Girl's Camp.

*All photos taken with my Canon CyberShot point & shoot. Girl's Camp is no place for a big camera my friends.

Helping out at our church's girl's camp last week was an adventure. It involved:

A lot of bugs.

A lot of early morning renditions of So rise, & shout & give God his Glory, Glory.

A lot of humidity.

A lot of thunder & rain the last 24 hours.

A lot of back pain from sleeping in a tent, on the ground, on a downward slope.

But it certainly wasn't all bad. Not even close. It was a good week with really positive experiences. There were great people involved. Our camp director wore a tshirt that said I put the Super in SuperDuper! People like that are just born to be at camp. And friend Nicole was a shining example of an all-around positive attitude. It almost rubbed off on me. I think I complained when I was really hot. And really tired. And frustrated. I did my very best. But I'm glad that she was there to support me, because I'm just one big massive work in progress.

I loved the girls that I served. I guess that's how it works, right? You do things for other people, & then you feel all mushy about them. I feel this way about the group of 15 year olds that I got to work with. Loved them.

I loved that when we looked at the stars the first night, these urban girls were so excited. Most of them had never seen stars like that, with no competition from the city lights. Most had never been camping.

Some of the girls in my group had never even said a prayer.

We had Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Indians... people from all different backgrounds. So real.

I loved that all of the Harlem girls rock the Converse with the skinny jeans.

I loved that on the first day of camp, one of the girls said You look just like us! Meaning young. I've been feeling quite old lately.

A few Dominican women from the Inwood ward cooked for us all week. The food was really great. Especially the hot chocolate. And the oatmeal (with half & half, vanilla, brown sugar...). And the pastelitos.

We sang I am a Child of God & the group of Spanish-speaking girls were grouped together behind me. I almost cried as they sang in their language.

The same thing when we recited the Young Women's theme together.

I'd be lying if I said that it was the most fun I've ever had in my life. Fun isn't the word, but that's okay. I absolutely know that I was supposed to be there. That's what matters.