Metamorphosis Church Camp, 2011

I'm back home and glad to be so! The thing about camp is that it's always fun while you're there, but by the end, you are MORE than ready to leave.

A (haha) "Day-By-Day Play-By-Play" of my camp weekend:

Day 1: Get on bus, sweat for two hours, get off bus, unpack our junk in cabins, go to dinner, go to worship, realize, "Wow, it usually isn't this powerful till later in the week," and start to realize that God is not going to even come close to leaving you alone this week. Great sermon by Pastor Jason, then head off for ice cream. On the way a girl I've never met before turns around and says to me, "Isn't the moon beautiful?!" At the same time, my other friend says to me, "What do you think of my new skirt?", and I reply cheerfully, to both girls at once, "Oh yeah! It's really cute!". So, yes, the moon is 'cute', and with an introduction like that, I know that the girl and I are going to be amazing friends. She tells me her name is Megan, and greets me with a bear hug. Within a few minutes, I realize I've found a girl my age who is just as in love with God as I am, and far more outspoken about it. I mean, she literally cannot shut up about Him. She can't stop smiling and pointing out beautiful things. She brings out the best in me, the part that I've been repressing most of my life, because, well, even with my Christian friends (who are amazing) it's not always socially acceptable to rave about how much you're in love with God. This girl sounds like most people do when they leave an awesome concert put on by their favorite band, but more in love. I'm enthralled. I warn her that I will probably stalk her all weekend, because that's just the kind of person I think everyone wants to be around; I certainly do. She says she would love for me to hang with her. First day, already made a possible life-long friend -- she's certainly the kind of girl I want around for life. After ice cream, we head back to the activity center for late-night, with music, team-building games and team-spirit competitions. And then we all head back to our cabins and SLEEEEEEEP. Lights out at 11:30.

Bus-ride to Camp

Day 2: Up at 8:30! Get dressed, head to breakfast. My friends Madeleine, Stephen 1, Stephen 2, Will, and Tori and I all sit together. Not surprisingly, we're all kind of out of it. The food's actually quite good. After breakfast, we have a few minutes of free-time before heading to the worship center to start our day. Worship, a short sermon, and then we break into teams. Megan isn't on my team -- I'm kind of disappointed. It's okay, though, because Madeleine is, and so is my cousin Rachel and her friend Faith. First on our list of activities is to build a crest and write a team "rap". I like to draw, so, thinking it's something like what a knight would have put on a shield in medieval times, I volunteer to help with the crest. However, I mostly end up following the orders of a much better-prepared team-member, because I completely misunderstood what they meant by "crest". Our rap turns out awfully, but for the record, our crest is quite good. His name is Patchy, and he is my boyfriend.

Patchy: My boyfriend

After we finish our team-building stuff we migrate back to the cafeteria for lunch. I sit with my friends again, sneaking nervous glances at the rest of our team, most of whom our sitting together. I like my team, but I like my friends better. When we're done, we get a short break, and the our games for the day.

First day of outdoor activities: Wet games! First we have slip-n-slide bowling against the White Cornrows (NOTE: We're the Light Pink Soul Patches). Each team lines up behind a slip-n-slide. Trying to be as sportsman-like as possible, we cheer on the other team as much as we can, while still encouraging each other. When it's my turn, I go down too soon, and only go forward a couple of feet, stopping before I reach the pins. However, instead of getting embarrassed, I just reach out and punch the pins as hard as I could. The leaders count it and give us points. We lose, but we still have a lot of fun. We end up forming an alliance with the Cornrows. "White Pink! White Pink! White Pink!"

Next game is the Paddling Relay. Eight members of the team, four boys and four girls, line up behind an inflatable boat. The first member of the team jumps into the boat and paddles it across the swimming pool with his/her arms and legs. Then, when they reach the other side, they pull the next team member in the boat across the pools using a rope. We lose that one, too, and we don't have as much fun. It is fun, though, because it was hot hot HOT outside and we get to swim.

After that we have "Pirate Booty" (don't laugh). The objective is to swim along the bottom of the pool and gather together as many pennies as you can (the pennies were already scattered there). We lose. But again, swimming on a hot day = GOOD thing..

Our last game we lose as well, and it is the least fun of all the games we've played so far. We lay down on our backs, foot-to-foot with another member of our team, on a burning hot, soaking wet, wood-chip-and-mud-covered plastic mat, and carefully pass down a bucket full of water using only our feet. That's totally pointless, as well, because when we've passed it all along the line, we have to pass it back, put it on the ground, and move on to another bucket, from which we pull a wet sponge and race to empty all the water from that into yet another bucket. The one we passed has nothing to do with the main part of the game whatsoever. We're all fairly grumpy when we head back to our cabins to get ready to perform our rap.

Our rap is not good. We aren't the only ones with a mediocre rap, of course, but it feels that way, because the team that went before us did quite well. Afterwards, it is much harder to boost team moral, but we manage it, cheering each other and giving out high-fives. So we are in a considerably better mood during free-time.

