The Place to Be...Whoop! Whoop!

For all of you that don't know, I am working at a Christian Sports Camp this summer called Camp All-American.  I like to say that it combines two of my favorite things: Jesus and sports!  It's a great way to teach spiritual truth in an on-hands and active kind of way.  Last week was my first week of camp...Let's just say it didn't go as planned.  I experienced spiritual turmoil of the first degree.  I loved my first week...to an extent.  I had 6 little 5-6 year old boys in Junior Camp, which is ages 3-6.  There is always another counselor with 6 campers also in the room...so it kind of worked to have 12 boys and 2 counselors.  These little boys were energetic and playful.  The first day I had a kid throw up at lunch, which sent another camper into a panic attack...In all, my Monday consisted of sending 4 boys to the nurse but behavior was good.  Tuesday got worse.  I told Kearstin that my boys must have gone home and taken a shot of devious.  I soon had a handful of screaming, biting, hitting, pushing, kicking, whining Junior Campers on my hands.  I told myself that I could handle all of this in light of my purpose at camp...to teach children about my Savior Jesus Christ.  Well, Wednesday got even worse than Tuesday.  The boys still had problems keeping their hands to themselves and would not listen.  Then, I had a couple of campers tell me they basically hated Jesus and they were bored of Him , camp, and church.  This was my breaking point in the week.  My CORE leader took one look at me afterwards and knew I need a few minutes to collect myself.  I thank God that she had the observance to recognize this because I was struggling to hold myself together.  Once I got away, I fell to pieces.  I felt like I could handle all of the pushing, whining, and lack of listening if I was getting through spiritually to these boys.  My  biggest fears of failure had punched me in the stomach and rocked my world.  I felt like I had failed my campers to introduce them to my biggest love and the reason of my existence.  As I calmed down and got a moment to myself God really spoke to me.  He told me to Abide in Him because he is a reviver and a restorer.  He also brought Psalm 46:10 to mind, which says, "Be Still and Know that I Am GOD."  I prayed with my CORE leader who told me she was happy to know my heart and that I was at camp for the right reasons.  God, I pray right now for those campers.  Though they might not remember the words they said I do.  I pray for someone else to come into their lives and have an impact on them spiritually.  They are much too young for the world to attack them in that way.  Later, that night, I realized I must be doing something right because Satan was making a direct attack.  Thursday, I had a misunderstanding with the director of Junior Camp.  It has since been resolved but it left me stressing all night.  Then it was finally, finally, finally FRIDAY!  I was ready for the week to be over and to rejuvenate myself at home.  Friday was the best day.  Though I had campers giggling during prayer, which I told them was unacceptable while I was talking to our Savior and Creator, the rest of the day went smoothly.  Well, it went better than smoothly.  My campers were able to recite the Gospel Bracelet (I'll post later about what that is) back to Kearstin.  I was so uplifted!  They really got it!  They were each able to tell her something different about it, and to even explain why her Gospel Bracelet was wrong!  I was so excited; even when they seemed to not pay attention to me, they were listening.  I got through to them!  Thank you Jesus!  So, in all, my week was tough, but God rewarded me with campers that can now explain what Jesus has done through a few simple colored beads...and that's what really matters:)