Summer Recap

This summer was beyond crazy but one of the best summers I've ever had! It went by super fast but I loved every moment! I got to meet some great people and had so much fun at staff training! I had the privilege of working with five incredible teams of counselors at five great churches! I also got to go to New Orleans for a week to serve at the ELCA National Youth Gathering and I am so thankful for that experience! In addition to camp and the Gathering, I went to two weddings! The first one in June was two friends from school so I got to see a lot of Biola friends and it was so fun! At the end of July, my friends Stephanie and Jeremy got married and it was so fun to be in their wedding!! It was a packed summer and filled with so many memories!
One of my favorite weeks definitely had to be when I got to work at Solheim Lutheran Home in Eagle Rock. I had a great team and we got to sing and do crafts and Bible Studies with old people all day! We had lots of adventures in LA too and so much fun and many memories! It was great to return to some churches that I worked at last summer and see campers I love!
I am so thankful for the opportunity to work at camp and be a part of such a powerful ministry! I hope and pray that next summer I am able to work!
This is my last post on this blog until next summer..be sure to stay up to date on my school blog at http://thesearethedaystoholdonto.blogspot.com/ (that is if I find time to update it!)

~Amanda

Newport Harbor

I got to spend my last week of camp by the beach! It was GREAT!!! I had so much fun with a small team of three counselors and only 8 campers! Newport Harbor Lutheran Church is the church where Pastor Brad now serves and it was so great to spend some time with the Stienstras!!! Their grandkids, Kylie and Noah, were staying with them for the week and attending camp. Johna was there on Sunday and it was so fun to spend time with her! The U.S. Open was going on in Huntington this week so on Monday night we went down to Ruby's on the Pier. It was so fun! And good! (They have gluten free burgers!) We stayed with an adorable and quite amazing couple, Pat and Marge. They are an older couple and it was so fun to listen to them talk about the places they've lived and travelled to. Marge made up breakfast every morning and had stuff for us to make our lunches each day. We all got our own rooms and beds and it was great! We watched the Olympics each night with them and ate the best food! Newport was a great place to end the summer. It was low-key, the kids were good and had fun, and the weather was wonderful! I'm so thankful for the Stienstra family and I'm so glad I got to spend time with them and at their church:)

Salem!!!!

Sorry for the delay in the updates on my last two weeks of camp. The end of the summer was insane for me! After my adventures in New Orleans and the airport, I got to go to one of my favorite chuches, Salem Lutheran in Glendale! Disa and I got to stay at Grandma Lee's house for the week! We had almost 60 kids this week and it was HOT HOT HOT! We had to try and keep the kids in a lot. This week I got to work with first graders and it was great fun:) They loved listening to me play guitar! It brought me such joy:):):) We got to eat Persian food, go to the LA Farmer's Market, hang with Pastor Sarah and her new baby (the coolest pastor around!), and spend time laughing with the ever so sassy Julie! Julie was our church contact and she is so much fun! She took us to Wendy's for frosties and french fries one night! It was a blast! I got to work with an excellent team as well. We had six people this week. We laughed and sang the Pasta Song A LOT! We also had an adventure in the three story Target in Glendale! On top of a crazy week with what seemed like a million kids, one of the counselors had a broken nose. During his time off on the weekend prior to day camp at Salem, he took a baseball to the nose. So he went to the doctor's a couple times while we were in Glendale that week and I got to take him one afternoon when they rebroke it and put it back in place and put a brace on it. I felt so bad for him! But he's tough and was a trooper. We watched a lot of movies and had so much fun at Salem! I can't wait to work there next summer! They've already reserved the last week in July for next summer:)

Sprinting through the airport

I'm so happy to be home!!! I love the state of California and I'm very glad to be back:) and so excited to be back at camp! I missed it!!! Getting home was a tad crazy but an adventure nonetheless! Our plane was late getting into New Orleans which meant we our flight was late getting out. Our original connection was only 30mins and we were a tad worried but when we heard our plane wasn't scheduled to land until 8:50pm and our connection was at 9:11 we were freaking out! They said we would have to stay in Houston overnight because the flight to CA that we were supposed to be on was the last one out for the night. I was not about to stay in TX overnight and miss the first day of camp! So when our plane landed in Houston we had to go pretty far but Disa and literally ran through the airport with our backpacks on! Disa said it was a good thing we were wearing our running shoes:) we just made it into our plane and they closed the doors behind us! I can't believe we made it it I'm so thankful we did! It's good to e home and at camp this week at a great church I love!
California girl through and through,
Amanda

A stroll in the park...and the RAIN!

