the extra-long beard hair

This past week has been incredibly busy at Adventure Camp as we prepare the site and ourselves for the first wave of kids who will be arriving on Sunday. The staff have attended sessions about behavior management, bullying, camper care, customer service and so many brainstorming sessions about how to improve little things about our daily routine. The staff have worked tirelessly to prep our site by raking and cleaning everything in site and making sure that there are the right number of beds and mattresses all around camp. The first part of the week was also lightened as the staff from all three sites, Adventure Camp and Girls' and Boys' Camps, got together twice a day to hear from a hilarious and encouraging speaker and to worship. It is so amazing to fill a room with people who are united in a mission and giving all the glory of it back to the Lord. I've never been able to sing harmonies, but I think when people who are working for God even stand together silently, Jesus hears the most beautiful harmonies.

This past week has been especially busy for the program team and everyone else we can recruit to help us prepare for the summer. We cleaned out the trailer where we keep the majority of our everyday tools and supplies as well as the basement where we keep all of our costumes for the week-long story lines we play out for the kids. That may seem to be a simple task, but it wasn't. Regardless, we got that done. The other big thing that we have to complete during pre-camp is painting the large backdrops that we put up in the dining hall to convey to the kids what each week's theme is about. We are only doing two themes this year (I can't remember if I already said this or not): Shipwrecked and A Bug's Life. There are some lovely staff far more artistically inclined than anyone on the program team who have worked relentlessly to get all the lines drawn so that we can just come in and paint them. Adventure Camp has the greatest staff in the world, and I would not survive without them. I will try to take some pictures once we get the dining hall decorated and post them here so that you can see more of what I'm talking about.

Last night, Adventure Camp had an alumni night where the current staff and staff from years past who are no longer working here came together for dinner and to celebrate some of the amazing things God has done at AC over the years. Some of the stories were sentimental, some were completely silly, and some were simply encouraging. The Lord moves in some pretty amazing ways at camp. One of the coolest things last night was when a mom stood up and began to tell a story. See, her child was a camper at AC a handful of years ago. One of his leaders that summer is current staff still working here. That camper also happens to be one of our staff this summer. This mom had figured out that the staff who had lead her child had been praying for him for more than half of his life. What does that say about a community? What does that say about the people here?  What does that say about how good and wonderful God is? It says so many amazing things. It says that love and grace abound here. It says that the work we do every summer is never forgotten. It says that God has a much bigger plan and purpose in our stories than we could ever imagine. As past and current staff, we sang this one song together, and I want you to read the chorus:

Stand tall

For we are daughters we are sons

Step straight into this love

We bear the mark of our creator

Now, I will tell you an anecdote about a small victory that I had today. Earlier in the week, one of the staff trimmed his beard but accidentally left an extra-long beard hair sticking out of his cheek that every once in a while would really stick out and catch the sun every time this staff turned his head. One of the Assistant Directors for the summer issued a challenge in light of this beard hair: the person who was able to snatch the beard hair and bring it back to him would get three pieces of tuck (we call the snack shop here the Tuck Shop because some Australian man started it). We have all been desperately trying to snatch the hair to no avail for the whole week. While a handful of us were watching movies this evening, I managed to surprise the staff with the beard hair by asking, "If I use a hatchet, will you let me take the beard hair?" He was apparently caught so off guard that he agreed without realizing what he had done. Not being a man to go back on his word, he did allow me to take the hair after I used a hatchet to cut it off his face. In the morning, I will proudly present the hair to the Assistant Director and be rewarded with three chocolate bars.

I'm on top of the world right now.