This summer has been an incredible experience and I cannot believe that I leave Tuesday! The summer has flown by,it has been filled with wonderful friendships, long bus rides packed with kids,pies in the face, weekly intern lunches, and “dunking” contests every pool daywhere I unfailingly lost miserably and feel that I will forever be waterlogged.But none of this would have been possible without all of your supportfinancially as well as spiritually.. Even though my family was going throughsome major transitions this summer [me coming down to Richmond at the beginningof the summer, in early July moving from northern Virginia to Virginia Beach,my older sister moving to Richmond for grad school today and tomorrow while Iam moving out just to move me into my dorm next weekend. Haha, we sure are a crazy bunch!] I am so glad I was here, and wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. This past week was a majorunexpected surprise. At the end of the summer the kids go away to SB2W (SummersBest 2 Weeks), except they do the citikids version that is only one week long.Essentially it could be considered Christian Boot camp, all week the kids haveto challenge themselves doing different activities such as a rock-climbing wall(that I must say was near impossible), canoeing, swimming, football, dance,step, basketball and many other activities. They must run everywhere, whetherit is to the showers, a meal of the next activity and they get to spend theweek in a cabin with a group of kids their age from cities all over theMid-Atlantic. I was not supposed to go with them to camp because it is only forkids 10 years and up and so there was still going to be a day camp for theyounger kids. But I got a call the night before they left telling me one of theinterns who was supposed to be going had come down with a fever and that theywould need me to replace him if he wasn’t feeling better in the morning. So Ipacked a bag, and the next morning when the kids arrived at 7am I found out Iwould be riding with them the 6-hour drive to camp. Camp was very different for“kaleos” (aka. The interns). We sat through lectures everyday, starting withChapel, and then we would get a break for taeboe, after we had another lecture.We would get a short break following that session and would eat lunch and haveF.O.B (flat on back time) followed by an afternoon lecture on leadership thatwould go from 2:45 until 5:15, or 5:40 depending on the day. It was a LOT totake in, but a great growing experience. Something I have been strugglingwith this summer is trying to figure out God’s plan for me concerning myrunning. I had thought that I was supposed to give that up so that I couldfocus on my walk with Him, but after this summer, and especially this past weekI am not positive that is the case. And I still don’t know what I am supposedto do. But this past week I had a really nice walk with a Kaleo from DC who isa runner and she helped me put a lot of things into perspective. All thisthinking has worn me out and I have just wanted someone to tell me what to do.But no one can make this decision for me. This is the second big decision in mylife (the first being which college to go to…which was painful), and I need tomake this decision knowing they will support me no matter what I choose andthat as long as I keep my working on my walk there is no wrong answer. It is going to be very hard toleave Church Hill and all the kids. I feel like I am leaving home for a secondtime this summer. I hope that this summer is just the beginning of myrelationships with these kids and this community as a whole. My goal (though itis lofty) is to come back to EEF once a month or so, that way I can keep thefriendships alive in the community. Lastly I would like to givesuperlatives to each of the interns because it has been great getting to knowthem all this summer. Bethany Palmer: Most likely to runinto her soul mate with her car.LB Cherney: Most Likely to get all the guys at camp cause she is a brunette.Carrie Shafer: Most Likely to tear down poison ivy plants with her bare hands. Sarah Craven: Most Likely to tell areally long funny story and be unaware of everyone trying to pray for the mealthey are about to eat. Rhonda Dunbar: Most Likely to be alifesaver.Andrea Hague: Most Likely to workwhile sleeping. Laura Skove: Most Likely tosurprise us with home baked goodies.Mackenzie Mumey: Most Likely to be“that guy”. Dick Frailing: Most Likely to befound hungry, looking for food, or in the act of eating. Brian Daoust: Most Likely to lose in an epic dunking battle against me. Will Roberts: Most Likely to befound swing dancing.
