November

Snow! Snow! and more Snow! Almost every morning now consists of shoveling snow. This concept seems simple however there is a science to the systematic functions of the snow shovelers. As 0700 approaches every morning someone checks for snow. If there is any snow covering the ground we prepare to move it. If not then we get to sleep another hour. It has become an interesting spectrum of outfits as we layer for the below zero temperatures and shed layers as the day progresses and our focus shifts from snow to another task. Almost every weekend we have had Young Life snow camps in camp and had some interesting events occur. For example our guest service interns have had to clean up creamers as kids used them as snowballs or the outrageous outfits let behind by different areas. Every week in itself is a new surprise. This week is our last snow camp for the winter and we will be deep cleaning different areas of camp. Our oh so handy comet all purpose cleaner will be put to use to scrub the showers and fixing a variety of over used items throughout camp. This upcoming weekend is going to be the end of our first rotation. Food service has been slow and fast, but I am sad to see it come to a close. At first I was apprehensive about being inside the entire day preping food, however it has been a huge blessing. The conversations with staff and work crew have been meaningful and the lessons learned apparent. It's been a change of pace coming from a leadership position and the center of attention to the depths of the kitchen where no one knows you exist because they don't think about where their food comes from. Within the kitchen I have learned to focus on God and take the focus off of myself and place it onto him. He is the one who deserves it, not me. Other lessons have surfaced from spending time with work crew who come up to camp for the weekend to serve ridiculous hours with no pay. Its an incredible blessing to see high schoolers come to camp for the entire weekend and wake up at 0500 to make pancakes and then continue to work beside me throughout the day until our tasks are finished. Their dedication and hard work makes the weekends flow. As we move from high school weekends into hosting ski trips our intern house is also under going some changes. The winter season has begun outside with snow and inside with construction paper. Due to the freezing cold weather of the third story of our house, the interns have constructed a new fire place to heat our house. Topped off with stockings for everyone and a family portrait, our living quarters are almost complete for the upcoming season.

Housekeeping

Just thought I would post a little update for anyone who is following and would like to know what has been going on. So we have been at camp for just over a month and starting to get into the flow of things. Housekeeping on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. This may seem like an easy task, however when you consider the magnitude to which this consist of for us it is a little different. The normal flow of things are on Sundays we turn over laundry, easy right... not! With over 450 campers we are washing all their sheets and towel then cleaning them and folding them ever so nicely and turning them into bed packs for the upcoming group. After all the laundry is completed which normally takes more than 8 hours with all 9 of us working then off to clean every building on property. Anything the campers use we clean. This task includes all the dorms, club room, A-team housing, game room, gym, and work crew dorms. The dorms are the biggest time consumer, it takes just over an hour for all 9 interns to turn over a dorm, cleaning bathrooms, bunks, vacuuming, cleaning windows, organizing, and of course refolding anything that does not meet our standards. Although all this cleaning would seem tedious and repetitive and often times you question yourself why you are doing this if it is just going to be used again and messed up in less than a week and you will be doing the exact same task to clean again. Here is the reason that has been shown to me, we are here to set up an environment where kids can meet Christ. From the bed pack facing a specific way to the clean toilet, these minor details are set in place to provide such a place that kids can see that the Lord of the universe has provided this camp for them to enjoy and feel his ultimate love. Serving in the way has created a new outlook on the everyday tasks that we participate in. We usually work in teams and have great time of fellowship, being goofy, and of course laughing is always involved. God created the earth as an environment for us to experience his love, whether we find it in the sunrise or how unique every flower is, He did that for us. We are able to experience some of His glory and perfect design as we observe nature and take time to let the perfection set in. His attention to detail has provided us with an unending fascination of everything created and the meaning of all that changes when you think that He has designed all of it for you to see and experience. When we look at housekeeping in this way and the idea to provide a "Christ-like" environment for kids to experience then the purpose of scrubbing every sink and folding a sheet in a specific way with intense interest in every detail we are a part of the greater picture. Use our resources that we have been blessed with to provide a detailed environment every week where campers can see God's great design in the details that we are able to attend to and show love by serving them in this specific way.