This week brought me to the banks of Dawson's Creek (yes, the one from the TV show) to a CYF camp at Camp Caroline. This camp is in North Carolina and I was super excited to be able to go to it because I have heard so much about it from different campers I had a Christmount over the years. Their stories lived up to real life for sure. From the moment I got off the plane and started to head towards camp, I was met with such a welcoming attitude. I could not ask for more from this group of people. There were times that I was able to have some deep conversations from the other counselors and gain some important insight from their experiences.
This camp was one the biggest CYF camps I have ever attended with the total count, including the counselors, was over 90 people. I was very happy to see that I even knew some people from my time up at Christmount. The main focus of this week was fear and how to deal with our fear. We dove into it from a personal and spiritual side which I think was a wonderful way of doing it. The keynotes really made you think deeply about the subject and about further than just yourself. There was a peace component already built into the keynotes which made me very happy.
I did my LGBTQ+ workshop again this week for an interest group and we had a really good discussion. The insight that these kids have makes me feel confident about our future, that we are heading down a path of acceptance of everyone no matter who they are. I learned so much about these campers through the littlest things and even though they didn't have me do as much peace work as the other camps did, I feel like I still taught and shared a lot. I feel like also learned a lot from them too.
The new thing that I tried this week was sailing. I have never been to a camp that had water deep enough to be able to sail a small boat. That changed for sure this week. I grew up being on the water but I had never been able to be on anything with a sail while it was not docked. Not only did I get the chance to be on it but I even got the chance to be able to do the sailing myself. This experience was just so much fun and I would love to do it again someday. It was also a joy to be able to see so many of the campers so confident in the water and in their handling of kayaks, canoes, and small sail boats.
I had quite a few God moments during this week. I had God moments while I was in stitches due to the amount of laughing I was doing. Also I had them late at night laying down talking to the girls in my cabin about the most random things or being out at the pier looking up and talking about the stars. I think my favorite God moment is when one of the campers who knew about my love of frogs caught a small tree frog and he brought it across the camp grounds for me to hold. That was just one of the small things that I was not expecting but made me smile so much. I found a nice tree for that frog to live in so he would be safe once I saw that he was wanting to be put down again.
I spent most nights on the pier on the creek with the campers looking up at the stars. There were so many of the campers just coming up to me with questions about the night sky. I was able to explain about stars, black holes, and a multitude of other astronomy topics. I loved being able to share my knowledge about space with them. I showed them the dippers and explained how they are part of bigger constellations. I showed them how to easily find the north star at the tail end of the little dipper. Then I pointed out the constellation Scorpius as well as Jupiter and Venus. I think the thing that got the most people excited was when I was able to get a telescope on the moon and the kids were able to see it up close for the first time. The joy and the spark that I saw in their eyes and heard in their voices was so heart warming. I saw God in every one of them.
Overall this week was an amazing experience that I will treasure. The spirit that I felt throughout the week was great from the freshman just starting to come to CYF for the first time to the seniors as they say their tearful goodbye to their time as a camper. The growth was an amazing thing to be able to witness. I really enjoyed my time here.
Peace,
Jasmine