The next best thing

So, I haven't written on this blog since English camp. I can't believe that was already two months ago. The time has flown by. In some ways I'm moving on with life as it was, in other ways I'm moving forward. Right now I'm still working part-time at the grocery store that I did before I left, and I'm incredibly grateful that they gave me my job back, especially given the current economic state of the country. However, I'm also in the process of trying to make it back to Germany next year to help out with the English camp efforts for, hopefully, about 9 months. Within the next few weeks I'm hoping to get a new blog started up, or to give this one a massive face-lift, and to define/redefine the mission I'd like the major objectives for the blog.

So... with that said. For those of you listening, thanks a ton for all of the support this past summer. I really can't begin to describe how much it means to me. And second, (and more importantly), I'll be sharing new information about next year as it becomes available to me!

Lost & Found

So I've neglected the old blog for the past ten days. And for that I sincerely apologize. Camp is kind like triage - you have to rank your priorities, and realize that somethings (with the workload) are lost battles and are only going to wear you out more. Last camp was brutal insofar as I couldn't just sit around and listen for kids being loud - I had to bust down doors and tell them to be quiet... until at least 11:30. Then wake up at 7 the next morning and repeat the whole process. I'm not saying that to whine. I totally enjoy "the whole process" the downside of it is, if I'm honest, there are other things that for my own sanity's sake had to fall by the wayside. The blog was one of them.

Camps been over now for a week. I've been trying to get stuff put back in order with Janz Team, and I think I'm done with that. I've also had some meeting about possibly coming back for a more extended time next year - which would be fantastic. I really love working with the people I worked with this summer, and I really love the work. Its been a great experience, even if I don't get a chance to come back, this summer is something I wouldn't change for anything.

Camp has been over for a week, and I think I'm starting to get a good piece of my energy back. I'm enjoying the area I'm in... Its beautiful, and to be able to be out on some hiking trails after a five minute's walk is awesome. I spent a day exploring a park with some rock-formations, and it was an awesome escape from the constant hustle of camp. (Even though, if I'm honest, I really do miss the hustle). But the area here is great. Its still Baden, and that means great food, great people, beautiful vineyards, beautiful scenery... etc.

More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle

Thats right. I'm having tons of fun right now... Camp has actually really been going well the past couple of days. Despite some pretty serious hitches in our road, camp has been going really well (I think). For me Saturday was a pretty tough day, it was long, and there was a bunch of stuff going on... so at the end of the day I felt pretty drained. And things, I think, have been getting better since then, slowly but surely. So now... I really do think things are going alright. We've still got a tough (But good) couple of days in front of us, and we need to make the most of our time with the campers. But I'm looking forward to the challenge.

That being said... I guess I'm giving the Bible message on Friday... so I'm gonna go back to work on that :-).

Tech Disasters can't Stop Me.

So yesterday was allright despite some bad tech dissasters... Some of which were my fault. We are combining chapel for two of the camps, since we are sans one chapel speaker - not in and of itself a problem. However, everyone involved in chapel wants to use more equipment than we actually have... therin lies the problem. So in trying to switch out sound equipment in between stuff, and setting up three different computers... yeah. So we had some technical difficulties. Bummer. But I think I have a working solution for tonight... I hope it works.

A new beginning

Sorry I haven't updated in so long - the end of last camp got kind of crazy, especially with only one computer with internet access avaliable. Hopefully this camp will go better with that. The first camp is over, sadly, but the second one began yesterday. So after a few days of rest, we're back in the saddle again. And it feels good. Yesterday night I policed the halls until about 12:30, busting kids for talking past lights out. Its a strange kind of power-trip ;-) .

But seriously. I have a good feeling about this camp. Getting to know the kids, so far, has been great. Its a totally different game when you don't know most of them from the onset - so much more of this camp will be forging new relationships with kids, rather than building relationships further. There are a few kids that I know here from three years ago, and its been really nice to seem them again, especially since they've grown up in the meantime.

