End of Week 6

Thankful. As week 6 has come to an end, two God-filled weeks have passed in a blur since my last post. The team's week at Morrow was followed by a nice 24 hour day of rest in Long Beach, WA. Dunes Bible Camp was our next week. It was a blessing to see many familiar Corban faces as staff at Dunes, and a joy to serve with them.
I was a single counselor with no assistant of a cabin of 10 absolutely amazing girls. Slightly overwhelming and fearful emotions filled my mind at the beginning of the week, but these emotions quickly turned to joy, thankfulness and blessing. My cabin at Dunes was incredible. We all bonded incredibly deeply, incredibly quick. The girls taught me what it was like to be a "girly girl", as well as how hard their lives are and the backgrounds they come from. My heart broke for them. Restoration and purpose was the forefront of most of our conversations, and it was absolutely amazing to see how the Holy Spirit worked in theses girl's lives throughout the week. They are all so beautiful, and I know God is going to use their dedication and perserverance to accomplish great things for His kingdom.

Some highlights from Dunes:
- Sand castle competition on the beach: Winning with "Mr. Sand"
- Dance parties in the View Room
- Camp fire testimonies
- 1 on 1's with my girls on the giant chairs
- Cabin devotions on the beach at sunset
- SNEAK ATTACKS!
- Talent show, "Is it Time Yet?" skit
- Dinner dress up nights
- Ultimate frisbee fer dayz
- My cabin being so chatty and giggly at night
- Cheyenne's awesome stories

Pinecroft:
After our week at Dunes, we began the 9 hour trek to somewhere in Washington that was basically in Canada: Camp Pinecroft. This camp was small, but absolutely wonderful. The mission of the camp is solid, and leadership incredible. Numbers were lower than years past camper-wise, but it was all part of God's will, and awesome to get to engage so much with the smaller sized group. Counselors for the week was our Corban team, and one other summer ministry team from Ecola Bible School. We bonded super well with them, and it was a blessing and huge encouragement to serve with them for the week. Bill, Justing, Julianna and Christine, we love you!! One of the highlights of the week was having boating/tubing on the river ever afternoon. This was an awesome bonding time with my cabin, and a captivating joy to experience in God's creation. Yes, my arms are sore and body tired, but it was definitely worth it.

This week, I clearly noticed something that has been unfolding over the summer, that God has revealed to me. Since week one, in every single one of my cabins, I have had at least one girl who struggles with severe anxiety and depression. At the beginning of the summer, talking with them about it scared me because I did not know the answers or how to help these precious, beautiful, hurting girls understand the height, depth and power of God's love. By His grace, and lots and lots of prayer, God has given me the Holy Spirit, teaching me a lot about how to encourage girls who struggle in this particular area. By week 6, I was confident that God had taught and strengthened me in this area, and I believe He will continue to use me to help girls who struggle with this. When we got to Pinecroft, one girl in particular stood out to me. Though we barely had the chance to talk or spend time together yet, I could tell. I knew she was struggling and weighed down in this area. Crazy how much the power of God can reveal, huh? As the week unfolded, I was able to talk with this girl and help her begin to heal from this pain.
I have no power to change them, and I can tell these girls how beautiful and valuable they are over and over, but ultimately, God is the only one that they can truly find this satisfaction in. I am honored and humbled to be used by God in this way this summer, and pray He will be the source of their satisfaction, joy and worth.

At school I definitely keep myself more than busy, and end the day exhausted, with not much sleep before the next day begins. However, at the end of week six, I've never been so worn out in my entire life. All energy and focus I have is strictly from God, because I am completely drained. Prayer that I would be filled and finish our last two weeks stronger than ever is a huge thing for me right now. I want to be intentional, used by God and focused these next two weeks. I'm excited for Trout Creek, where we head today, and also Tadmor, our final week. Thank you for your prayers and support as I continue on this awesome journey that God has blessed me with this summer.

Humbled to be His servant,
Jess

Onward to Morrow

The omniscience of God is something camp has constantly reminded me to submit to. God works out His divine plan in ways that my human mind of desires do not always understand. My week at Camp Morrow had me apply that on a daily basis.
I went into the week with presuppositions, role playing how the week would play out as we road tripped in the van to camp. Once I got there, God showed me that my plan and His were not the same, and we'd be going with His plan and not my own.
Because of lower camper numbers than anticipated, our team ended up not counseling. Bryce, Kelsey and I were on work crew, and Ricky was in charge of games for the week. Believe it or not, work week is more tiring than counseling! Loading two trailers full of firewood, clearing out storage, and helping set up, run and tear down games can be quite the job, especially in 100+ degree weather.
"God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good." This phrase was said multiple times a day at camp, and served as a good reminder for me throughout the week. No matter what, God is good. I need to live life remembering that through every circumstance.
It was really cool to see how God used each of us throughout the week, even though we didn't serve as counselors. Camp Morrow is an incredible camp, and it was amazing to see from an "outsiders" perspective how effective the week was in the campers lives, and how much God was glorified, and the Holy Spirit was working in and through both the people, and the camp itself.
There were two camp teams from Ecola Bible School, and various staff from other places who served at Morrow this week. It was awesome to get to know them, see their servants hearts, how God was using them, and get to know them.

Some highlights from the week were:
- Learning how to slackline
- 1,200 water balloons. Yep. Enough said.
- Kevin and I speaking Spanish and Chinese for "border patrol" in Bible Smugglers game
- Stargazing instead of watching the fireworks on the 4th of July
- Learning that even in the low times of my faith, I am still supposed to abide in Christ, and it is when I remain in that place that He will lift me up and be most glorified.
- Ultimate frisbee
- Seeing the transition from day 1 to day 5 in campers minds, heart, actions and attitudes.
- Getting to observe what Godly leadership and being filled with the spirit looks like.

One confession/ regret that I have from this week: I did horrible at taking pictures. Weird, right? I don't know what my deal was! I do have a few, but I did not document the week near enough. I will not let it happen again this summer, I am determined. :)

My team is thankful for a good night's rest before arriving at Dune's Bible Camp in Ocean Park, Washington. Campers arrive tomorrow, and we will begin a full week of counseling. We are excited for the upcoming week, and ready to counsel again! Several Corban students and employees will be working at camp this week: Jared Hernandez, Heidi Stowman, Kara Maron, Katharine Hormann, Brian and Sandy Elliott. We are excited to have some familiar faces as we serve together this week!