Our blogs so far have been really random stories or thoughts about our experience so far, so I thought I would take some time to give you some specifics of what we’re all doing. This week is our staff orientation week so it’s been a lot of team building and skills development. Our theme is “awesome” – not exactly sure why but maybe because we want everything we do to be awesome.  Our evening worship sessions have been focusing on the idea that we have to have a relationship right with God first and then with each other second before we can effectively impact the children’s lives. The staff has really grown closer and supported each other as we have grown stronger in our faith through these sessions.

We’ve been split into four teams in which we do some small group devotions and different games/challenges. I am leading one of the groups and Matt R. and Josh are both in my group. It has been a really great experience to lead the small group through devotions and fun games, and I love all the kids in my group so much. There are so many awesome memories I will take from our small group times – one specifically came from a game in which our team had to try to hold onto each other as long as we could as another team tried to pull us apart. The story is best told in person, but pretty much Matt held on our new friend Aiden for dear life through a lot of what could be considered torturous situations – and we won that game!! Matt C, Amanda and Quinn are in the other three groups and having a great time as well. Tiffany isn’t in a group because she has been busy in the kitchen as assistant cook. Today was the head cooks day off so Tiffany was in charge of all the meals with Amanda as her assistant and they did a great job!!!

During the day we have been doing a lot of skills training. I personally have spent almost all of every day on the beach – setting it up and making sure it meets the health inspection standards (yes the health inspector checks the conditions of the waterfront). We’ve also done inservice, which is our specific lifeguard training. I’ve been able to help lead many of these inservice sessions and enjoy the extra responsibility I’ve been given this year. Both of the Matts and Josh spent all day today canoeing and getting certified through Paddle Canada. Quinn participated in archery and water sports, and as I already mentioned Tiffany and Amanda were busy in the kitchen. Early in the week the LITs and returning cabin leaders learned about dealing with difficult camper situations as Matt discussed in his blog.

Tonight we got to head into Magnetawan for ice cream and fireworks. It was fun… and kinda cold. It’s been a busy week as you can tell, but it’s coming to an end. It’s sad because it’s been such a great week, but exciting because that means that the kids are coming soon and we’ll get to do what we came here to do – serve and love the kids and show them God’s love.

As we go into this next week you can pray for the campers – for safety and that they will be able to see God through us. You can also pray for the staff that they will be able to stay excited and motivated throughout the weeks of kids camps. I’ll update you with more specific prayer requests as they arise. Thank you so much for supporting us through prayer – it means so much to all of us.

p.s we’re trying to get you some pictures of us that aren’t from last year and aren’t just of the island and the lake (even though they are so beautiful) – so hopefully pics from this summer will be coming soon