Anna
My name is Anna, and I had the privilege of being a lead counselor this year at kids camp. I was asked to share about how God was at work here this summer, and to be honest, it was really hard to choose just one area or aspect of camp. But what stood out to me most as a lead was the development of my counselors throughout the week. I met counselors from all different experiences, some that were so experienced they might’ve been more qualified than me. Some were brand new, their first day to step foot at camp.
On Monday mornings, I’d head up to my color group meeting and I would meet my group of counselors. I would kind of scout them out, see what we’re getting ourselves into this week, and some of them were a little nervous. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into, or if they could get out of it in any way. But throughout the week, I saw immense growth in each and every one of them. They were willing to dance in front of everyone in games when they really didn’t want to; they patiently helped a camper with a lanyard; or they were willing to take eight campers to the bathroom and hope they would bring back the same amount. They did amazing, and their growth was very very impressive.
By the end of the week, on Friday, our last color group meeting, I wouldn’t look around at my group of counselors and see just random middle or high schoolers. I would see a united team full of really great young leaders. I believe that God was working through our youth to become leaders in their own ways. They developed their abilities to take care of campers, and to work alongside other teenagers from various different backgrounds and stories.
Kyle
Hello, I’m Kyle. I also had the privilege of being a lead counselor this year alongside Anna. Kids Camp is an amazing opportunity for kids and the counselors to be in God’s love, and also have a great time over summer. Kids Camp was filled with all kinds of activities. Bible activity is where we rein it into what camp was about, and personally, my favorite was “encouragement tunnels”, brought up by Heather who had the idea.
This was where the campers and the counselors made two parallel lines making a tunnel, and the campers and the counselors would close their eyes and walk through slowly, and people would tap them on the shoulder and whisper something encouraging into their ears. When I first heard this idea, I was so excited, because this was a quiet time, but it also allows kids to say positive things about their friends and random kids that they met that week. I had so many kids come up to me at the end of the day and say that was their favorite part of the day. All the counselors loved it, all the leads and assistant leads loved it. There was one camper who actually hadn’t done it, she was one of the last people to go. I asked her if she wanted to go, and she ran up there. She was about five years old, and she just said, “I’m so excited to do this!”, and she was just so pumped to go through the tunnel. She went through, and she came out the other side, and she had the biggest smile on her face. That moment stuck with me, and that was a time when I saw Jesus working through the counselors, the campers, and the entire camp.
