A big thank-you to everyone who made it for the 2009 Kickoff at 11am this past Sunday, and an even bigger thank-you to everyone who stuck around for the work-party! It was a nice start to the 2009 School Year and I am looking forward to everything that God has for us this coming year.
Here are some of the photos from Sunday (there are more in the Photos Section) and the video from 2009-2009! Enjoy everyone!
Well, after our Chicago-Boston flight was repeatedly delayed because of a faulty flight computer, we finally switched gates and planes and touched down at Logan at around 2:30am (mad props to the Reales and Matthew Beish as our late-late-late-night drivers).
We are all back, safe and sound. Thank you so much for the prayers. We look forward to sharing the experience with you even more, but in the meantime, I have just posted over 150 photos, in albums by day, which you can see in the Photos section. The easiest way is sometimes to go over to the right and click "See All Albums", then you can browse the photos by day or, if you rather, then just click away at anything that looks interesting.
Once again, the only Internet access is on Ethan's iPhone, but we are safe and sound in the Windy City, delayed by about half an hour and looking forward to being home soon.
We had to say good-bye to our campers yesterday. We were able to say personal good-byes to most of them and it was clear that our time with them was really meaningful. It was hard to see them go, we had grown so close to them in the short (but intense) time we had shared together. In our closing Bible study, our group was able to share about how our perceptions changed, how our interactions changed, and how our group changed over the course of the week. To sum up: at the beginning we were nervous, scared, and didn’t want to do certain things that seemed difficult or gross to us. By the end, we were seeing each camper as a unique individual and as people we were having fun with. We were able to build relationships and enhance both of our experiences. We also enjoyed the beauty of the Colorado Rockies yesterday and helped clean up the camp this morning. For all you parents, I saw your kids clean bathrooms for 2.5 hours today. I mean we cleaned. We have pictures to prove it in case you don’t believe us. So it really is true that this week has helped us all to see people and situations a little differently and hopefully with more of a servant’s heart. We can’t wait to see you all soon and share with you more of what we’ve done.
- Rebecca (Jorgie)
4:19 pm
We left LVR today and its been really tough since for me and Taylor we spent the whole ride crying from LVR to the airport. this was such an awesome experience and although I’m excited to go home I’m sad to leave everyone. Yesterday was a good last full day with everyone, we got to go climbing repelling, and we took a sunset hike up Cedar Mountain. I’m hoping that we can go back and do this again next year!
-Monica (Cash/Haterade)
4:13 pm
Today I am sitting in the Colorado Springs airport.Today was a really tough day for two reasons.1: We had to clean the bathrooms all morning and 2: we had to leave LVR.Monica and I cried for a while on the way to the airport because we will miss everybody so much.Despite today’s sad mood, yesterday was really fun.At night we went on a sunset hike up Cedar Mountain and the view was really beautiful, I took a lot of great pictures.Our plane is about to board in 15 minutes so I have to get ready to leave.I really am going to miss Colorado and LVR!
- Taylor (Ice-Tay/Super Tay)
4:06 pm
Yesterday the Bethesda campers left after breakfast and then we spent the rest of the morning cleaning up and taking down the beds. Then yesterday night we went on a hike up Cedar Mountain to watch the sunset. The views were beautiful and we got lots of good pictures. This morning we cleaned up the bathrooms and then said goodbye to some of the staff. I’m sitting at our terminal right now and even though I had a really good time this week, I can’t wait to get home. I won’t have to worry about drinking tons of water and going to the bathroom a lot.
- Dylan (Downtown Dylan Brown/Snake Eyes)
4:00 pm
We are on our way back home now, what a long week it has been. We finished up this morning by cleaning the two big bathrooms at the camp, and then spent 2 hours in a car ride to the airport. We said good bye to all the staff at the camp today as they all prepared to leave themselves, because the camp is closing up after this weekend. Now it’s time to spend 5+ hours on plane rides back home… I’m definitely ready to get back, it’s been fun but after awhile you just want to go back home and relax again. I can’t wait to get back, and I’m hoping for safe flights back!
Tomorrow, I am going to use my morning time (when I normally blog and have devotions over a steaming cup of camp coffee) to have a nice long, quiet devotional at a spot they call the Amphitheater, with 180-degree views of the sunrise over the Rockies. Thus, I am catching you all up to speed right now, even though it will be posted tomorrow. [editor's note: I actually overslept and didn't go up to the Amphitheater. Oh, well.]
