SGYC 2009 was incredible, and the AI concert was really cool, too. But we still weren't done with the rebuilding, there was a lot of trials and struggles (and stress) left to go.
Cody W, his sister Annette and their pal Roy E were pretty good at keeping me in the loop of what was happening back home, and encouraging, Josh and Marie were there on the few Sundays we were able to make it to church, and there were a lot of camp people helping out, providing laughter, insight, and encouragement. Daniel, his sister Emily, Ray and Jessica, mainly. They helped out quite a bit, and it was neat to be able to share the struggles and small victories in life via Facebook and email, and knowing you were being prayed for and being able to pray for them, too. And there was Maddie, too.
I started at a new paper, we were still working on the house, laying the floor down and things like that, when football season began. It was a rough year: 1-9 record, losing most every game by three touchdowns, the band was horrendous, even for high school bands; the cheerleaders didn't memorize their own cheers and kept tripping over their own feet, and the coach was impossible to interview. But my writing was getting better, a lot of fake-positive spin was needed for those articles.
We moved back into the house in early October, which was great. Also weird, since walls and things had been rearranged, our dog Sport never did understand that things had been moved. We had a hard time figuring it out, too, there's some things we haven't figured out why something is that way even now. (For example, why we have three times the amount of light switches needed...) And through Facebook, I got to know Ash and Matt better, and also Jessica's sister Amanda.
Got back into the the skits and things of the drama group, but it wasn't really worth it any longer, for some reason. Too dumb, too pointless, and pretty disorganized. And you could feel the tide sweeping us all off into our own separate paths, the writing was on the wall.
Following some stupid mistakes that seemed like the right thing to do at the time, Maddie and I broke up in early December, which left a gaping hole of guilt, which has slowly been erased. We were trying to do the right thing, just went about it in the wrong way, and it blew up in our faces. Painful, but very valuable, learning experience. (And if anyone's wondering, I've never tried again since, though I will eventually, whenever it's time. That just hasn't came yet.)
Things were going well at church, though, Steven was helping us grow in Christ and gaining our trust, growing more comfortable in his position as youth pastor, I was still on the outside, but there was slowly an opening found, a niche where I fit in. I still don't really know what that role that I played in the youth group's chemistry and dynamics was, but it was a good journey. This guy named Dylan joined, and he become a part of our group.
In December, we went ice skating near the BOK Center as part of what they call Winterfest as a youth-group activity, soon to become an annual tradition, most of us hadn't ever skated on ice before, or at least in a long time. I discovered I could skate, which was neat, but I've never figured out how to stop. Marie had brought a friend along, it was neat to meet her. Her name was impossible to remember, so she said just to call her Sam. She was from Oregon, had moved down here to Oklahoma about four months ago. Also an oldest, she was learning guitar, too, and she liked listening to country music sometimes. Very friendly and good to talk with, I thought "I want to get to know this girl better." I have over the years, and she's one of my closest pals now. After the skating, we all went over to a family's house to play board games for about four hours.
It was a good time, especially considering what all else was happening around it: Christmas, and all the hassle and stress of that, the one-year anniversary of the fire, our cats disappeared, which was awful, and then Dad fell off a ladder and broke his ribs and wrist.
So 2010 came in a lot like the previous decade was: One set of things to deal with after another, but we were able to get through it okay. Basketball went all right, and covering baseball was a challenge, but I did an okay job on that. The Vancouver Winter Olympics were held, we watched that often, one might while Mom was out getting pizza she also picked up a half border collie/half Austrailian Shepherd puppy. With athletic-type names on the brain, and with the fact that we already had a Sport, we settled on calling this puppy Skeet.
So time passed, I kept at writing and school, finally started to learn how to actually play guitar. Thought about dating this one girl I knew, but something told me that that would be one of the most disasterous mistakes I had ever made. So I didn't. But anyway, things were just rolling along too smoothly. When it came time for camp, I wasn't in the right mindset, wasn't really ever there all week. My focus was on me, and not on Christ. How much fun it would be, and seeing people I knew, not about worshiping God and learning how to serve Him better. Feeling sorry that I only had one, maybe two years to go after this.
