When we showed up to Muskegon, we met up with Charly and our director, Anne. She told us that we would have to temporarily live in a house off the campus while they wrapped up their Joni & Friends week. We met the members of the camp band—Alex, Carson, Collin, and Susan—and squeezed in with them at Brazil, a Victorian style duplex across the street from Maranatha. Fay, Sarah, and I shared a creaky child's bunk in a room we could only access by walking through the bathroom.
Brazil / living room / dining room
Jon immediately took us to the beach where our minds were blown by the perfect view and weather. Josiah commemorated this moment for us by promptly diving into the lake fully clothed. After some more exploring we got to experience the ample dinning hall spread for dinner. The night was concluded with some porch chats.
just a glimpse of the beach
Tuesday: I was having a rough time feeling comfortable around so many new people in such tight quarters so I spent a good part of the day exploring the camp and taking pictures. I planned to update my blogs right away but the internet here is annoyingly spotty.
Fay, Sarah, Susan, and I bonded by painting our nails on our porch. We used that thing for every purpose because it could fit everyone and had a great view of the front of the camp. In the afternoon we swam and laid out at the beach. Lake Michigan is much prettier than Lake Erie. The waves were big and we all took a fair amount of sun and sand back to Brazil with us.
Our team leaders Austin and Melissa invited us over to their house for pizza, dessert, and a campfire. As we were sharing our testimonies I got a call from Logan about Mack's condition. It was hard to try to handle in front of a bunch of strangers but they were warm and supportive. Melissa also treated us to one of her family's classic movies: Thumb Wars. It definitely was an experience I won't forget.
Wednesday: A&M met with us to do some planning for the first week of camp. We planned silly skits, purchased props, wrote movie scripts, and prayed for the upcoming weeks. It was a relief to finally get an accurate picture of what I would actually be doing in the upcoming weeks. (More about that later.)
Sarah and Fay nap in between planning sessions
Thursday: By this point in the week we were either running out of things to do or getting extremely frustrated with having to search for a good internet spot. I explored and took photos for part of the day.
Joni & Friends decorations
A&M took us to Grand Haven to explore and see the sunset on a far out pier. Grand Haven seems like such an interesting little town that attracts a lot of visitors because of it's many docks and location on the lake. By this time the group really seemed to be bonding and starting to feel like a family. We ended the night with a concert and light show from the comical musical fountain. It's just what it sounds like, a fountain that moves and lights up to music.
Friday: Everyone living in Brazil and China had to pack up and be out of the house before nine. We dumped our stuff in the lobby of Lebanon, our future home, and dashed off to orientation. After orientation we had more planning and lunch with A&M at a Chinese buffet. It was a relief to finally unpack and settle into "home" once we were back at Lebanon. The facilities here are only three years old and designed specifically to house camp staff upstairs and hold youth meetings downstairs.
bye bye Brazil
Charly wanted to take us and his family out to lunch so we went to a pizza buffet for dinner. I do not want to see another buffet until fall.
Saturday: Even though it was our day off we had more planning and prep in the evening. We put the finishing touches on the teen room and organized all the supplies we bought for the week. We had everything from baby food to a demon-possessed doll. You can watch our intro video for the kids here.
I'll post about all the people on my team next,
Kendrasity
That video makes me miss Maranatha! I didn't know Mike was going to be on staff! Tell him I said hi! He's hilarious!
ReplyDeleteHoly cow Thumb Wars!! I used to watch that back in the day with my friends back at home. If you weren't aware, there is a whole Thumb-Series of movie spoofs(Thumbtanic, Bat-thumb, etc.) which are also amazing haha
ReplyDeleteHope you are having a great time Kendra, Cincinnati misses you :)