Today was a great day! I got up early, hit the gym, went to another hotel to get some of their free breakfast and then headed to meet some friends before going to the Garden District. We got day passes for the street car and were planning on a beautiful day touring uptown New Orleans. Well instead we experienced one of the scariest thunder storms any of us had ever been in..while on a cable car! The rain started the minute we boarded the first trolley. So we ditched our shoes right away and put on flip flops..good thing we brought those because we walked through puddles almost up to our knees! After a beautiful but scary and wet ride to the Garden district during an intense lightening storm we got off and had a delicious lunch at a little Mexican food place. There was an exotic ice cream shop the girls wanted to try and it was a lot farther than we thought. This was the part when we got off the street car at the beautiful and flooded park thinking we were only six blocks from it. It was definitely not six blocks! We finally found it and were soaked and very soggy! We had lots of laughs and fun times today on the street cars and city buses as well as being the only fools walking around in the rain. All the local stores were out of ponchos and we had 3 umbrellas for the four of us. When we got back downtown we wanted to shower and nap but that didn't happen because of the insanity with youth groups trying to get about the town in the pouring rain. I planned on staying down at the hotel where we've been working evening events but there was too much craziness I had to trek back across town to my hotel where we had pool furniture being thrown in the pool and the fire alarm going off! Sadly I didn't get to go back to the big hotel for evening events because we thought it'd be best to have some people stay at our hotel to make sure things were under control with the crazy weather . Things are mostly good here now. Some exhausted youth and some wild ones. I'm currently doing floor sweeps and updating my blog! I love this app!
Tired from a long but great day,
Amanda

Wisconsins

Today all our youth groups arrived! My team was sitting in the lobby of our hotel from 9-6 anxiously awaiting their arrival! Most of them drove 28 hours and had been on a bus since yesterday morning! They were hot and tired and ready for a shower! It was so fun greeting them all as they got here! Some of their rooms weren't ready so I pulled out some of my camp counselor skills and played games with them and entertained them for awhile! I was telling them I worked at a camp in CA and they asked which one and they actual knew what El Camino Pines was and made a trip there last summer to do work projects and help!!! Crazy small world! It was great meeting everyone and I'm looking forward to working with them this week!
Lovin the Wisconsins,
Amanda

Calm Before the Storm

Tonight was the opening night in the Superdome! It. Was. Awesome. When we were in there we heard thunder. I was a little worried on our walk over there bc it was getting cloudy and looked like the sky might open up and dump buckets but hoped it would come pass and be over before the evening session let out. Well...it started about 8pm when I left the dome to head to a hotel for community life events. The rain started and came and came and came. I just kept walking and got soaked despite the umbrella I had. All the Gathering participants had to stay in the Superdome until the storm let up a little bit! It was crazy. When I finally arrived at the hotel across town I was drenched and cold. But I instantly met three girls who are awesome! Their names are Alisan, Sarah, and Adrian. I get to work with them every night this week! We like to hashtag:) We got to have a whole 'fun zone' (lots of bounce stuff and a DJ) to ourselves for a little bit! So fun! Once the Superdome was released we had a lot of kids at the hotel looking for dances and events so we dealt with a lot of sopping wet kids who were barefoot and the hotel did not like that! However, due to the storm we didn't had nearly as many as expected. I definitely see the storm as God's grace upon the Community Life team because it meant we could have a little practice run and a lighter night figuring out how to shuffle youth and people through the hotels and to events. So we like to describe tonight as the calm before the storm of 3000 kids in a hotel late at night that we know we will have to deal with tomorrow. God is good and I'm so thankful for this opportunity! He has also provided another cool opportunity for me tomorrow! At 6am I get to take 3 kids from a cross country team running! They don't want to mess with their training schedule while they are here so a girl on my staff volunteered me and of course I agreed! I warned the kid that it's been awhile and I definitely am NOT a cross country runner! Not sure what I'm getting myself into!! I just finished rounds to make sure everyone was in bed and being quiet. Off to bed!
God is so good,
Amanda

Quite an Adventure!