Anyway, we had a mixed crew of veterans and rookies coming up from Tulsa, Josh and I, with his friend Caleb W and Dylan coming for the first time, and then Caitlin, Corinne, Justine, Kerra, Laura and Marie with first-timers Sam and Suzanna. The Friday before we left, we made these matching shirts that were part of a Scrabble game, since the theme was Board Game Character; starting with our names, and then branching out to include things important to us, or qualities we were trying to achieve. My board was too shallow to mention.
So, it was a pretty quiet drive, everyone took a nap. (How boring. There's nobody to talk to except whoever's driving.) When the others weren't asleep, they were telling (stupid) Chuck Norris jokes or (even worse) Yo Mama jokes. And Caleb entertained us all by shouting "Corn!!!" whenever we passed a cornfield.
We got there pretty early, enough so that the ping pong tables were empty. (We fixed that problem fast.) Then it was time for registration, and the orientation speech, sing/swim time, and the first major change of a year full of them: The square dance was on Monday night?
Well, yes.
It didn't meet with much favor, but it was moved from Thursday to Monday to take the focus off of it, and take away the "So, which girl you gonna ask?" and "I hope he asks me out" aspect that was receiving too much attention. Instead, it could serve as kind of an icebreaker instead, used to help the first-time people get more at ease with all these strangers, and let the experienced campers get to chat and see each other again, to catch up.
And with the rain coming down(again), it was moved indoors to the tabernacle, which made things interesting. Partners for the Virginia Reel were selected by numbering off, so that was different. I danced with Madelyn M that time, it went well, except she kept getting her directions mixed up and going backwards of whatever direction we were supposed to swing. For the third straight year I asked Ash(now my teammate) to start the Gay Gordon, and she accepted. Her little brother Austin wasn't sure what to think about that. Not only were there a lot of people not used to how to dance it, but instead of a circle dance it became an oval dance, with the walls accounting for this change. I couldn't think of anyone to ask for the third dance, so I sat that one out and took pictures instead. Then for the box-and-square, or whatever that's called, I danced with Eva, she went to the camp pastor's church, she was from Texas, and would be on my Black team. Though complicated and confusing, eventually we got it all figured out, and it was hot, sweaty fun. A quick run up to the cabins for Bibles, water bottles and a bathroom break, and then back down the trail to the tabernacle again for general session. Mack T was again the camp pastor, he taught a series from John 15, that part about "I am the vine, you are the branches...Abide with Me".
Also, Tim wasn't there. We were worried and praying for him since about January, when he found out he had a cancerous tumor growing behind his nose, lots of speculation over whether or not there would even be camp held this year. His surgery to remove that was about two weeks before camp started, so he wasn't able to attend, but it went on anyway. Brother Larry and Mrs Boyer(everyone's Camp Mom) took the reins in planning and guiding even more than they already did, it was an amazing cooperative effort among all the counselors to keep things on track, both with lighter things like the Tournament Challenge, and more important things, like the reason why we were gathered there.
Tom the photographer wasn't able to come, either, because he was bad sick, with cancer or something, Mrs Boyer, Jed, or a variety of counselors were in charge of the camera and taking official pics in his stead.
Also, because of the new mix of counselors and sudden gaps that needed filling, Daniel was asked to start his counselorship(I don't think that's really a word) a year early, which he did, giving up his final year of camper eligibility.
Another change was that Ultimate Frisbee was no longer an official Challenge sport, replaced by Archery, and Golf and Ping Pong were made into separate events.
So we woke up Tuesday, had devotions(led by Tom H, from the St Louis group), ate breakfast, went to the general session, and then it was Tourney Challenge time. My team was Black this year, there was me, Ash, Bethany, Dylan U, Lynnea, Joanna G, Jon L, and Shari, and the newbies: Dylan, Eva, Fred, Jarod and Suzanna. We had archery up first, led by Miss Kathy, and we walked about halfway down to the river to shoot. We were facing Blue, they decided sometime during the week to call themselves "The Who". With the huge oil spill on the Gulf Coast all over the news a few weeks before, we called ourselves "BP", which sounded quite scary and intimidating, and that was later changed to "Panthers", with sounded even better. Blue usually gave themselves a nickname each year, as did Red, so we decided to join in on the fun.
