Week 6: Free Week?

Honestly this past week was a blur because of my lack of availability to Meds and plus the fact that I have been at camp for almost 6 weeks straight and I wake up more tired than the day before. There were a few things that I remember but I do apologize for the short post.

So we were able to catch the Dark Knight Rises and I was thoroughly impressive with the plot and cinematography. Anne Hathaway was plays a great Cat Woman and the ending left things with mixed feelings of Completion and Anticipation followed by disappointment, but that is all Im going to say about the movie. If you still haven’t seen it yet GO ALREADY! ;]

As for the people up at camp, we have had a bunch of youths here as Volunteers and they have been a huge help around the camp. Many of the volunteers were former campers but there were a few that were interested in our program and so it was fun just to manage them and hang out when during the free times. If they are currently reading this blog, if I haven’t said it enough; Thank You for service to Camp Herald. Your presence was great appreciated and I hope you can come back for the following summers to come to bless not only the campsite but the attendees as well.

Minor things sums up the rest of the week, there wasn’t much that went on; waterfront deck repairs and rest. Though I would have to say the highlight of the week came at the end and it came it two parts as well. First it was with Herald Volleyball coming up for their bi-annual retreat. Definitely had fun just playing vball during my off time and seeing the part of my team from the Previous Season. WOOT WOOT POKESWAG! Volleyball has become such a large part of my life now and I thank God for it because it has opened up so many opportunities to serve others as well as meet brothers and sisters in Christ that share the same passion for the sport. So the second part of my weekend began as the Herald Volleyball kids were heading back home as the former Senior Staff came up on Sunday afternoon to just hang out, chill and hold a BBQ. It has been forever since I had time to kick it with the older crew, one got married recently and came back from his destination wedding/honeymoon and so lots of stories were shared about their craziness pre wedding ceremony and their post wedding celebrations. It’s been a long time since I have had so much fun at the waterfront because the newer kiddies don’t know the games we use to play, and it was a definitely plus to go fishing and catch a few big ones for everyone to enjoy.

Great weekend I’ll have to say, makes up for the week of blurriness before. Time to tiddy up and prep for a week of swim camp.

Week 5: Overstepping and Understanding

GOSPEL CAMP SESSION 1!!!! 20 guy campers, bunch of stressed out counselors and this was a pretty crazy week. Yet amidst all that, God still answer prayers about how to deal with stress and to be more patient. I feel a little pagan-ish for referring to the movie Evan Almighty, but I think of the part where Morgan Freeman; playing the role of God, talks with Evan’s wife about how praying to God works. Essentially Freeman says that when one prays for something, it not that God gives it to you but rather He gives you situations to learn and grow more. Though it was just a movie I find that there is some truth to what Freeman says. Oks, onward to the week.

Due to my weekend away from camp it was a different going into this particular Gospel Camp Session. I really like to start when the Counselors get there that first day and build a repertoire with them. It’s the one thing that I love about the Herald Gospel Camp ministry where the counselors are taken care of spiritually during the debrief time at night because they are serving throughout the entire day and I love being part of the counselor debrief. Yet this particular session it was a different feeling because of how I came back to camp on the 2^nd night.  I personally felt that it wasn’t right to jump into leading worship for the kids let alone the counselor debrief because I myself was not prepared mentally and spiritually. Rather my mind was on helping out in certain areas of camp departments because of my observations during the past couple weeks.

A particular area at camp which I felt was lacking was our timing during the meal times and there was a need for a clear for a leader. Praise God that we able to get a cook for the week of Gospel Camp, who also happen to be a brother from church. So it was fun to serve alongside him as his sous chef for all the craziness that happens in the kitchen. I find cooking very therapeutic after spending those 2-3 days cooking almost all day for a group of 40-50 people. Timing is everything when it comes to Camp cooking and now more than ever; after this past Gospel Camp week in the kitchen, I have a huge appreciation and respect for the previous cooks and chefs that have gone through our humble camp kitchen. I can just barely imagine when Camp Herald was at full capacity 8 weeks straight; the amount of food as well as the amount of dishes. IT’S CRAZY! Haha. Though I my stint in the kitchen was short I learned a lot about my personal management skills and communication skills but not all was fun and games as I would soon learn during my 2^nd night in the kitchen.

Why the title of overstepping I will explain soon, though to cut a pretty long story short there was a break in the communication chain where certain messages did not reach all areas of the department that when work began there was a mixup and confusion about the responsibilities and roles. (haha that make it sound more complicated than it already is but it’s how my mind works). After the initial verbal debacle I came out really angry and frustrated due to the communication mix up, yet as opposed to falling back on my typical introversive sulking, a passage from Ephesians came into my mind. I’ve heard this passage all my life but it was never so clear in my head until this past incident. Ephesians 4:26 reads “In Your Anger do not sin”: Do Not Let the Sun go down while you are still angry and in my mind that was the only verse running through my head walking out of the kitchen. Just the constant repetition in my head of that verse helped dissipate my frustration at that moment, which helped me focus on what I needed to do. Retrospectively what I should have done because I entered into Gospel Camp 3 days in, was to clarify everything with my higher-ups and be brought back up to speed, before injecting myself into the various roles of camp.

