By Laura Hall, SF Ethiopia/Camp Langano
I was having one of those “Mommy” days, and my husband, Brian, could tell. We were about halfway through camp season here at Camp Langano, and the full schedule, Brian’s long hours as the Program Director at camp, and my time at home with our toddler Levi was adding up. I described the day: three diaper changes before 10, no nap, fussing, and Levi wasn’t eating his food.
Brian said, “I’m going to try to work something out for you.” Good as gold, he did. He gave up his camp responsibilities for a week by splitting them between the rest of the program team and took a week off to stay at home with Levi.
So I got to go to girls’ camp! We’ve learned it’s best to not have boys and girls attend camp at the same time since we are a residential camp, so every summer we have a week dedicated just for girls. We host our own “World Cup” throughout the week, so I joined the England team and met ten wonderful girls with ten names and ten stories. We did camp together – swimming, a challenge course, meals, character lessons, and the soccer championship – and England even took the trophy! Must be my cheerleading.
I had never seen camp up close like that. The cadence, the development from introductions to character skits, lots of crazy team building games, the American team loving on their girls and getting more comfortable with them as the days passed, and even hearing the girls comments in their cabin one night. I loved being part of the flow.
The last evening, Thursday, the skit of the prodigal son was presented and the girls were given a chance to ask questions about the Gospel. On my team, *Rayma was obviously paying close attention and very interested. She said, “I want spiritual fruit in my life.” Coming from a different religious background, she was ready for God in her life, and how amazing to watch her invite Jesus into her life as her Savior! I was filled with that amazing feeling again – the Gospel is really true!
We saw the girls off on their buses Friday morning and I came home to Levi. I had missed him. Brian felt like staying at home with Levi was a break, and I felt like being out of the house was a break. Much more than a break, it was an amazing gift to see camp and to be part of everything happening and changing lives!
*Name changed