Reflections of Camp 2003 - my first summer in America I came to camp Swoneky with the goal to be myself and let the Christ that is within me shine. And to be a reflector for Christ to the kids that I wil be in contact with during the summer. To also come out of my 'shell' a bit and grown within myself and with God. I went to camp, with no expectation on what camp was going to be like, Yes my agency if you want to call it that, did tell us all what to expect and what living in America was going to be like, but I didn't want to expect anythng to much, incase I was to be dissapointed. I had seen the movies and tv shows of summer camp, but they are all different, and the camp that I was placed at was certainly different to the ones that I have seen. As the summer is now over and I reflect back on the summer that has been, I think of the goals that I have achieved. I have been myself and nobody else, I was the quiet usual Alice at first, which to some Amercians was not excepted. All the other Aussies that had been at camp Swoneky, were all loud, outspoken people. I was told by many people that I was not a good Aussie and this really put me down alot. But one day while reading my Bible, I came across a verse in Luke 14, thats says this " Those who make themselves great will be made humble, but those that make themselves humble, will be made great". This verse really spoke to me, and I decided that I was not going to worry about what they said about me, that they either except me as the quiet person, or thats their problem. But as I got to know people and people got to know me, I would come out of my shell. Which was one of my goals for the summer. I have grown so much within myself, I accept myself for who I am and what I am. And for who I am in Christ, and that is what people have seen of me over the summer, and no one else. I have far more confidence in myself that I had at the beginning of the summer, which was not much at all. I did many things over the summer that I would never thought I would do. I got up on stage an made a fool of myself, I climbed a rock wall, and went down a zip line, I got feathered and tarred and allowed myself to keep kidnapped by the three fingered bandit! My relationship with Christ has grown and developed alot. As the summer progressed more and more, I seen my need for Christ more. I was there to work for Christ alone and the has always been the devil trying to stop it. But as I have grown with Christ, I have been able to face anything that he has thrown my way. I truly thank the Lord for bring me through my first summer at camp, I could not of done it with out Him. I could of quit heaps of time, the kids were sometimes so difficult to handly, and my co-counselors.. well we sometimes just clashed sooo much. But I fixed my eyes on the only reason I was there (Jesus) and not the reason why I wanted to leave ( the kids and other staff). And here I am, I have made it through the whole summer, and with soo much to take home with me. And as for the kids that I worked with, I was my usual self with them also. I was so blessed by every single kids that was there. Not only the girls that I was in a cabin with, but also the other staff kids, the girls in other cabins and also the boys. Many of them had come from very underpriveledged backgrounds, with many family problems. But their determination, happiness and the desire to want to know Christ as theor Lord and savior was a true blessing. Many of the kids have been through similar situation as me, and I was able to share with them the Love of Christ with them. It truly has been a blessing to me to have had the opportunity to work here the summer. It gives me the desire to work more closerly, the kids in my own church, to plant seed in their lives and to raise up future leaders. I will take home everthing that I have learnt and cherish it for the rest of my life. "It truly has been the best summer of my life!" |