Today, it is exactly one month since I arrived at Camp Oakridge. I remember well the journey to Oakridge and how last-minute it was. In the spring, I had received the news that I was accepted to work at Kanakuk Kamps in Branson, MO, as a "kitchie" from May 19 to July 4. I remember being disappointed that I wasn't offered employment for the whole summer, but that would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I never would have thought to google "camps that offer employment for half of the summer" had I been offered a position that would last the full summer at Kanakuk. I never would have discovered Camp Oakridge, and I wouldn't have experienced all the blessings that God had in store for me here.
So, because I had only been offered employment for the first half of the summer at Kanakuk, during my days off, I tried to find employment for the second half of the summer. Finally, after finding Camp Oakridge online, confirming that they still had summer spots open, applying, having references called and such, I made the decision to go there after I was done at Kanakuk, just five days before my time there ended.
Anyways, I arrived at Oakridge on July 5, toward the end of a 2-year-old's birthday party, and I just remember meeting a lot of people and not really knowing who they were (including the director). During the next few days, I would come to realize that Mr. Brian Ball was the director of Oakridge, Miss Beth was his wife, and his children were Jaime, Jesse, Josh, Jonny, and Jerry. Along with that, I found out that Jesse was married to Rachel, and that they were indeed old enough to have a 2-year-old girl named Julia and a boy on the way, and that they were not "teens," as they had first appeared to me. In addition, I also found out that Josh had been recently married to Natalie, a sweet, but rather quiet young lady in her early 20s.
So my Oakridge journey began, and it was quite interesting, to say the least. After I had moved my belongings into the house where I would be staying, all of the other girls said, "Let's go to the food bank." So I joined them and walked to the food bank located on the camp's property. The door to the food bank was locked, but we were able to crawl through a tiny window to get inside, which all of the other girls insisted was okay to do. All I could think the entire time though was, "And this is how Leah got fired--by breaking into a food bank." Then, on my second day at Oakridge, I broke a broom while trying to kill a spider. First, I was breaking into food banks, then I was breaking brooms. Lovely, a great first impression of myself to the leaders here, I thought to myself sarcastically.
But things looked up as the days went on. I was especially pleased with my lodgings (a 1-2 person bedroom in the basement of a house), which afforded me much-needed introvert time after having lived in a room with 20 or so other girls at Kanakuk.
I also found the diverse work a great blessing after having been kept in the kitchen for much of the day at Kanakuk. Instead of spending every waking moment in the kitchen, there was time spent pulling weeds and cleaning lodgings. It was refreshing indeed to engage in other types of work.
Anyways, in addition to the lodgings and the variety of work, there have been three main ways that God has blessed me through Camp Oakridge during the past month. In the first place, I have met a family where all of the immediate members actually believe in God and really strive to follow Him with their lives. Such a thing is rare in today's world, where many people claim to be Christians, but don't really live like it. Or, even if there are genuine Christians in a family, more often than not, the family is "divided" because of unbelieving family members. So the Ball family has really been a blessing to me because of their willingness to serve Jesus in ministry, and that is only the second family whom I know where all of the immediate members do that.
A second way in which God has blessed me during my time at Oakridge is through the volunteers He has brought here. Many of the volunteers are fifteen years of age and younger, and their work ethic is just astounding! Their hard work this summer encouraged me to work more diligently! In a society where many teens choose to waste lots of time on video games and other such things, it really blesses me to see young people who want to serve God by choosing to volunteer at Camp Oakridge. And, more often than not, that volunteering is in the dish pit--a behind-the-scenes job.
In addition to the wonderful Ball family and the hard-working volunteers, God has blessed me at Oakridge by giving me a sense of purpose. I've had a sense of purpose before, but it is especially great to be in a place where the sense of purpose is reinforced. Whether it's hearing of a camper coming to Christ or hearing of how a youth group really came to be unified, one constantly gets word of how God is working in people's lives. And that encourages one to get out of bed in the morning and serve--even in hundred-degree temperatures!
So, that is just a little bit of how God has blessed me while I've been at Oakridge and just a glimpse of how God has been so good to me during my first month here. I am anxious to see what else God will do in and through my life as I continue to serve at Oakridge.
