A month away from home may not seem like a very big deal to some people. A month away from your friends, family and anything that connects to the social world may not seem like any significant step in your life. However, this past month I made the decision to serve at a Younglife camp where I met some of the greatest people and the worst part about the entire thing was knowing that at the end of the month we would have to say goodbye.

I’ve never been the type to live in dorms, live with other people, or even spend more than a week away from home and my family. So you can imagine when I say that taking this step was a big deal for me. My days typically started early in the morning and ended late at night. Every week consisted of a different group of amazing and diverse high school students that were all there because someone had faith that their lives would be impacted while at camp. We, as staff, worked hard and long but at the end of the week we were able to see how God would work those circumstances to change these kid’s lives forever. It would be hard for me to sum up everything I learned in just one blog but here are just a few of the things I learned while on summer staff at Woodleaf.

1. How to love myself better — What a weird concept, right? You would never think that this would be something that I would learn to do while at a camp. However, when you have no way to hide from people and your emotions you tend to realize that there are old wounds that have yet to be dealt with. Learning to love myself was just one of them. I would constantly have to accept compliments and affirmations from those around me. Through that, I learned that loving myself better would help me appreciate myself more on a daily basis.
2. How to love others better — We would work with the same group of people all day every day for a month with almost no days off. When you spend that much time together you get to realize that everyone is not always smiles and laughter (the perception that you saw when you first met them.) I would constantly make the effort to ask how people were feeling when I knew something was wrong and genuinely want to fix it. Did you know that not everyone needs love in the same form? Well, this month taught me a lot about how to minister to everyone’s different love languages — a lot.
3. God calls us to love those who are hard to love — Wow, what an idea. Sometimes we come across people or kids who might not necessarily appreciate or treat you with respect. However, God calls us to love everyone and that means loving those who are hardest to love. I found myself constantly reminding myself that God didn’t just love the people who had manners or nice words to say, but he loved those who were rejected from society.
4. Being selfless should be a daily routine – For those who may not know, all the people who are on work crew or summer staff are not paid for the entire month. We show up to serve in every way possible even when we are too tired or have nothing left to give. There were days when we really didn’t want to do anything but had to remind ourselves that it was for them and not for ourselves. Everything we did was for our campers. Everything we did was for our guests. Ultimately, everything we did was for God’s kingdom. I learned what it meant to put others first each and every day, and have joy in that process.

One last thing that I learned will have to be that saying goodbye to something so good can hurt so much. The people that I met during this experience have loved me so well in ways that I didn’t know were possible. These people that I have met are from all parts of the country and one even from Ireland! Learning to say goodbye to some of the people who have been so impactful was the worst part of it all. But at the end of the day, knowing that I’ll have those relations and experiences with me that will grow me every day makes it all worth it.