The Best Five Days of the Year Hands Down

As I was laying awake last night from 10PM-12ishAM, I thought about what I'm going to post about now. As most of you all know, for the past three summers I've been a mentor at Orcas Island Encampment. This is a camp for underprivileged boys age six through nine.This camp is what made my decision to go into social work. The boys that come to this camp come from really crappy homes. If they have a dad, he's not the ideal role model. Their moms usually work more than one job so these boys fend for themselves and their siblings most of the time. These boys have been let down by the people who are suppose to love, provide and protect them. By the time I meet the little boy who I'll be a mentor to, he doesn't trust or love easily. You spend the first two and a half to three days of camp earning their trust. But it is sooo worth it! When you see them smile at you, when they grab your hand to drag you to see something "cool", in their laughter, in the way they beg for a piggyback ride. When you first meet them you having an overwhelming desire to take them home with you. They for the most part have big brown eyes, miscevious smiles that show a missing tooth or two, soft black hair, more energy than you thought could be in one boy, and a stubborn disposition. Most will do whatever it takes to push you away or make you cry. They've been hurt, therefore they will hurt you before you can hurt them. By the end of the five days they won't let you out of their sight. They cry when they find out we're going home. They tell you they hate you. But it's only because they've had an awesome time in "heaven" and now have to go home to "hell". (Not my words. My second summer, Pablo told me that.) My three boy are Chris age 11 now, Pablo age 10 now, and Sergio age 7 now. I get to see Pablo every once in a while. He still greets me with a hug hard enough to knock me over. I saw Chris last summer. His smile got extra wide and his words tripped over each other as he told me about school, his friends, his mom, sister and everything else under the sun. Sergio I got to see on a regular basis until his family moved. He is a very stubborn and willful boy, but he listened to me. My point is that I made an impact on their lives in some small way and changed it for the better. The best part is that this camp is funded through 1st Pres and West Pres so we get the joy of telling them about Jesus. As the directors say, we plant the seed. Someday they'll remember and want to know more. My dream is to start a camp just like this for little girls. Someday it'll happen.