The Ministry Never Stops.

I spent 5 straight weeks at Christian camps this summer. The first week was a Leadership Camp. This camp trained hand-picked kids from different churches to become the councilors for the next few weeks. Not only did we learn the basic facts of counseling children, such as what to do if they become homesick, or who to tell if your campers confide in you about a tough situation at home, but we learned to serve by doing the work that needed to be done around the camp so that it would be ready for all the campers coming on and off the mountain. Most importantly, we spent time in the Word of God. Preparing ourselves to have faith in tough times during the coming weeks, pray continually, and to lead the kids that we were going to be around not just by the words of the devotions that we had to give every night, but by our actions. Something that we were told over and over again was, "Once you're a councilor, you're ALWAYS going to be a councilor." I understood what that meant...that your campers will always look up to you, so don't mess up. But I didn't realize the full of it until after I came back home from our busy summer.
The next week was Teen Camp. A time for all of us to just hang out, relax, have fun, and be the campers for the next week. The only problem was that the team that was supposed to come up down from a Bible college to be our councilors through Teen Camp we carriers of Swine Flu. They, of course, didn't come to Teen Camp. Those of us who had just gone through Leadership Camp had to step up and council. Some of us for the first time ever! We were going to be counseling our friends. We were going to be counseling kids that were older than us. We were going to be leaders.
Teen Camp went by almost too fast. I was a co-councilor with another girl my age, Bethanie, who has also never counseled before. I still thank God that we were put in the same cabin. We were the only ones who had 2 councilors in our cabin. During the week, Bethanie and I grew very close. We tease now that we were "forced to be friends." As awesome as it is to have a friend like her, the greatest thing that happened at Teen Camp was this: I was forced to rely on God. I had no idea what I was doing. When we got the word that we would be the councilors for Teen Camp, I acted like it would be no big deal and I was totally confident. I even got comments about how calm I was. But the reality is that I was scared. Sometimes it was almost like I was in a fog. Like I wouldn't really be counseling that next week. But other times I was totally panicked and would think, "can I really do this?" The answer: No. I couldn't do it. But God could. And He chose to do it through me.
I had to rely on God a lot that week. Without Him, I probably would have had a nervous breakdown right in the middle of camp. I also had to learn to trust God without questioning. This was something that was extremely hard for me. On one of the nights that I was supposed to give the devotion, I really felt like I needed to change what I had planned to do. I really didn't want to at first. I don't do things without planning first. Ever. My devotion was already planned...did God really want me to change it? I talked to Bethanie about it and she agreed that we should change the subject. She and I spent about an hour re-writing what we were going to say for that night. And God used it. We only had about an hour and a half to prepare, but God took it and used it in a way the other devotion couldn't be used. Our campers were blessed because we obeyed. And we were blessed because we obeyed. We had just learned to trust God on a whole new level.
I'm not saying at all that I have the whole trusting God completely all the time thing down, because I don't. But in the next 2 weeks, that new trust I had with my Savior helped so much. I loved counseling Junior and Middle School Camp. The little girls were so adorable and some of my Jr. campers even called me "Mommy" or "Camp Mommy"...that was a little strange, but I soaked it up.
After these camps were done, my brother and I hopped on a plane and went to Iowa for a camp there. We were actually campers there, but I know that I was in councilor mode. I made friends with all the really young kids that were the age of some of my Jr. Campers. I still keep in contact with one in particular, along with many other people at the camp. God used my experience as a councilor to help a slightly challenged guy in my "family" (kind of like a cabin group). And I was able to just sit and hold one girl who was going through some things with her parents. God totally blessed me that week and gave me so many opportunities!
Something really cool about going to this Iowa camp was that I had already been to 4 weeks of camp. You know that "loop" you go in every year? The one where you're on a "God-high" and want to live totally sold out for Him right after camp? You do okay the first few weeks, but then your fire dies when school starts and you're back to square one when camp comes around again. I was already on my "God-high," so I got to go one step further at camp. Not only did I want to live totally sold out for my Messiah, but I was convicted of things and given "ideas" on how to be a better witness for the True Gospel. I'm so excited for school to start this year because I'm overly-determined to "make the most of every opportunity!"
We went to CA for a week and a half for a family reunion after that. When I finally got back home to St. George, I was so excited to see everyone! I gave countless hugs to my friends and was "giddy," as someone put it, to be back at church. But the one thing that really hit me was when I stepped out of Sunday School and I instantly had little girls' arms tied around my waist. A few of my campers had come to church and were ecstatic to see me. One of the girls said that she would look for me every week, and then realized that I was still gone. I was talking to my girls both before and after the service. I felt like a celebrity. That's when I realized the full extent of what I was told at Leadership Camp: "Once you're a councilor, you're ALWAYS a councilor." The ministry will never stop. I've put a mark in these kid's lives and they will always look up to me no matter what. What I do won't effect just me. I'm going to effect a lot of people with every decision I make. That's quite a lot of pressure, but it's something I want to live up to.
I was given so many chances to minister to people throughout this summer. People both younger and older than me. And now the ministry will never stop. Every time I'm around my campers, or I text the little 7th grade boy from the Iowa camp, or e-mail people that I met at camp who weren't even in my cabin or "family," I'm going to be able to minister. People will always be watching me. I need to use every opportunity to share God's love with them. Not only by being nice to them and talking to them when they're around, but showing them through the things I do what it looks like to serve the Almighty God. I'm always going to be ministering to someone. Whether it's good or bad, people will be watching me to see if I'm all I say I am. My ministry will NEVER stop.