I think this was the first time in a long time that my superiors at work has called me out on something so strongly. I try to appease the higher-ups as much as possible though I need to be reminded that im not the most perfect employee sometimes =P. I think after this past week’s mix up, it has taught me to be a little more understanding and aware about the different perspectives and thought processes of my fellow co-workers. Also as a mental note for the next mix up, to take a step back during conflicts and reassess the situation. I remember hearing such techniques for conflict resolution during my time at John Jay but it doesn’t really click until after you really need to apply them.

To shortening up the weekend, there was a 16 hour blur of two separate groups coming up to camp at the same time and the rain was heavy after 2. God is good, as he was able to give me the patience and focus to make sure everything was taken care of and in order as I catered to both schedules. I think as a reward was the cook that came up this past weekend because he was amazing. There has never been so much seafood at Camp Herald ever in my time here. I mean Grilled Pineapples and Lobster Congee *pause for drooling* Yes it was a good weekend. Alas a long week comes to a close and another week begins.

Week 4: Work(less)

I got to be more consistent in my blogging because right now it’s like a on/off weekly postings; not putting the lack of technology in account, though I do have multiple post this time around because of my lack of access to the world wide web (old school!!!) but I digress, Though I think that it takes about 2-3 weeks for me to actually process anything in my mind because of the all the other things that are in my mind as I work up at a camp manager.

I think this blogs title is a good summary of what week 4 was like; at this time I look back into week 2-3 post and try and figure out what I was expecting in week 4…and so to sum up the first 5 days of week 4 it was a lot of working, for the various groups that I assigned work to, and workless; which I was doing because I was sitting in the office for the most part either planning the next project for the group that was up there to help or just figuring out the next step to progress in my own managerial skills in making mental checklist and being clear and concise in my communication. In my previous blog I talk about how I know God is taking care of everything but talk is cheap. How I am really supposed to say to God take care of this thing and then not take any actions afterwards. I mean I can say he is in control but I still feel that I have to follow through with something or else I feel that nothing is really done. To me these thoughts definitely occur at camp because in all honestly, if I was in the in the city with a slump in my motivation of working, I would probably be drowning it out with video game or shows to take my mind off of the task at hand.

So all the craziness of week 4 was caused, not so much managing the work quality of those around me but rather a self-degradation of my own personal work ethic, character, lack of faith and trust in God and resolve to be a good camp manager. I mean I would just sit there during the morning and afternoon hours of work and be on the laptop, looking over agreements, checking the schedules, trying to “look busy” when in all honestly I wasn’t doing much at all; for those above me I apologize of my lack of enthusiasm that week it was not a good week for me. Yet the redeeming grace of my week would have to be returning to the city just in time for Dr. Stuart Briscoe to speak the OCM’s English Revival.

*side note* For the first time in my life, I drove down to New York City from Camp on a very raining Friday morning…and it was AWESOME.

And so the reminder of my week 4 was focused on listening to an amazing servant of God with an awesome English accent. I was excited to be back as I checked my email just before I left to go back to the city that he was going to be speaking because I remember his exposition of Philemon 5 years prior and I was floor about how Dr. Briscoe was able to dissect the entire book over the course of 3 days and more specifically the Sunday message that focused on just one verse in the entire book. Initially analyzing the theme of “Church is not somewhere we Go, Church is something we Are” was perplexing to me because I thought, isn’t that a given? The song “If We Are the Body” by Casting Crowns resonates in my ears as I thought about the theme and that every time I gathered with brothers and sisters from different nationalities, regardless of race we were One Body; the Church in which Christ intends to marry. Though oks, I know this already it should just be a refresher and I’ll be good, but was I ever so wrong.

As many have heard the Bible being called the Living Word, some take it as just another synonym. Yet I believe that every time you read the bible that it speaks something new to you, even when you have read the same passage before or heard it from a sermon. That weekend revival I was floor again about how God was able to speak through a message reminding me about what the community around me was, who I was in its relation and how it all comes together in the end. More on that if you ask me personally because I can’t contain all the nuggets of knowledge that I gained from that weekend revival in one post. Though I will leave you with this that God is speaking to you whether you accept it or not, but it’s even more so on our part to take his Word seriously and listen carefully or else you might just miss something amazing. God was/is/will always be Amazing.

So the end of my week 4 and im a little more refreshed and ready to tackle this Camp Manager Job head on, YOSH!