And it is...!

Wednesday afternoon, halfway through what is whispered with a mixture of excitement and trepidation:
Junior Camp!  This is the camp for young men and women ages 9-12, they come from Montana, Idaho, Washington, and join together for this week at Camp Bighorn.  We run events like: rock climbing, zip lining, challenge course, archery and shooting, low static course and rafting.  Their time is structured from 8:15 in the morning, to 10:00 at night, which is pretty impressive for a bunch of 9-12 year-olds!  We have chapel sessions with skits and songs, and a mud pit, and a lot of very tired staff!
     As the facilitation manager, my time this week has been in demand more than usual.  Considering that I am pretty familiar with how this age group works, and that many of the facilitators are young and in need of more counsel, my work has been close to non-stop.  Which is great--because I really like the work I do here, and it is very gratifying for me to be able to help others   The campers get here Monday afternoon, and events don't start until Tuesday morning.  We have a facilitation meeting every morning, while the campers are playing games with other staff for an hour, this gives them a breather and a chance for me to connect with them,  Tuesday morning, barely into the week really, the facilitators were all of a sudden as talkative as their campers!  So many things to talk about: lack of sleep; the inordinate amounts of hot chocolate being drunk; conflict between campers; funny moments; how to empower youth, and lack of sleep.  Counseling facilitators, playing with campers, and hunting down night lights, have kept us all running!
     But then, all those projects I was counting on getting done this week in my "free time,"  suddenly are not looking possible anymore.  But I keep on hearing the same message all over: Be still, and know that I am God.
     My brothers, Micah (10) and Jesse (12) are here for Junior camp, which is pretty fun!  It's special for me to be sitting in the lodge, a very familiar place for me, and look over and see my brother who is very familiar, but not in this context.  They are having a blast and fitting right in with all the other high energy crazy kids!  The other staff keep on mentioning how much they are "Doty's," whatever that is supposed to mean.  Apparently Micah approaches situations just like Anjeli, and they both talk about the same amount as well.  So five Doty's at Camp Bighorn, and the roof is still on!
     DeLancey is facilitating this week, and she is doing such a great job.  Guiding and loving these young women is such a natural fit for her, and she is excelling, whether she feels it or not.  It has been good to have this window into her leadership style and see her work.  I have been very impressed with all of the facilitators this week, they are doing such a perfect job, and I get this weird paternal pride for them. :p   Even though I can see what a wonderful job they are doing, they are still for the most part very stressed out and exhausted.  And yes we are halfway through the week.  I was tempted to laugh Tuesday morning, when they were (what they thought was) totally exhausted.  But they ain't seen nothin' yet!  If you would send up a prayer for them, I believe it would be answered.
     Anjeli is loving working on Admin, and if you go here: http://www.campbighorn.org/bh/2011/07/2907/ you can follow Camp Bighorn's blog on Junior camp that she is writing for them this week!  If you like pictures, and I know you do, check out these on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150241778575583.315769.344035665582&type=1

Thanks for reading y'all!  Look for more updates in the near future!

--faith

Halfway through week six of summer 2011!  Typically, the camps that come here are youth groups, so they know each other to some extent, and they have their leaders to help provide focus and accountability.  But this week we have a junior high/high school camp with the kids who want to come to Bighorn for a camp, but their youth group is not coming.  It is an exciting opportuity for these kids to meet some new people, and also for the facilitators to really provide leadership and pull the group together through team building iniatives and events.   

Anjeli is a facilitator this week, she has the only girls group so they all hang out together, and we call them her posse.  (In the best possible sense you can think of)  All the facilitators for this week are super friendly, and good with people, and I am so encouraged by their willingness to invest in their kids. 

DeLancey is TACing rock climbing and looking all hardcore while she does it.  She is very capable, and is taking responsibility well this summer. 

Through brainstorming how to keep extremely distracted junior high twelve year old guys focused; making brake lines for the high static; and scrubbing twenty dirty pizza pans, the summer staff is learning and maturing.  We have been able to have some insightful conversations with each other, and be minstered to as we minister to others.  I am really blessed to be working with the facilitators, and am learning a lot about leadership.  I don’t feel as if I ever do anything good myself, I just look back on what happened, and say “Wow.  Thanks for doing that, God!”  Because there really are great things going on, and it has nothing to do with me! 

