July 22nd - July 27th:
I just got back from my very last week at Mount Hermon's Ponderosa Lodge for summer camp! Gosh, seven years of summer camp, and two science camps at Pondy and I still am not a bit sick of it!! Well, I went this summer as a graduated senior (Super Senior), so that means that I cannot go back as a camper! SAD! If I ever want to go back, it will have to be as a job... Weird. I'm really gonna miss camp. But enough of the moping for now, here, have a few daily insights:
July 22nd: "Power of Prayer"
Before arriving at Pondy, it's a tradition that my friends R, K, and L and I all go to Bruno's in Scotts Valley and eat a very late lunch/very early dinner. We always go to Pondy together, so we've made a LOT of traditions, which you'll hear about later. But on Monday, we decided to pray for a couple things before stepping into our last week at Pondy:
1. That we all be together in one cabin. The official rule is that only friend groups of two or three can be in the same cabin (for many reasons), but this time my mom called ahead and asked that we four be together, which they said they MIGHT be able to do! So, we prayed to be together in one cabin.
2. We asked for great cabin-mates and a good counselor. Sometimes one gets difficult cabin-mates and we didn't want conflict in our cabin. Also, a counselor can really make or break a week... so we prayed for lovely ladies to spend our week with.
3. That we end up in one of the boys' villages. At Pondy, there are four "villages", two for girls and two for girls, each with six cabins. However, usually more girls come to camp than boys, so there are one or two overflow cabins, placing a few girls in the boys' villages. We had always been in the girls' villages and thought it'd be fun if for our last year we were on the guys' side. There you go.
4. We prayed for an amazing brother cabin. Each girl cabin is paired with a boy cabin and we are a family group for the week, having small group time, and bonding more deeply as a group. Last year, my brother cabin became my best friends at camp and I came to love them DEARLY. I wanted the same experience this year, as did R, L, and K.
I also prayed for a couple little things, like being on the pink team, which really didn't matter ALL that much to me, but I liked the color, so what the heck.
God fulfilled ALL of our prayers. We were all placed in R6 (a boys' village cabin) together, with four other amazing campers, a super relatable counselor, and had the BEST brother cabin out of all! We even were put on the pink team. God right there. No such thing as coincidence here.
July 23rd: "Love Song"
Together with L, R, and K, I am part of a "band" called LARK (clever right?..). We sing together, but have never actually recorded a song. Well, we decided to take advantage of the brand new recording studio at Pondy to record a song! We chose Love Song by Sara Bareilles with L playing the piano, and R, K, and I singing different parts. Tuesday, we practiced about a million times. I swear, I have never had so much difficultly with timing!!! Okay, not much else to say on this topic right now...
On another note, we met a male counselor who was on Broadway and was CAST in glee, but didn't end up accepting the role for moral reasons. I was awestruck as he told us all of this. WHAT THE HECK?! He was in LES MIS ON BROADWAY as both MARIUS AND GAVROCHE!! And he was working at a middle/high school summer camp?! What a strange place to land! I guess God really calls people from all walks of life!!
July 24th: "Discipline of Silence"
Wednesday nights at Pondy are known best for the DOS challenge. DOS stands for Discipline of Silence - a thirty minute period in which the campers are to spend with God, in... silence. God always shows up for me during this time and this night was no different - although it didn't happen in the way I wanted/expected.
Last year I was filled with the Spirit, hardly in control of my own actions and I wanted that experience again, but this year, God decided that what He was gonna do was something a little less radical, however no less powerful. He spoke directly to me the exact thing I didn't want to hear. I'm clinging on to something that is keeping me from being one with God, and He told me that I needed to give it up in order to be filled with Him again.
So, that was pretty cool, although less "exciting" than last year. Less happy too, cause I'm not yet ready to give up what I'm clinging to. It would have been easier if He had stuck me dumb or deaf. Well, I'll take what I'm given I suppose.
July 25th: "Belonging/SMOG Checks"
The irony of belonging to this world is that we cannot TRULY belong anywhere on Earth because we ONLY belong to God. He has gifted us with an unchangeable identity, an unwavering future, and an unshakable belonging in Him. That was the sermon of the night summed up in two sentences. Yay.
My counselor is attending a Christian college and as a result, she is always being surprised by how many amazing men of God there are around her all the time! Her friend at camp taught here this Acronym: SMOG (Sexy Man Of God). Obviously this led to SMOG Check, which is pretty much one of the most hilarious things I've heard in a while. I love my counselor for sharing that with us... Haha!
Thursday, LARK did two big things: we recorded Love Song, and then performed it for the entire camp during open mic night! Both were terrifying for me, but totally worth it, and I'll try to upload the MP3 somehow so you can hear it.
July 26th: "#thatsalawsuitwaitingtohappen"
My counselor's favorite phrase of the week was "that's a lawsuit waiting to happen" because we (as a cabin) wanted to do so many crazy things at camp. However, despite this, on our last night of Pondy, we did something cray. We snuck out of our cabin with our sleeping bags (all of us, not just the campers), ninja'd it across campus, avoiding patrolling staff (because we were breaking camp rules by leaving our cabin at 11pm), and headed up to the skatepark for a little sleeping bag surfing. Half pipes were our slide, and sleeping bags saved our pjs from getting super dirty as we slid down the steep inclines. I have to say that was the most exciting part of camp this year. The run back to our cabin was a lot of fun too, because we were seen and had to book it. SO MUCH FUN.
Before this little escapade, L, K, R, another super senior cabin mate of ours, and I went on the Redwood Canopy Tour down at the Mount Hermon Conference Center. Usually this tour costs ~$100, but as super senior campers, we got to go for free! Our tour guide was a very nice guy whose name started with a P and who looked a LOT like my sixth grade TA... Well, he was hilarious... At one point we was telling us how we can lean back in our harnesses and sit in the air with only our feet on the tree platform (and if you have guts you can go practically level with the ground) and he said "I like horizontal people"... not even a second later swore because he realized what he said and was with a group of girls. That killed all of us. He was blushing so bad. Oh my gosh. Even thinking about it makes me crack up. #thatsalawsuitwaitingtohappen
July 27th: "Home at Home"
Today was my very last day at Ponderosa. I had to say goodbye to lots of new friends AND my home away from home all in one day, maybe never to see either of them again!!! GAAAHHH!!! I met so many people and got to know so many people and bonded with so many people..... SIIIGGGHHH. I am gonna miss Pondy so much and all of my brothers... :'(
Pink team came in last in the team competitions, but that didn't really matter to me, so... Haha! I got the color, I didn't need first place!
I guess all I have to say is... I LOVED this week at Pondy, but I'm really happy to be home.
Keep it classy, folks!
**EDIT**
Here is the link to Love Song, as performed by LARK:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21626265/01%20Love%20Song.m4a
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