The early weeks of July were kind of busy, with a broken laptop keyboard, trying to organize the transportation for our church's people and editing away spelling errors from the camp book, in addition to getting ready for my junior year of college at the same time. We had Courtney, Callie, Laura, Paige and Bennett going, and then Eva, Marie K, Vivian and Erica were all riding up with us as well. Then you add in the rookies: Caleb, Bennett's brother Trenton, Wesley D, Libby, Laura's sister MattieGrace, Marie's brother Eric, Lance and this kid named Micah who used to go the St. Louis church and needed a ride. So that's 17 people.
Mr. DeSpain and Mr. Buckmaster drove us up there, we met in the church parking lot at 6:15 on Monday morning and were off by 7, making terrific speed. Lance was giving German lessons on the way up, and they talked about shooter RPG video games and other topics like that. Breakfast at a Mount Vernon gas station(the same one we stopped at in 2008), and the annual game of post-Springfield Word Association. We arrived about 10:45, just after the St. Louis group. Mrs. Boyer immediately put me to work as soon as our guys stashed their stuff in the outer left cabin, I was put in charge of handing out name tags to the rest of the guys arriving.
There were around 81 people from eight states signed up this year, which hadn't happened for years, since 2009, I think. In a lot of ways (please pardon the cliche) but it seemed like things had come in full circle. Maybe that's cause I've been a part of the camp for seven years, so I've gotten used to the rhythms and routines of life at Beth-Eden. Or maybe it's because it was Caleb's first year, and so I could experience again what it's like when everything is new and confusing. New members of families joining the sprawling yet tight-knit community of SGYC folks, like Ash's brother Zach, Dylan's brother Christopher, and Caleb, Trenton and Eric. Half the guys were new this year, and ten of the girls. So that's 3/8's first-timers, not counting those in their second or third year.
Brother Larry and Mrs. Boyer weren't sure if they could make it, but they were there. And Tim, Robin, Ryan, Janet, Mary, Janet P, Rachel, Dylan and Grace were also counselors, plus Tom Henry and a guy from Ryan's church named Rick. Trevor Johnson and his family, on furlough from their missionary work in Indonesia, were also attending. The little Johnson kids were immediate favorites of everyone and included as much as was possible in what was going on.
It was a very weird and not-pleasant feeling that Jed was missing. Most everyone of my generation is gone, now - Daniel and Emily, Jed, Jon, Ash, Ashton and Jake, Shari, Shelby, Jorgi, Josh, Dylan Steeley, Marshall, Jessica and Amanda, Taylor and Andrew, etc. Missed 'em. But there were a couple non-church people I knew from my generation, in their last years there. Matt surprised everyone by coming, got to chat with him several times throughout the week. Chatted some with Madelyn, too; which was nice. And Colton was around, too.
Registration went well; said hello to everyone and met a couple new folks while handing out camp books. Lunch was the usual burgers and chips, followed by the orientation speech, and then Trevor Johnson spoke, as he did all week, instead of group sessions this year. The girls sang first, so a larger handful of guys than normal swam, a bunch went to play soccer with Dylan, Ryan and Rick set up the archery stuff, and I worked out and taught ping pong in the dining hall. Tim led the singing and Rachel played piano. The volume and enthusiasm seemed weaker than usual, which was kind of sad. I love the singing. (But I'm like Cynthia Coppersmith when it comes to camp; I love everything, so...) Missed Jed and Miss Kathy.
Once the singing was done it was time to take pictures of the baseball theme(LOTS of Cardinals shirts), and then the costume-judging contest in the dining hall. For dinner there was spaghetti, French bread and salad, which was delicious. Then everyone trooped down to the cabbage ball field for the square dance. The lighting was beautiful, so I borrowed Mrs. Boyer's camera and snapped most of the official square-dance pictures. Almost all the campers danced; and they were fast learners. It went by quickly. Jeff Johnson was the pastor again this year, and the first sermon was from Isaiah 6:1-8. It was kind of an all-over view of what the week's preaching would be about, focusing on God's holiness and man's need of a savior.
