Heartbreak

This morning I wanted so badly to be upset with a friend of mine. He’s a guy who I have been counting on for next summer, one of the best new guys we had in ‘08. He was going to be a huge part of what we are planning for next summer.

But he’s planning to be a doctor specializing in pediatric cancer treatment. That means he has to take the MCAT test. And he has to take it in August. And he has to spend the preceding months studying 40 to 50 hours a week for it.

It scared me that now I don’t know how to fill the hole he leaves behind. I felt like the time I spent planning with him in mine has been partially wasted. But soon, those feelings were replaced by the cold feeling of realizing what he had to do.

This guy is the most passionate counselor I have seen in a long time. Many people think that I’m the most excited about Camp of the Hills, but I could make a good argument for this guy. He went all out this last summer at every moment I watched him. He recruits with a love of camp that makes me proud. And all of a sudden his summer has gone from out in the place he loves to in a classroom.

I can’t imagine the pain that is causing him. I know that he has talked to everyone he could searching for a way to be out here this summer. He’s currently planning to skip three weeks of MCAT prep classes to be out here, but all his advisors are telling him that there is no way to miss any more than that.

He, better than most, understands how much we need returning counselors. And it has been, is, and will continue to tear him up inside. He and I are really similar in a lot of ways (Other than him being REALLY good at school, thus being a doctor someday). I can’t fathom how much it would have hurt for me to have to give up Camp when I knew I was badly needed.

But more than anything, I’m sad for the kids. They are now going to miss out on meeting an amazing Christian man who truly wants to show them the love of Jesus. I pray, and hope that you will also pray, that God will fill the hole that losing him leaves. Jesus said it well. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Board Meeting

In a couple of weeks, I will be attending my first ever Board Meeting for Camp of the Hills. The Board members were the ones who chose me as the new director, and I’ll be answering to them as my bosses, although Mel Bowman is my direct supervisor.

I will be reporting to them about what I’m doing as director. Everything from recruiting and finding a Servant Staff to setting the curriculum for next summer. I’m pretty nervous about it, but I do have a good relationship with all the Board members. In fact, I was a counselor alongside the newest of them, and have done manual labor for a family on the Board when they were building a house. I even saved a Board member’s nephew from drowning a few years back.

That being said, it’s still intimidating to know that I’m going in front of a group who’ve poured untold hours and dollars into Camp. Hopefully I will have some good news about recruiting for them. While returners are still few and far between, we’re looking at a lot of new people. I know they will be happy to hear that.

Difficulties

Well, sometimes I have great news and fun stories to share on the blog, and sometimes I have weeks like this last one. Even though new recruits for next year are coming in steadily, I’m having a really hard time getting experienced counselors to come back. Just a couple of years back, we were turning counselors away because we had too many returners, but now I’m faced with an uphill struggle, to say the least.

As of today, I have three returning guys (Two full summer, one half summer) and five returning girls (Four full summer, one half summer). In an ideal situation, we’d have twelve full summer on both sides. A lot of the problem is that we haven’t had many new counselors in the past three summers. The old people have slowly been petering out, and we have not found enough new people to replace what we’ve lost.

As I’ve mentioned before, we’re doing pretty well on new counselors for this summer, but we desperately need a core of returners to be our backbone. We need solid returners to set an example in the cabins and to answer questions that come up throughout the summer.

Right now I’m contacting every former counselor that I can, in hopes that a few people from camp’s past can come back for one last hurrah. I believe that if we can make it through this summer, the following summers will be easier, especially as far as recruiting. The problem for me right now is that I’m quickly running out of viable options for returning counselors. It feels like everybody is either married/engaged or graduating/working.

I’d appreciate prayers from y’all as I try to find my way through this situation. I know God has a plan, but it’s hard to see what it is and walk in it right now. I want to make Camp of the hills the best it can be. I just don’t know how I’m going to do that…

Disaster Relief

About two weeks ago, I called my friend Wes Fikes up, excited to tell a former Camp Director about my new position. He was really excited about the news. As we talked, he mentioned that there was a lot of Hurricane Ike disaster relief based out of the inner city church he works for. He was on the lookout for anyone with some free time who could help them out.

