SST: Update #3

Hello everyone!

This week is the third week of counseling for me. I'm so excited to get to know the girls in my cabin more! They're all going into 5th grade... they're a bunch of wild little munchkins! I love it. Last week I counseled girls going into 8th grade, and my sister Faith was in my cabin. It was a lot of fun! It's so cool to interact with all the different age groups.

Last week was a little challenging for me because there was some drama in my cabin that I didn't really know how to handle. Prayers that God would give me wisdom in those kinds of situations would be appreciated so much! It was interesting having my sister in my cabin last week but it was definitely fun! I could tell that she appreciated the comfort and security she got from me being her counselor.

One of the things that stood out to me from last week was that middle school girls go through some tough stuff. Like I mentioned before, the whole drama thing started with one of my girls feeling left out, and then there was also a lot of insecurity issues they were all dealing with. Oh, the good 'ole days of middle school. Working with that age group brought back memories of myself struggling with the same kind of issues, and so it was easy to relate to them and talk to them about it. One night during debrief at the camp fire, I talked about how there are so many  lies that we as girls believe about ourselves. For example...

• our worth is found in what other people think about us
• we have to live up to a certain worldly standard
• we are defined by the mirror
• we need attention from guys

...and the list goes on. I then talked about how only God can define us, and that we are made in His beautiful image. I gave them each an envelope with a paper in it titled "Who I Am In Christ" with a list of bible verses underneath that showed them who they truly are. I hope they keep them forever and that they will be able to look back on them whenever they're not feeling the greatest about themselves.

After closeouts and chores Saturday, me and the other SSTers were thinking of stuff we could do. After a long week of camp, all of the staff is always ready to have some fun! We finally decided to go to Dave's Falls to take a hike and swim. Woohoo! Once we got to the swimming hole, I realized that I wasn't wearing my swimsuit and so I wouldn't be able to swim. Well, that's not what everyone else thought! Two of the guys starting chasing me around trying to get me wet, and then my friend James scooped me up and threw me in the water, fully clothed and everything (the nice thing about being in the boonies is that you never have your phone on you, and so everyone always assumes it's okay to do those kinds of things :P)! It was so fun! We played some chicken and also had a mud fight. It was truly AWESOME. After that adventure, we all went to Ranger Family Restaurant and then to a friend's house to watch She's The Man. What a day! The next day, me and some pals spontaneously went white water rafting. It was SO fun, and SO worth the $50. :D

After that, I was in my cabin just reflecting on what an awesome weekend I had. I began to think how cool God is, that He would create the little places like Dave's Falls just so that His people could enjoy His creation to the fullest, fellowshipping the way He made us to fellowship, and having fun with nothing but each other, water and mud. No phones, no internet, no board games, no TV's...just His pure creation. How cool is that?! God is so good. I can't wait for more adventures like that!

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to help me reach my financial goal this summer as well. Go to www.llbc.org, and donate to my mission from there! If you have any questions, feel free to send me a letter, a text, or a Facebook message!

-Mackenzie

SST: Update #2

Hello all!

This past week was my very first week counseling! And let me tell you... it was SO awesome. I had a group of seven girls in my cabin, and they were all crazy and wild and just wanted to have fun! One of my favorite memories from this past week was staying in Hammock Village. Hammock Village is an area at camp where a ton of hammocks are hung on the trees in the woods for cabins to sleep in. We slept there Tuesday night, and before we went to bed I let them stay up to make s'mores from the S'more Kit we won the previous night at chapel. Flash forward to 3:30am that same night and I feel one of my girls tapping me on the shoulder saying, "It's raining!!!" So we all immediately packed up our stuff from Hammock Village and moved back to our cabin. What a night! It was fun while it lasted.