Almost everyone in our(me, Dylan and Tim's) outer left cabin were from Tulsa, and Bennett was the only camper in the room who'd been there before. Thankfully, nobody got lost. That story and more were told to a new set of captive listeners, as were Cody's shattering the light bulb, Marshall's tae-kwon-do kick into the wall and Kurt falling out of bed. Caleb rolled out of his bunk around 11, in the dark there was suddenly this enormous THUMP. Snickers all throughout the room, since he was all right. It was just so funny...and once we'd all recovered from that, there's Caleb half-asleep whispering in a little voice: "Wesley?" "Yeah?" "Are you a counselor over the whole camp, or just this cabin?" I think a bit. "Well, yeah....over the whole camp in general, but more specifically this cabin. Why?" "Could you tell those guys(in the inner left) to quiet down and stop talking? I'm trying to get to sleep." Explosion now of laughter, Dylan finds this extremely hilarious. Tim answers something for me, since I'm choking with laughter, and the rest of the night passed uneventfully.
Woke up early on Tuesday, as always, and took a shower before heading out to take in the well-known beauty of the dawn landscape. The counselors' meeting went well, outlining the day's events and praying for the campers. Devotions were next, which Brother Larry led, then over a pancake-and-sausage breakfast Dylan, Grace and I settled how the volleyball rules would work. Rally scoring to 21, best-of-three to best-of-five as time permitted, all serves legal, volley for serve, and no touching top of net on spikes.
Jeff Johnson's sermon this morning was from Isaiah 20:1-6, a strange passage on Israel's transgressions and sin in general. It's one of those "trust not in Egypt" sections. As Solomon said over and over, "all is vanity and temporary." If you set your hope in short-lived things on Earth - money, relationships, good looks, sports, etc - they're all gonna pack up and leave you alone at some point. They're gonna fail. You can love Twinkies, but they won't love you back. Value sometimes comes with longevity, like castles, antiques or 50-year marriages. They survive the hard times and stick around, but even they will be gone eventually. Only Christ is completely trustworthy and can save. Come to Him.
Then it was AVC Tournament Challenge time. Red and Green played volleyball first, Red, led by Tanner and Bailey and comprising most of the Tulsa campers(including Caleb), soon came up with a rally cry: "Let's get tropical!" Their nickname became the Tropical Fish, of course. Sort like our 2011 White Cubs rally call of "Sharkbait!" Green was led by Matt and Alexa, and they never thought up a nickname for themselves. Green took the back-and-forth first set through a mix of net-balls and good teamwork by a 21-18 score. Bailey was Red's first server, and several aces later Red led 13-0. Matt and Co. pulled Green's deficit down to 9-15, but Red evened with up with the 21-13 win. An epic rally gave Green a 4-3 lead, but Red took command before Green came back to tie it at 18-all. Green won two sets to one by the 23-21 score. Black(the Bears) beat Blue in archery, and Yellow(the Jackets) crushed White 11-1 in cabbage ball. For the BPG portion, White won a tense nailbiter over Red 11 games to 10, Green won mini golf over Blue by two strokes, and Black won Bible Knowledge over Yellow 26,000-24,000. Studied one of my college textbooks during BPG with one ear open for what was happening in the table tennis.
Lunch was taco salad and brownies, and it was terrific.Great soundbite of the week; talking over lunch with Matt and Audrey - Matt: "You have to really focus to be able to hear anyone in here. And even then you practically have to shout. Don't you guys think?" I agree. Audrey: "What?" We crack up and she joins in before even finding out what was so funny. Got a little bit of ping pong in with Hunter and Zach.
Everybody stayed put in their bunks during rest time, Tim got to take a bit of a nap. Trevor spoke on the dangers of false repentance, from the remorse of getting caught, rather than truly grieving that you sinned. That's why manufactured public apologies so often leave audiences with a nasty taste. Singing went a little better, though for most of the hymns requested nobody besides the chooser knew. Went down during free time to the hidden meadow soccer field with Bennett, Trenton, Colton, Tanner and a bunch of other guys, we had a good game going(my team lost 4-1). Dylan and Ryan also played. Dinner was chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls, which is the best meal of the week.
Blue got to pick first in Worst/First due to a sudden-death table tennis game, and they chose Black in cabbage ball, only to lose 9-6 thanks to a six-run Black comeback in the last inning. Green crushed Yellow in ping pong(which was totally expected), and Red dominated White on the volleyball court. The first set started out close, with a 7-7 tie, but then Red shot out to take the 21-14 win, followed by a 21-9 obliteration in the second set and a fairly-dominant 21-11 set to finish things off.
The sermon was from Isaiah 40:12-31, chiefly on the glory of God and his majesty and holiness. Behold our God, his infinite greatness and compassion! That sort of thing. Jeff offered lots and lots of very large numbers to try to get sort-of-a-closer idea of how small we are in comparison, but our minds can't comprehend such vast amounts very well. Reminded me of some lyrics that Steven Curtis Chapman wrote: "God is God, and I am man/And I'll never understand all the picture He's painting..."
