Ok, I just had the BEST weekend ever! There was a retreat this weekend here at camp and I was scheduled to serve all weekend. The retreat was for kids aged 8-11, and it was incredible. And I was scheduled to be an All-Star. An All-Star gets to help run the games. So, I was games girl all weekend! At first I was really dreading the weekend. I had (still have) a load of homework that needed to be done and I really need to focus on my readings, but I knew that there was no way Iwould get any of it done. I'm not gonna lie I was stressing out. The person who did the scheduling for the weekend, didn't schedule me to work Friday night conveniently enough. Mainly because the youth pastor at my church was going to be short leaders and he needed me there. So I went to youth group and right after youth...at 10:30 pm...we had a game scheduled for the kids. I was exhausted and stressing out about my homework and I am playing games when I should be in bed. I was not excited about that at all. Friday night I was not very happy and I was very thankful when the time came for me to go to bed. On Saturday, we had to be up at the crack of dawn to have a staff meeting to see how the day would unfold. I was again exhausted and wanted to go back to bed. After breakfast, I knew that I needed to find some energy. I sat down and I prayed that God would give me the strength that I would need to be a fun energetic leader throughout the day. After that, we started the games! I had so much fun leading the games and playing the games. During one of the games though, a girl slipped on the wet grass and hit her head. She was covered in mud, her head was hurting and she was bawling. I tried to talk to her a little bit and calm her down, but she was so upset aboout her clothes being dirty because that was the only sweater that she had for the weekend. I told her that I could bring her up to her room and she could get changed and she could wear one of my sweaters for the day. But she was still crying about it, so I told her I would throw her clothes in the washing machine and I would have her sweater back to her before dinnertime. She stopped crying, and we were on our way to the laundry room! It was so great to make her feel better, and we had a good laugh about her slip too. To say the least, the rest of the day was fantastic! I had so much fun with all the kids! It was incredible to see the way that they just look up to you. It wasn't even a question, they had no idea who I was but yet they were totally comfortable with me. Even though I didn't get any homework done over the weekend, it was worth it to see those kids come and have a good time learning about Jesus.
I actually had so much fun this past weekend, it got me thinking about how exciting the summertime would be. Staying for the summer has definitely been a thought in my head a lot lately! But we will see what happens!

This past week I was busy at my church!! I went to junior youth on Wednesday night, senior youth on Friday night and I helped in Kid's Church on Sunday morning. Wednesday nights seem to be more of a place for these young kids to hang out and have fun. We like to play games with them and help them develop positive people skills. It is a rough bunch of kids and it is very draining to be with them. Before Wednesday nights I find prayer to be so important. The only way that I could possibly get through a Wednesday night is on the strength of the Lord. One of the girls at this youth group loves soccer! She loves to play, she loves to watch, she just loves everything about it! The youth pastor, StevieG, was invited to one of her games on Saturday morning and he thought it would be sweet if I went with him to see her play! So, I went and you should have seen her face light up! She stopped playing to wave to us multiple times! It was so good to be there. Her parents don't go to the games, so it was huge for her youth leaders to be there! It made me really happy to see her glowing like that.
Friday night was sooooo good! There was only a handful of girls that night, so small group discussion time was incredible! All the girls were talking and opening up. They all asked me to pray for them or for their family. StevieG was very happy with the end of the night because our discussions lasted for 45 minutes! They are usually done in about 15! He was really happy with how it all worked out! I was really happy about how the girls opened up. It was incredible to see how much they trusted me already. Both youth groups went very well and I left smiling because I know that I will see all those kids again this week.
On Sunday I helped with kid's church. At first I wasn't really feeling it. I was wishing that I was upstairs sitting with the youth that had come to church. As the morning started to pick up though, I was having a blast and all the little kids were hanging onto my hands, legs, arms....they were everywhere. Even after the service they wanted to be with me. It was so incredible, especially because it was my first Sunday with them. Being with the kids made me super happy and it reminded me of all the kids at home. I don't know if I will be able to stay away from those kids now!
The ministry that I have been involved in this past little while has been nothing but fun! I love all the kids that I have come into contact with. I can't imagine another place where I would rather be on Wednesdays and Fridays!