Well our flight was supposed to take off from Ontario at 1am this morning and we didn't leave until 215! There was no power in the plane and thunder and lightening storms between CA and TX. When we finally got to Houston, our connection flight was taking off. So missed that flight! They then gave us standby tickets..along with a bunch of other people who were trying to get to New Orleans. After walking almost all over the entire airport..which is huge!..we got tickets for a 12:50 flight that got us here by 2:00! I was worried with all the shuffling and trying to get on a flight our luggage wouldn't make it here. BUT we are here, alive, have our luggage and are on our way to the convention center now! This whole day and all our hours of travels have been crazy but this summer God has been teaching me that life is an adventure and you just gotta roll with the punches! I'm loving it!
Happy to be here with my luggage and ready to serve,
Amanda

A Delayed Flight

Tonight Disa, Anna, and I had a 1am flight...it's currently almost 1:30 and our plane has no power and we are still sitting at the gate. It's weird to think that it's the middle of the night and I'm wide awake. I've gotten really used to the camp sleep schedule of going to bed at 10:30 and getting up at 7. Thankfully we just got word that out the aircraft door has been closed! And I just downloaded a cool blog app so I updated this from my phone!
Hoping to make my next flight on time,
Amanda

My Favorite Campers

This past week I got to serve at Hope Lutheran Church in Temecula. This was my second year at Hope and I loved it! I was very excited to return to my favorite campers from last summer! Our team had six wonderful people and it was such a blessing to work with them all! The girls stayed at a beautiful home in Murrieta and thoroughly enjoyed our luxury accommodations and the boys stayed with an amazing couple about 5 minutes from the church. We had wonderful meals and host families all week! We got to meet some amazing people during our stay. My all-time favorite campers go to this camp. We had 29 kids and they were CRAY-ZAY! They were bouncing off the walls and driving us up the wall most of the time because they weren't real big on the whole listening thing but despite the difficult kiddies I still loved getting to spend the week with my favorite kids! I had the third graders for Bible Study this week and we had so much fun reading and acting out the Bible stories. They also loved my guitar and trying to play it and singing together. It was a pure joy to be with these amazing kids and I'm going to miss them so much! In addition to working with great kids all week..I got to meet lots of dogs. There was a dog at every host home we went to! God's humor? I think so! I am not a big fan of four-legged creatures of any variety but this week I fell in love with the dogs we stayed with! There were two Yorkies and an old Golden Retriever. They were adorable and so much fun to play with! The weather was pretty gross this week and the humidity made the kids insane but we got to go swimming almost everyday and the warm evenings were great for driving with the windows down! I loved being back in Temecula and getting to see the wonderful families I met last summer! Now I must pack for my trip to New Orleans tonight and my last two weeks of camp!
Missing my favorite kiddos,
Amanda

Solheim Lutheran Home

This past week I got to stay at and work at Solheim Lutheran Retirement Home. It. Was. So. Much. Fun!!!! We got to do camp with elderly campers! We had a team of 7 counselors and did 2 worships services and 3 Bible studies a day. We acted out the stories and sang A LOT of songs. I had the privilege of working with an amazing team this week. I was so blessed by each and every one of them! Each night during our devotions we went through a chapter of the book of James and grew and learned so much as a staff. We especially enjoyed talking in our British accents together:)
We got to meet some amazing people, stay at the home (quite the accommodations!), and go on lots of adventures! It was such a joy meeting the residents, playing bingo, and doing crafts with them. Being there for 4th of July was great too! We decided to dress a little nicer in our red, white, and blue, and the girls wore dresses and the boys wore button up shirts. The cutest thing was their BBQ in the courtyard when everyone had matching hats, were singing patriotic songs, and eating hot dogs and hamburgers. We got to hear lots of stories and we learned so much from working with these amazing people!

This is Rose. She is a Dementia resident who carried her baby Darlene everywhere. Dancing with her and her baby was one of my favorite things to do!

This is Hannah, Nate, and I headed to the Concert in the Park in the Solheim van!

Our team with Pastor Charlie at the 4th of July BBQ!

This is Ms. Mohr. She made me this hat. She is 94 and has lived here for two years.

On Thursday night we went to the Grove and met up with Johna. I love them!!

This is Evelyn (top), Patti (left), and Ruth (right). They were such a joy to work with!

This is our team on the last day with Jack an Charlotte. They were an adorable couple we all fell in love with! Doesn't Jack look like the old man from Up?

We pushed all our beds together, made guacamole, and had a movie night! 'Twas great fun!