Other random bits from Tuesday - the only injuries sustained all week both occurred to Black team members, as Autumn sprained her shoulder during archery, and Kurt deeply bruised a shoulder diving for a cabbage ball. To lead off that cabbage ball game, Bears captain Madelyn almost led off with a double, except she mistook a Frisbee for second base and was thrown out by the time she found it.
In the cabins after general session things got a little nuts, only marginally helped out by the candy stampede(very minor this year, unlike other times I could mention). Duncan pokes his head in the doorway, watching. "I'm glad I'm not in here this year...but I kind of wish I was." I grin. "It's probably better you aren't. You know how things can get in here..." He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I know! It's like a zoo."
One of the main verses we focused on as counselors was 1 Timothy 5:1-2, "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity." Also 1 Corinthians 10:31-32, "So whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God." Another, to me at least, was 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Praying continually usually isn't too hard to do, living on a college campus, but being joyful always is quite a feat. And I know happiness isn't found in a place on the map, exactly. But joyfulness is as easy as breathing when it comes to camp...I don't really understand it; but that's just how it works.
Got to pet Rosie the camp barncat several times over the week, which was nice. Didn't have Rags nearby, so any cat around is a good thing. Reminded me of her importance that night in '12, when Amanda fished her out from under the car.
Wednesday morning was the same as normal for the most part; wake up early, take shower, counselors' meeting, devotion, French toast and sausage breakfast. General session was from 1 Corinthians 10, on the flaws in the pursuit of happiness. Due to it looking (falsely) like it would start pouring rain any minute and becoming a rerun of '09, I didn't keep notes on our AVC volleyball game between Black and Yellow. But Yellow ended up winning in four sets, 21-10, 18-21, 21-12, 21-9. White bested Green in archery 588-501, and Red won cabbage ball 9-2 over Blue. In BPG, Black topped Red in mini-golf 36 strokes to 44, Yellow triumphed in table tennis over Blue, and Green won Bible Knowledge over White by a 21,300-15,700 margin. I sat in to listen to the Bible Knowledge game while studying, mentally answering all the questions.
Lunch was pizza. Thankfully, I don't have braces any longer, so it was easier to chew. And it tasted better this year than usual. Bennett and Wesley D. were dared into creating and drinking a concoction of fruit punch, ketchup, brown mustard, salt and pepper, which was quite entertaining to watch. Also reminded me of the story(I didn't see this one happen, unfortunately) of when Sam and Jed dared Jon to eat the ketchup-coated brownie, which he did. Just one of many instances where something reminded me of a story I knew.
Kept an eye on my group of campers after lunch before heading down to the tabernacle to watch talent share practice. Trevor had a question-and-answer session, then sing/swim time. We had a bunch of the classic camp-book songs in there this year; the camp "Come Thou Fount", "Conquering Now and Still to Conquer", "In Christ Alone", and Daniel 4:35, for example. Plus singing hymns like "Are You Washed in the Blood?", "Holy, Holy, Holy", "Onward Christian Soldiers", "I Will Arise and Go to Jesus" and "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less". I dismissed folks for dinner, thinking of slightly-better questions than last year(if you're wearing Chacos, been here at least five years, have at least four siblings, etc.). Still need to work on that, though. Dinner was ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls and peach cobbler. I didn't eat much; never very hungry on Wednesday night. Always too full of talent-share jitters.
The night's general session sermon was from Isaiah 42:1-13, where God is speaking of Jesus' role as a servant. Verses 1-4 describe his work, while the rest of the chapter deals with his power and authority. To quickly sum up, we must try to serve as Jesus did, and strive to follow his example. There was a question-and-answer session afterwards.
