Ali Ballweg

During Week 3 I found myself back at Wagons, this time with Laura, Kyle and Amanda.  It was much cooler this week (almost cold at times) and just an awesome week overall.  I was a little nervous going into the week because I had 7 campers (a full wagon), but they were all amazing girls and had deep hearts for Christ.  It was nice being on Wagons again because I was pretty familiar with the schedule already.  

            Monday and Tuesday were super busy but a lot of people stepped up to help out.  We came back from initiatives on Monday night to find that the Staff In Training campers had started our dinner fires for us, which made our Dutch oven chicken and rice even better. On Tuesday I got a little upset because I didn’t have any time for bible study on Tuesday and that’s what we’re here for.  However after talking to Karsten about it, he stepped up and took some of the other campers during canteen so that I could have some time with my girls doing bible study.  Also on Tuesday afternoon we had a counseling staff meeting while the support staff played games with our campers and Jake brought cookies and hot chocolate for us!  Tuesday night we had a pool party and then pool worship and it was FREEZING, but the kids still had fun and then we actually got to take showers.  We also did electives on both Monday and Tuesday night and I led frog catching the first night and card games the second. 

            Wednesday and Thursday offered some free time, which my campers and I spent doing the labyrinth, making bracelets, creek stomping, swimming, hiking, and at canteen.  We also had some fun Thursday afternoon sneaking around and hiding from the Pony Express (Bryce) and doing a tough questions session with Sherry (the Chaplin).  On Wednesday night we did a special village devotional with Brandon in the barn where he reads scriptures about the second coming to music.  It was kind of scary for some of the campers, but after we debriefed it they definitely all liked it.  Wednesday evening was the all-camp activity of Romans and Christians and this week I had a play a Roman soldier who took campers to jail.  I was appalled at how many of the campers denied they were Christians, however after talking to my campers about it and how bad they felt about it I realized the important lesson that it taught many of the campers.  Thursday evening was the Christ Hike, which I was not in this week, so I just walked along. 

A few big things that happened this week were the finding of a huge wolf spider (whom we named Wolfie) by one of the campers in the outhouse, my first grease fire (as I was browning hamburger the flames lapped over and I started freaking out, but thankfully Manda was there and stayed calm and we got it put out), and I can finally start fires in 10 minutes or less!

            Friday was a crazy busy day, like always, and it was really sad to see my wonderful campers go.  I have a full wagon again this week and I hope all continues to go smoothly, but even if it doesn’t, I know Christ will provide.  Please be praying for me!

Surprise!  Week two I was put on River Boaters even though I’m a middle school counselor and it’s a high school program and therefore wasn’t trained in driving the house boats.  But for whatever reason Jake thought I would be a good fit and placed me on an all girls boat with Kathryn… And it was SO much fun!  We had ten girls (two going into 10^th grade and eight going into 9^th) who were all amazing and so much fun.  I was also with some amazing staff- Kathryn, Jesse, Amanda, Kirsten and Matt.

            We spent Sunday night on the floor of the air-conditioned Retreat Center and then right away on Monday we headed to the boat rental place and then out on the river.  We drove down stream a few miles and I got to drive my first boat!  Amanda came over the radio asking who was driving our boat because I was swerving all over the place and Kathryn radioed back saying it was me and reminding her how hard it is the first time (it really is, those things are huge).  Also during our drive as ran into a problem of one boat having no lunchmeat.  So one of the boats pulled up aside the other and threw two bags of turkey over, which was quite hilarious.  Monday night we slept on the roof of the boat with a beautiful blanket of stars above us.

            Tuesday was the hottest day so far this summer so we spent the whole afternoon in the river staying cool and doing River Boat Olympics (of which I have some pictures posted).  Tuesday it looked like it was going to storm but it only sprinkled for a little bit and we were able to sleep on the roof again.  Also Tuesday night we did something called counselors on the beach where all six of us spread out on the beach and were available for any questions campers had.

            Wednesday we went on a canteen run to Lansing (oh yeah we were docked on the Iowa side of the Mississippi for the three days we were on the river).  We played a night game on the dunes that Kathryn made up called ultimate kickball, which was a combo of capture, the flag and kickball.  It didn’t really work out the best, but it was still fun.  On our way back to the boats we had to walk through water for a short stretch and there were like eight snakes swimming around our feet!  It was so scary and I couldn’t pretend it didn’t bother me because it definitely did.

            Thursday morning we cleaned the boats top to bottom and then headed back to camp where we rode horses, visited canteen, had a pool party, did the Christ Hike (which I was in again), and did Spirit Worship for our campers.  We slept in the upper part of the barn Thursday night and had a busy day Friday.  Before I knew it all my campers were gone, which was sad.  But it was a great week and I am very thankful that I got the opportunity to try River Boaters.