It’s hard to believe that it’s already halfway through the summer. It seems like we only got here last week, and before we know it, we’ll be packing to leave to go home again. How the time flies!
This past week has really been rough on the waitress crew. About week five, everyone begins to feel exhaustion set in, and we had four waitresses out sick this week. Although we had some counselors (who were former waitresses) helping out, trying to cover for the sick girls and not get sick ourselves was quite a task. So far we’ve managed, and the girls who were sick have recovered, but I’m trying to be as healthy as possible and get as much rest as possible.
On Monday, I got my aisle assignment and found out that I would be serving the lead counselors, staff that eats second shift, and one camper table. Well, nobody warned me that one of the full time staff members, Willie (who eats second shift with his family), would persistently ask for a cookie Monday night at dinner, so I wasn’t prepared and couldn’t find a cookie for him. Normally he doesn’t ask again (because obviously the second time you’re normally prepared with a cookie), but Tuesday lunch he came again and asked for a cookie a second time. 
This time I was prepared, and I got a chocolate chip cookie for him. It was really funny. 
Tuesday night I got to counsel a girl named Ariel. As I talked to her, something about what she was telling me just sounded funny, but I couldn’t place my finger on it. She kept going off on rabbit trails and avoiding questions, and finally her counselor came over and we tried to counsel her together. It got to be 11 and we still hadn’t made any progress, so Kim (the counselor) sent Ariel in to the Activity Center to use the restroom so that we could talk for a minute, and she explained that Ariel liked to make up stories and lie to get attention. Her salvation testimony was very shaky, so we both assume she wasn’t saved. I got a chance to talk to Kim again this morning, and apparently Ariel got saved on Wednesday night. God is so good!
Wednesday afternoon I went to the lake for the first time this summer, and I took the advanced swim test. Afterwards I felt horrible, but at least that’s out of the way. My lungs still haven’t fully recovered from the respiratory problems I had from December to April, and the advanced swim test just served to aggravate them further, so I’m trying to take it easy for a while so that they can at least partially heal. I also sat on the dock for a while, so I got a nice sunburn on my shoulders. 
It’s just now starting to not hurt, and so I’m being careful and rubbing lotion on them as much as possible. While I was at the lake, I worked the water trolley (because no counselors had come up to work it yet), and I have come to the firm conclusion that my fear of heights is pretty much set. I’ve tried so many times to do the things that test my fear while I’m at the Wilds, and none of them have helped, so I won’t be doing them again. But at least I can say that I’ve tried.
Friday afternoon, I got a chance to do s’mores with my prayer cabin (and their brother cabin), and afterwards, while the other girls went tubing, I got some good one on one time with one of the girls at the craft shop. She wanted to know if I could be her counselor next summer, and I had to tell her that unfortunately, I probably won’t be coming back next summer to work. She and I formed a special connection, and Saturday morning, it was hard to see her go. Well, it seems to happen every week—there’s always a storm around supper time every Friday night, and this Friday was no exception. The difference this time was that the storm started during second shift, so the problem was not with trying to get the kids in from the rain second shift but rather keeping them in the dining hall for 20 minutes after the shift was supposed to end. This actually was very nice for clearing, because normally clearing tables Friday night is a pain because all the campers are up cheering right before final scoring and aren’t paying attention to clearing. However, because we had twenty extra minutes, we actually got completely cleared, and the four tables that were staff tables were empty (because the staff had left before the sirens started), so we got to reset them, leaving my aisle buddy and me free to set one table and them help everyone else who had to wait to reset until the campers left. It was actually the easiest meal to clear so far this summer.
This weekend, I got to attend a family reunion with a friend. The rest of her family (except her grandmother) is in Charleston right now and because she didn’t know a lot of her extended family, I offered to go with her. We went to Ryan’s, and we had a good time meeting her family and getting a chance to minister to them. Afterwards we spent the evening picking up a few things at Walmart and then staying at her grandma’s house in Brevard. Yesterday (Sunday) the op staff choir sang as the special music at church this morning, and our a capella group sang again for the evening service. I really have enjoyed going to the church here, and it’s almost become a home away from my home church.
I also have a huge praise/blessing to share with those who will be reading this. Since the end of last summer I have been lactose intolerant, which is especially hard to deal with at camp. One weekend I was talking with another girl who had been gluten intolerant, and she said that because of the food we serve at the Wilds, she started praying in February (when she got accepted) that she would get over her allergy for gluten, and God allowed her to eat gluten again. After talking with her, I felt impressed to start praying that I too would get over my allergy, and I asked another friend to start praying too. This past Monday, I ran out of Lactaid (my special milk), and I had forgotten to get more this
past weekend while I was out, so I decided that now was as good a time as any to see if I was over my lactose intolerance. I had milk in my cereal, and had just a little of it (mostly just what was soaked into my cheerios). My stomach felt fine afterwards, so I had a glass of milk the next day, and I was still fine. All week I have had milk and some cheese, and my stomach has been fine. I feel like sharing this with everyone because it’s so obviously a fingerprint of God in my life. My God is the Great Physician, and He has seen fit to heal me. May His name be praised!