We just completed an incredible hike up the peak nearest to the camp, a peak called Cedar Mountain. It was breathtaking. I was glad that everyone had the bouldering and climbing skills from our earlier activities, as the trail involved a small amount of semi-climbing (the LVR staff spotted us anywhere it could have been dangerous). I’ve been to the Grand Canyon, I’ve hiked Mt. Washington, I’ve gone on some of the gorge bridges near Denver, but I have to tell you, for just sheer, jaw-dropping beauty, I don’t know if you can beat watching the sun set with Pike’s Peak just behind you and, in every direction, peaks and ridges and reservoirs with a winding dirt road wandering through the pines, some burnt out from a fire seven years ago. The wind was really blowing and just the power and grandeur of God’s incredible design was stunning. Thank you, God, and thank you, OSLC and friends, for making this trip possible.
We had a really powerful closing devotion time this afternoon (before climbing and rappelling) with the Servant Event Coordinator, “Scribble”, and our counselor, “Thin Mint” (whom you’ve just met below – a 19-year-old theology student who wants to be a youth and worship leader). Everyone shared and opened up with how the week had stretched us, how God had provided all we needed, and how to take a servant’s heart back to the North Shore: homes, schools, and daily lives. It was a very memorable and blessed time.
The camp here has done a wonderful job. The staff is fun and skilled, the team-building activities were well-planned, the group quiet times were meaningful and effective, and the group activities have been awesome! I truly hope that we can build a longer-term relationship with LVR, as well as with the Bethesda people, as they were similarly skilled, enthusiastic, and fun to work with. I can honestly say that, having done children’s missions, urban missions, construction missions, and even foreign missions, no mission work that I have ever done has stretched me as much and rewarded me as much as missions to people with disabilities. I hope and pray that we at OSLC will find a way to partner with some ministry or service on the North Shore so that more of us can experience the heights and depths of Christ’s love through the lens of ministering to some of His most challenged but most precious children.
And if it has to happen in the Rocky Mountains, I’m cool with that.
God bless and see you soon!
Rob
6:45pm
Dear Diary,
It’s the end of the summer, and though it’s tough to leave camp and head home, I take solace in the fact that this group has been one of my favorites of the summer.The growth that I saw this week in these youngsters has been so dramatic that it makes me wish that I had had this type of experience when I was their age.We’ve had some great times this week, including all the wonderful reminisces about all things New England.It’s been a while since I have had a chance to do that.It was wicked sweet, but it sure has made me miss Bugaboo Creek!Even though the campers were nervous at the beginning of the week to deal with the clients with special needs, God used them in such a way so that they not only grew personally, but they also made genuine relationships.They handled every situation thrown at them with tremendous grace, and I am proud to call this group my group.I will miss this group and all the good times that we shared.Thanks for being my best friend, diary.
- “Thin Mint”
Today was a good and bad day.It was good because we got to go rock climbing and rappelling, but it was bad because we had to say good bye to the Bethesda campers and we have to go home tomorrow (not that I’m not missing my family!).Yesterday I went fishing and did some more arts and crafts with the campers.We also did a thing called Shine Time when each cabin did a skit.For our skit, half of us had to stand in front, and the other half would be our arms, then we went through a whole day as a Servant Event camper. It got really messy because we used real toothpaste and real water, but it was really fun.Right now I am about to go on a sunset hike, so I have to say goodbye!
- Taylor
7am
Good morning to everyone at home! The campers depart today after breakfast at which point we will begin our clean-up an break-down duties. In the afternoon and evening we will be able to do some of the activities with just our group. It hasn’t quite been settled yet, but there will definitely be hiking, horseback riding, top rope climbing and rapelling and/or zip line.
Yesterday was a full day. We had our last two activity session with the Bethesda campers (we rotated through arts and crafts, fishing, horseback riding, archery, and building “rockets”). An impressive thunderstorm nixed our cookout, but this gave us an amazing opportunity to serve as waiters and waitresses and serve all the Bethesda campers and staff.The day before in our Bible study time, Dylan shared with us the passage that he read – the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Thanks, God, for the lesson! In the evening we participated in “Shine Time” with the rocket campers which is sort of like our Not Ready for Prime Time talent show with skits by all the cabin groups.
All the campers are so cool and special in their own way. Getting to know them has allowed us to really see past their special needs to see their unique personalities and gifts. One camper has especially blessed my heart – Michael. He is blind and has limited mobility and very little speech. But he LOVES music! You should have seen him at karaoke! Out at fishing (we didn’t catch a single fish), we had plenty of time to hang out and we just sung songs for a while. He gets this huge toothless grin and starts clapping and tapping his feet. This is one example of how we all have been able to connect to the campers this week.
Even though this has been great, we still miss you can can’t wait to see you soon! Thanks for your continued prayers fro health and endurance.