Highlights of the talent share included Tim’s juggling, the Knapps’ violins, the Underwoods' quartet and the singing of the GBC-Tulsa youth group. But by far the best act shared was Audrey, Courtney, Forrest, Hunter and Ryan’s skit, “The Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine.” It was FANTASTIC. And it was very good to see Ash and Ashton; Matt and I got to visit with them for a bit. Their visit was a surprise, Alexa's face when she saw them was priceless. A half-serious thought of making another card for Mrs. Boyer, ping pong and volleyball, recap of the week so far, and general catch-up, commenting on the unfamiliarity of those younger and first-time campers. College and coffee dominated the conversations, which every college student knows are related concepts. As they were leaving, Ashton said in a serious, teasing tone, "Be a good counselor," implying I get back to and keep up the good work. That's kind of what I tried to do all week. I'm not exactly sure what good I did, or how useful a counselor I was, but that doesn't really matter, as long as I got my job done. And that job, mostly, seemed that I just needed to be there. Much like the summer in general, it was one of those instances where doing the little things was the clearest way of serving the Lord that showed itself. Refereeing volleyball, making sure folks were where they should be, giving directions, cleaning, shuttling guys to the showerhouse or cabins. My lane of missions, for now at least, seems to be the more local kind. I couldn't teach Sunday School because of, well, school, but I could get involved with the BCM and SWAT. And I'll be helping lead that this year. Watching Amy and cleaning the house over the summer was possible, too. Also visiting for the talent share were Tim's parents, his wife and his kids.
Lunch was pizza. Thankfully, I don't have braces any longer, so it was easier to chew. And it tasted better this year than usual. Bennett and Wesley D. were dared into creating and drinking a concoction of fruit punch, ketchup, brown mustard, salt and pepper, which was quite entertaining to watch. Also reminded me of the story(I didn't see this one happen, unfortunately) of when Sam and Jed dared Jon to eat the ketchup-coated brownie, which he did. Just one of many instances where something reminded me of a story I knew.
Kept an eye on my group of campers after lunch before heading down to the tabernacle to watch talent share practice. Trevor had a question-and-answer session, then sing/swim time. We had a bunch of the classic camp-book songs in there this year; the camp "Come Thou Fount", "Conquering Now and Still to Conquer", "In Christ Alone", and Daniel 4:35, for example. Plus singing hymns like "Are You Washed in the Blood?", "Holy, Holy, Holy", "Onward Christian Soldiers", "I Will Arise and Go to Jesus" and "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less". I dismissed folks for dinner, thinking of slightly-better questions than last year(if you're wearing Chacos, been here at least five years, have at least four siblings, etc.). Still need to work on that, though. Dinner was ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls and peach cobbler. I didn't eat much; never very hungry on Wednesday night. Always too full of talent-share jitters.
The night's general session sermon was from Isaiah 42:1-13, where God is speaking of Jesus' role as a servant. Verses 1-4 describe his work, while the rest of the chapter deals with his power and authority. To quickly sum up, we must try to serve as Jesus did, and strive to follow his example. There was a question-and-answer session afterwards.
Highlights of the talent share included Tim’s juggling, the Knapps’ violins, the Underwoods' quartet and the singing of the GBC-Tulsa youth group. But by far the best act shared was Audrey, Courtney, Forrest, Hunter and Ryan’s skit, “The Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine.” It was FANTASTIC. And it was very good to see Ash and Ashton; Matt and I got to visit with them for a bit. Their visit was a surprise, Alexa's face when she saw them was priceless. A half-serious thought of making another card for Mrs. Boyer, ping pong and volleyball, recap of the week so far, and general catch-up, commenting on the unfamiliarity of those younger and first-time campers. College and coffee dominated the conversations, which every college student knows are related concepts. As they were leaving, Ashton said in a serious, teasing tone, "Be a good counselor," implying I get back to and keep up the good work. That's kind of what I tried to do all week. I'm not exactly sure what good I did, or how useful a counselor I was, but that doesn't really matter, as long as I got my job done. And that job, mostly, seemed that I just needed to be there. Much like the summer in general, it was one of those instances where doing the little things was the clearest way of serving the Lord that showed itself. Refereeing volleyball, making sure folks were where they should be, giving directions, cleaning, shuttling guys to the showerhouse or cabins. My lane of missions, for now at least, seems to be the more local kind. I couldn't teach Sunday School because of, well, school, but I could get involved with the BCM and SWAT. And I'll be helping lead that this year. Watching Amy and cleaning the house over the summer was possible, too. Also visiting for the talent share were Tim's parents, his wife and his kids.
In BPG, I sat in on the ping pong battle between Green and Black. There were a ton of great players split between the teams in this one, for example, Alexa, Allyson, Brett, Caleb F, Christopher, Courtney and Matt. The score skipped and forth for most of the day, each side answering the challenge of the other. Then Black's paddles caught fire, and they seemed unbeatable. The final score ended up being Black 14 games to 8, Courtney was emphatically the girls' champion and Brett and Matt shared the guys' title. Red won Bible Knowledge over Blue, and Yellow took mini-golf over White by more than two hundred strokes(!). That gave Black and Yellow each 5 points, with Red and Green each having 4 each, and setting up the possibility of a four-way tie for the Challenge title. Volleyball that night wouldn't matter in the standings, between the two last-place teams. It never really matters, to be honest. It's just a game. And games aren't worth life and death. I was having a lot of flashbacks all day Thursday of '11 and '12, wasn't pleasant, but just part of the history of the camp. And an opportunity to give thanks in everything.
