"Ohhh...there's that feeling of camp stress again. I gotchu God, I see you."- Me after campers left morning program.
So my first two weeks went by pretty smoothly, surprisingly so and I was definitely questioning how God was challenging me those first week. It's almost like God knew that I would let my guard down a bit! I was thinking this camp week would be easy, I was uneasy about the fact one group would account for 2/3 of our camp but I convinced myself it would be okay because they were from North Dakota/Minnesota and those are nice people! I don't even know what I was thinking. These campers are still high schoolers, we're all still humans. Enter aggravating youth leader.
Warning: This next paragraph is a venting paragraph.
Honestly my first impression of this guy was good. He seemed nice, like he had it all together, he had all his forms and everything. Sunday with him went just fine but then on Monday morning we noticed things were a bit off. Problem A) He decided not to show up to morning program. Problem B) One of his leaders asked for the shower times to be changed to all girls and all boys shower times to guard the minds of the teenage boys. So we fixed problem B and changed the shower times for the entire camp and I thought problem A was just because he had something he had to address and that's fine. I understand that once. Except he then just did whatever he wanted to this morning as well and skipped the majority of program and decided to leave right after and not report to the main youth leader touchbase. Cool dude. Don't get a blessing from us, I won't take offense. Problem C) After program Monday night everyone was told they could take as much time as they needed in the chapel to process, pray, whatever. Mr youth leader then proceeds to stand up, tell his entire youth group to stay in the chapel, and then talk to whoever he wanted to talk to. Seriously? There are other people that want to take the activity seriously. If you don't, then leave the program when it's over. While all the other groups were herded out of there I stayed to clean up like usual and he has the nerve to ask us to leave. THIS IS NOT YOUR CAMP! Problem D) Our volunteers found said youth leader outside of his work location today on his laptop while all of his crew members were inside doing their job unsupervised. Why even pay to come all the way to San Diego if you're just going to be on your laptop. Seriously, man. What is your problem? The fact that this guy has 40 other people following his lead is absolutely aggravating to me because he is completely missing the point of this trip. It's almost like he cares more about being in charge than actually doing the work.
Moral of this story is we're struggling, I'm struggling. It's hard to love on someone who doesn't want to participate fully in everything and isn't respecting others' wishes to enjoy the program. It's frustrating because he doesn't really talk to us and he gives off this vibe like he doesn't really care what we think. I have yet to find a way to address all of these problems but hopefully I will by the time everyone comes back this afternoon. I know God has a bigger plan in all of this but right now my blood is boiling.
My prayers this week are obviously centered around this problem. That God would give all of us redshirts patience and love to deal with these problems with Godly grace, that we would still be able to minister to the other 3 youth groups that are here and enjoying themselves, and that God would consistently be teaching us and we would be malleable in his hands. He is greater than all things.
Some days it hits me harder than other how blessed I am with the people God has placed around me and today is no different. We are blessed with two of the most willing and kind and experienced redshirts yet, (sorry dad!) one of them who is a youth leader and a mom and extremely supportive of us. And even in my frustration I'm reminded of the wonderful support of my summer staff friends and my friends back home. Today I thank God for Lauren, for reminding me to "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer." (Romans 12:12) I'm thankful that even when I'm a little homesick and a lot frustrated I'm still an extremely blessed daughter of God.
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