Hello all!
It has been over half a year since I last wrote on here. That is sad. I'm going to try to change that. Keep everyone updated on life.
So I spent my summer 30 minutes from Portland, Oregon at a place called Trout Creek Bible Camp. God blessed me in tremendous ways while I was there.
I experienced some incredible anxiety before I got there. I was worried about everything from getting stranded in an airport to wondering if I would make any friends. But luckily God really calmed me down as I was leaving Amarillo for Las Vegas.
I spent my first night in a hotel far from anything remotely close to being called Portland-esque. All the cool stuff was very far away. So I watched TV and desperately tried to get a hold of Anna Pruitt, as she was my ride to camp the next day. I might have been freaking out a little bit. Haha!
But on June 6th, 2009 I arrived at Trout Creek Bible Camp...and immediately felt like the new guy. Everybody that was there was hugging each other and so glad to see each other, and I stood there like an idiot. I was so nervous and felt completely out of place. Anna knew some of the people there, but that didn't help me out too much. Luckily I had a great Counselor Dean in the form of Fidgit. He was so incredibly kind and checked up on me throughout staff training week to make sure that I was doing alright. I will be forever grateful to him for that.
I made a few friends during that week. I really got to know a guy named Crash. We bonded over our love for Thrice/Dustin Kensrue. He also helped me out a lot during that week. I clung to him so much, and he didn't seem to mind. I also really got to know one of the CIT's (Counselor in Training), Bam Bam. It was his first year so we had that in common. He became one of my closest friends out in Oregon. We even got to do Adventure Club together, which was fun. Anna was in that as well.
But that week we learned everything from leading campers to Christ to dealing with bed wetters and home sickness. It was a whirlwind week and before I knew it I was counseling. And counseling has been quite the adventure. I've always had periods in my life where I feel like I'm good with kids, and other times I feel like no kid will ever like me because I tend to appear intimidating to them. So it was good to have a summer where I was working with kids basically 24/7. And luckily, I was shown that, hey, I am good with kids after all! It was nice to have that cleared up and it really excites me for apartment ministry at OBU in the Fall.
Like I said, hanging out with kids and showing them the love of Christ was an absolute blast. I had really good guys for the most part. I had eight groups of kids throughout the summer and they all taught me something new. I can honestly say that. My only challenging camper was named Zak and he cussed, fought, disobeyed, and was disrespectful to everyone. He was the one that was hard to love throughout the week. I would catch myself sometimes being intentionally rude back to him, and would have to take a moment, collect myself, and correct that attitude. But it was hard. I don't do well with disrespectful kids. But most of my guys weren't like that at all. They were kind, open-hearted, and obedient which I really appreciated. I got to really love on them and share God's Word with them. It was an absolute blast!
The last two weeks that I was there were rough. For a couple of reasons. One, I was really starting to realize that my time at camp was coming to an end, and that was rough. I was and wasn't ready to leave all at the same time. It was hard to leave my friends there (yes I finally did make some very good ones). You just get so used to seeing these people everyday, and it's weird when that is taken away. And secondly, Satan really began to attack us. There was an intense heat wave that struck the Portland area the second to last week that I was there. Temperatures got up into the triple digits. And Oregonians don't know how to handle heat. Most of them don't have air conditioning in their houses because it normally doesn't get that hot. So the kids that came that week didn't really know the importance of keeping yourself hydrated. So we lost about 30 kids that week. Then as the weekend approached, a stomach bug came through and that lasted all the way up until my last days at camp. We had campers and staff go home all week.
Although it was hard to deal with that, it was also an encouragement because it just means that Satan is very scared of the work that we were doing. He was trying to throw everything he could at us. And we still had about 30 kids come to know Jesus that week, which was awesome!
And then, three days ago, I had to say goodbye. My friends Tonka, Spork, Geronimo, and Scooby dropped me off at the airport and I headed back to Texas. It was a really tough goodbye. I was ready to see my family for sure, but I didn't want to leave them. They've all been so encouraging to me this summer, and helped push and grow my faith. It's been wonderful. The only thing that kept me from spiraling into a deep depression was knowing that I will more than likely get to see them in December. I am so stoked for that!
But anyways, that was a brief summary of my summer in Oregon. If you made it this far then you are a true hero. I hope you've all had summers full of friends, fun, and growth!
