks about Jesus washing the disciples feet.  There were several chairs, towels, and basins of water, and if we would like, we had the opportunity to wash people's feet as a picture of servant hood.

Jim wore his beach robe to help build the scene.

Please be praying for two of my campers who very clearly heard the gospel one on one, but were not quite ready to accept it yet.  Both will go home and read the scriptures and pray about it more.  I was proud of them for taking it seriously and wanting to make sure they understood it before they just accepted it.  Please remember both girls in prayer.

For my birthday, my mom sent me a care package of goodies to share with the girls in my cabin to have a party.  We called it an end-of-the-week party though.  We had so much fun--thanks Mom!

See Mom, I did wear the tiara (not the crown).

Well, that's all for now folks.  I need to get back to my cabin so I can get some shut eye.  I am hoping for at least ten hours of sleep tonight (camp counseling is exhausting work).  In the case I am not able to get on tomorrow to give an update...this week I will be working with Trailblazers (grades 3-5).  Originally, this is the age group I wanted, but the Lord has given me a love for high schoolers, and that is what I have become comfortable with.  But, I shouldn't be comfortable, because then I am tempted to rely on my own strength instead of His.  Please be in prayer for me and the other staff here at Trail's End Ranch as we try to help each individual move forward in every area of their life.