Ali Ballweg

I spent my only day off, last Saturday, playing guitar, doing laundry, and going to the Culvers in Viroqua with a group of people (we got lost on the way home, but it was a fun ride and I felt like we were in the mountains).  Then Sunday we all had to wake up early and go to different churches to lead worship.  My group went to a tiny country church called Northwest Prairie and I played guitar publically for the first time!

 The week was filled with session after session of information; From emergency procedures to tough questions with guest pastors, to dealing with homesickness and wandering children.  We also got acquainted with the nature center, horses, arts and crafts, and canteen.  We did the first run through of the Christ Hike (which is a one hour drama of Jesus’ life that we act out for the campers every Thursday evening), and it went pretty well, with only a few parts where we couldn’t help laughing- Like when Jesus made the raise the roof sign when coming across the lake in a canoe, when the guards knocked Peter down a little too hard, and when Jesse took off leaping through the woods in an attempt to not get arrested.  Oh we also did this awesome thing called Spirit Worship in which people are blindfolded and through auditory and tactile senses, experience a little bit of what Jesus went through.  It was very powerful and definitely made me look at Christ’s love and sacrifice in an even deeper way.  We had overnights one night this week and I was in the Pathfinder Village and we slept in the platform tents.

While my group was sitting outside the nature center, Tipper (the donkey around here who makes some obnoxious sounds) ran past with Bryce (the wrangler) right behind.  Not too far from us, Bryce wrestled Tipper to the ground and then four guys from our group ran over and held him down until Bryce came back with the halter and lead rope.  It was seriously the funniest thing I’ve seen since being here.  However something else that was really funny was The Middle School Dance… On Friday night we all dressed up in middle school clothes, danced to the likes of N’Sync and Backstreet Boys, and created a lot of drama for Karsten, who was acting as chaperon.  It was great fun!

Next week I will be a Wagoneer counselor, meaning that I will be staying in the covered wagons located on the farthest end of camp, cooking all my wagons’ meals over the fire.  I will have five girls, going into 5^th and 6^th grade.  ED (Elizabeth Dalton) is the village leader and Kyle and Phil are the other counselors.  I’m a little nervous about the cooking and being so far from running water and electricity, but I’m excited for all that I will experience and I am also definitely grateful to have only five girls when I could have eight.  We’re going to have a great time and I am so excited to write all about it next weekend!