It turns out that my orientation as a Substitute Teacher Aid isn’t until Oct. 7th, so I had a couple of weeks with no immediate plans. I told him I’d do my best to swing through for part of that time. I knew that I had some recruits who lived in Houston that I wanted to touch base with, and I always enjoy working alongside Wes. In addition to that, driving around with a former Director would give me a chance to ask him questions about the job, and allow him to share his wisdom and advice for me.

I got to Houston on Monday, and spent most of the day talking with recruits, looking at ways to help them get to Camp next summer, and trying to get a better feel for whose personalities would work well in different settings. I ended up at Wes’ house that evening, and prepared for three days of hard work.

Tuesday’s work was mostly in and around the Impact Church. We spent the morning carrying boxes of canned food, bottled water, and other necessities from the drop-off points to storage or from storage to where the people picked them up. It was tiring, but it felt really good to watch people come up empty handed and leave with food, water, and a little more hope.

In the afternoon, Wes and I went across the street to a church member’s house. Their huge pecan had lost several massive branches, most of which had landed on an old van. He and I took turns with the chainsaw, one would cut while the other would clear the branches. We spent most of the afternoon working on it, and saw a lot of progress. By the end of the day, we had cleared off the top of the van and cleaned up the neighbor’s yard.

Wednesday was a really rewarding day. Wes had made contact with an older couple whose house had been flooded to eye-level. They lived out toward Galveston. We picked up two of the kids Wes works with who weren’t back in school yet, and went to gut their house. We also brought along a truckbed full of “Pantry Packs,” which are basically boxes of canned food and water that are supposed to feed a family of four for two days.

Jim and June had what I think would be a really cool house, if it hadn’t been flooded a week or so prior to our visit. He said that he needed us to try and rip out some ruined carpet, and if we had time we could try to work on the drywall downstairs.

We got the carpet done in less than twenty minutes. We went to work on the downstairs. In a few hours, we had removed all the drywall, taken down siding, and even cleaned up their back yard. I’m happy to say that the work that would have taken him days, if not weeks, was done before lunch.

After that, we just drove up and down the streets of their neighborhood. We would just look for people working on their houses, cleaning their yards, or driving around. Wehn we saw someone, I would hop out and ask if they could use some food. Many thankfully accepted, and in only three streets we had unloaded almost every box we had brought. Some declined, asking that we give it to others who were more needy. These were people who had lost much of their home, and were looking at months of clean-up, yet they still wanted us to find others who were in greater need. It was amazing.

Thursday we went back to Impact. We had such a great experience giving out food that we wanted to find more people to give to. I had heard someone mentioning cities that were hit hard, and the town of Orange came up. Orange holds a special place in my heart, because a church there has been sending a volunteer cooking crew to Camp of the Hills for as long as I’ve been there. I suddenly saw a chance for me to help them out, instead of them always helping us.

I made some calls, and eventually got in touch with the preacher from their church, who told us that between their church and another church they worked with in Orange, thirty families had lost everything they had. I told Wes about it, and we loaded up a trailer of Pantry Packs and bottled water.

It was a two hour drive to get there, but it was worth it when three of the same women who had dilligently cooked for for me without milk, eggs, and cheese for seven year came out the doors of the church to help unload the food. They were so happy to see us, and they were thrilled that I was taking over as the new Camp Director. It was great to catch up with them, and even do a little recruiting.

I left the next morning at 9:00 A.M. It was an amazing experience. Every morning I woke up to the knowledge that I was right where I needed to be. Each day I watched very different people come together for the good of those in need. Every night my head hit the pillow around ten, exhausted but happy.

When I look back on this semester, I will undoubtably remember the move to Abilene and becoming the Camp Director vividly. But I will also remember that God turned a time when I was waiting on a job and school into a chance to minister. It feels good to see a need and be able to meet it.