Living the High Life

I admit: this post will be pointless fluff about my amazement with flying and my new-found addiction. Flying is simply amazing. First off, I made it all the way from Minneapolis to Dallas in less time than it would take for me to drive to the Minnesota border. That is just plain crazy. I also felt like I was on a roller coaster swooping up and down and rotating side to side, it’s like a thrill ride! And the views? Spectacular!! The clouds are mounds of whipped cream that I could just stick a spoon in and lick clean. The thinner clouds are powdered sugar dusted over a green serving platter with roofs like chocolate flavored graham cracker. The trees are a rich green velvet that seems like a luxurious carpet. They are spread out among the grass like the vines on a leaf. Tree-ception! The cookie square roads are straight out of a dollhouse, and the clouds shadows really show you how high you are.

Somewhere over a state south of Iowa (not sure where we were at this point. Planes move so fast!)

Take off from Dallas, TX. It was way cooler than this picture shows. The ground was the aftermath of either a drag show or a Ke$ha concert. Way cool.

       
          Flying into Santiago, I had the Pacific coast to my right and the Andes mountains to my left. What a view. Looking up, the sky is a deeper, richer blue than on the ground. If my wild, fantastic dream of going to space remains ungranted, I’d accept a lifetime of free airplane rides to random places, just so I can fly.

I woke up after a mini-nap and immediately thought: "What weird terrain is this??"

It was just clouds. But they were over the Pacific. Still cool, right?

The bottom of the Andes! And the coastline way at the top under the wing of the plane.

The view from my 3rd floor apartment homestay. I can see the mountains!

Hello, Goodbye, Hello, Goodbye, Hola!

So I definitely did not post as much this summer as I thought I would. My bad!

          The past few days have been a blur. Since when did I arrive at camp, then all of sudden (it seems) I need to turn around and leave again? After building almost 40 campfires, cleaning countless plates and forks and spoons, grilling hundreds of hot dogs and hamburgers, getting soaked almost every day leading the kids in water games, and praying thousands of prayers, I guess I lost track of how much time I had left here. Every once and a while though, I would stop and look around at this place and think about how many people have depended on this place for peace, faith guidance, and connection. I can tell I’ve grown stronger in my faith, by listening to other people’s perspectives and testing my own beliefs. I’ve learned more about my denomination and its role in the world and how it differs from other denominations. I’m very proud of the church I’ve grown up in and the churches I’ve participated in at camp and around Iowa. I could go on and on, but I don’t want to get boring.

          As I prepared myself to leave camp, the interns went to explore more of the campground through trails that have overgrown in the past several years. We crawled under branches, got caught on thorns, and ultimately ended up wading through a beautiful creek that ran through our property. I’m glad I got to experience the parts of camp that I wouldn’t have been able to as a camper or counselor. One other thing that was significant in my internship was when I shared my faith story at campfire to the camp that helped form my faith. I felt like it was what I needed to do for both myself and some of the campers. Once again, I feel blessed that I had the opportunity to spend most of my summer at church camp. Then I stopped home for less than 3 days to have a relaxing barbecue and desperately find a way to ride the Log Chute at Camp Snoopy (we failed). Now, on to the next adventure! Santiago, Chile.

A Day in the Life

Well, it’s been a whirlwind the past two weeks! We spent the first part of our stay doing grungy work around the campgrounds to get the cabins and the huts in Chi Rho ready for campers. Chi Rho is a rustic camping experience for 6^th-8^th graders with rudimentary huts and no electricity, where the campers cook all their food over an open fire and really get a chance to connect with the forest around them. As a lodge intern I don’t really get a chance to connect as deeply with the grounds down there throughout the summer, but chasing 8 mice out of huts and removing mice bathrooms (bunches of rat poop), kitchens (all of their nut shavings), and bedrooms (cute little mice nests), made my Chi Rho experience as an intern an adventure already.

The first day with campers made me feel like I’d been hit by a bus. But a bus that brings energy, fulfillment, and joy. One pretty rare combination! A typical day for my junior camp (3-5 graders) this week:

8-8:30= breakfast

8:30-9:15=clean dishes

9:15-10= lead camp-wide games while counselors have their meeting

10-12= restock toilet paper/paper towels in the cabins, fix some cabin issues (lots of them, they’re really old), gather materials the directors need for the rest of the day, sort camper mail

12-12:30= eat lunch

12:30-1:30= lunch dishes

1:30-2= mini-break (if I’m lucky)

2-3= team-building low ropes course activities

3-4:30= get soaked playing water games with the kids (no pool this summer… darn!)

4:30-6= attempt Operation Dry, gather more things for campfire/snacks/activities etc.

6-6:30= dinner

6:30-7:30= dinner dishes

7:30-8= mini-break (if I’m lucky!)

8-8:30= light a campfire and hope it stays lit for campfire until 9

9-whenever: clean up materials/spaces/hang out with the other interns/get myself ready for the next day.

It’s always nice to end the day with a campfire, it’s the most powerful part of the day and you learn so much from the people who share parts of their faith journeys. It is pretty much a 12-hour day, but they go by fast!

Each week is different because there are new campers, new counselors, and new directors that like to tailor their schedules to create a unique experience for each camp. The week of CYF (Christian Youth Fellowship, 9-12 graders) that I attended from 2008-2011 is coming up next week. I’ll be serving the same counselors and director that I spent time with as a camper. Those 4 weeks of life were the most transformative for me, and it will be a little weird being an outsider looking it at all that aMAZing-ness. But I'm excited I get to help out!

I’ve gotten to know the 3 girls and 1 guy I’ll be staying with for the whole summer, and we’ve already shared quite a few laughs, movie nights (or afternoons… or days…), and spills on the slippery bridges between cabins. Sometimes I just look around and feel like the luckiest girl in the world because I get to spend an entire summer in the place that established many of my strengths and beliefs. I just feel in awe of this place and so blessed that this Holy Ground exists. Many of the youngest campers here say they feel so safe and loved by everyone; it’s like a Utopia (I guess it is called “Holy Ground” for a reason). A group of complete strangers can come together for 6 days and create something beautiful and endearing: fellowship and friendship that literally lasts throughout the years. This may sound cheesy and whatnot, but this place truly changes lives. I feel so honored that I get to be a part of it.