Monday, June 21

Circus Day

At Camp DeSoto we love to play,

especially on CIRCUS DAY!


Circus Day was today! Full of cotton candy, corn dogs, snowcones and sugar of all kinds. All of camp divided up into different groups and performed several different circus acts. We had jump ropers, mimes, elephants, tumblers, lions, hula hoopers and many more. It was such a fun day, and I doubt any kid in camp will be able to sleep tonight.

Everything is going great. It's such a blessing to be living with these girls and learning more about their lives every day. They ask questions that make me think and dig deeper into my own faith. We've been having some really great devotions before bed, but my favorite has been from Matthew 21:18-22. Jesus is hungry and sees a beautiful fig tree on the side of the road. He stops at the tree but finds that there is no fruit. Jesus curses the tree saying "May you never bear fruit again" and immediately the tree withers. Jesus is showing us that even though we may have a beautiful and convincing exterior, if we aren't producing "fruit" for his kingdom, then we might as well be a withered tree with no use to Him at all. To me, that is such a clear picture of how we should be living our lives everyday.


Keep praying that these girls will continue to open up and let me into their lives.

Wednesday, June 16

Five days of camp, finally settling into a routine. I'm living with seven 16 year old girls until July 7th. From Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I had a mild panic attack when I found all this out, and all I could think about was "How in the world am I going to relate to 16 year old girls?" And the question you are probably asking yourself is "Seriously? What type 16 year olds still go to camp?" Well, the answer to that question is amazing ones. Smart, talented, athletic, cool, spiritual, awesome ones. There have been several times that I've caught myself wishing that I could be as cool/wonderful as them. I hope that they learn as much from me in the long run as I have already learned from them. And they're the oldest girls at camp, which would make it very easy for them to take advantage of the "new counselor." But they are so supportive and encouraging when they know I'm not sure of what's going on---which definitely isn't their job but they do it anyway. They're just great.

I'll be spending the majority of my time in the riding ring, which in my head is the perfect place to be. It has already provided some extremely cool tan lines that you should all be jealous of.

But all in all, it's going wonderfully and I couldn't ask for anything better. Letters are greatly appreciated. Miss you all very much.