I got back on Friday. I had to leave a day early in order to transition into something new.
Day 0. As my parents drove up the hill to Woodleaf, I started to get sick. I was very nervous and tempted to yell to turn back. What if nobody liked me? What if I didn't like anybody? All these anxieties piled up, but I kept them quiet. When I got there, I didn't know where to go so I stepped into the office that I was going to be working in. It was the right place, it was where I checked in. First person I met was Jen. She was going to be my intern (kind of like my boss). Then after I stepped outside this little blond boy asked me if I was looking for the girl dormitories. (He immediately won my heart).
I met my coordinators (Daniel, Amy, and Justin). Then I headed up to my room and the first girls I met were Ashlee and Brittany. Turns out Ashlee was the other office girl and we hit it off. We both liked Pokemon (yes I am a nerd), we both liked the color blue, and were both single ladies (as was our intern Jen, so you can imagine what kind of conversations we had). After that I began meeting so many people. We had a big group of people just sitting and getting to know each other. I thought to myself, "Dang, this is so easy!" We all had the same passion: Young Life. A bus came carrying the rest of Team 614.
Team 614 we had a certain structure. 614 stands for the month and year we were working June (6) and 2014 (14). We stood on a foundation of gratitude covered in prayer and our pillars were humility, hospitality, excellence, and intentionality. Another saying they had was "Do everything you're asked of +1". This assignment was going to challenge me mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
There is so much that happened on Day 0, I can't even put it into words. Long story short: I made some great connections and we went to bed late.
Day 1 of Week 1
Got up, had breakfast. Went to training. This was my job:
Greet anybody that came into the office. Answer the phone with "Good Afternoon (or morning, or evening) Young Life's Woodleaf, this is Sami." If there was a call for someone on property staff or an intern, I would have to radio them. This was the scary part. I have never used a radio in my life, except when I was younger and I was playing. So, I would have to say something like "Jen, copy Jen." This was the hardest thing, but I eventually got used to it and gained confidence. The office was open from 8am-8pm. So Ashlee and I switched off mornings and evenings. We had to bring each other the meals that we were missing and whatever notes to give to campers and head leaders. (Head leaders were like our connection to campers, bless their heart). On every Day 1, the buses would call us tell us that they were heading up. Day 1 was definitely the most stressful. That night was the Obstacle Course. It was the first event and my job was to help coordinate a dance for the girls. The song we danced to was "Run the World (Girls)" I did not choreograph the dance but it was simple and easy to learn and you can tell that the girls had fun. But after they learned the dance, they would go outside and start the Obstacle Course. The purpose of the course was to get the campers to trust their leader. A lot of the obstacles had to do with working with their leader and trusting them.
Day 2 of Week 1
The activity for this day was unity games. I was handling the frisbee station. At first I was pouring Kool-Aid into little cylinders, but that idea faded. How the frisbee station worked was I would throw frisbees and the different cabins had to catch them and then walk them back to me. But high schoolers don't exactly listen the whole time. I would throw them and then they would get thrown back. Every group did the same thing. I got a couple of bruises on the second day. But it was so worth it. I had fun anyways. The activity for that night was dodgeball and my job was to hand out ice cream towards the end. I loved interacting with the campers.
Day 3 of Week 1
This is probably my favorite day of the week. The morning activity was Messy games, unfortuneatly, I was working in the office during Messy games but I went the next week. That night was Tableau. In French that means "frozen picture." All of Work Crew (the high schoolers there for a month) and Summer Staff (the college kids there for a month) would play a role. Campers would exit their cabin time to find almost 100 people frozen in this western theme. My role was a priestess. There was a couple getting married and I was performing the ceremony. As the campers were coming out, all of them were staring at us and trying to make us laugh. I stayed hard. Then we heard the gunshot go off and we all started moving. 30 seconds later the gunshot went off again and we froze in whatever we were doing. The program people (the people that managed all the skits and events) would do their skit and play their roles. Our cue was the song "Happy" and we all started dancing. Then we would freeze again. After that campers would come down and try to make us laugh. I had a camper dance her rear end right in front of me. But again, I stayed hard. Campers then changed into their western clothes and ate dinner while we set up for square dancing. Square dancing was probably my favorite part. My partners were always great. I can recite the whole song: "All join hands as you circle the ring. Stop where you are, give your partner a swing. Swing that girl behind you. Swing your own if you've felt she hasn't flown. Allemande with your sweet corner maid. Do-si-do your own. Now we all promenade with your sweet corner maid singing oh Johnny oh Johnny oh." I heard it way too much, but it was the best. At first it would start off slow, and then it would go faster until you were out of breath. After square dancing, the kids would go through a dance through the ages where they played well known songs from the decades for about 20 seconds then move on to the next and kids would dance. The last song would be the conga and the goal was to get everyone in the conga line, and the leader conga (ed) all the way to the pool and kids jumped in the pool. That is a fun-filled day.
