In the last week, Fay, Susan, Josh, Jon and Ryan all got baptized. I only got to see the first three get baptized. I had to run an errand when Ryan and Jon went. But it was a blessing to see so many of my friends make a physical commitment to the Lord!
Charly leading the baptism / Susan, Matt, Charly, Josh, and Fay / hooray!
Monday: The first surprise was when I was hanging out with my beautiful little friend Ellie. I'd known her for weeks but in our final game of Find the Counselor she volunteered to hide with me. I felt God nudge me as we relaxed in our hiding spot on the beach. He led me to ask her some questions about her life and her family. And she opened up and shared how she has been inspired to grow closer to Jesus in everything she does through meeting us this summer. Did I mention she's 12? Just when I had been feeling like a total failure for not connecting really deeply with any of the kids from the summer God shows me that I am SO WRONG.
foggy mornings on the beach / pretty Ellie
Tuesday: Under the pretense of a final lunch from Mike's mom, the boys asked us girls to come over for lunch at the Carlson's. When we showed up and Jon began handing us Gerber daisies, we realized it was a surprise encouragement lunch for us! Mike cooked Chicken Parmesan and Ryan made Death by Chocolate. They even wrote notes for us. I was 100% caught off guard and really excited to be treated for an hour.
notes & flower
I also had the amazing opportunity to speak on prayer Tuesday evening for all the teens. Ryan and I had spoken on Inner City Ministry the week before so I wasn't super nervous, but it has been a while since I've taught in a spiritual setting. I surprised myself by feeling really calm but still enthusiastic about my topic. The best part of my talk was encouraging the kids to write prayers and verses with chalk all over the main walk of Maranatha. I can't take credit for this idea but it worked well the week before and hopefully it's a tradition that will be continued.
fruit of the Spirit / pretty sketch / Ellie's note to me
I don't think I mentioned this before, but we had a bit of a prank war this summer. I think it started with the boys throwing us in the lake in front of all the teens Week 1. They say I started it for some reason...I mean maybe I bribed Alex with Ryan's cookies to hide Mary in Ryan's bed a few times. Anyway, after Shawn called me his girlfriend in front of all the residents and Sarah was sick of Ryan unceremoniously dumping her in the pool every Monday, we decided to end things. A week before this one, I bought a pound of glitter and got Fay and Anna to make sure the boys' room was clear (we didn't want to surprise anyone who wasn't decent). Then Sarah, Anna, and I made sure every inch of Ryan and Shawn's bed and clothes were nice and sparkly. The boys did a terrible job of pretending that everything was fine in their room so they finally broke down and threatened to get us back in a disgusting way. I guess glitter is the herpes of craft supplies and quickly spread to all eight of the boys' things.
As it turns out, they didn't really have a plan of action. After we spent a few hours getting the residents with water balloons, the boys literally cornered Sarah and me in the supply closet. They covered us head to toe using the left over spray cheese and tempera paint from Teens. After we made sure they were just as covered we paid our boss a late-night visit. Lebanon smelled like dried onions and garbage for a while after that.
we look so goood
Wednesday: At the beginning of the summer I prayed about having opportunities to dance more. Around Week 4, a few residents and I got to talking about dance. One of the girls was Ellie and we planned a "dance date." It turned into choreographing an entire song (listen to the song we used here) and preforming it at the final talent show! I wasn't even sure if we would really do it when we started working out a dance. But we preformed as the final act of the show, outside on the grass under all the Family Life Center lights in front of sixty people. It was amazing to dance again, uninhibited. And Ellie is a fantastic dancer!
Another dance opportunity happened out of the blue. I've always been a fan of flash mobs so when Ryan approached me about planning one with the residents, I was really interested. I chose "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet and spent days working on choreography with each pair of dancers. We even planned to have some kids dance on tables! With a week to turn it around we got the dance in good enough shape to preform at the talent show. The music got a little messed up but it was really fun to do with all the kids and staff.
Thursday: Since Austin and Melissa had already left for school back in Florida, we switched things up at Game Night and played some bingo. Mike, Jon, and Shawn dressed up like old guys while I played Vanna White (sans sparkly dress). The teens LOVED it.
Mike dressed up for bingo
Friday: I got to hangout with Ellie every day the last week. Her brother Jack and his friend Zac were a few of the other young kids I spent time with. On Friday treated them to Pronto Pups (awesome corn dogs) in Grand Haven. Jack and Zac affectionately call me "Mama K" because I tended to play big sister. I can't help it if I love them all to death even when they intentionally drive me crazy. I finally met Jack and Ellie's parents after abducting them a hundred times to run errands with me. Ellie's mom was such a sweetheart! She has emailed me a few times since I left encouraging me about how I befriended Ellie. I'm so humbled that a family that has been at Maranatha their whole lives thinks I'm awesome! I think they're the bee's knees too :)
Jack, Ellie, Lizzie, and Zac
I was honored to be able to participate in the big goodbye party for the camp directors. Amy Hamilton asked me to get all the Teens prepared to shoot off confetti crackers and dance to "I Got a Feeling" when the festivities began. It was a true joyous flash mob and the all the guests danced with us. The night was full of great foo, beautiful decorations, funny skits, and good conversation. What a blessing to be involved in something so genuine and fun.
The final mind-blowing event happened after I had a conversation with Amy about coming back next summer. All summer I hardly thought about coming back to be a counselor next year. It was fun and I liked it but the responsibilities of graduating next April weighed on my future. But after Ellie, Jack, Zac, Lizzie, Aleesha, Jed, Evan, and Amy all expressed how much they hoped I would come back next summer I started to wonder...and so did a few other people. Ryan had connected with the younger boys and I could tell he wanted to come back too. He has internship requirements to fill, however, so we decided to talk to Ann.
At literally the 11th hour the night before we left for Cincinnati, he and I set up a meeting with our boss. We explained our interest in being camp counselors but our different limitations. I would be interested in being a designer for Maranatha next summer as well as counseling because I could begin to support myself after college. Since I designed some fliers and t-shirts, I was hoping to expand that to an actual design position next year. Without hesitation Ann said she would do whatever it took to allow us to come back next summer! I was floored.
Now I'm not saying I know what I'm supposed to do when I graduate yet. But even the possibility of coming back makes me excited for a future combining ministry and design. If God wanted me to come back to hangout with one special little girl, I would do it with joy. I'll keep you posted!
Kendra
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