During said free-time, I intend to take a nap, but just end up sitting on my bed in my thankfully air-conditioned cabin reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". We reluctantly exert energy and leave the cabin for the cafeteria at dinnertime. Once again, I sit with my friends rather than my team. We have a great time, talking and laughing about how tired we already are and telling each other about our days. When we're done, we make our way to the worship center. Worship is easily the best part of the day. God makes up for the heat and nasty games. I honestly don't think a single person is able to keep from crying that night.

After another brilliant sermon by Pastor Jason, we go back for ice cream, where I see Megan again. Once again, all we can talk about is how amazing God is. I feel so much better just being around her. I decide that she is an absolute blessing, and then we go back for late night.

During this time, we find out who won the rap and crest competitions. We win neither, but we are very impressed with the ones who do. And it's alright, because there's always tomorrow.

When we're done, back to the cabins, and thank Jesus for SHOWERS. And sleep.

Day 3: Alarm rings at 8:00, warning us to get up and into the showers for breakfast. I showered last night. I go back to sleep. I figure that the longer I wait, the shorter the line will get and the more rested I'll feel. I'm right. Breakfast is good, but once again, my friends and I are zoning. We head to morning service. Worship is great. So is the sermon. Chelsea, one of our supervisors, tells us that, due to the extreme heat, outdoor activities had been moved to the morning, and team-building activities, which happened indoors, could take place in the late afternoon, when the sun would be hottest. YAY!!!

First activity: kickball. Non-athletic girls, head to the outfield. Stand wayyyyy back. If the ball comes to you, throw it to somebody who can pitch, run, or do something else of that kind. Me, Madeleine, and Rachel, follow the order. I'm pretty cool with it. Even though it's earlier in the day, it's still quite hot, and I'd rather not exert too much energy just yet. We have a couple of the less athletic boys and more athletic girls back here with us, so I don't have to worry about running after the ball. My job is to cheer and look prepared. I can do that.

I don't have to kick, either. The game ends before my turn. I'm kind of glad. I'm not great at kickball, as proven by years of P.E. classes. My team would have been quite nice about it, but I'd have been pretty embarrassed. We lose, but oh well. We cheer quite loudly for both our team and the other. Spirit points!

After that, tug-o-war. First two games, we kick some butt. We have some pretty big kids on our team, some quite athletic little volleyball/basketball players, and then kids like me, who read all day, but really do try. But when we split up girls against girls and guys against guys, we lose both games. I guess we're better together. Once again, we're pitted against the Cornrows. Two of them come and help us pull during the first two games, so we cheer extra-loud for them.

Then, we move on to... Uh... Roll-The-Huge-Inflatable-Blue-Ball-Over-The-BMX-Course. I'm not kidding. That's the game. We won, but I didn't play. Patchy's neck broke, so I was busy being a good girlfriend and repairing him. But we still won, and we lined up at the end of the course and cheered as hard as we could for the other team. It was nice to sit in the shade.

Dodgeball next! Or... Gaga-ball. As the camp calls it. (Whhhhhaaaaat...?) We pile into a fenced-in circle and throw balls at each other. If the ball hits you, you're out. If you move while holding the ball, you're technically out, but it's hard not to move, so they cut us some slack. Once, I was the last of two people in the ring against three more of the opposing team. I grabbed the ball and accidentally stumbled forward. "You're not supposed to move while you're throwing the ball!" one of the boys shouts at me. "I'm -- sorry!" I shout, throwing the ball. It hits him in the legs. Pwnage.

We lose that game, but team morale is high. We leave with a shout of "LIGHT PINK!" and head to lunch. When we're done, we head to the worship center to begin our team challenge, which is to build a mascot. Once again, I basically just follow orders. Our mascot is a Sour Patch Kid ("Soul Patch" kid), and we have very limited supplies, less than the other teams. The other team sharing the room with us (Megan's team) has fabric, rubber ducks, string, paint, duct-tape, markers, cardboard, and tons of other stuff -- we have some boxes and a bottle of pink paint. We manage to make a pretty good figure out of the boxes, but to cover it all we had to mix it with water, so it was too thin and wouldn't cover the markings on the box. Then we tried as hard as we could to throw sugar onto the box, but it wouldn't stick right and we mostly just sugared ourselves. In the end, we just sort of left it.

Free-time! I took a nap. It felt wonderful. I felt amazing. I didn't manage a shower before dinner, but I wasn't the only one. Dinner with my friends. Then we go back to the worship center.

Ho. Lee. COW. Within two songs, I am on the floor unable to move or stop laughing. People around me are sobbing and praying at the top of their lungs.Worship goes on half an hour longer than intended, and even after it's over I can't stop laughing. Pastor Ben had to take me out of the sanctuary and into a separate room to calm down, and I'm still in there cracking up fifteen minutes later. Incredible. After God finally lets up on me a bit, I go back in and manage to catch the last few minutes of the sermon. We all end up praying for each other, arms around shoulders, hand in hand, weeping over the shoulders of people we've never even seen before.