We had a good time talking while we waited for our turn to shoot, then we did fairly well when it was our time to shoot, although we lost, the score was unknown. Red triumphed over Green on volleyball 15-13, and Yellow destroyed White on the cabbage ball diamond(with real plastic rubber bases this year, instead of shingles, pizza boxes, T-shirts and Frisbees) by a score of 12-1.
On the golf course, Green beat Blue, Red topped White in ping pong, and Black beat Yellow 11,800-9,800 in Bible trivia. Then it was a taco salad and brownie lunchtime, followed by reading and rest time(where like always, Jed and I got in trouble for talking too much, but Jon L helped this time), group sessions, then sing/swim time, singing was great. Daniel and Miss Kathy led it, we had the camp version of "Come Thou Fount", "In Christ Alone", "The Power of the Cross", "Isaiah 43", plus new songs "From the Ends of the Earth", "Jesus I Come" and "Hear the Call of the Kingdom". And then all the hymns from the hymnbook.
In the first of the Worst/Firsts, White chose Green in archery, Black beat Blue in volleyball three sets to two, and Yellow clobbered Red in cabbage ball 18-7. At the end of the first day of action, Red led with two points, Black, Blue, Green and Yellow were chasing at one point each, and White(the ones who always lose) hadn't scored yet.
Wednesday was more of the same routine, a terrific breakfast of pancakes and sausage, good sermon at general session, and then Green outshot White in archery, Black beat Yellow on the volleyball court 11-5, 11-6, and Blue beat Red in cabbage ball. In the BPG section, Red beat Black at golf, Blue topped Yellow in ping pong, and White (finally) won something, a Bible trivia match against Green 2,600-0.
Reading and rest time was also Talent Share practice time, but I stayed in my cabin, not sure if I was going to do anything or not. I asked Patrick about the song I was thinking of, Josh Turner's "Long Black Train", he thought that would be fine to perform in that setting, so with his okay, I went with that in the Talent Share. It's a good country song, with a good message, and (even better, then) it's simple to play. I really could play by then, although not too well yet, on the video I sound nervous. And I was, kinda - afraid I'd mess up on playing it, not used to an audience of any more than my little sister Amy. But it went all right, though I (again) didn't have the right attitude behind it. I sang that year with a "Look at me!" mindset, not a "Here's something God's given me, now praise Him because of it" way of thinking.
Good things in this year's Talent Share included Jed's piano, Nathan making a surprise visit to attend(and play) the show, Miss Kathy on her cello, Drake Leith blowing up a hospital glove with his nose, and Jon's human drum solo, using two water bottles as drumsticks and pounding on the the wall, the floor, and Noah Smith.
Once back in the cabin after general session, Jed, Jon and I were jamming around, little bit of country, touch of classic rock, little bit of classical, just random tabs, etc, when Jon snaps a string on my guitar. True, it was(and is) nothing special, designed to learn how to play on and that's it, but it was which string snapped that was so astounding: the low E. (That's the top-most string when played, and also the thickest. None of us had ever seen that one break before.)
And also there was a candy stampede, even stronger than usual, a Rubbermaid kitchen container full of Whoppers was devoured in one night, and a similar sized one of Milk Duds was also consumed. Guys were snorting Pixi Stix and getting extremely high on sugar, it was insane. Joe M grabbed a cape from somewhere and went tearing through the cabin and outside wearing it. And he was in his last year as a camper, not like some fourteen year-year-old that it could be teasing ammo forever. But compared to the stories the girls tell, we didn't eat hardly anything. They've had five people eat six pounds of candy by themselves, not counting Mrs Boyer's huge stash!
A bunch of us guys, bummed out that UF wasn't an official sport, just went ahead and played our own games during swim time. Cody threw this one pass towards the end zone(he'd forgiven me for practically beheading him with my newspaper throw the year before), I trapped it on one hop with my face to the birdhouses and back to the field. Gabe: "Did he catch it?" "I dunno, let's ask him. He's a pretty truthful guy." "Hey, Wes, did you catch that throw?" "Um, well..." It had just barely skipped off the dirt. "Not really, no. It bounced." He either doesn't hear this or ignores it. "He caught it! Touchdown!!"
