Dear Parent of a Kidz at Kamp/Wired Camper,
You don’t really know us. And to be completely transparent, we don’t really know you. However, since we think the world of your kiddos and campers, and we get to spend some awesome quality time with them at camp, we thought there are some important things you should know about us:
- We try so hard to keep your child hydrated and sunscreen-ed.
Like SO hard. We come up with chants (Water, water, H2O! Dehydration, no, no, no!) and place water jugs everywhere. We try so hard to be an example by always applying sunscreen before REC and free time. Your kiddo’s sponsors push it all day too, we hear it. We promise we try. That being said, if your child comes home looking like a lobster, and is dehydrated, it’s not our fault but sometimes camp just gets so exciting that for some reason, water and sunscreen are the first thing to get tossed aside. But we are so sympathetic because we’ve totally been there. (Pro tip: keeping a bottle of Aloe Vera in the fridge is like a magic salve for those sunburns that hurt.)
- We love the Lord so much.
Really, truly, our job at camp comes down to one thing… facilitating experiences so your child can have a divine appointment with the Lord. We all feel this burden and it’s because we have all had that moment with the Lord, a moment where we came to realize how much the Lord loves us and how much we need the Lord to save our hearts. We desperately want to share that with your kids and sometimes that looks like just making sure that Sally gets a high five and sometimes it looks like making sure gets included during REC time and sometimes (my personal favorite) we get to sit down with your camper and pray and answer some of those questions that sit in their minds, stewing for closure. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do if we didn’t love the Lord like we do. This week may feed your kiddos hearts, but it also feeds ours.
- We adore this job. But for most of us, it’s not our main job.
Seriously. We love coming and spending five sweaty days with your child. There is a certain joy at camp that isn’t found many places. Some of us drive three or four hours just to be there. (We even have a nurse that flies in from out of state.) Our Executive Director of Camp Ministry and the Board Members are probably the only ones who truly focus on this 12 months out of the year. (That doesn’t mean we don’t pray for your kiddos constantly, because we do!) And even they work full time outside of camp. Our REC and admin teams are comprised of teachers, coaches, college students, youth pastors, sheriffs, police officers, EMTs, firefighters, accountants, professional football players, husbands, wives, moms, dads, grandparents, worship leaders, rodeo queens, barrel racers, and so much more. We seriously come from all walks of life just to spend five stinky, sweaty days (four times a summer) with your campers. And we wouldn’t trade it for anything.
- We are not their sponsors.
Your child’s sponsors are really the heroes of the camp. They spend every waking and sleeping moment with the campers. They are the ones who take them to get their meds, they are the ones who deal with the homesickness and the real sickness, they are the ones to make sure everyone eats (they are also the ones that steer them away from the coffee in the mornings), the ones who make sure your kiddos don’t get lost, etc., etc.. We could go on forever about how incredible the sponsors are. We witness them do silly things and sweat and push their bodies to the limit just to make sure your kiddo has the most memorable experience possible. But, oh so possibly, there is one thing that the sponsors do that trumps everything else they do; they chase your child’s heart in an attempt to show them the Lord. Night after night, small group after small group, the sponsors are sharing Truth and Light with your camper even after they blob and eat “delicious” camp food. They are the true champions of the weeks. (Plus, they have to sleep in the cabins with your stinky kiddos and not many people voluntarily do that.)
- We are just as excited as they are.
Seriously. We all look forward to the weeks of camp. We have a training weekend in March and it’s basically a countdown after that. We love watching your kids pull up onto campus. They’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and its beautiful to witness. They’re excitement is feasibly tangible and it makes our excitement bubble up that much more. Don’t get us wrong, part of that excitement will give way to exhaustion later on in the week, but that other part of their excitement stays with them throughout the week. And that is why we do this.
We also wanted to take a second to thank you for trusting us with your kiddos for the summer. We know that for some of you, it’s a big deal and we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t believe in this ministry. We hope this let you into our hearts for the summer a little bit. We appreciate you and adore your kiddos.
In Him with so much love,
The REC Team
