Image description: The sun is setting over the Overlook Lodge, a large beige building. A path leads from the foreground of the photo to the lodge. Trees can be seen surrounding the building and path.
I learned how to be myself at Camp Bedford.
Maybe “being yourself” is something that comes easier to others, but for me, I have always been worried that I will be too much. Too loud. Too in-your-face. Too weird. When I shuffled in to Camp Bedford with my duffle bag at age seven, I was welcomed with open arms, not in spite of, but because of how MUCH I am. Every time I drive through the gate at Camp Bedford, the air feels different. Love is more easily given. Forgiveness is more easily shared. I have always known that God is in this place because I can feel it.
But this blog isn’t about my love for Camp Bedford, although I could write about that forever. This is about my Peace Intern Week at Camp Bedford, which was such a soul-enriching experience. And it all began in a Denny’s.
Rev. Sarah Zuniga, the 2024 DPF Peace Interns’ amazing, gracious, hilarious chaplain picked me up from the airport and asked if there was anything I needed, and I said Denny’s. Of course. We had a very late dinner, my flight arrived in Indianapolis at 11:30 pm and we got to Denny’s around 12:30 am. We ate and compared notes, having not seen each other since training week. It was an incredibly restorative experience, sharing a meal and welcoming people to the table is such an important part of discipleship. I could not stop laughing with glee and blabbering about everything I had done so far.
The next morning, I said goodbye to Sarah and grabbed my sisters and got on the road.
They mostly slept while I got to pick the music (thank you Maggie for curating a very cool DPF Intern Summer Playlist) and admire the Indiana wilderness. I love the way the landscape shifts from flat farmlands to hills and valleys as you move further south. The wind screams “You’re home!” as I turn onto Sandpit Road. I have always loved the sound of the gravel as you drive through the gate. I stopped to take a picture as my sisters and I buzzed with excitement.
Image description: A stone gate with a sign on the left side has a gravel path through the middle. The sign has a Chi-Rho symbol in the upper right hand corner and says “Bedford Christian Camp 1951”. There are trees and a white fence in the background.
After settling in and making all the staff introductions, we headed to a Mexican restaurant in Bedford to get food before our staff meeting. The table chattered about old camp memories and new ideas. I felt ready.
As campers arrived, I felt so blessed. Each person marched down the hill with their suitcase and bedding, offering a piece of themself to this new place. The Fish cabin had coordinated beforehand and had all ordered captain hats that they wore as they began to set up their beds. It’s such a unique feeling, watching campers set up cabins you used to stay in. Like echoes in time, I kept vividly imagining me and my friends decorating the same cabins, walking down the same pathes, singing the same songs. These memories were reverberating through my heart as I could already see the ways in which these campers were already so beloved by each other and the hallowed ground we stood on. It was a sight to behold.
Each year, camp changes. There are new counselors. There are new bathhouses. The pool was redone and no longer has that weird metal pole in the deep end people would hit their heads on. The Craft Cabin has been entirely demolished and rebuilt. The camp is different from even when I was a camper. When I talked to my dad, I heard all of the ways in which camp changed from when he was a camper. The dining hall used to stand where the Quonset hut is now. The boys cabins used to be the girls cabins. There was no Overlook Lodge.
But so much stays the same.
The songs and skits. The games we play. The get-to-know-you activities. I kept feeling this sensation of communal memory, especially as I watched the campers do the human knot with their small groups on the Grassy Knoll. I felt the trees and rocks sing to us. We have been here before. We have been connected in this place. We will hold hands and try to understand our new connections to each other and this place.
Image description: a group of young people are holding hands in a tangled mess, trying to untangle themselves. Allison can be seen in the center left of the photo, as an elementary schooler. Circa 2010.
Image description: a group of high school aged campers are holding hands in a tangled mess, trying to untangle themselves. Allison can be seen in the right side of the photo, as a senior in high school. Circa 2018.
Image description: A group of high school aged campers are holding hands in a tangled mess, trying to untangle themselves. Allison’s younger sister, Serenity can be seen wearing red and blue tie-dye in the center of the frame. Circa 2024.
