Interlaken, NY - faith stories and jammin

It was a rainy day at Interlaken but it was perfect for sharing our faith journeys with each other. Sharing our faith journeys helped us to get a better idea of where each other is coming from as well as where they may need extra help in the next year.

The afternoon was spent leasurly. I took a walk in the mist and it was wonderful! It reminded me of a nice Irish rain, not too hard but still raining. I walked and explored the area. The picture is one that I took that shows the path I was walking. It was beautiful and seemed like the perfect place to wander and just be in the presence of God.

At night we had the Capuchins from Interlaken down for lasagna dinner. My lasagna recipie continues to impress and those of you who have had it before are thinking mmmmmmmmm...... Lori's lasagna. I made one with spinach this time and one with meat. The spinach turned out wonderful and great for those who do not eat much meat. The meal was topped off with some sweet strawberry shortcake ( Steph yours is still way better).

After dinner Friar Bill shared a brief history with us about the Capuchins. It was very nice of him to share his knowledge and helped us to understand more about the mission of the Franciscians.

At night we sat around just listening to Pokey playing his guitar and playing his music. He played the song he had written earlier in the day called Lakeside Dreamer for us. The four female LAs were excited that we had made it into a song of the someday famous musician.

Interlaken Bacon - we are off to the Fingerlakes

Today the CYFM staff left for our staff retreat up in Interlaken, New York. Once the three cars were packed we divided up and left the Red House for our 3 hour drive. On the way up I rode with Lake and Claire and enjoyed some great discussion and a time to get to know each other better.

We stopped in Ithaca New York to do a bit of grocery shopping for the week. Fred, Claire, Maureen, and myself did a great job shopping and managed to save just over $8 with the discount card. Being that we had stopped on our way to the Friary we still had the trunk full of stuff, groceriers, and four people to all fit in the Saturn. It was a full car, the food took over part of the back seat, for the last 20 miles of the trip.
In an effort to keep us entertained we were doing the LA dance to the Aladdin soundtrack. Even Fr. Fred was getting into it.

We arrived at the Friary and the LAs unpacked our stuff into the boat house where we were sleeping. Really it was not nearly as bad as that may sound, a very nice place to stay. Today we got some of the after effects of Katrina and so it was a rainy night. Trying to keep dry we played a variety of games like Catch Phrase, and Loaded Questions. It was fun to observe the many facial expressions of people as they got more and more into Catch Phrase. It is great to see the amount of fun that people can have with such simple things as games.

Growing in Faith Together (G.I.F.T) Retreat

Retreat #2 of the year. This past weekend we did the Gift retreat, which is a leadership retreat to help train high school teens how to be leaders in their parish. So all of those communication studies classes that I took at Marquette have been useful, in particular the Training and Development class. So indeed I have used some of the skills that I learned in my college education. The lay assistants, Tom, and Fred put this retreat together in a matter of days. There was a basic structure to follow but we switched some of the details. We included some more interactive options for the teens. The LAs realized that this year will get us working to use the skills we have in short periods of time. :)

On Saturday as part of the self-esteem module I presented my first of many witnesses for this year. It turned out well and we did a skit on how others tear our self-esteem down but how Jesus can build it up. Claire and I had written the skit using Maureen as the central character who was being picked on. In particular there was a funny joke about acorns, if you want to know ask about it.

Later in the afternoon during the Christian Leadership Module four lay assistants and Tom were purposefully given one characteristic of a bad leader. Well we must have had great acting skills because the kids thought that more than one of us really had some of these skills.

Host Family - The Moores

My Host family for the upcoming year are the Moores. We had a BBQ tonight to meet our host families. Despite that I already knew the Moores it was fun to spend time with them. Thanks Carolyn for the Whoopie Piess (Yum Yum). I also got a chance to brush up on my grilling skills, I learned how to properly cook a Boca Burger.

Commissioning

It is official I am now a full fledged lay assistant. After being in New York for 2 days we had our first retreat, the Refresh and Renew. On Sunday afternoon the five of us were commissioned as lay assistants for 2005-2006. From left to right it is Claire, Maureen, Pokey (Mike), Lori and Ann.

Over the coarse of the year you will get to hear all sorts of fun adventures about the five of us as we embark upon a year of service as youth ministers and retreat leaders.

Late Night Catechism 2 (Clothing the Dead)

Tonight I went to see Late Night Catechism 2 with my parents at Timber Lake Playhouse. It is a wonderful comedic monologue about the Catholic faith. This second rendition where Sister talks all about sin and how to get to heaven was very well done.

