Surely Goodness and Mercy Will Follow Me the Rest of My Days

Jr. high 1 at Big Group Games 

From the summer seeming like it would not be any fun at all to looking back at these past two months being the best months of my life I am feeling so many unspoken emotions. My summer started when I got to travel to Lakeshore UMA for the first week of counseling, Jr. High 1. I got the joy of showing and receiving love to not only the 10 girls who I called my campers but the other campers at the camp. Seeing God through girls who are younger than you and who are struggling with what you struggle with is an amazing thing. I went into camp thinking oh this is not going to be hard, these girls are not having any problems at all. This was not the case at all for any of the camps I counseled this summer. The thing about Jr. High 1 was it prepared me in the fact that I can't go into any week expecting anything because God will turn everything upside down from what you expect. Jr. High 1 was about building relationships, having Real T in the lazy river, running around the cabin, constant laughing at our silly jokes, and making the best skits Lakeshore has ever seen.

Chelsea and Courtney Surprised me!

Big thanks to Shea and Margy for coming
and seeing me. Also thank you MYF for the
sno cone from Jerry's! 

Wednesday getting up and
walking. 

The next big part of my summer was my back surgery. June 16 at 9:30 a.m. I was admitted into Germantown Methodist Hospital under the care of my Surgeon Dr. Keith Williams. I had my mom, dad, grandparents, aunts, cousins, friends, pastor, all there when I went into surgery at 4:30 p.m. This wasn't the hard part of the whole surgery thing. The worst part was all the medicine I had to take to not be in pain and all the IV's I had. Actually the worst part was not even 12 hours after surgery I had to get up and walk. I never wish the pain I had then on anyone. I spent Monday-Friday in the hospital with only 1 day, Tuesday, being the day of big scares and really bad day in general. I had great people visit and bringing not only goodies but their smiles to brighten my day especially Tuesday. I still to this day am healing 6 weeks post surgery and I will forever be healing, but I thank my great support system for getting me through everything.

New nickname is Emily. 

After 2 weeks of being home I headed back to Lakeshore for another 3 weeks of counseling camp. First week back I counseled Jr. High 2 which was nothing like Jr. High 1 and nothing like Elem. 3 and 4. Jr. High 2 was a great week growing closer to people I knew and building bonds with new people, my age, older and younger. This week taught me something about myself and was a learning experience for lack of better words. This week taught me so much about who I want be and what I want to do with my life. I had campers from every walk of life and some that you least expected it to be. This week was full of intense Real-Talk in and out of the Lazy River. It was full of tears and laughter together. It was full of nicknames like my newest nickname, Emily. It was full of pain meds and trips to the First Aid.(one night there were 5 of my campers in the room at once, needless to say field games wasn't for us) I got the opportunity to tell my story of what I struggle with, I got the opportunity to give those struggles to God and to experience Agape love. Having campers that mesh well was my God sent gift this summer.
I got the chance to stay the weekends at camp between Jr. High and Elementary 3-4. Elementary 3

Elementary 3 campers

was not a so great week for me due to the fact I had to leave camp for back issues, but I got to go back a few short days later to finish the summer strong. I traveled back to camp the Saturday before campers arrived the next Sunday, and really experienced the love of friendship. I got the opportunity to build new friendships stronger that what they were before. So Sunday comes and I really became bitter about the camp coming up. I am not so sure why I became so bitter but I did. Elementary 4 was full of laughter, tears, heartaches, real talks, frustration and lots of patience. I learned many things about myself this week, one including I am much more patient than I thought. My campers taught me that just because you are young doesn't mean that God hasn't started to call you.

VC led creek stomping to end a GREAT
summer. 2K14

Lakeshore means to me a sense of community. There are over 100 people who have something in common with you, and that is that they are seeking to find Gods love more abundantly. Lakeshore has always put me on that spiritual high, but this summer I felt something different. I felt God in a different way, the camps I counseled were in no way easy, they all had some sort of challenge but it was up to me to find the blessings in that challenge. I am confident that I am finding out the blessings that God holds for me through talking with people around me and getting help understanding his love more and more everyday. As I sit here sipping on my coffee, in my own room, alone, I miss the sense of community that Lakeshore has to offer but I know that it is now my turn to go out and "Be about the family business".