Alright. I have to get going, but I'll hopefully post more later. Oh... and the slide show should now be pictures from last camp!

Two Posts in One... Saturday & Sunday update

I think this is probably going to start being a trend. Once again I'm policing the “lights out” policy and typing the day's blog post. So, although your information is going to be about a day behind, you'll probably get more frequent updates than if I were looking for a time to type for fifteen or twenty minutes on a computer here with internet access.

I'm kind of disappointed – the stud athlete on my team busted up his knee playing “running bases” today. So, our run towards camp glory may, once again, be cut short due to the injury of a key player. Rats. Actually, seriously, I feel bad for the kid. I guess up until about 6 weeks ago he was on crutches with another injury, and now he's probably going to be out of commission again for a while. At least he's putting a pretty good face on it.

Otherwise, life really is pretty good. I finally got about an hour of the waking day to just crash, alone, and relax. It was, at this point, well needed, and very gratefully received! I'm loving my time with the campers, and I wish I had more time with them than I do. I can't believe that they leave next weekend already.

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This is going to be two posts. I didn't really have time to upload my post from yesterday so my post from Saturday night is the one above, and what follows is the Sunday update.

Sunday was actually a really good day, despite my not really having any free time so to speak of. Camp Sundays consist of busing the kids down to church – BFCF the English speaking church thats attached to the Black Forest Academy, and then the kids having lots of free time, and usually watching a movie. So, the kids get a chance to unwind on Sunday, which leaves less free time for the staff (For example... I'm “off” when the kids are in English class for a couple of hours during the day... which means I try, as best as I can, to fulfill the role of “team leader” in that margin as well as other times during the day). I also, usually like to try to take at least a few minutes of “Steve” time sometime during the day (Preferably during my free time) where I can just unwind for a bit, get a few minutes of peace and quite, and read for a while. But getting to spend extra time with the campers, just hanging out, was really awesome. And despite not having any “free time” for myself on the Sunday docket, it turns into one of my favorite days of camp.

Oh... the kid who smacked his knee the other day is doing well. He's walking around without crutches, so we're all very happy that the injury wasn't as bad as we first thought it might be. Which is a huge answer to prayer for a lot of people.

I had an interesting room time with my guys yesterday night. We had watched the new “Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” movie yesterday evening as a camp, and talked a little bit about how the movie can be interpreted in light of the story of Christ. I thought it was really interesting that my guys pretty much uniformly had seen, and liked Mel Gibson's “The Passion of the Christ” better than the disney film... partly because they felt Disney had stronger ulterior motives for making the film (Making a lot of money off of it), whereas Gibson's movie didn't. The other half of their preference was because they felt the Narnia film was a bit too “fantastical” to be a good portrayal of the Christian story. I'm not saying I agree with them %100, and I'm not trying to push their view... but I am proud of them for coming up with an opinion on how their beliefs are treated in the media and for sticking too it (the guys who were talking about it are Christians... and for those of you who know me I didn't “seed” that opinion in them, and I wasn't trying in any way to take the conversation towards critiquing the film, or the film industry at all. It came up completely spontaneously and I barely commented on the whole matter). So that being said, I'm incredibly proud of my boys for having an opinion on something like this, sharing it, and then sticking to their guns on it and giving adequate, logical evidence to support their views. (and I think they both know they're not trying to delineate between good and bad, but better and best... which is also exciting).

The door is open and I'm listening to campers that I'm going to have to bust in the next few minutes for being too loud again. One full day of camp is over. Despite a few road-bumps, it still feels great to be here.

Its always a pretty honest answer to tell campers that their camp is not better or worse than the last one, only different. Unfortunately I think if I tell the next group that, it may be a lie. I know I posted yesterday that I knew over half the kids at this camp. The truth of the matter is that if I made a list of all of the previous campers who I'd worked with, who would still be eligible to come to camp, this camp would have the vast majority of them all in one place. I'm constantly being blessed by the kids and the other staff, despite my shortcomings.