Five Weeks at Phantom Ranch -Week 5

For my final week as PRBC 2011 staff, I counseled 8 high school girls. Going into the week I was nervous. I thought that because the age difference between me and my campers wasn’t all that significant the girls might not respect me. I was worried that I wouldn’t have the energy to keep up or the patience to handle the heavy emotional baggage that can come with teenage girls. As usual, God provided for me. I had the most wonderful group of campers who truly had hearts for the Lord and for each other. This last week of camp turned out to be encouraging, exciting, and a growing experience for the entire cabin.

                I wouldn’t say that there were any key lessons I took away from this week, but rather it was a confirmation of my calling. Since I felt God first call me to youth/children’s ministry I’ve been excited, but underneath that excitement was a little bit of anxiety. At this point in my life, I feel so unprepared and unequipped to be a leader in that way. However, over the summer, and especially during this last week of counseling, I’ve felt so reassured that this is where the Lord means for me to be. I realize that I don’t have to go into ministry being fully prepared, but rather that He will teach me what I need along the way. As they say, God doesn’t just call the equipped, He equips the called.

How you can be praying this week: Praise God for my camper who rededicated her life to Christ Wednesday night. Ask Him to continue to work in the lives of the students and that they would in turn seek after Him. Give praise for the wonderful counselors who selflessly gave their time and energy this summer for a great cause. Pray that He would pour out blessings upon them. Finally, pray that my love would continue to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight (Phil 1:9) over the rest of my summer and the rest of my life.

                I would love to share more of the exciting things that have happened at Phantom Ranch, so don’t be afraid to ask. Thank you so much for staying plugged into my blog this summer as I’ve documented this adventure. Thanks also for the prayers and encouragement. It’s been a beautiful ride, but this ship is heading back to harbor for the next two weeks before setting out on another adventure (sophomore year). Peace and blessings.

“To know Christ and to make Him known.”

Five Weeks at Phantom Ranch -Week 4

This week I was on dish crew again. It was refreshing to have a break after two weeks of pouring myself out physically, emotionally, and spiritually for my campers. If I’m being completely honest, it was also a huge blessing to work in an air conditioned building during one of the hottest weeks of the summer. Even with three weeks of Phantom Ranch experience under my belt, God made it clear that He still had a very lengthy lesson plan for me and my remaining time here.

Lesson 1: There is a purpose for my singleness.

                Last summer I read “When God Writes Your Love Story” by Eric and Leslie Ludy and it dramatically changed the way I looked at guy/girl relationships. I read it again this week and, once again, my perspectives have been changed. I’ll be writing another post about it in more detail soon, but basically I have committed to not dating for a year. I feel that I have been called to pursue a deeper relationship with Christ, and that this season of singleness will allow me to remain more focused on Him. Hopefully this will be a time of devoted service, immense growth, and a relentless pursuit of the One rather than “the one.”

Lesson 2: God is romancing me.

                This lesson hit home for me as I read the book “Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul” by John and Stasi Eldredge. There are a lot of metaphors used to describe our relationship with God, but the most intimate, the most personal, is that of the bride and the bridegroom. This week, I began to see this as a real relationship. God really does love me, and He is constantly proving it to me. Daily He surrounds me with things that stir my heart –the sun on Phantom Lake, a good book, the smell right before rain. Just as in Hosea 2:14, He is alluring me, leading me into the desert and speaking tenderly to me. The more I become aware of this pursuing, the more I fall in love with the One who knows the deepest desires of my heart.

Lesson 3: God is a healer of wounds.

                I mean this both literally and figuratively. Early in the week I burned my hand as I attempted to put a hot pan into the sink. As I continued to clean up after that meal, it became more and more difficult to tolerate water of any temperature or to fully flex the muscles of that hand. I sent out a tweet, asking my followers to pray for healing and sent up a quick prayer myself. In typical miraculous fashion, God’s healing hand was holding mine and by the end of the day the burn was no longer affecting my job performance. But this week I also learned firsthand that the Lord is capable of healing much deeper wounds. Recently I had been feeling convicted about a secret I kept from my mom for six years. I understood that it was important for our relationship that I finally open up and let her in on this dark piece of my story. The secret had been a significant wound for me. Giving it away to my mom and trusting the Lord for forgiveness and grace allowed healing to finally come. He placed that conviction on my heart because He knew it was time to start stitching up the broken things.

How you can be praying this week: Please pray for endurance to power through my last week at Phantom Ranch. Pray also for the high school campers I will be counseling this week during the SuperTeen session. May the Holy Spirit open their hearts to receive a message of unending love and amazing grace.

"To know Christ and to make Him known."

Five Weeks at Phantom Ranch -Week 3

For my second week as a counselor at PRBC, I stayed with 11 girls ranging from 3^rd-5^th grade. While this Adventurers session wasn’t as physically demanding as last week’s YoungTeen session, I was still putting forth a huge amount of energy. For one week I took on the roles of mother and big sister. It was a lot of responsibility, and it was a lot of fun.

Lesson 1: Young kids can be brutally honest.

                At times it seemed like my campers didn’t have a filter. They would be completely honest without considering how it would make other people feel. One particular camper was quick to point out that I have acne, some camp rules are stupid, and some campers get more attention than others. Sometimes the honesty of these kids can be harsh and hurtful, but it can also be a great quality. When Sara (my co-counselor) and I did one-on-one interviews with our campers Friday night, we found that so many of them were willing to say exactly what they were feeling. Knowing that they were being completely honest with us allowed us to truly evaluate how much each camper learned throughout the week. I could see that some of them were genuinely interested in pursuing a relationship with God, and it was a huge encouragement for me.

Lesson 2: Memorizing Scripture is important.

