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I can’t believe I’m finally writing this blog, but my ambassador job is OVER! This past Sunday, we finished up the last camp of our 8 week tour. Simpson Park was a great way to end the summer. We were with Wellspring again, which was great—they helped boost our energy with support and encouragement when we couldn’t give 100% to our kids. It was a family camp, which meant the families of many of the campers stayed on the grounds. There was a church service every night, which both the kids and their families attended. I grew a lot this week, and I have the speaker to thank for that. He spoke about many things that have been on my heart lately, and his way of relating to the kids was phenomenal. The Spirit certainly worked through him!

Simpson Park is the home to many SAU grads and current students. I was able to meet some students who just graduated this year, who I had never had the opportunity to get to know before this week. Many of the campers have heard about Spring Arbor for their entire lives, and are strongly considering attending when they reach that age! We were also able to meet a couple of this year’s incoming freshmen. It was a blessing to be surrounded by “home” in so many ways during our last week of the summer. Spring Arbor is an incredible place, and it was such a great experience to be able to share my passion for it to so many junior higher and high schoolers this summer. The job was about 10% promotion, and 90% relationship, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Thanks for keeping up with my journey this summer! You have no idea how much your prayers and support meant to me!

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While we were at Lifechangers, we were able to work with some people we actually knew pretty well. Our travels this summer intersected with one of the Wellspring teams this week, which was absolutely awesome! Wellspring is an SAU traveling summer ministry team that works for Admissions–basically like what Melissa and I do, only with 8 people instead of 2, and their primary job is providing worship for the camps. There are 3 different Wellspring teams, and we just so happened we were at the same camp as them for a week!

It was great being with some of our friends for a week and seeing their gifts and talents put into action. At Lifechangers, the Wellspring team made up most of the crew leaders. On top of that responsibility, they provided our worship time during the evening chapels.

At the end of the week, we had a block party to celebrate the work that had been done and offer a free, fun afternoon for the members of the community. There were hotdogs, hamburgers, games, and music. All week, one of our projects had been turning a run-down house into a stage, which was the stage Wellspring used to perform that night. It was awesome being able to put into use something the kids had been working on! If you check out our Youtube channel (SAUspace), you’ll be able to see a video of Wellspring singing “You Are Good” at the Brightmoor block party.

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“Lifechangers” is not a place where teens can come for group games, zip lines, and free time. It, by far, does not fit under the title of a normal camp. It doesn’t even have its own home. Lifechangers is a camp that is housed in different schools and churches, and the kids come for a week to pull together all of their efforts and energy into being the hands and feet of Christ for 7 days. These teens know what they’re getting into, and I was encouraged by the enthusiasm I saw at registration!

Melissa and I were not counselors this week, but crew leaders. The 8 crew leaders each had their own color (mine was green) and in that crew were a few kids from each of the present youth groups. Every morning we would be up by 6:30 to be at the work sites by 7:45, and we would be off to Brightmoor Community. This was a community that currently has 6 out of 10 vacant lots/homes, and Lifechangers is trying its hardest to preserve what is left. Each crew was assigned with a different project every day, from mowing and weeding to trash collecting and painting. My crew was all junior highers, and they worked extremely hard! Their positive attitudes and excitement to serve really touched my heart.

In the afternoons, the crew leaders were given a break while the youth group leaders took the kids to lead Backyard Bible Clubs. At night, we would have the routine crew games, dinner, devotions within crews, and chapel.

Overall, this camp was very unique, very challenging, but the most rewarding experience I have ever been part of. It was absolutely beautiful to see these young people strive to make a difference in that community. I was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of this and encourage my crew to work hard. Part of my Ambassador job description is simply loving and serving as Jesus would, and I was certainly given the opportunity to do that this past week!

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We worked with some awesome people this week!

We are officially “over the hump”! Melissa and I made it through week 4, which was spent at Camp Chenaniah in Honor, MI. This camp was rather “rustic” as our boss likes to say, but it is a wonderful place to grow, serve, and have fun. There were only about 25 kids there, ages 7-17, and Melissa and I were counselors in the senior high girls’ dorm. Along with being counselors, we also led game time at night and were able to tell the kids how AWESOME Spring Arbor is!

We were there with two other college teams, Indiana Wesleyan and Southern Wesleyan. It was great interacting with other college students again, and I’m excited to keep in touch with them even after we’ve said goodbye. One way in which I’ve been growing this summer is learning how to appreciate the people in my life, even if I’m only with them for a short time. A difficulty in this job is attaching yourself to a person, a staff, or an entire camp atmosphere and then having to say goodbye after less than a week. When talking to Melissa about it after the second week, she felt herself starting to build a wall when we walked into camp #3 because she didn’t want to be hurt from having to leave those people once the week was up. We’ve both come to realize, however, that we can’t harden ourselves to the beautiful opportunities God has given us, even if we can only experience them for a short time. Ever since we decided to be open and welcome whatever relationships God has brought our way, I know we have both been refreshed and overfilled with joy because of what these new friends mean to us :).

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CHC has a climbing wall, zip line, Gaga ball court, and much more!

Many SAU students are familiar with Covenant Hills Camp in Otisville, MI. In fact, many SAU students work at CHC. This week felt a bit more like “home” because it was the traditional camp setting, and we knew many of the people on staff. This was the first week we worked with an actual group of counselors who are hired in for an entire summer. At first we were nervous that they wouldn’t want us intruding on the group they had already established, but they were all SO welcoming and loved us as if we had been working there for weeks. The camp had about 100 junior highers, and by the end of the week many of them had re-dedicated their lives to Christ! It was a beautiful thing!

As I felt that God had promised, we encountered challenges just like normal. Melissa and I were both paired with another counselor instead of being a counselor of our own cabin like we had been the previous two weeks. This was a challenge because we were asked to humble ourselves to the form of a servant, and submit to a different style of leadership. It was difficult, but I learned that God can work even through a situation where I am asked to step back a little bit. The counselor I was paired with was Hannah, who will actually be a freshman at SAU in the fall! I’m excited to see her again in a couple of months.

We had a really great week, yet again. Something tells me this is going to continue to be a trend. I can’t believe we’re already three weeks in! We’re definitely starting to feel the exhaustion kick in. We have weird tan lines and even weirder inside jokes. We have had great experiences and some that are not so great. But God has been with us through each one, and I know He will continue to be present as long as we continue to trust that He has everything under control. I think I’m ready to see what He brings next!

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