Day 4 of Week 1
Day 4 is when things start to chill down. There is only a morning activity. The Regatta. The Regatta is basically water games, but some out of water stuff. There's a triathlon, there's a sand castle building contest, a synchronized swimming tournament, and a jousting tournament on the lake. My job was to direct the runners on where to go. That night was the cross talk. Campers learn how Jesus died on the cross. I went to this Club every week. (Club is a term that Young Life uses for the gatherings for talks and up-front games)First thing was the musician would sing the songs: Treasure, Disney Medley, and I Still Haven't Found What I'm looking for. Then Elsanna (Spanish for the sauna ;) would go up and ask Ollie to go to Woodleaf (a spoof of "Do you Wanna Build A Snowman.) "Do you wanna go to Woodleaf, Come on let's go and play. I really want to blob with you and when we're through, get a Whirley by the waaaay. Cause you are my best buddy so come to play, then we'll have cabin tiiiiime. Do you wanna go to Woodleaf, it's gonna be here at Woodleaf!" I might have gotten a few things wrong. After she would sing a techno song would come on and a big snowman would come out. Then they would pull the curtain and reveal 2 campers on a "wrecking ball." The game was for the campers' leaders to be blindfolded and then throw tennis balls at the campers. The campers would try to catch them and put them on their head (which had a Velcro helmet attached). Then the musician would go up again and sing one of his original songs. Then our speaker, Lily, would go up and give the cross talk. After the talk on Day 4, campers would go into 15 minutes of silence and sit outside and watch the stars. They were encouraged to talk to God in this moment. All the lights were turned off so that they can see the stars. On every Day 4, Summer Staff and Work Crew would have their meetings. There was maybe 2 or 3 songs of worship and then somebody would go up and say a message on one of our pillars (Humility, Hospitality, Excellence, and Intentionality). I loved this night. Everyone was finally together and we just worshiped.
Day 5 of Week 1
Breakfast in bed and sleep-in day. Praise Jesus. Except I didn't know that it was sleep-in day and I got up early, got my coffee and thought there was going to be morning devo (devotional). That day, I did not start right. Day 5, there are no activities. I also went to the club that night. This club, the Work Crew had this thing called "Cardboard Testimonies." Campers would walk into club and the whole Work Crew would be singing "You Are Holy (Prince of Peace)" It was very beautiful. Then about 5 people at a time, they would lift up cardboards of how they thought of themselves or how they struggled. Then flip over and what God did to them. Again, very beautiful and moving. After Work Crew was done, the last segmant of "Life Signs" would go on. The whole club room was dark and 5 people sat in chairs. Whoever was talking, got the spotlight. One of my coordinators was one of them. Some past clubs, they have been talking about their lives and how they came to God. This was the only one I saw. Then the last part was probably the most beautiful that moved me the most. It was called the "Everything Skit." You might of heard of it. It is a perfect picture of what Jesus did. Some fellow Summer Staffers put it together and practiced hard for it. Ashlee, my partner in crime, was in it. I looked at other versions on YouTube and my favorite will always be the one that they did. I encourage you to look it up.
Day 6 of Week 1
This day is also very chill. Not a lot of activities is planned but it is the White-Out dinner where we are supposed to be dressed in all white or black. This dinner was fun for us girls because it was kind of fancy and sophisticated. Day 6 is another favorite because it's very relaxed and I didn't have much to do. But that night was Carnival night. Normally this night is on Day 2 but this week it was on Day 6. The station I handled was the ping pong station. Kids would toss ping pongs and try to make it in a jar (kind of reminds you of something, right?). The other stations were a frisbee station, a BB gun station, a bull-riding station, a "Make-Me-Laugh" station, a skee ball, a balloon station, and plenty more. After every activity kids were given tickets. Then, they would cash in their tickets to pie or water dunk their leader. Or for cotton candy and popcorn. I was excited the first hour but then I got very tired and was ready for bed.
Day 7 of Week 1
The morning campers leave. The club for this morning is campers accepting Jesus into their hearts. Young Life calls them "Say-So's." It also was when the International Offering would take place. The offering was for kids in other countries who can't afford to go to camp. Anyways, a big chunk of the club room stood up, I would say at least 45 kids stood up accepting Jesus. It was awesome. As soon as campers left, Team 614 had a dance party. Then we got ready for Turnover. Ashlee and I deep-cleaned the Mayor's Office, mopping and sweeping, and balanced the cash drawer, and counted the International Offering. I was very surprised every week of how much people gave.
Then it was Day 1 all over again. There were some very special weeks. One week, we had over 80 Capernaum kids. Capernaum is part of Young Life that specializes in kids with disabilities. There was one kid, Trey, who came the first week who connected with the lifeguards a lot. He wrote them letters afterwards and called the office quite a lot. The last week we were there, he called almost 5 times a day. One day, Ashlee talked on the phone with him for an entire hour. He showed me how impacting Young Life can be. The last week, we had a group called Impacting Hearts. These kids grew up in foster care homes. Many were broken. Many brought weed.
I can't remember what Day it was of Week 4, but it was a Club where Life Signs were happening. Except instead of 5 people, it was 6. They added someone. He started talking about how he grew up in a foster care home and how he didn't meet his mother until college. When he met her, he asked her: "Do you even love me?" Then the kids were given the opportunity to reflect. One kid in the way corner of the room raised his hand. He was from Impacting Hearts. He asked if he could come on stage. So he did and he embraced this man for a solid 3 minutes. They didn't even know each other. Then the whole room was crying and hugging each other. Good job God.
Working in the office was challenging. I had a bunch of free time. I read "The Fault in Our Stars." One day I even spent 3 hours in the Bible. People asked me if I ever got bored. My answer is no. I never did. I journaled, I read, and I meditated. Plus I got lots of visitors and had some sweet conversations. I loved working in the office, I don't think I would do it again but I would say that about any job. God taught me how much I needed this community, how important it is to meditate on him, and he prepared me for what is going to happen in about 6 hours.
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