Paz Y Esperanza

Hola, mis amigos. I'm not sure if that's right, so I'm gonna stop with the Spanish. Last week I had to be a day camp leader for the first time in my still-brief counseling career. I was a little nervous because if you know me, you know that a leadership role does not play to my strengths. My strengths, if you're wondering, are making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and texting with one hand. Sadly, those help me in a very limited number of real life situations. One of those situations is not leading day camp. Day camp, by the way, is pretty much vacation bible school, where a few counselors from camp will go to a church and do camp things with the kids. Camp things consist of playing games, singing songs, doing bible studies, and making crafts. Normally, the counselors will stay at a host family's house for the week, but the day camp I was on was only twenty minutes away from camp, so we would commute every day. I started the week with a few concerns. They are as follows:

1. I was the DCL (Day Camp Leader)
Like I said, I've never been a DCL before, but I was aware that I probably wouldn't succeed in that role. I feel like I know what's going on most of the time, but to have to organize everything is a little overwhelming for me. Like, I'm not 100% sure on protocol for most things day camp related, and I feel like that's not a good trait for a DCL. Also, I had not received any DCL training, so I wasn't aware of most of things I was supposed to do. Luckily, I had a resource (the day camp binder), and when I get nervous and have access to a resource, I use that resource. A lot. I read through that binder probably three times every day, and that's how I realized I should probably fill out most of the forms regarding the day camp. However, there was another stressor related to this one...

2. I didn't have my binder for the first day
Since I'd never been a DCL before, I wasn't really sure of how the whole process of receiving the day camp binder worked. I assumed someone at the site I work at (Shores of St. Andrew) would have the binder, find me, say, "Joe, here's your binder for day camp," give me the binder, and walk away. None of those things were true. Apparently, I was sent an email from our sister site (Green Lake) which said I needed to drive there to pick up the binder and the car we would be using. I never got that email. So, on Sunday morning when we were supposed to be going to our church for day camp, I was freaking out because I didn't have my binder. The binder contains useful information such as, but not limited to, who I'm supposed to meet with at the church, directions on how to get to the church, if we are participating in the service at all, and if we're supposed to do something after the service at all. Kris, the waterfront director, looked up directions on his phone for me and we had an unused camp car at Shores, so those two things were taken care of. Luckily, the first person we saw in the church was the person who we were supposed to meet with. However, we were supposed to sing songs during the service, but we were not prepared for that. We ended up doing a skit during the children's sermon and called it good.


3. I was the only "guitar player" in the group
If you're wondering why "guitar player" is in quotes, it's because I wouldn't exactly call myself a guitar player. I'm just someone who knows chords on the guitar. Unfortunately, I was the only one on my day camp team who could even say that. Thus, I was the guitar player. I had never been the guitar player for a day camp before, and it was something near the top of my "I Never Want To Do This In My Lifetime" list (first and second on that list would be to pass a kidney stone and to receive a catheter. On a different note, is "receive" the right word to use in regard to a catheter? I mean, what else would you use? I'm gonna go with "receive").


4. I'm not fluent in Spanish
"Paz Y Esperanza" is actually Spanish for "Peace and Hope." The fact that the church is named "Paz Y Esperanza" is a pretty dead giveaway that the congregation is mostly Hispanic. They definitely are. My Spanish is spotty at best. Fortunately, the kids all spoke English and the helpers were bilingual. Everything went better than expected!