Lunch was burgers and fries, dinner was roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls. And that chocolate cake that Madelyn and Rachel W. ate face-first in '12. Reading/rest time went well, most people actually read today. Trevor's session went well, then there was another soccer game while the girls sang. (My team lost again.) Singing went all right, most of the afternoon we were a little bit behind schedule, unlike Tuesday, where we seemed to be running ahead of schedule for most of the day.
Red won archery over Yellow, Black won cabbage ball, and the Tournament Challenge title, by defeating Green. Blue was hanging in there in the first set, holding a 13-7 lead, but ever so slightly White crept back up and stole all the momentum, winning the first set 21-14. What followed was the most intense camp volleyball I've ever seen. Blue led early 7-3, but many ties later White had a 19-16 edge. Blue rallied to tie it up and then force overtime, much to us counselor's delight, and from there....almost everyone was down there watching, holding their breath. The air was electric, it was like a Thunder game. Colton and Zach traded aces to tie it at 21, then a pair of errors knotted it at 22-all. Audrey kept her Blue team alive with a clutch ace. It was a slice to the right that skipped off the net and dropped in front close to the sideline. Lance and Nathan and others immediately screamed it out, while the other half of White was asking Dylan what the call was while Blue was asking Grace. Neither could see the ball at all, which they told the teams. So they're asking me what the call was, and the crowd is buzzing - all of this at once - it was very noisy. I yell, "LINE!!" above the din, and play continues at 24-24. The ball had slammed off the rope, inbounds. Colton finally ended the marathon with a kill, and White won the match 21-14, 29-27. And nobody died or were used as human targets.
After the volleyball game, I swatted the ball around with Zach, Emily, Laura and some other campers to kill time for a while. That gave me two scraped-up knees and a mouthful of sand, so it was a productive practice session. But that sandy taste made me really have to sneeze…and it would never do to sneeze out loud and interrupt a prayer or the sermon. So I was able to turn them into small yawns instead, which was a slightly better option, though unfortunately contagious. Near the end of the sermon, from Isaiah 48, Ash sort of jumps from her seat beside me on the counselors’ and visitors’ back row against the wall. I stare curiously. She turns to me, her eyes wide in panic, as she whispers urgently, “There is a bug IN MY HAIR.” I quickly swipe the bug (which turns out to be a wasp) out and we spent most of the lengthy question-and-answer session afterwards nervously worrying about where the wasp disappeared to.
Ash was talking to Trevor and got a lead on a much-hoped-for opportunity for overseas medical mission work while everybody was walking up the trail, and she and Matt and I talked outside the dining hall porch for half an hour. We talked about colleges(Northeastern OK State, Missouri State and Bob Jones) and pondered what it would take to make a movie. Also, for obvious reasons, bugs and hair, and dorm rooms. Guys' general discomfort with phone calls, cats(all conversations with friends seem to land on this subject), and somewhere me and Ash leaped back into work-mode and began bouncing story ideas/progress reports off each other. Matt looks at us confused. "We're writing partners, in the middle of a couple projects right now." Over-explanation of this from both of us. Then "...That sounds really lame when you just say it... " "Yeahhh, it does..." Matt, thinking a bit: "Nah, it doesn't. Sounds really cool, actually." "It's fun." That's where we started dreaming about movies. Making one, if we wished, seemed completely possible, given the skills between the three of us(writing, acting, graphic design, organizing and teamwork, among other things). It was a really great time. Visiting chances are rare as a counselor, snatches of hurried conversation while traveling in opposite directions, so to have that much time to hang out like old times was amazing.
The book-signing time went well; ping pong was played, laughter frequent amid a din of talking. Mrs. Boyer had us get everyone out at 12:40, most folks fell asleep after one.
