Getting Back into the Swing of Things

My first week, I had a cabin of nine kids, which was pretty crowded in our tiny sleeping quarters.  Of the two male cabins, I had the older group, which was definitely my preference.  It wasn’t until the end of the week that we recognized that one of my campers had been in my cabin when I worked there years before.  We had both changed a lot over the intervening years, so it took a while to figure that out.  A couple days into the week, I started wearing the hat that had been the trademark piece of my identity before, and it clicked for him.  Once he pointed that out, I remembered him as well.  He was in my first cabin both years, when I was still getting adjusted to things.

My approach to leading my cabin was based on what I had learned years before, and I stuck with it even though camp had changed a lot since then.  So by comparison to everyone else, I appeared quite strict, expecting my campers to be on time, and well behaved.  That first week, my guys were quite mature, things went relatively flawlessly, and we all had a really good time together.  The other male counselor had his hands full, and ended up having to deal with some significant violations of major rules.

My approach to the spiritual leadership aspect had changed quite a bit, and I think I did a much better job in that regard.  I had learned a lot in the intervening years, and had gotten better at teaching people.  Having older campers helped as well, since we could go into deeper discussions on certain topics.  I extended the camp’s daily lessons to include a broad overview of the Bible, and how all those Sunday school stories they had grown up with, all fit together into the big picture.  I was very consciously not trying to jam a particular viewpoint down their throat, but encouraging them to evaluate things for themselves.  Frequently Biblical concepts are presented as “the way things are,” when all any person is really qualified to say is “this is what I believe and why.”  The significance of acknowledging that not everyone believes or accepts these truths is something I learned back when I transferred away from Catholic School.  Believing something is not the same as knowing something.  I tried to make sure I taught them the difference.  Before, scheduled discussions about those things had been something I had struggled to fill, but I learned how to make them interesting for both me and my campers, to the point that we would sometimes run long.

I developed a pretty good routine that kept my cabin busy throughout the week, and was much more at home in my role than most of the other counselors.  I helped out where ever I could, to keep things going smoothly for everyone.  I liked the people I was working with, but I ended up connecting more with the staff members in other parts of the camp, as far as spending off time went.  It was quite a contrast from being in LA, but I am used to long days, dirt, and the outdoors, so none of those factors were sources of stress for me.  It was hard work, but it was still like vacation for me, in a way.  It felt great to be out running ropes course elements and playing paintball with campers again, after so long without having that opportunity.  I was having a great time, and things couldn’t have been going better.