Sister compared Heaven & Hell and the quest for Heaven to the famous Children's game of Chutes & Ladders. If you do something bad - a chute closer to hell and if you do something good you climb the ladder toward heaven. One of the ways that Sister suggested to get to heaven were the corporal works of Mercy ( feed the hungry, visit the sick, clothe the naked, bury the dead, etc.). So Sister was asking if the students ( the audience, it is an interactive play) could name one. Me being the brave should and knowing the answer I raised my hand. Sister called on me and I politely replied, " Sister the corporal works of mercy include Clothe the Dead." It was a complete Freudian slip but it was hilarious. I was thinking of clothe the naked and bury the dead. It surprised Sister so much that she nearly broke character and almost started laughing. Once she regained composure she said, "Yes dear you do want to bury the dead with clothing," and asked if I was a Public. ( Public meaning I went to public school instead of Catholic school). None the less I received a glow-in-the-dark rosary for my efforts.

The play proved to be as funny as the original plus we got to see a filmstrip. Lesson of the day never be overconfident but rather humble. :)

This is the end of Camp

After leaving Marquette for the last time today I drove the very familiar road home from Milwaukee to Shannon. It was a fun driving home with my car packed with stuff from camp. There was the walking stick that we made at Young Catholic Leaders, dirty clothes, bug spray the moon beam and all the memories that I had this summer. A time of newness and change. One must remember as Keitt always says Don't cry because its over smile because it happened.

My job this summer as a camp counselor was one of the best things I could have ever done for a job. Where else can a person get paid to play water games, tie dye, make dirt cake, and have all the fun that you did as a kid. It is the simple pleasure of having fun. People are so concerned with their work that they forget to have fun or think they don't have time for fun.

Some skills I learned this summer included fire building Skills, working with kids skills, being yourself skills, and patience.


I can build a fire even when the wood is wet using no started logs. I learned at campfire how to "make" rain, sings crazy camp songs ( The Moose Song, The Princess Pat, Boom Chick a Boom, the Rooster Song, Abe's in the Bottom of the Lake, & Ron the Toad), learning corny jokes ( Sunny Side - what do you call cheese that is not yours? Nacho Cheese), how to tell ghost stories, and make S'mores.

The last campfire that I had Tex and my crew on Wednesday of the last week of camp was nearly perfect. I got the fire built and ready to start and just as the kids were coming outside I got the fire started. We started telling stories and then by that time the fire was burning down perfectly to the hot embers just right for marshmallow toasting. We made s'mores and finished with one last story. We doused the fire and headed in. Zerek, one of the most fun campers was helping me douse the fire with water. Then as we walked in by the light from the Maglight I told Zerek to look up. There in the west sky was the Big Dipper and the tail of Scorpio. Then as we continued toward the TYME OUT center the giant W known as Cassiopeia was directly above. What a wonderful way to end a great summer of camp fires.

Then there are patience skills, and a wonderful example of patience was my boss Nails. He was so patient with campers and their needs as well as patient with staff. He would use kindly reminders rather than harsh scolding. After coming in from the "perfect campfire" Nails asked is the hose had been put away from water games earlier in the day. I said it hadn't and would go out and role it up before I went to bed. Before I left though he told me that the last time the hose was left out that Sr. Benet was going to get the ax after us. Just the image of Sr. Benet, a sweet old nun getting the as after us was a funny thought.

A few other unforgettable memories of camp...
- Sam not being able to sleep
- 4 eager girls sitting on the bed next to me as I awoke in the morning.
- Pang's great drawing ability.
- Carmen's Smile
- Sawyer sweeping the sidewalk to clear away the sand.
- Gogurt ( I need not say more and ask if you want to know).
- Making ice cream in coffee cans.
- All 6 counselors making sure the water got out to the soccer field.
- Visiting the Worms at Growing Power.
- Making a compost pile with potatoes & hay.
- the fart war during Brainbusters that was instigated by Buckeye.
- Kate and Paul during the politically correct Fairy Tales.
- Casino Night
- African Dance with 2ey, Buckeye, and myself
- Rodnisha doing flips
- Grandparents Retreat
- Rowland flailing his cast & his laugh.
- late night food runs.
- Splash and the giant bruise.
- Singing Abe's in the Bottom of the Lake the entire way back from the Lake.
- Staff meetings.
- Getting stitches (4 in my arm) for the 1st time.
- Many others.

Summertime is one of those glorious times of the year when there are so few cares in the world. Every kid loves summer because it is a time away from school but it can still be a time of growth and learning about other skills needed for life. I realized that when I went to dinner with the staff, that summer was ending and I may not see these people that I spent nearly every day of this summer with but that they have had a great impact on numerous kids this summer as well as on my life. Thank you TYME OUT .