Camp Courageous: Day 1

Well goodness gracious, my brain is officially on overload and my eye lids are super heavy...a feeling I think I'm going to have to learn to get used to this week. Ha! Today I drove from Louisville to Scottsville and while I typically don't enjoy driving (especially in unfamiliar territory since I get lost in a box, ha!) it was awesome to take that time to worship and pray and mentally/emotionally prepare for what was in store...and enjoy some time ALONE as that will be my last opportunity for awhile. When I got here, I felt like I was reliving my first day of college...super awkward, super overwhelmed, and like a fish out of water. I introduced myself and volunteered to help decorate our "den" for our jungle themed week in an attempt to expedite the awkward stage...yeahhh, that didn't help to much. ;) We'll get there though.

My Humble Abode for the Week

After decorating for a little while, the volunteers were herded to the gym for a tour and an orientation. The campus is absolutely beautiful...the orientation was not so beautiful. Haha. Apparently there is an endangered and rare species called "children." All thanks to the orientation, I now know what this unheard of species is and how to handle them in all situations. Phew. All kidding aside, they packed a WHOLE lot of information into a very short amount of time and my brain is still trying to recover from the headache it caused. And I thought college was hard. Haha.

A Little Look at the Camp Grounds

 After our orientation and dinner, we had some free time so my sweet friend from UK, Madelina and I drove to Bowling Green and got some froyo and adventured through Wal-Mart. It is SUCH blessing to have her here! Oh my goodness. The Lord seriously has blessed that precious girl with such a beautiful heart and bold spirit and is certainly making a big difference in a whole lot of lives.

Reunited and it feels SO good!

 I am super excited to meet the sweet kiddos tomorrow. I definitely prefer kids over adults. Ha! Apparently I'll be working with the "youngest of the old campers" whatever that means. I'm thinking probably 9-12 year olds. All I know for sure is that the Lord has been preparing me for the past 5 months and He is going to place exactly who I can connect with and love on most. Oh I am so excited to meet them! Coming into this, I thought this ministry would be solely focused on the campers, but it has already been made clear that it extends beyond the campers and to the staff. It's apparent that many of the staff members are trying to fill a void by working here and are searching for their purpose. I'm afraid they won't find something good enough to fill that void, but I know someone who can! I'm praying that the Lord would allow me to act and speak differently and would give me boldness as well as gentleness and kindness when interacting with my peers and love them like Jesus. Alright, while it's not even midnight here, my body is officially aching and begging for me to get some sleep. Hopefully at least part of this is coherent...it's dangerous to let your stream of consciousness run wild. Add in the fact that I have written all of this in "Notes" on my phone and this could all be one confusing heap of words. Haha. Oh well. Please keep the prayers coming! :) Nighty night!