"Hear the Call of the Kingdom" could be heard very often in the showers or on the way along the path, that and Daniel 4:35. And Jake and I teamed up several times to sing various country duets. Did we look like idiots? Maybe, but it was fun!
With Thursday's second Worst/First, Red and Yellow went to the archery range, White beat Green in volleyball, and Blue beat Black(we got to know one another's strengths and weaknesses really well) in cabbage ball, we lost 5-1. Then White and Yellow went golfing, Black beat Green in ping pong nine games to five, and Red and Blue had Bible trivia.
The afternoon went by pretty ordinarily, and bringing us to (ack!) the last night of camp, and (hooray!) going down to the wire in Tourney Challenge. Red and Yellow shot archery, Blue and White played volleyball, and there was the possibility of a three-or-four-way tie for first place.
We(Black) were playing Green in cabbage ball. They were at bat first, and got on the board 1-0, we tied it up in the bottom of the first. Our defense was awful, and Green pranced around scoring four runs in the second, we couldn't answer. The score was stationary until the fourth inning, where Green pushed one more run across the plate. The Panthers were hitting well, and getting good basepath movement, but it just wasn't paying off in runs. We racked up a quick two outs, then reeled off five straight runs to re-tie the game. Fred and the Dylans were leading us, each side scored a run in the fifth, Green scored four more runs to lead 11-7, we clawed our way back into it several times, but the door was about to shut. We had ten minutes to play, and there was buffalo running loose. (Remember Rule #2?) Oh, and we had to get three more outs in order to even have a chance at a comeback. Well, it seemed like it took forever, but we got them, and then we somehow managed to load the bases. BUT, we had two outs. And guess who was up at bat? (Yeah, me. Who has depth perception issues and hates baseball. And isn't very good at things when pressured. But, it's my turn to try to keep us in the game.) Feeling like Charlie Brown, where I'll either be a hero or a goat, I was hitting left-handed, since I can switch-hit, seemed like a better chance of putting the ball where they ain't. I hit a weak grounder that rolls down the third-base line, down the hill into foul territory. FOUR TIMES IN A ROW. Another pitch came in, I swung, good line drive between third and short. Unfortunately, Jason over at third scoops it up on one hop and gets the force-out at second. Game over, the best we can hope for now is third.
That set up a tie for first place, Blue and Red were both at five points apiece, and they'd split their contests against each other. So after a bit of quick thinking, the counselors decided it would be settled by a tiebreaker Bible trivia match during book-signing, three questions each.
Book-signing is always crazy and enjoyable, and then with the added drama of watching the two teams huddle up and try to figure out the answers, it was even better than normal. Blue got two of the three questions right. So did Red. But Red always got the third, a two-part question, half right, so they won the tiebreaker 2.5-2, to win the Challenge with six points on the week.
No bones were broken, but a showerhead flew off Friday morning and the water was stuck on, so the guys bathroom flooded, and they had to call in a backhoe to come get to the septic tank. That was crazy to witness. We then went down to the river during free time, sang some songs and took pictures, talked a bit, it was fun. Really pretty place, everything was so green. Courtney rode along with Mom to pick us up, so she could see what the campground looked like and start to place faces to names from my stories.
Dylan had a good time, he followed me around most of the time, so I introduced him to everybody(the Freelands, Daniel, Jed, Jon L, the Minners, Ash, the Davises, etc). Caleb seemed to enjoy his first year, since he came back two other times. Caitlin enjoyed meeting all the people her friends had told her about, and Sam loved it, made a lot of new friends.
I had some great teammates. Not just Dylan and Suzanna, who I knew already from GBC, Ash, Bethany, Dylan U, Lynnea and Shari, who are neat people that it was cool getting to know better, and also good athletes; Dylan had a sprained thumb from a Sunday game of after-church Ultimate, he just taped it up so he could keep playing, since we needed the help. Eva, Fred, and Joanna were really cool to meet, and they were good to have on the team.
