A second journey to camp david

I know it's been a while since I have written. My summer has been so busy so far. I want to write about my newest adventure. This past week I had the exciting opportunity to work at Camp David. The camp that my youth group went and worked at over Easter break. I was not planning on working there this summer, but God had other plans. A couple of weeks before camp started, my youth leader called me and said that they needed kitchen help. She told me that she was going to go down and work for a week, and that she wanted me to go with her. I was excited. I prayed about it, and it just felt right, so I turned in my application, and was told that I would be working the second week of camp; senior boys week.

A week before camp started, Ms. Thea and I traveled down to the camp for training for a day. That day got me so excited about working at camp.

Last Sunday we traveled down to Rolla, where we would be staying. There wasn't any room for us to stay on site, so we stayed with Ms.Thea son in his apartment. I can't even begin to say what an awesome week it was. I'll admit, I had somewhat of a hard time the first few days that we were there. At the end of May, they had a whole week of staff training. I didn't go, so I hadn't met any of the other staff (besides the kitchen staff) that was working. So most of the kids knew each other, and for the first couple of days I felt like an intruder.There were a lot of highschoolers who were working. Also, most of the kids who worked there were homeschooled. Quite a switch....

When I got down there, the director of the camp told me that I would not only be cooking, but that they were putting me on support staff. I would be doing extra jobs around the kitchen area. At first I was a bit nervous about this, but it opened up opportunites for me to get to meet some of the other staff.

The night before the first day of camp I was reading my Bible. God showed a first to me. It's Ephesians 4:28, "If you are a thief, stop stealing. Begin using your hands for honest work, and then give generoulsy to other in need."
That verse got me thinking....that is exactly what I would be doing at Camp David. Honest work with my hands, and giving to boys who were in need. That got me excited to see what God had in store for the week.

I met some pretty awesome people throughout the week. It was hard work though. Long, tiring days. I was helping cook constantly. 3 meals a day, for 60 people. Along with cooking I was doing dishes, cleaning, serving meals, and other small jobs. There was hardly ever a time that I didn't have anything to do. Because I was in the kitchen working all day, it was harder for me to get to know the staff, and the campers. But other support staff would help me with dishes, and with serving. So I got to know a lot of them that way. There was this awesome girl named Kristin who helped in the kitchen as well. Only fifteen, but what an amazing girl she was. I am so glad that I got to work with her for the week.

God taught me a lot about serving behind the scenes that week. It was great to take a week from my life, and my problems, and focus on serving others; something bigger than me. Like I said, because I was in the kitchen a lot, I didn't get to interact with the campers much. But one day, God gave me the opportunity to get to know one of the guys who had come to camp. I was sitting in the main building writing in my journal one day, and Anthony came in. He walked up to the small stage in the room, and started singing. Then he started talking to me, and telling me about the songs he was singing, and how he had written them. He sang to me for over an hour. After a while I got up and went over to him. I asked him if he could play anything on the piano, and he sat down at the small keyboard and played a few songs that he had picked up by ear. He asked me if I played, and I told him that I did. He then asked if I sang and wrote songs. When he found out that I did, he urged me to sing for him. So I sang a couple of songs for him. For the next hour we sang to each other and talked. It was such a good time. That night I went home and wrote Anthony a letter. I gave it to him on the last day. It was just encouraging him to keep with his music. He really does have a great talent. After he read the letter he ran over to me and gave me the biggest hug. We are hoping to meet up next year at camp. I can't describe how excited I was about getting to know Anthony.

This is getting long. I could go on and on about my week. So much happened. I loved serving in the kitchen. It was a really neat experience, and I could have asked for better people to serve with. I may write more later with a few more stories, but I will leave off here for now.

Camp David has touched my heart in such a big way. The week flew by way too fast. I would have stayed several more weeks if I could have. I am most definitely planning on going back and working there for several weeks. What a great ministry. They still have four more weeks of camp. Please pray for the staff and for the campers. God is working in big ways at Camp David. I'm glad He allowed me to be a part of that this summer!