Another fun thing that I did was kayaking! Me and a bunch of girls from my cabin decided it'd be fun to give it a try...and it sure was! We all got some sun that day but it was worth it. I also got the worst kayak (it was the oldest one and got me very wet)... but hey, it was a blast. :)

I also asked my cabin if they wanted to challenge another cabin to a game of Nukem (Nukem is a camp game... it's basically volleyball except you catch the ball and throw it to the other side). Of course, they wanted to challenge a boys cabin. Bring it on! Butternut vs. Cedar. If we (Butternut) won, we would make the boys (Cedar) write a song for us and sing it in front of everyone. If they won, they would dump buckets of cold water all over our heads while we were still in our clothes. Guess who won?!!?!

...

Cedar.

So me and my girls huddled close together while they dumped two giant buckets of cold water on our heads. Yes.

As you can see, my first week was anything but boring. Even with all the fun that we had, my favorite part of the week was seeing my girls grow closer to Jesus. During cabin debrief at the end of the day, I talked to them about what they were learning about God and how they could apply that to their lives. My girls had A TON of questions about God and the bible, which I am so thankful for! It was awesome to see how God used me this past week to answer their questions. I am looking forward to hearing from them through letters throughout the summer!

Friday night to Saturday night was New Camper Experience. This was a weekend for little kids that wanted to just try camp out for a night and a day. I had the craziest girls! One of them reminded me of the young version of Mr. Frederickson's wife in the movie UP. All they wanted to do was swim, so that's what I spent my day doing. I also got several buckets of water dumped on my head again...This whole water-bucket-dumping must be a camp thing.

Alright guys, thanks so much for staying up to date with me! I appreciate all your prayers. Be praying for my brother Wesley and my sister Faith as they come to camp this next week! I'm looking forward to it so much. Also pray that God will give me a high energy level throughout the summer. Now time for church! And then... Finding Dory!

-Mackenzie

SST: Update #1

Hello everyone!

So if you did not know already, this summer I am working at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp up in the north woods of Wisconsin. These past two weeks have been training time... sounds boring, right? WRONG. So far, this summer has been absolutely wonderful. As a way of keeping you all up to date, I'm planning on blogging once a week. So let me tell you all about what's been going on so far!

First off, I have been having so much fun getting to know the other staff members, being away from distractions, and enjoying God’s beautiful creation! My team this summer consists of a pretty equal amount of guys and girls. We all get along great, and I can honestly say that after the first two days it felt like we were one big happy family. We have already done a bunch of fun things together…

• We went on a canoe trip to an island and had a grill out!
• We played volleyball games until 12 A.M. the other night! (I regretted this the next morning…)
• We went to church at Redemption Hill in Iron Mountain on Sunday (and then went to Jimmy Johns afterwards...yum.)
• We all took our swim tests in the lake today and played with a bunch of tadpoles!
• We helped build a playground at the Pembine school!

I am looking forward to growing even closer to all these wonderful people as the summer progresses. During training, my relationship with God has also been growing! It has been so cool to be away from the distractions of life and to completely focus my attention on Him. During my PQTs (Personal Quiet Times: an hour scheduled out of our day so we can spend time with the Lord) I have been meditating on Ephesians 4:17-32, which talks about how when we are in a relationship with the Lord, He changes us into a new person that glorifies Him. I really like the part in this passage where it talks about working with our hands what is good. This world has become so automatic, where everything you need can be done by the click of a button or with the help of some kind of machine. But God wants us, as Christians, to be working with our hands. The harder the work, the greater the reward, right?! :)  Even though I’ll be facing many challenges this summer here at LLBC, I know that I’m right where God wants me and that the reward for my work will be unbelievably worth it.

Anyway, the first round of campers come in this upcoming week! I am BEYOND excited. I found out that I will be working on the worship team as well as counseling (woohoo!). Please pray that God would strengthen me and give me the words to guide my Butternut girls (Butternut is the name of the cabin I will be staying in). Also, keep in mind that my financial support goal this summer is $1,800. This means I need at least $667 more. If you would like to be apart of my mission here at camp, please visit www.llbc.org and click "give", then "donate now", then "give to LLBC", and from there you can scroll down and find my name. I love you guys, and I can’t thank you enough for loving me! <3

-Mackenzie