Good things came from this year, it was the lowest-ranked time I've been there, but that was kind of my own fault. I had to grow up, and this was the year I started doing it.
# # #
(NOTES FROM CAMP BOOK)
Shari H - Shari is a good person
Hannah J - Slightly rude
Madelyn M - Neat, has trouble with left and right
Mimi M - Short, funny, has an attitude
Ray P - Ray didn't come to camp this year
Eva S - Nice, good teammate
Caroline T - Got horribly sick, stayed indoors all week
Olivia W - Same Olivia. :)
Lynnea W - Very nice, good teammate
Cody B - Still the same
Jed B - Jed's still cool
Alex C - Always looked really mad
Jason C - Neat guy
Marshall D - Got saved Thursday
Matt F - Matt finished camp in one piece this time! Lol
Austin H - Ashland's little brother
Fred K - Neat guy
Troy K - A nut
Jon L - Cool guy
Joe P - Not as annoying as used to be
Gabe R - Goes to Ole Miss, good at Frisbee
Dylan S - Dylan was a little nervous, but her liked it
Dylan U - Good guy
Caleb W - Quiet, okay, Caitlin's little brother.
(CAMP BOOK SIGNINGS)
"(Austin Hankins' signature)
Jesus said: "As the Father has loved me, so also have I loved you; continue in my love." John 15:9. Wesley, may you be led by the Spirit with even more fruitfulness! enjoyed your singing. - Kathy Butler
hey man keep up that guitar it was great and see you next year. In Christ, Jed Boyer
Hey man, I hope you enjoyed your time at camp! Talk to you on Facebook. Matthew
Hey I had a great time playing on the black team. It was really nice to see you again. God bless you alway! From Joanna G
Wesley, you are an amazing person and friend. You need to email me some of your paper stuff so I can see how good you are. Can't wait for next year! Love you man! Cody Bieber
Wesley - You are Pretty Darn Awesome. See you next year! - Mimi
Wesley, I hope you had a great year at camp! I pray that you were blessed by the teaching. I'll be praying for you. God bless, Daniel Noah
Keep singing it will spur you on (Signature indechiperable)
Yet another performance to be proud of. I don't have the guts you do to do that. Josh
Wesley, Stay sweet! See you next year bud. - Shari. PS: go black! :)
Thank you for showing me around my 1st year at camp. Dylan Steeley
Weley, God bless you in every way. Press on to know Jesus more and more. Love in Him, Mack Tomlinson
Wesley, You are one of the sweetest young men at camp! Stay strong in the LORD, He'll never fail! Terry Boyer PS - GOOD SONG!
Wesley, It was a great honor and privilege meeting you. Camp was awesome. I hope and pray you live a blessed, fruitful life. Keep it real, man. - Gabe Randolph
Joe Paxton til next year
Proverbs 3:5 Hey Wesley, Sorry we didn't get to talk much this year. Maybe next year? but, I still enjoyed your performance at talent share. - Marshall Davis
Hey, great job our team almost won!!! great seeing you at camp! Lynnea Wright
Hey Wes, I had a great week with you! - Micah J.
Wesley! you did awesome in the talet show :) I hope to see you next year! Shelby Henry
Wesley it was great having you on my team! you hit an amazing hit in cabbage ball! Bethany
It was fun being on your team this year! I hope you had fun! Ashland
Wes, Have a great summer. May the LORD bless you always. J. Smith
What's Up! Nice musical piece, nothing like a little Turner to make you feel at home! JAKE
It was great to see you at camp this year! Marie
your a great friend!! :) SJ Samara Jensen
(Madelyn Minner's signature)
Jarod Hill have a great year
Hope you had an awesome year! DJ Freeland
Wesley, I am so blessed every year by your sweet and joyful spirit. I hope the Lord worked in your heart this week as much as he has in mine. Love in Christ, Olivia Wilbanks
Wesley! So good to see you again! I always enjoy getting to spend time with you. - Dylan Underwood
(Noah Smith's signature)
Hey! Hope you had a gr8 yr! Jon Lange
Hey! Glad to see you again and I hope to see you next year too! You did awesome in the talent share! Madelyn Davis :) :P"
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