It was the best life training I ever got. It holds the best memories of my childhood. As I sit here in Africa, its beach is still my happy place. I still get butterflies thinking about being back there. My smile still grows when I think of my time there. I owe so much of who I am to Camp Kwasind.
I’ve been a camper there since age 8. Granted my first couple years I was a cabin leaders nightmare. I was a very cautious child who wasn’t very outgoing. I owe a lot of that change to my time at Kwasind.
It was the place where I first fully understood Gods love for me. It was the first place I can say I felt fully emerssed in His presence. It was the first place I learned to live like I was loved and actually did it. That was years ago and I’m still working on it out of the camp atmosphere.
Kwasind taught me to live without fear of every little thing. It taught me that risks are good and crazy is better. I learned how to do things without overthinking it first. It taught me how to make friends almost instantly because it taught me to be myself with new people instantly.
I had a cabin leader probably 6 years ago that shaped the way I talk to my Heavenly Father. Prayer is no longer a stiff must do but because of her I learned how to live out a real relationship with God. All of the leaders I’ve had over the years have shaped the way I view my God into what He is to me today.
Growing up in a very small church, camp was my main source of christian community. Knowing I’d see them again the next year was the thing that got me through many of my school years. Because I knew they loved and accepted me there.
Once I was old enough, being a maintenece girl was the next step. That summer was my first work experience. I spent it growing in intesne community with an amazing staff. Kwasind gave me the chance to learn a lot of skills no one else would. They let me use power tools and taught me to use them when most people would look at me and laugh. That summer gave me an even more solid relationship with my older sister. It also made me fall in love with God’s word through the daily staff bible studies lead by my supervisor. It was a challenging summer but I can now clean toilets, do dishes and use a power drill like nobodys business.
The next summer lead me to cabin leading. I absolutely loved this job with everything in me. I loved pouring into campers and shaping their relationship with God the way my leaders had. I loved being silly and wild. Seeking out the ones that needed a little extra loving and showing how fun life is when you live the way God made you.
I gained a community on the Kwasind staff that helped me through a lot of the hard things going on in my life. They never failed to support me through all of it and love me so well. I gained some of the absolute sweetest friends through it all. And they’re still some of my greatest supporters from across the world. They taught me to love well.
One of the biggest lessons from this summer was how to go with the flow and exicute being put on the spot. Things rarely go as planned so being ready with a plan b in an instant was a huge part of my summers. I also learned that making a fool of yourself infront of everyone usually works out pretty well. And when it comes to songs, the louder and crazier the better.
There are so many lessons I’ve learned over the years from summers at Kwasind, I could never list them all. But there were a lot of times people told me I needed to get a real job. To stop wasting my time there and learn what the real world is like. If I’m honest, I’m really glad I didn’t listen to them. Because it wasn’t a waste of time. It gave me an understanding of what I want my real world to look like. Not what the world tells me it should look like.
I’ve been on the mission field for almost 8 months now. Being at Kwasind each year was the best training I could have ever recieved for mission work. It’s the reason my 16 year old ESL students in Guatemala opened up to me. Because I knew how to be myself imfront of them. It’s the reason that rolling yarn in a small room at a special needs orphanage in Honduras was no big deal to me. Because I knew the power of behind the scenes work. It’s the reason I was able to adapt so easily to life on the field in Cambodia because I knew how to adapt to new surroundings easily. It’s the reason I was able to connect so well with my squad. Because I know how to create solid relationship with people. It’s the reason I’m able to stand infront of 1000 refugee children each day and scream at the top of my lungs like a fool for hours on end. It’s the reason I’m able to lead a plethera of silly repeat after me songs for entertainment. It’s the reason I can handle having my hands held at all times and the reason I can share a room with 8 other people contantly and I’m not afraid of the big bugs. It’s the reason kids on every continent now sing Aunt Ouva’s Chickens to themselves. It’s the reason I even had enough courage to be here.
All this to say, I owe so much of who I am and what I’ve been able to do these past 8 months to Kwasind. Without it I don’t think I’d be the same. I don’t think I would have made it to this moment where I sit on the front door step of my home in Ethiopia ready to go love hundreds of refugee children. So praise Jesus for blessing me with a place like Kwasind. Praise Jesus for summers well spent.
