Unexpected rewards

Can you pinpoint when the best week of your life was? I’m not sure if I can choose just one-but I know weeks spent at Rockbridge and Timberwolf Young Life camps in high school were definitely up there. Young Life is an organization where leaders reach out to high school students and the website phrases it perfectly: “YL leaders show they care by going where kids are, meeting them as they are, believing in who they can be.”

CAMP — Welcome! Katie's home for a month

CAMP1 — Katie's job for the month was to serve food at all meals

CAMP2 — Awee candid close-up on "Rodeo Night"

My beautiful sister (and queen-in-training) Katie spent the entire month of July working and volunteering at a Young Life camp in Saranac Lake, New York. High school students who volunteer to work at a YL camp are on Work Crew and college students are on Summer Staff-each with different jobs. Summer Staff jobs range from lifeguarding and working the ropes course to cooking and crafts. Work Crew jobs are serving in the dining hall, housekeeping, laundry & working in the “pits” (dishes!)

: Weekends were for work crew fun. Parasailing! So jealous!

Themed dinners every week:

Monday: Pirate Night

Tuesday: Rodeo Night

Wednesday: 50s Night

: Perttty

CAMP9 — On the final night of camp each week, Work Crew all dressed like this to serve fancy meals to campers

Katie’s sacrifice to give up an entire month of fun and friends to volunteer at a camp and reach out to fellow high school students says so much to me about her priorities and character. She moved twelve hours away, gave up the two jobs she had for the entire month and had no access to phone or Facebook. I know that 90% of us would say no way to doing this, but Katie was excited for the opportunity. It was so great when she finally moved back home last Sunday to learn how she grew and the lessons she learned. Her exact words: “I thought I was going to serve other people but learned more about myself and would gladly go back again.”

She described the month as “just what she needed” and how refreshing it was for her to intentionally focus beyond herself while working at the YL camp. Sometimes the best and most rewarding crown polish comes from the experience that you don’t realize completely at the time.

Unexpected rewards

August 9, 2010

Family, Random

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