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.”