Being FAT.

Here at Mont Lawn City Camp they discuss with their staff the concept of being "FAT" or flexible, adaptable, and teachable. Hopefully I've been doing this a little bit, potentially gaining 20 metaphorical pounds.

It's crazy up in here.

We've been here since Thursday and it's taken most of our energy to just keep a hold of the camp schedule, much less all the rules, and absolutely not the tiny nuances that make camp, CAMP. I'm here with four other interns and we assist the staff who are called "Specialists". The kids spend four hours at specialty areas every day doing things like baking, archery, theatre, rock wall, etc. I'm working with theatre (no surprise there) and it's been quite the ride.

This week Mont Lawn is experiencing about half the number of kids they usually expect. We're here because this week is specifically for South Bronx kids who we've been working with for the past couple weeks back in New York. It's such a privilege to be here. Let me paint a quick picture on what this looks like.

On of the things we do in theatre is sit in circles of campers and counselors and pretend like we're handing around different objects, everything from an elephant to a bolt of lightning. The kids get super into it and start screaming when the pretend spider comes around, and get quiet if they're pretending to hold a baby. Younger cabins are willing to get into almost anything but the older girls will give you a run for your money. They've got quite the amount of attitude hahaa. Hard to compete with that.
I've been in the pool three different times today. Yes, there's a pool here. It's beautiful and a great haven from the ridiculously steamy weather. For one hour today about 85% of the kids were in the pool. Let me tell you, it's not THAT big. "WATCH ME WATCH ME WATCH ME SWIM" will probably ring in my eardrums for days. Not a bad thing. Just a loud thing. I think out of the percentage of water that consists of my body weight, a nice amount of it is not ingested chlorine and kid spit. Yummy. These kids want to be held a lot in the pool and in general. A lot of them want to be hugged almost always, and some of them just can't swim. It's so nerve-wrecking to watch the amount of potential hazards ensue in this arena. I am now accustomed to chronically holding my arms out in front of me, bracing myself for someone on my back, and listening for any coughs that sound more like a choke. Dang. It is CRAZY up in here.

Not all of the kids come from good places. Some slam into doors over and over and over. Last night three ambulances came. Some little babies just don't listen and take off every 5 minutes. The counselors here deal with a TON day in and day out. Please pray for the staff and the counselors and their summers here. They really go through it.

What I've tried to do while I'm here is to figure out how to interact well with this camp and how to keep the kids engaged and as happy as possible. We don't get to see the kids 24/7, so it's nice to help out the counselors when we can. It's so important for these kids to learn that the love of Jesus is real. It's so important for these kids to learn that the love of Jesus is real. It's so important for me to learn that the love of Jesus is real. It's so important for you to know that the love of Jesus is real. Because sometimes you get three ambulances, and you seem really outnumbered.

I'm really tired. I think I might go crash for a while, maybe for a really long while. Please pray for Mont Lawn Camp. There's so much love here for children that need good examples of love and respect. God is good all the time. Pray that that's communicated well and believed here.

Goodnight everyone!