Reminiscing the Ranch

I wrote this article on the train ride back from camp this summer, but as usual forgot to finish it. Thankfully, I stumbled upon it when looking through my documents.

Here's a little summary of my El Rancho de Paz experiences. Enjoy!

What were my feelings coming into camp? Extreme fear. With no idea of what to expect, no prior experience, and a rush of the unknown, my entire being told me that I wouldn’t be able to handle being a counselor at El Rancho de Paz. Yet, while the physical told me I would be unable, the spiritual assured me that God was bringing me here for a reason, and He wouldn’t leave me to face the summer alone (which would be a recurring theme in my life this summer).
            What are my feelings now that the summer has come to a close? Absolute awe. In the words of one of our favorite camp songs, “I stand to praise You as I fall on my knees.” God proves faithful over and over, and this summer God’s faithfulness exceeded my expectations beyond the imagination.
            As the summer began, staff training definitely broke off a lot of the initial fears of camp regarding staff unity and camp dynamics. I was immediately comforted by the fact that the rest of the staff was just as crazy and weird as I was, and that their passion for God and people went above and beyond my expectations. The summer continued, and I never ceased to learn, though much of the time I did not willingly volunteer the lessons upon myself. I was forced to try some camp activities that I would normally avoid in a day in the life of Lena (such as paintball, climbing the tower, and fire building), and by the end of the summer, I can venture to say, I even enjoyed these activities.

            Many of the occurrences that I assured myself would be the death of me ended up being the most outrageously fun experiences I have had since I was little tyke, or maybe even ever. Although many of my fellow staff members may have started off with the assumption that many of the activities weren’t a big deal for me, my family and friends from back home were shocked, and maybe even appalled at the fact that I would, God forbid, stomp through a pond of mud with middle school girls, or go on a “toad hike” in the woods with junior-aged campers, catching toads like warriors and singing to them like friends.

One of my favorite memories from LIT week was our “rebellious” attempt to sneak out after lights out and go for a late night swim, mysteriously sifting through the bunkhouse doors two at a time, crawling behind the bunkhouse like secret agents, and darting towards the pool like we were to have the last swim of our lives. Wonderfully enough, since my campers had no idea that I’m not a natural rule-breaker, I convinced the girls that if we were caught, I would most definitely, without-a-doubt get fired; this of course added an extra measure of fear and intensity to the situation. As Mr. Steve “caught” us in the pool, I will never forget the girls’ reactions which started out as expressions of fear and remorse, slowly transforming to laughter and the beauty of the fact that they had been “punk’d.” This was definitely an incident I will always remember, as I’m sure will all the LIT ladies.

            While I enjoyed most of the camp activities, the experiences which I will remember and re-tell for the rest of my life are the ones involving the spiritual growth in campers, staff, and myself, which I was blessed enough to witness and sometimes be used in. While at El Rancho de Paz, I saw campers open up their hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I saw teenaged girls, broken in their insecurities and past experiences, pouring out their hearts and breaking through their self-built barriers (myself included). I witnessed the sanctuary that El Rancho acts as in the lives of many, and the impact one camp can have in the hearts and souls of children, teenagers, and young adults of all different backgrounds, experiences, personalities, and ages.  

            All throughout the summer, each week seemed to bring different trials and life-lessons to the table, growing both the campers and the staff as a whole. The last week in particular (junior-middle), I was blessed enough to experience first-hand three middle school girls in my group accepting Christ and two rededicating their lives to Christ. To the rest of the world, five exists as a minor number in comparison to the millions of teenagers in the world, or even to the hundreds of campers El Rancho de Paz receives every summer, but to me, these five girls’ decisions may very well have been the most incredible, beautiful experiences I have ever witnessed in my own personal life.

            I thank God for the people I got to know, the lessons I got to learn, and the situations I got to experience. El Rancho de Paz opened a new window in my mind, not only teaching me about God’s creation but also about life through the drastically diverse people I came in contact with. I do believe that The Ranch has left a permanent mark on my life, and I know that I will carry with me every moment experienced during the summer of 2011 at El Rancho. God is good, and that is all there is to it.