Throughout the week, I bounced around with the directors and visited small groups. I heard discussions of love languages and personal hardships. I heard laughter and joy. I saw empathy and kindness.
In the afternoons, I led a series of peace talks and then did my workshop. My workshop is all about disagreeing in a way that is respectful and constructive. We start with hot takes, opinions that might be inflammatory but aren’t necessarily important. Hot dogs are sandwiches. Pineapple belongs on pizza. Coke is better than Pepsi. It was such a gift observing the campers listening deeply, understanding their friends, and occasionally shifting their opinions because of what they heard. The goal is not convincing, it’s listening. But sometimes listening to new voices leads to change.
And change is scary.
It’s much easier to stick to the ways things have always been done. Tradition is comfortable and safe. It creates a rhythm to camp the returning campers and counselors can feel safe in. Tradition is an essential part of the fabric of the camp that connects us to campers past.
I learned that I accidentally became part of camp tradition, and it’s quite a silly tradition. Years ago, when I was a camper, my good friend Shayna Hicks found a feather. We as the star cabin decided that we wanted to make up a dance, build a human pyramid, then hold the feather at the top of the pyramid. At the end, Shayna gave the feather to a freshman, Whit Wagler, so that she would carry on the tradition. And she did. Then, when she graduated, she gave the feather to Maya Norris. This year, I got to witness Maya Norris graduate and give that same feather to a freshman. It is incredible to not only feel connected to this place, but know that my actions have had a lasting, if not ridiculous, impact.
Tradition is such an important part of camp culture, but it also can hold us back. If we clench so tightly to the way things have always been done, we are not able to reach out to new voices, new ideas, and new people.
I have seen a lot of beautiful places and people this summer, and nearly every camp has to find the balance between tradition and newness. There is beauty in both, but we need to be able to understand that there is a choice being made either way. Camp Bedford was experiencing changes, with former Geneva campers attending Bedford for the first time, and they did an amazing job trying to create space for the Geneva traditions, while also maintaining Bedford traditions, and holding space for new experiences.
For example, I had never seen a group of stuffed animals witnessing a Twilight shrine wearing captain hats, and yet at Camp Bedford, it was a welcome addition.
Image description: Inside of a cabin, a pile of stuffed animals are wearing captain hats staring at a Twilight T-shirt and copy of the Twilight DVD. There are nautical decorations taped to the walls and ceiling.
Honestly, I think this is why I love camp so deeply. The moments of deep reflection, followed by insane ridiculousness. The deepest joy to comfort the most vulnerable hardship. Our love for each other flows deep and wide and our jokes abound like an ocean. It is a place of complete authenticity in both prayerful and playful moments. All of the camps I’ve visited have been phenomenal and I have been so grateful for every single person I have met. But Camp Bedford is my home.
Thank you to all of the campers and counselors who made this week what it was. From our fearless leaders, Josh “The Iceberg” Jackson and Holly Black, to the wonderful counselors I’ve known forever like Haley Norris and Henry Street, to the counselors I’ve only known for a short while like Kevin Toth and Tim Trussell-Smith. You are all such a blessing in my life and I am grateful for all of you.
And thank you to the campers. For being unapologetically yourself and open to new adventures. Thank you for teaching me and learning with me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And the biggest thank yous to my sisters, Courtney and Serenity for being such a fun part of my first year counseling CYF at Camp Bedford. You are growing into such beautiful young people and I am so excited to continue to watch you grow in your life and faith.
Image description: Josh “The Iceberg” Jackson laughs at a skit that is happening out of the frame. Haley Norris is holding an orange blanket and staring at Josh. She looks surprised and amused.
Image description: Allison and Serenity smile in a selfie with the Overlook in the background. They both are wearing tie-dye and Allison has chalice earrings.
Will you pray with me?
Holy Creator,
Thank you for giving us traditions that tie us to the people before us. Thank you for giving us new opportunities to create connections to the future. It is such a gift to meet new people and try new things and learn about your creations. We are grateful for all of the gifts you have given us and excited to see how we will move forward with you in our hearts.
In your name we pray,
Amen.