                I used to think that memorizing Bible verses was super hard and I didn’t really see how it was relevant in a culture that has the internet literally at its fingertips. But as I watched one of my campers memorize 25 verses this week, I started to change my mind. This girl was only nine years old and it seemed as though she knew more of the Bible than I do. Not only that, but she was enthusiastic about it. So this week I made an effort to memorize each of the daily memory verses that are required of the campers and I found myself referring back to them in conversations I had throughout the day. I didn’t have to pull up the internet to find the right words, because God’s words were hidden in my heart.

How you can be praying this week: Praise God for each camper and the relationships that were formed. Pray that the seeds that were planted this week might continue to grow and that the girls would keep seeking the Lord. Please pray for rest as I recover from two weeks of counseling and prepare for SuperTeen week at the end of the month.

“To know Christ and to make Him known.”

Five Weeks at Phantom Ranch -Week 2

This week was my first week as a counselor at PRBC. I stayed in a cabin with another counselor and 12 middle school girls. It was a very high energy group that brought a lot of fun, but also a lot of challenges. Here are some lessons I learned this week.

Lesson 1: God answers prayer.

                By Thursday, Katelyn (my co-counselor) and I were getting a little discouraged that we hadn’t seen any significant changes in our campers. We knew that it was possible God was just using this time to plant a seed, but it was still a little frustrating. We both prayed about what we had been feeling, and 10 minutes later two campers came into our room. They said that they wanted to reconnect with Christ and asked if we would pray with them. Right then and there, they dedicated their lives to Him. PTL!

Lesson 2: Devotional time is important.

                When I’m in a bad mood, the answer isn’t always to have more me time, but to have more God time. I am the definition of an introvert. It’s hard to be around people for significant amounts of time and I feel better when I can just be alone for awhile. You don’t get that opportunity as a counselor. Every minute of my day was spent with my campers or in meetings with fellow staff members. When my energy got drained very early in the week and I found myself desperately desiring alone time, I chose to do devotions instead. I discovered that I became much more energized from 10 minutes of reading the Bible than I would from a 30 minute nap.

Lesson 3: Kids require a lot of attention, motivation, and encouragement.

                Sometimes they want to talk to you, sometimes they just want to be around you, but every camper wants to feel like they are important to you. One camper in particular needed that a little more than the others. Throughout the week, Katelyn and I noticed that she hadn’t been connecting with any of the other kids and got frustrated quickly when things didn’t go according to plan. We had also heard her make a few harsh comments about herself. Toward the end of the week, there were a couple emotional breakdowns which resulted in tears, locking herself in a bathroom, several private talks with the counselors, and a long talk with the session director. This camper was clearly having a hard time handling stress and change, and it took a lot of patience, encouragement, and one-on-one time to get her to start enjoying her time at camp.

How you can be praying this week:

                Please pray for continued growth for all of my YoungTeen campers. Praise God for the life commitments that were made. Ask God to give my challenging camper extra encouragement now that she’s back at home. Finally, pray for the 3-5 grade girls I will be counseling this coming week.

“To know Christ and to make Him known.”

Five Weeks at Phantom Ranch -Week 1

For my first week as an employee at Phantom Ranch Bible Camp, I was scheduled to be on dish crew. About 9 hours of each day was spent handling the dishes of roughly 250 campers and staff. This meant wiping tables, putting out place settings, filling pitchers of water and juice, putting food on the tables, washing the campers’ dishes, washing the kitchen staff’s pots and pans, wiping tables again, sweeping, mopping, and taking out garbage. All of that, three times a day. Despite being stuck in front of a sink for a week, I learned a few lessons.

Lesson 1: Women belong in the kitchen.

            I’m kidding, but Grant VandeZande would say that spending a week in a kitchen was me learning my place in the world.

Lesson 2: My high maintenance habits are unnecessary.

            I haven’t straightened my hair or put on makeup for five days in a row. I’m pretty sure that’s a record for me. And guess what? It didn’t matter. People still wanted to talk to me and be around me, even though I didn’t look fantastic.

Lesson 3: Discouragement is the devil’s most useful tool.

             During my devotions this week, a common theme seemed to be discouragement. One of my favorites was Numbers 21:4-9, which talked about the Israelites complaining to Moses about being tired and hungry. Instead of focusing on God’s promise, they got distracted by their circumstances and became discouraged. When I get into high stress situations, I tend to become frustrated and that ultimately affects how I react to the people around me and to God. Having read this very early in the week, I was able to remind myself every day of God’s promises and to focus on Him rather than on the chaos around me. In the end, this allowed me to get closer to my crew members and to praise God for the work that was done.

Lesson 4: My fears are really just trust issues.

            Coming into this week, I was terrified. I had a lot of anxiety about being in a new place and taking on big responsibilities. Although I was just on dish crew this week, I kept thinking about the upcoming weeks of counseling and panicking. I was nervous that I would fail, that the campers wouldn’t respect me, that I would lose my temper, not know how to handle homesick campers, forget some important piece of clothing at home, or any number of things like that. While I was mopping on Thursday, I felt the Lord very clearly convicting me. I felt Him saying to me, “You don’t think I can handle this? Don’t you know who I am?” I realized that my problem wasn’t being afraid of failing, but simply being unwilling to fully trust God. It’s not my responsibility to bring every camper to Christ; that’s His job. I’m just helping to clear the way and I have to trust that God is going to pull through.

            That being said, I’m really looking forward to the next four weeks. I’ve grown pretty close to some of the staff members here and I’d love to watch those friendships go even deeper. I’m excited for all of the campers I’ll come in contact with and for the conversations we’ll have. I’m already praying for those kids and I hope you will too. Furthermore, I can’t wait to see what other lessons God has in store for me as I continue this adventure. Stay tuned for more next week!

"To know Christ and to make Him known."