My Bad...

I am not good at this.  Keeping up with my blog.  Even so I'd still like to share a bit about these past 2.5 weeks!

Week 2:
I was in Mankato with three lovely ladies.  Mankato is beautiful if you've never been.  The southern part of Minnesota has many hills and is very nice to drive through!  The church we were at served many kids from the church, but they also served a number of kids who live in apartments right by their building.  These kids don't have as much money and usually they walked to day camps.  It was a crazy week at day camps, but it was also really fun.  I enjoyed getting to know these kids, and as crazy as it was, it was still so good!  There were many kids that I could tell really grew from day camps and had so much fun.  Our host families were awesome too.  I love staying with families that have kids.  It was a joy to just hang out with their kids and get to know their family.

Week 3:
I was in Iowa again.  This time I had the opportunity to go back to Coraville where I was last summer.  We stayed with the same family as last year, and it was so nice to connect with them again.  I have become quite attached to Iowa - especially Iowa City & Coraville.  There are many aspects about the area that I love and there is so much to be "done" for the kingdom of God there.  I don't know what my next few years look like, but if living in Iowa is a part of that I would be down.  It was a treat to see many of the same kids from last year at day camps and continue to build relationships with them.  It was so cool to see the impact we made last year and how that carried over to this year.  I also had many moments of joy with these kids.  It was so fun to play games with them and be silly.  The best part is that I knew I was brightening their day, just be hanging out with them!  I also had the awesome opportunity to play in a random drum circle in downtown Iowa City on our night out!  It was such an amazing experience.  To conclude Iowa was amazing!

Week 4:
This has been my best week yet I believe.  I am in Forest Lake with another coordinator and two counselors.  Most of our campers have been exposed to the gospel and know a lot about Jesus.  Nevertheless it has been sweet to challenge them to dig deeper and live out their faith in Jesus.  It also has been a ton of fun to sing songs with these kids!  They love the songs and every day (especially at the end of the day) we've been having so much fun dancing and singing for Jesus.  It seems like the kids are really present at camp and excited.  Every week of day camps that has been the case, but maybe I'm just more present with them as the weeks go by.

As far as my life outside of Trout Lake Camps goes there are just a few things happening.  My best friend gets married in 18 days!!!  And, Praise the Lord, I got to see her on Monday :).  Love that woman.  I take my licensure exam (again...) on August 10th, so I am attempting to study for that bad boy.  Job hunting is kind of existent, but very hard to do when I am working at camp.  Prayers for that would be fabulous.

This summer I have been learning about my need to apologize after I feel I may have hurt someone just by being me.  I've been called out on it numerous times.  Being aware of my habit is eye opening and has challenged me to check myself before I say sorry.  I am not responsible for other people's emotions, therefore I need not say sorry for fear that they would be upset with me and reject me.  It's true that they could be upset with me and that is perfectly okay.  What I am trying to hold on to is that I am accepted by God and that's enough.  There's more that I'm learning from God about how I operate, especially with others.  For now that is the only thing that seems significant enough to share.

This was good.  The whole blogging thing.

Until next time,

Jamie