We finally leave for ice cream. I meet Megan at the same spot. We share our experiences during worship, both of us practically dancing with excitement. I tell her about the atmosphere of absolute joy around her. She tells me about the atmosphere of peace and tranquility and contentment I have around me. It completely makes my day. I never knew I gave off any sort of atmosphere at all.

Back for late night. During worship, I twisted my ankle jumping up and down, so by late night it's quite swollen. Madeleine had actually passed out from the presence of Jesus, and she's still quite light-headed. We end up sitting outside and just hangin' out. We dance in our seats to a lot of the songs, and dramatically cover our ears when Justin Bieber comes on (aforementioned Bieber will henceforth be known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named), and manage to hear that our best guy-friend Stephen Scroggs' team won the mascot contest with their cardboard Captain America. We cheer from outside.

Afterwards we head back to the cabins. Showers. Sleep.

Day 4: Sleep in once again. Breakfast, morning service. Great worship. Great sermon. Outdoor activities.

First: Leaping Lily-Pads. Find a partner on your team, tie your ankles together, hop from one wooden "lily-pad" to the other. Touch the ground, start over. At the end, grab onto the rope and try to swing into the hula hoop. The girl I partner with is heavyset, insecure, and a known pessimist. The whole time we're going she keeps saying, "We're gonna lose, we're never gonna make this, I'm too fat." As she predicts, we don't make it, and she doesn't even try. Needless to say, I'm quite frustrated with her as we head back. She starts complaining, "My knee hurts, my knee hurts, I don't want to do this anymore." Annoyed and used to her over-exaggerating everything, I snap back, "No, come on, we're gonna keep going." As it turns out, her knee-cap doesn't grow with the rest of her body and isn't strong enough for this game. She really does need to sit down. I feel awful and sit down beside her to keep her company.

At the end of the game (which we lose, but only by one point), our leader comes over to take the girl to see the medics. I explain what's the matter, and she tells me to return with the team. Still feeling quite guilty about yelling at her the way I did and making her keep walking on her bad knee, making it worse, I reply that I don't think that's fair. But before I can explain why, my leader looks at me in shock, as though she can't believe that I have an opinion on the subject and makes me go back without giving me a chance to explain myself at all. My spirits are quite low as I return to the team.

Next we have an obstacle course, which we do blind-folded. We lose, but again by one point again.

Finally, we have a puzzle. By this point my mood has improved. We run out to find our team's designated pieces of wood, and make a puzzle. We scream each other on and cheer our hardest for the Cornrows, who we're playing against again. "White pink, white pink, white pink!" We finally win!

And we're done. We're actually a bit relieved, and also a bit sad. We just finished our last game together as a team.

Lunch.

On to team-building activity! Actually, today we go to watch baptisms on the lake. I find Megan and we stand together and cheer on the newly born-agains. We cry. It's amazing.

I head back to my cabin for some prayer time and to get a bit of reading in. After a while I shower and change. Dinner. Worship, during which I'm filled with absolute peace and contentment. Sermon. I cry. Back for ice cream, talk to Megan. Go back to late night, and Megan and I hang out and dance while a Christian hip-hop group performs. People are crowd-surfing, Megan gives me a huge hug and tells me that in the past week I've shown her more love than anyone else in her life, ever, besides Jesus. Wow. All I can do is hug her back.

We return to our cabins for the last night. We're all a little teary.

Day 5: Get up earlier than any other day. Pack our things, take our suitcases to the buses on the way to breakfast. Eat. Put on our fully adorable camp shirts for the camp photo. I sit with my best friend Stephen (the Scroggs one I mentioned earlier) and Madeleine. It takes forever and we're burning hot, but eventually we get it done. We change again for the bus-ride home. Clean our cabins. Say a tearful farewell to the girls who won't be on our buses, and even get a little weepy because we may never see the cabin that has been our home for four days again, and if we do... It just won't be the same. Finally pile onto the buses, wait impatiently in the heat until the buses start moving, and then shout a last goodbye to the camp staff as we finally pull away.

Two heat-filled hours later, we're back at the air-conditioned church and ready to go back to our separate lives. My mom is waiting for me in the church coffee shop. I grab my suitcase. It's time to go home.


That weekend was a strange one. In some ways it was bad. In many others, it was amazing. It took me a full week to even process it enough to blog about it. I decided that it was definitely the best camp experience I've ever had, socially and spiritually, even if our team was somewhat lacking. I really, truly, met God in person. He was there. When I closed my eyes I could see Him. I made a new best friend and grew closer than ever to my old ones. I was ready to go home when it was over, but I still miss it, and probably will for a long time. I'd like to go back someday, but as Pastor Jason says, "That was just a mountain. It's time to break camp and move on."

"Yahweh, our God, spoke to us, saying, 'You have lived long enough on this mountain. It is time for you to break camp and move on... Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them... Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for the multitude.  Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as He has promised you!"
-- Deuteronomy 1:6-11