SMT, Part 6= Pinecroft- Week 2

So after our first week working at Pinecroft, we took Trudi Fountain up on her offer to stay at their house for the short weekend break between Primary camp and Jr. camp. So we drove to the Fountain's farm in Cusick, WA. We had gotten to know Trudi, Ethan, and Andrea pretty well through that first week, but we met the rest of the family for the first time: Jennifer, Bridget, Sonja, Evan, and her husband Steve. Their farm was beautiful! The house was over a hundred years old, as well as the rest of the buildings (I think). We spent that Saturday resting, swimming in their awesome home made pool, and in the hot tub.
(PS- this was where I was when I got that first contact from Nikki, but I don't want to slip into the whole "getting this off my chest" mentality again.)
Anyways, I don't even know how long we spent in that pool... 3 or 4 hours if I remember right. It was such a great bonding time for our team :) That's also where I first really bonded with Jennifer and Bridget. They are Trudi's younger two daughters and they are great! In fact that weekend started a close friendship between them and I that has lastest even to this day (we still write letters back and forth). We started messing with each other from the beginning. In fact, if I remember right, there are was a water gun involved.... ;)

After that just amazing weekend that we all needed, we headed back to camp on Sunday evening. We got to sit on a chapel for Teen Challenge, a group that helps addicts get out of their entrapment and steer towards the light of Christ. That chapel was amazing....

And so that week started. It was a 5th and 6th grade age (if I remember right).

That was my toughest week of the summer. I just couldn't get my mind wrapped around being there in the moment. I had a hard time remembering my kids names and I just... couldn't get my head in the game. The devil did a masterful job of messing with me that week. I honestly have a very vague recollection of the week... I remember getting closer with Jennifer and Bridget Fountain. I remember  cabin times. I remember judging cabin clean-up with my SMT group. I remember making camp videos (big mistake by the way). I remember games somewhat. I remember the craziness of Matt's weird dreams. I remember playing Darth Vader in Human Clue. I remember the water park! But everything else is such a blur... Which is sad because I loved Pinecroft so much!

I had a co-counselor named Mike. Mike was awesome! He was a seminary student doing an internship with a pastor a couple towns over. He had an amazing knowledge of the Word and and learned a ton from him! I also was able to teach him what counseling was all about, and what to do in certain situations. He was also a nerd like me. He knew a lot about movies and such, something I had been missing for a solid month or so. So I'm glad God provided that friendship. It was a nice break from the "non-nerdyness" that I was so used to by that point.

My camper's names were Joel, Joe, Josh H., Rudy, Josh B., Jake, Josiah, Noah, David, and Jim. Yes it was a big cabin, but that made it great for cabin discussions. We actually got into some good stuff. As I said, it was an incredible blessing to have Mike there, especially in those discussions. I didn't have any guys come to Christ because they were all already saved. So I got to pure into them and encourage them in their walk with Christ.

There is so much more to say about this camp, but the haziness of the week is preventing me... I loved this camp so much and I wish I could remember more... But God is still good! He used me in what ways these kids needed me in :)

Soon, the camp was over, and it was time to drive. We said our goodbyes, which was tough, especially saying goodbye to the Fountains. But soon, we set out on the road again, driving towards the Seattle area of Washington.

This is John Friend, signing off for now :)