I’ve been told throughout my life that God has a plan for me and that I should take every opportunity given to me by God. God chose me to work at Camp DeWolfe, to share his message, show his love and I believe to make me a better and more developed person. I am now a different person from when I arrived, before I came I lacked confidence and wasn’t willing to make a fool out of myself. I doubted myself, lacked confidence in myself as a leader, in my skilled area and worried about connecting with the children on a personal level which is where you can actually make a difference. Looking back to when I signed up for Camp DeWolfe I believed I was just coming here because it sounded like a great thing to do, whereas God had a whole other plan.
These past two months have really helped me distinguish who I really am and who society wants me to be. Here at camp everyone is so different and wonderfully unique that no one is forced to be a certain way because its cooler or judged because you’re different. This allowed me to open up about my life and let people closer to me than ever before. I grew in confidence when I felt comfortable with the team I had around me and I noticed the progress I had made in the last session of camp. In the first session of camp I struggled being authoritative and in one particular archery class I had to call for my unit leader to help me. I felt I couldn’t teach the archery class on my own and needed a more respected leader to keep them in line. Even though I had the ability to run this class, I doubted my leadership skills and that held me back when the children needed a leader. However, I learned from this, and I can now run a class with ease and I’m not afraid to lead a group of children on my own anymore. My archery lessons got better each day, I came up with a new way of teaching which suited me and introduced new games and ideas to make the lesson more fun. It’s funny that a moment of struggle could actually lead to a better outcome.
As the weeks went by I was continuously growing in confidence, I was taking part in skits and singing with the worship band in chapel, leading silly songs and leading volleyball. I never thought I’d feel so comfortable and at home here. I find myself thinking that if God had planned these months at Camp DeWolfe and they were this amazing, I can’t wait to see what else God has planned for me. God has created a second family for me full of amazing lifetime friends, and I really hope that the children have been impacted at Camp DeWolfe like the experience has impacted me.
-By Bethany Pitt, (Summer Camp Counselor)
Growing in God