It's exactly 12:30 a.m. and I should be sleeping. But I'm not...because I'm so excited to share with you everything that's been happening as of lately!
Two words: Church camp
Two more words: was INCREDIBLE!
I honestly don't even know where to start. I haven't been to church camp since my senior year of high school (wow, I feel so old), but boy did this past week bring back some memories!
Clear Creek's church camp ranges from 3rd-8th grade and I had 3rd and 4th grade girls. As exhausted as I may be (my body is hurting in places that probably shouldn't be hurting for a 19 [almost 20] year old- ha!), every minute of every day was so worth it. SO worth it.
This year's theme was Crossfit.. I'm sure you've heard of the fitness program before. This also served as a fitness program- not physically, but spiritually. And it was incredible. Natalie, one of the women I work for, and I started to brainstorm ideas behind the theme and what it would look like for the kids at the beginning of the summer. We came up with the idea of spiritual exercises and training the kids to be fit to carry their cross. Each day we decided to focus on a different spiritual exercise. Altogether, we focused on Prayer, Scripture, and Service, We designated a time each day for the kids (and coach cabins, aka counselors) to have Solo Time. They were given about 30 minutes to read through a lesson on the spiritual exercise for the day and answer questions to challenge their faith. I was curious to see how well they would pay attention to the lesson since they were off on their own individually. All of my girls stayed in tune with each lesson, answered the questions, and had great answers to our questions for them during our small group time with them. I was so impressed! Listening to our girls willingly pray made my heart melt, too. AH! Words fail to describe the overwhelming amount of joy I'm holding in my heart right now.
This summer has helped me discover my passion for writing curriculum, and to see the kids reading, writing, understanding, and talking about what they know and are constantly learning is the most rewarding feeling for me! Why? Because God is alive and at work in their hearts- and they know it! I can't help but fall more and more in love with Him after witnessing such an incredible thing.
God is good. God is so good.
Another thing that was very rewarding for me was to lead these precious kids in worship and watch, as they closed their eyes with big smiles and open hearts while they sang praises to the Lord. On the last night, parents joined us for a final worship session. It was hard not to feel God's presence in the room that night.
So many memories were made, laughs and giggles were exchanged, and relationships were established, between the kids and the adults. Camp was a blast!
Here are a few stories worth sharing:
My cabin was at the bottom of a hill with a very slow incline. In addition to that, we were one of the only cabins to have a bath house. And with bath houses come spiders- LOTS of them. One morning, one of my girls went to take a shower and laid eyes on literally the biggest spider I've EVER seen. It had a bump on it's back. You know what that means, right? Yeah...it was pregnant....and also going in to labor. Babies started coming out of this icky spider and Rachel, one of the co-counselors, got a Ziploc bag to scoop it up it. The spider had its babies in the bag and one of the girls carried it up to the worship center to show everyone. One of the older girls takes a single look at it and says, "DANG! That's like 19 Kids and Counting or somethin'!" It was hilarious.
One of my favorite little boys introduced himself to me as Cluckers on the first day of VBS. Therefore, I called him Cluckers. He decided to call me, "cow," in return during camp and I told him I liked "Mooey" better.. He agreed. The last day of camp, Cluckers walks up to me, gives me a hug, and says, "I sure am going to miss you Mooey." It was so sweet.
One of my girls saw my car when I was packing my stuff up and she said, "Wow, Miss Emily! I love your car........can I have it?!" I smiled and said, "For your 16th birthday, absolutely Ellie!" Once dinner arrived that evening, Ellie sat across from me and said, "Now don't think I'm going to forget about my 16th birthday gift Miss Emily! That's a nice ride, and I want it! Can I have your iPhone, too?!"
One of the little boys has been determined to get my number since the beginning of summer. One night, he looked at me and said, "You know, Miss Emily, you're leaving soon. I'm going to have to get your number before you do! Just as friends though, I promise!" (Right...) I told him I would come back to visit, but I would not be giving him my number, called him silly, and left it at that.. He scrunched his little nose and said, "I'm going to get it one way or another! You'll see." About 3 minutes later, he let out the longest fart I think I've ever heard, looked at me, and apologized about ten times. Determination at its finest, eh? LOL
I could go on and on with the stories and hilarious happenings that happened in 4 days alone. These are just a few off the top of my head.
Bottom line is, I LOVE these kids and I LOVE my job.
These kids have poured an overwhelming amount of love from their hearts throughout the summer directly into mine. I'm tearing up just writing this because I love them so much.
As my internship draws to an end, I'm starting to get emotional. I don't want to leave this church, I don't want to leave this family. I have been so blessed to have such incredible spiritual leaders and mentors this summer. My eyes have been opened to so much more within the field of ministry, and it makes me all the more excited to know that this is the direction in which I'm headed. This job was a dream come true for me, and I wish more than anything it didn't have to end. Excitement is an understatement for the future that God has laid out for me. I'm so happy that He chose me to pursue this path!
This week is going to be bittersweet, and I refuse to think about the word goodbye until Thursday arrives.
Here is an AWESOME video of the Camp Vesper Point highlights...it's lengthy, but so fun! And there may or may not be a Harlem Shake towards the end ;) Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXxj87tQrLs
In His light and love,
Emily Lauren
Two words: Church camp
Two more words: was INCREDIBLE!
