Camp Barnabas

So, I am back from Camp Barnabas. And, it was a wonderful trip! It was the hardest and best week of my adult life. Barnabas was known as "Son of Encouragement" in the Bible, and the camp completely lives up to the name.

I had never been on a mission trip before. I didn't grow up in church that took mission trips, so I have never done anything like this before. And, as always, I think I wound up getting more out of it than the kids.

We had 6 Girls that were part of youth groups who came, and they were called Christians in Action (Called CIAs), 2 camp counselors, and 6 campers in our cabin. Five of the campers had Autism and one had Down's Syndrome. All of them were so different, but as always, God does amazing stuff.

We prayed as we went over the Camper Cards on Sunday night, and then each CIA took a camper card. We then prayed and talked as a group about our backgrounds, etc. It was cool. The next morning we had training all morning and part of the afternoon, and then the campers arrived. It was incredible!

We formed a tunnel of encouragement and each camper was escorted through the tunnel with their CIA. I fought tears, it was so touching. The campers were taken to the cabins while the adults parked the cars and met the kids at their cabins.

I was REALLY nervous. I didn't know how things worked and wasn't sure how all this was going to work. I mean, teenagers responsible for kids with autism? I thought, "God, this has to be you!"

And it was completely God, every minute of everyday! Each CIA was paired with the camper just for them. It was cool. Everyone did a fabulous job! Everyone worked together as a team and we grew close as we dealt with the highs and lows of the kids.

Fortunately for us, we always managed to see the good in the kids even when they were bad. We had 2 campers who required A LOT of help. One of them was violent when she didn't get her way, so it was an interesting week.

But there were moments that made it all worth it. We laughed more than we were frustrated and became a family for a week. The last night of camp they have "Say So". It is the night where the campers thank the staff for all their hard work. Our problem child for the week got up and thanked us for all we had done, and it made it all worth it.

God really stretched me. I was used to being in control of the situations because I'm used to that in the classroom, but I wasn't in charge and that was hard for me. I had to submit to the leaders above me, and while I didn't always agree, I always backed them up. It was a learning experience for me. And honestly, I have some ideas of what to do next year when I go that will help.

Above all else (and God taught me more than I could ever post on here), I was shown how selfish I really am. I am single, so I don't typically have to think about other people in the aspects of daily life, but in a week, I learned what a serveant is called to do. Don't get me wrong, I still have A LOT to learn, but I am different tonight than I was one week ago.

And I thank God for that.

And yep, I already told Laura, I want to go back next year.

I can't wait!

Later!