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