Campus by the Sea #4

Campus By The Sea Week #4

It is hard to believe that we are in week four of family camp! Today the staff celebrates being here for an entire month!

Last week was a really great week for the four and five year olds! Seth and I were expecting it to be a hectic week because we had 13 kids, but it was wonderful! Last week was really great for me spiritually. For those of you that know me well, know that I want to be an Elementary Teacher. A common question people ask me is, "What grade do you want to teach?" Before this summer I always said, "Any grade except Kindergarten". So you could only imagine what my reaction was when I found out I was going to work with that age all summer. I was terrified but ready for the challenge! If you read my last post, you already know that I am loving this fun age! God is using my summer in a completely different way than I ever expected.  It really shows that if you show God you are willing, he won't waste your time. Although it wasn't my first choice in age, He is so faithful. I can now confidently say that I can take on a group of Kindergarteners!

After the week 3 campers left, my parents came to visit! It was so refreshing to see them after a month! I was completely rejuvenated. I'm sure they now have a better idea of what my summer looks like. They stayed at camp for a complete 30 hours and were able to welcome the week 4 campers! I am so happy to say that the Langs are in camp this week. I love that at the end of the day I have my aunt and uncle there to talk to and eat dinner with.

This week Seth and I have 9 campers! The majority of them are girls so it's a pretty calm group. My friend Katie led our morning devotions the other day and she reminded us how important it is to focus on each individual student. It's easy sometimes to get wrapped up in our daily routine but we are trying to make each day special for each of the kids. Last week we had a young girl in our class that loved my teaching partner, Seth. She always preferred to be held by Seth rather than myself. At the end of the week we learned that her father wasn't present during most of her life and Seth and I knew immediately that was on of the reasons why she clinged to Seth. It was a great reminder that a little love can go a long way!

This weekend Sydney is leaving camp. I am so bummed to have to say goodbye to her but I know it's necessary. For those of you who don't know, Sydney only signed up for 5 weeks and her time is almost up. She will head back home and train for her upcoming soccer season at PLNU. I am so happy that Syd was able to join me this summer at CBS. I think it was a great opportunity for us to get closer as sisters and it's also cool because we now have SO many mutual friends!

For those of you who wish to pray for our group we ask that you pray for endurance. Tiredness is becoming more and more evident! You can also pray for one of my friends that has a bad infection on his leg. We want him to be completely well so he can finish his last few weeks here! My biggest prayer that I have for the campers is that they can have open hearts during their week at camp so they can learn more and meet great families that can help encourage them!

My prayer for our staff this week is:

Lord we ask that you stand in our bodies, think through our minds, and speak through our vocal cords. May the words of our mouths, meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord you are our strength, you are our redeemer, have your way at CBS today.

"You can have this whole world, just give me Jesus."

-Shelby