So, junior youth is on Wednesday nights and then senior youth is on Friday nights. Last week, Scott and I went to junior youth and it was very interesting. There were surprisingly, a lot of kids. They are all from broken homes and you could see the need for attention that every single one of them had. We played games at the beginning to get some of their energy out, and to put the energy to something productive and fun. From the moment one child was in the building, there was some form of physical contact. They were kicking each other and punching each other. It was so strange to see even the girls participating. It was full out fighting though. I broke up a fight between a group of boys, it was just something that I had never had to deal with before. While the games were being played there was still an enormous amount of violence. It blew my mind how violent they were. The kids were swearing at each other and the talk was about anger and how to control it, which was very appropriate. During the entire "talk" kids were yelling out, and yelling at each other. It was just very chaotic and draining. And it was the first time for trying small groups and it worked fairly well I thought. They broke up the girls and boys, so I had a small group of girls. They all had a lot of things that make them angry, and they all said at least one other person in the youth group that they hated. It was so intense. So, I talked to them about controlling that anger and releasing it in healthy ways. I really hope that when I go back on Wednesday night, some of the girls will be able to tell me how they controlled their anger. It would be really great if anyone who reads this, keeps all those kids in their prayers. It is going to be really stretching for me to deal with kids like that, because that is not something that I am used to. Anyway, that's all for now, but I will continue to write about my nights at junior and senior youth!

I am so excited to tell you about youth group! I had so much fun on Friday night! It was the first senior high youth group for the year and we played Banana O Rama. And each team gets two bananas and we all have a list of things in Crofton that we have to measure in banana lengths! It was very interesting because I was a leader for one of the groups with 2 others from Kaleo. So we were relying on the kids not to lead us astray in a strange town at night! We had a lot of fun and I really connected with one of the girls, Christina. The game was really good for our first night because it allowed us to get to know the kids in a fun and exciting way! I was really nervous about the night because we had just come home from a four day sailing trip. I was so tired and I was trying to get used to being back on land, which still hasn't happened yet! Because I was so tired, I really wasn't prepared to go to youth, but once I was there and connecting with the kids, I woke up and had a blast! Today at church, Christina was there! And that was super exciting because I really enjoyed talking with her. We were talking about school and how she was reading this book for class that she doesn't understand and it turns out that I had to read the book for school a few years ago. I told her that I would be more then willing to help her work through this book and so I gave her my number for her to call me anytime! There are still more girls in this youth group that I would love to connect with and there is still the junior youth that I will be helping with on Wednesdays. And something else that I have been thinking about lately is my involvement with children's ministry. This may come as a shock to those at home, but I don't think that I am going to get involved with the children's ministry this year. I really like the idea of focusing in on the youth ministry. I want to see those kids coming to church on Sunday mornings and I feel that if I invite them I can't be downstairs with the kids, I need to be with the youth. It's all been kind of strange how it's worked out, but I think for now, I need to be with the youth ministries. That's all for now and I will post again soon!

Hello Everyone! The first bit of ministry that I got to do here was working in the kitchen! Camp Qwanoes hosts guest groups a lot and this weekend Trinity Western University was here. I was in the kitchen around 3 in the afternoon to help prepare the meal and I didn't leave the kitchen until around 8:30 to help with serving and clean up. I don't think that I was really prepared for my ministry this weekend because I honestly didn't know what to expect. I was just going with it! Now that I have experienced kitchen life, I think next time I will get more sleep before going in because it is a busy place to be! I really enjoyed being in the kitchen and working with the people that serve my meals to me everyday. It was kind of strange being on the other side. Now I know what kind of prep it takes to feed so many people and I have a great deal of respect for the kitchen staff now that I know what takes place. I think the best part about serving in the kitchen was working with people that I haven't had a chance to connect with yet. I enjoyed talking to the different people about where they are from and how they ended up in B.C. I also learned how to make these sweet little pastries with cherry filling and some had lemon filling! They looked so good, but they are for breakfast on Sunday, so I have to wait to eat my creation! There was one lady in the kitchen who took me under her wing because she could clearly see that I was lost and had no idea what to do. She was a huge support for me because I literally did not have a clue about where to start. I really enjoyed my time in the kitchen helping prepare dinner. It was definitely worth all the effort to hear the Trinity students say that they really enjoyed the meal! I was happy to be able to make them happy!