I hope you are having a lovely summer, please find rest sometime.  I am thanking God for Camp Bighorn and how He has changed me through its ministry.  How cool is it, that God doesn’t stop there, but continues to teach me by giving me opportunity to be involved in His work here.  Thank you for your part in this ministry, may you be blessed tenfold!

Here are some pictures of the kids that have joined us this summer...

Happy birthday to Jesse Isaac Doty, he is twelve today! 

--faith

Week Six!

After training how to set up and run all the events for two weeks our first camp rolls in, if you really think about it we only have two weeks to learn everything we need to learn about how to facilitate, how to T.A.C, how to do Operations and Guest Services and Chapel and Administration etc etc etc.

The first camp that came I was a Stamper which is where you go through all the events just like a camper, just to get the experience and perspective.  Camp Bighorn does it when they have small camps; run summer staff who haven’t been a camper at Bighorn before through the “stamper week”. 

That was really cool for me to be able to kind of see into what a camper experiences during their time here.  I felt like it really helped my to understand how they feel in that position.

Week four I was on Guest Services for the last couple of days after coming back from my family reunion. That was a little bit difficult for me to connect with the campers that week because I had to come in half way through the week, but it was still good the little bit of time I got to talk with some of the campers.

Week five I was on Operations, on operations you fix things that are broken and you build things like they are building a new Operations building so we work on that but it is mainly a lot of odd jobs.  I was kind of exited for my week on operations just because every one says that operations is a cool experience and that I would enjoy it, so I was looking forward to that until I got sick.  I had to take some time off for that which was hard for me because I knew that I could push myself and do it, but people just had to tell me that, "Yea I could, but I would never get better if I did."  So they had me take some time off just to heal, I took a day off and the next morning I was like, I can work but then they had me take more time off and it was kind of hard for me just to rest during that time because I felt like I was letting people down and wasn’t pulling my own weight, but then some one on the Operations team told me that pulling my own weight would be to get better and to just rest. The last couple of days when I was sick I  took some time and read my Bible and I felt a lot more peace when I was just reading my Bible and lying down.

This coming week I am TACing rock climbing, I am really exited about it because that is what I wanted to do this week.  I am a little bit anxious about it just because I am thinking like, “oh what if I forget how to tie this knot” or, “what if I forget this” or this thing or, or, or.  So I am praying that not only I don’t forget those things but that I can just rest in the comfort that even if I do forget something it is going to be okay. We appreciate your prayers for the challenges that we have, and are and will be going through this summer!

~DeLancey Grace

Hey Everyone.  Anjeli here.  Here is a recap of what has been going on lately.  Staff training went really well.  Spent both time in the river practicing my "hard skills" in kayaking, and time on the land practicing my "soft skills" on the Low Ropes Challenge Course.  Rain showers came and went, sat around some great campfires, spent quality time with my "Family Group", and marveled at the stars.  week on Ops with a great team. Then we left for a week for our family reunion, came back to kitchen duty, and got to commune among dishes and hot ovens.  Friday afternoon I came down with something nasty- feverish, headachy, chills, unexplained weakness, and had to spend the next two days in bed.  Got up, attended the Program meeting, learned I was leading the Low Ropes.  Did two days of programming, and couldn't keep it together.  Back to bed for me for three more days and now I am here.  My fever broke last night, and I am trying to recoup without relapsing.  There is a sped-up version of my life for the past five weeks.  


The importance lies in the last part- the having to go back to bed rest.  After barely holding on until the end of the day, I knew I could not do it.  So I went up to the Program Director, and told him, "I'm exhausted.  I can't do it."  What unexpectedly followed was a deeply compassionate, loving, and challenging conversation.  I talked about not wanting to be irresponsible with my position, yet I was just exhausted, I couldn't go on.  He told me that we love people, not products.  That being part of a family is allowing others to bear our burdens, to catch us when we can't stand anymore.  That God, "The Master Program Director", as he said, has an even greater plan.  I came to him to to tell him I didn't think I was going to be able to run the event.  I ended up telling him something that had been really hard for me, and left comforted, and caught.  In the end he took my temperature, I was over 101 degrees, given two Vita-Waters, a sack of snack food, and the Bighorn guest room to sleep in until I felt better.


I know this post is not very well written, it my raw thought.  I appreciate your prayers as I continue this process of "allowing Christ's power to rest on me through my weakness" (summation of 2 Cor. 12:9).
This verse was in my head as I lay in bed:

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gently and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  

Matt. 11:28-30