I honestly don't even know where to start. I haven't been to church camp since my senior year of high school (wow, I feel so old), but boy did this past week bring back some memories!
Clear Creek's church camp ranges from 3rd-8th grade and I had 3rd and 4th grade girls. As exhausted as I may be (my body is hurting in places that probably shouldn't be hurting for a 19 [almost 20] year old- ha!), every minute of every day was so worth it. SO worth it.
This year's theme was Crossfit.. I'm sure you've heard of the fitness program before. This also served as a fitness program- not physically, but spiritually. And it was incredible. Natalie, one of the women I work for, and I started to brainstorm ideas behind the theme and what it would look like for the kids at the beginning of the summer. We came up with the idea of spiritual exercises and training the kids to be fit to carry their cross. Each day we decided to focus on a different spiritual exercise. Altogether, we focused on Prayer, Scripture, and Service, We designated a time each day for the kids (and coach cabins, aka counselors) to have Solo Time. They were given about 30 minutes to read through a lesson on the spiritual exercise for the day and answer questions to challenge their faith. I was curious to see how well they would pay attention to the lesson since they were off on their own individually. All of my girls stayed in tune with each lesson, answered the questions, and had great answers to our questions for them during our small group time with them. I was so impressed! Listening to our girls willingly pray made my heart melt, too. AH! Words fail to describe the overwhelming amount of joy I'm holding in my heart right now.
This summer has helped me discover my passion for writing curriculum, and to see the kids reading, writing, understanding, and talking about what they know and are constantly learning is the most rewarding feeling for me! Why? Because God is alive and at work in their hearts- and they know it! I can't help but fall more and more in love with Him after witnessing such an incredible thing.
God is good. God is so good.
Another thing that was very rewarding for me was to lead these precious kids in worship and watch, as they closed their eyes with big smiles and open hearts while they sang praises to the Lord. On the last night, parents joined us for a final worship session. It was hard not to feel God's presence in the room that night.
So many memories were made, laughs and giggles were exchanged, and relationships were established, between the kids and the adults. Camp was a blast!
Here are a few stories worth sharing:
My cabin was at the bottom of a hill with a very slow incline. In addition to that, we were one of the only cabins to have a bath house. And with bath houses come spiders- LOTS of them. One morning, one of my girls went to take a shower and laid eyes on literally the biggest spider I've EVER seen. It had a bump on it's back. You know what that means, right? Yeah...it was pregnant....and also going in to labor. Babies started coming out of this icky spider and Rachel, one of the co-counselors, got a Ziploc bag to scoop it up it. The spider had its babies in the bag and one of the girls carried it up to the worship center to show everyone. One of the older girls takes a single look at it and says, "DANG! That's like 19 Kids and Counting or somethin'!" It was hilarious.
One of my favorite little boys introduced himself to me as Cluckers on the first day of VBS. Therefore, I called him Cluckers. He decided to call me, "cow," in return during camp and I told him I liked "Mooey" better.. He agreed. The last day of camp, Cluckers walks up to me, gives me a hug, and says, "I sure am going to miss you Mooey." It was so sweet.
One of my girls saw my car when I was packing my stuff up and she said, "Wow, Miss Emily! I love your car........can I have it?!" I smiled and said, "For your 16th birthday, absolutely Ellie!" Once dinner arrived that evening, Ellie sat across from me and said, "Now don't think I'm going to forget about my 16th birthday gift Miss Emily! That's a nice ride, and I want it! Can I have your iPhone, too?!"
One of the little boys has been determined to get my number since the beginning of summer. One night, he looked at me and said, "You know, Miss Emily, you're leaving soon. I'm going to have to get your number before you do! Just as friends though, I promise!" (Right...) I told him I would come back to visit, but I would not be giving him my number, called him silly, and left it at that.. He scrunched his little nose and said, "I'm going to get it one way or another! You'll see." About 3 minutes later, he let out the longest fart I think I've ever heard, looked at me, and apologized about ten times. Determination at its finest, eh? LOL
I could go on and on with the stories and hilarious happenings that happened in 4 days alone. These are just a few off the top of my head.
Bottom line is, I LOVE these kids and I LOVE my job.
These kids have poured an overwhelming amount of love from their hearts throughout the summer directly into mine. I'm tearing up just writing this because I love them so much.
As my internship draws to an end, I'm starting to get emotional. I don't want to leave this church, I don't want to leave this family. I have been so blessed to have such incredible spiritual leaders and mentors this summer. My eyes have been opened to so much more within the field of ministry, and it makes me all the more excited to know that this is the direction in which I'm headed. This job was a dream come true for me, and I wish more than anything it didn't have to end. Excitement is an understatement for the future that God has laid out for me. I'm so happy that He chose me to pursue this path!
This week is going to be bittersweet, and I refuse to think about the word goodbye until Thursday arrives.
Here is an AWESOME video of the Camp Vesper Point highlights...it's lengthy, but so fun! And there may or may not be a Harlem Shake towards the end ;) Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXxj87tQrLs
In His light and love,
Emily Lauren