Slept more fitfully than usual, waking up at four, then again at 5:20 for good. Initiated packing up throughout our cabin(it was awful. I was appalled by the amount of messiness. Anyone who would have seen a picture, had I snapped one, would have been as well.) The counselors' meeting went well, and Ryan led the devotion before the goodbye-cinnamon-roll breakfast where you finish collecting camp-book-signings. Then there was the final general session, sermon from Isaiah 50. After that I oversaw Blue's cleanup of the volleyball court and visited with Miss Kathy, she told me about an internship opportunity with her music ministry that sounds exciting and worth looking into. Cleaned up the showerhouse and our cabin, then walked with a handful of mostly-GBC people to swat around the volleyball for a bit until it was time to leave. Somebody to me: "Dude, you're great!" "'Thanks! I play a lot." "Wish I could. But I don't have a volleyball court at my house." "Neither do I, but...." (pause while an offensive attack takes place, ending with a spike) "Wait, actually, I do..." After that we said our goodbyes and loaded the vans.
Dad and Mrs. Mueller drove us back to Oklahoma(that's how my brain phrased it, in that detached way, which I thought was odd. I mean, it felt like I was leaving home.) We ate a dash-and-go lunch at McDonald's in Springfield and made gas-station stops at a Joplin Flying J and Claremore QuikTrip. The zoo animals were loose and active on the way home....I just kind of ignored them and thought over the week, planning out how this post might be written. Rags was very glad I was back; she pranced/pounced into my lap and went to sleep, making sure I couldn't go anywhere for a while yet.
This year's buzzword seemed to be creative substitutions for duplicate names; for example, I was often called "Mr. Counselor" for some reason, and then we had two Trentons in the same cabin, two counselors named Janet, plus several Rachels, five Jons and four Abigails.
I'm just so very thankful to be able to have been a part of SGYC again this year, and I hope and pray that the campers' lives were impacted and they will return to the topics and ideas discussed in the teaching frequently over the next twelve months. I'm pretty sure most had a good time as well, so that's also a good thing. It was a great honor to work alongside the other counselors this week. Was it busy? Of course it was, and a little taxing; near-constant activity either physically moving from place to place or mentally staying alert and focused for that long. But, oh, it's so worth it. I wouldn't trade a minute, and will joyfully serve as long as the Lord allows. He has been and is working through this camp, and He will in the future, as well.
### (CAMP BOOK SIGNINGS)
"Wesley! Again, you did well. :) Thanks for keeping us in check! Laura"
"Dear Wesley, thank you for your joyful service to our Lord this week. It truly is a sacrificial service to these young men and women. I did miss you sharing a song. May the Lord bless and keep you until we meet again. Love in Christ, Janet"
(Marie Keilbarth's signature)
"Wesley, you(')r(e) an awesome counselor! Libby" (punctuation corrected by Paige)
"Wesley, thanks for serving as a counselor again this year! Hope you had a blessed week. - Paig(e) :)" (she misspelled her own name, then corrected it)
"Wesley, thank's for a being a good and patient counselor. Forrest"
"Wesley, thanks for being such a great counselor! Come back next year. Jacob"
"Wesley - You did a GREAT job! Don't outgrow us and come back next year! It has been a pleasure serving our Lord with you and getting to know you more and more! Love, Miss Terry :)"
"Johnathan Kobb - Had fun!!"
"Wesley, so great to serve with you again! Keep the faith, my friend! Ryan"
"Good to see you again. :) Eva Sadowski"
"Wesley, thanks for being such an encouragement. You have such a servant's heart. :) God bless! Grace"
"Thanks for keeping things more or less control in the cabins. :) Trenton Cox"
"Brother Wesley, how sweet the fellowship of fellow believers in Christ. I am so thankful the Lord allowed us all to get together and worship Him. He alone is truly worthy. May we not soon forget what we have learned and considered in His Word this week. I hope to see you next year. :) Mary Freeland, Romans 8"
"Hey Wesley! I was really blessed to get to be counselor with you this week. I hope you were as spritually blessed as I was. - Dylan"
"Wes, you are a great bro and a fairly good cousler though you'd be a better one if you could play ping-pong....haha, no really we need to play more. Love, Courtney"
(Caleb Coburn's signature, in huge letters)
"Stay cool! - Colton"
"I didn't see you much this year, Mr. Counselor. :) But I am still glad I got to at least SAY hi. You already know how much I value our friendship. I hope, Lord willing, to see you again. Madelyn D."
"Wesley! You are my favorite councilor! I hope God is good to you! - Tanner B. Juch, Red Team"
"You are a great councelor. :) Thanks for that! - MG"
"Thanks for keeping things sane in the cabin. Wesley DeSpain"
"Thanks for maintaining the peace among the chaotic. - Bennett"
"Thanks for being a counselor! Matthew"
"Have a great Christmas, Wes! Duncan Worthan"
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