First week of Camp

Yesterday, Friday, all the children from the first kids' camp went home. It was a wet, rainy day, but thankfully none of the villages were weathered in, so all the kids were able to fly home. Still, it was a lengthy process: 9am - 5pm with 3 pilots, flying two 4-place and one 6-place airplanes.

I had a blast with the six girls in my cabin. Three were from Russian Mission, the closest village to Kako, and three were from Stony River, about an hour and a half away. It worked out really nicely for me, as I have been to both villages and could visualize them. And having Stony River girls was particularly special, as that is the village that my mom spent the most years of her childhood, so I recognized their last names (Gusty, Bobby, Willis) and names of various relatives. I'll have to have my mom help me sort out all the complex small village relationships, but I believe the girls' parents were kids that my mom grew up with or camp counseled!

Something that might have been an issue, but wasn't, was that the Russian Mission girls were all Eskimo and the Stony River girls were mostly Indian. However, they mixed well, and we had a great time doing crafts, archery, riflery, canoeing, hiking, singing and games. My cabin really liked singing, so our devotions at night were frequently interrupted by requests for "This little light of mine" and "I'm in the Lord's Army."

The girls' Bible knowledge was minimal to nonexistent, so it was a challenge to figure out how to explain things ("Why did people do that to Jesus?") or even what stories were most important to share. They often wanted to hear the day's Bible lesson stories retold (i.e. David and Goliath), as they had never heard them before. I built off these stories and then the last night told two stories dealing with God's protection (Jesus calms the storm and the parable of the lost sheep) after they started sharing about all the times when they had been scared by drunk people. They have lots of scary things in their lives so I enjoyed teaching them a song about the armor of God and singing them to sleep with one of my favorite songs, that has a verse that goes: "The Angel of the Lord encamps round those who fear His name to save them and deliver them from harm. Though lions roar with hunger, we lack for no good thing. No wonder, then, we praise Him with our song."

Days were jammed packed full of activities and now I am pretty tuckered out. I have spent the day visiting with staff and relaxing so I can hopefully feel ready to start all over again on Monday. This time it will be junior highers, so they bring their own special challenges.

Monday is the reverse of Friday: a whole day of flying kids in, and entertaining the ones that have arrived, while waiting for everyone to get there. Then Tuesday-Thursday is camp time, and I leave for home Friday evening.