Well, it's been a couple days since I last wrote. A lot has happened in that time. Monday morning, we were awakened by an announcement that said, “Today lainy day. Morning meeting. Don't do.” Our entire cabin laughed hysterically. After breakfast, we put up decorations in the room we're using as a chapel.
The kids arrived just as we were finishing at 11am. I went out to see if I could find anyone I knew from last year. There were a lot of faces that looked familiar, but there was one girl who stuck out because she was just standing all alone. I thought she looked familiar but I wasn't really sure. As I approached her, a look of recognition crossed her face and she said, “Hi, Erik!” I guess she did know me from last year. We talked for a little bit and I managed to ask her her name: Erika. Not too hard to remember. I also managed to get a death glare because I accidentally vocalized that I thought she was Air Force when she's actually Marines. Oops.
I ran off to eat lunch because the kids had already eaten and I hadn't. After lunch, I wandered into the gym and joined in a game of volleyball until “frag” lowering at 5pm. Before the lowering ceremony, I managed to find my two friends with whom I have managed to stayed in touch over this past year: Esther and Shelby. Esther was just how I remembered her, but Shelby... well... I had somehow managed to forget that she's only about 5ft tall. Oops. Of course, the only problem with that was that Esther had to walk me over to her for me to find her. (No short joke intended.)
I've had a blast hanging out with all of these kids. On Tuesday, I got to go down to the beach and fall asleep in the sun (don't worry, I didn't get burned because I actually applied sunscreen). On the way back, we packed 18 kids into that same van we had used on Sunday. Not quite the record, but close. During rec time, I got to help out with a game called “Tube Force” which is like “Steal the Bacon” with inner tubes as bacon and mud and violence caused by ten kids (on two teams) fighting over a single inner tube. Great fun! During a couple of the rounds, I got to run around in the middle holding and inner tube until the kids caught me! By the way, when I say “kids,” I'm talking about other high schoolers my age.
Finally, today. I actually didn't do much today. The beach was closed because the weather wasn't very nice (the entire time we've been here, it's been foggy like Pismo Beach but it should be nice the rest of the week). I played indoor soccer for about an hour or so and got all tired out, then I just sat in the gym and watched the basketball tournament and fell asleep sitting down a couple of times. The coolest part about today was evening chapel. PJ has been doing an amazing job speaking to these kids and Moi has done an incredible job leading worship. The worship tonight was phenomenal. I could really feel the Holy Spirit moving in the room and filling me and breaking me. That wasn't even the coolest part though. PJ delivered an incredible, “in your face”, gospel message that he followed with a call to stand and give Jesus your life. I have heard him give that message before, but it was still stirring because the Holy Spirit was there. I guess the sermon doesn't matter too much unless the Holy Spirit is there. There must have been a dozen or more kids stand up to surrender their lives to Jesus. I couldn't stop smiling! ☺ :D I sat in the back of the room and prayed until the kids were done with their counselors. It was an amazing experience to know that I was a part of that. Even if I wasn't the one preaching the sermon, I still had a part in changing those kids' lives. I don't think I'll ever understand why God is so good to me... he just is.
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