Overjoyed,

Amanda

Christ Lutheran in Orange

This week I am at Christ Lutheran Church in the city of Orange. I have an awesome team that I get to work with! We have had a lot of fun so far this week and it's only Tuesday! Saturday night we stopped in Buena Park and had dinner at Tyler's house. Him and my mom made us all dinner! It was delicious. Our team loved it! Our host home is great! We are staying with an older lady named Jean. She lives in a gated community with a pool and she wanted us to go enjoy that. So we went to the pool and spa and planned out our stuff for Sunday. Sunday morning we taught Sunday School and did the children's sermon in the service. We went to Chipotle (it had been too long since I'd been there) for lunch then went to Huntington Beach to drop Brandon off for dinner with his family. He lives super close to the beach so we rode bikes down to the beach for the afternoon! It was gorgeous! Brandon attempted to teach me to surf. It was fun but mostly unsuccessful. haha We met up with the day camp team from Fountain Valley and gave them some of their stuff that we drove from Yolijwa. It was fun to see them! We went home and Aunt Jean (that's what we call our host) had a wonderful dinner prepared for us! We went to the pool again to plan worship, games, and Bible Studies for our first day of camp. Yesterday we met some adorable kids! Our campers are great! We have about 23 kids who definitely keep us busy and make us tired each day! We are having so much fun with them. I just love the kindergartners and first graders!!! Craft time is a little chaotic but manageable:) For dinner last night the boys BBQed hot dogs for us. They were so good! I really love BBQ hot dogs these days. After we cleaned up dinner we went to Downtown Disney to hangout and watch fireworks! It was so magical!!! We had a ton of fun! And we went to a candy shop and got a carmel apple to split. We had a lot of fun and it was great to laugh and bond with some great people!! Tonight we are going to watch a movie at home and rest. We are wiped out!!! Tomorrow we are going to the Santa Monica Pier to hang out with all the day camp teams!! I'm so excited!

Lovin day camps and the people I'm with,
Amanda

Staff Training

Last weekend we finished up two weeks of staff training. It was so much fun!!! We had lots of sessions and Bible studies and silly meals! I met some AHHHH-MAZING people and laughed a lot:) My favorite night was going down to a park in Frazier Park, BBQing hot dogs, and playing kickball! After a week at El Camino Pines, we went to Yolijwa. The weather was hot in Yucaipa but it wasn't too bad. I had three favorite memories here. 1)one night some girlfriends and I went outside to lay under the stars and have great conversation. It was beautiful and so great! 2)on Wednesday night we went out on the town and a group of us went to BJ's and had so so soooo much fun! We also went to Target and you would think we had been secluded from society for months but it had only been a week and a half! We had a grand adventure in Target playing tag, ran into some other camps, and laughed a whole lot! 3)during first aid/CPR training with new staff members the returning counselors did service projects and then had the afternoon to relax a bit while the people training finished up. We went into to town and got ice cream and spent the afternoon playing in the pool! It was so nice! I really enjoyed getting to know the staff this year and am looking forward to a great summer working with some phenomenal people!

Lovin camp,

Amanda

Getting Ready

I will be up at camp on MONDAY! I have just a few more days at home and a ton of packing to do!! Now that school is out (praise. the. Lord.) and I've had a little {two-week} vacation to rest and have some down time, I am preparing to head up to El Camino Pines to start staff training for my second summer with LRCC. I am very excited to be reunited with returning staff members and meet and get to know new ones! I will be serving at mostly Day Camps this year and I am overjoyed that I have been given this opportunity again this summer. Last year I absolutely LOVED working at various churches serving as a day camp counselor. Although I love being in the mountains, my heart lies in our Day Camp program. This year I get to return to Temecula and Glendale (two of my favorite churches from last summer!) as well go to Newport Beach for a week! I know that God has some awesome things in store for this summer! I have been praying a lot about what this summer holds and want to ask you to pray with me about a few specific things:

-prayers for staff unity as we get to know each other during our two weeks of training
-for stamina for new and returning staff as we endure long hours of training in order to be well-equipped to care for and lead kids this summer
-openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we learn what this summer's theme is about
-that as counselors we all continue to grow in our personal faith, stay rooted in the Word, and walk with the Lord this summer
-for the health and well-being among the staff and campers
-for our leaders as the coordinate the logistics of our summer programs
-for new campers and their parents as well returning campers
-for our day camp teams, the churches who host us, and the families who open their homes to our staff
-that we continue to do work for our Lord Jesus Christ as an organization through the opportunities that He has provided for us this summer

I'm looking forward to working with an amazing staff this summer and cannot wait to see what God has in store for us!

Doing my last minute shopping, loads of laundry, and late night packing,
Amanda