Camp Hope stories

This has been a longggggggg week. After being in Camden for over a month straight and working without a break I started to feel and see the results. However this week at camp has been amazing!!!!! Yesterday we had bible buddies, which I was actually not feeling fantastic going into because I was exhausted and ready to go home and sleep. However I quickly realized that what I needed wasnt a nap at all...it was quality time spent with these kids. We played eye spy, and took lots of crazy pictures, and spent time drawing and talking. For this set of bible buddies I have 3 kids. First is Jayden who is adorible to say the least and who can make me laugh or smile even on the worst days. And then I have Roodsen and Anel, brothers who moved to camden in 2009 from Hati. Anel is hearing impared and also uses english as a second language and struggles to communicate with the rest of the staff at camp hope. Anel might lack verbal skills for many reasons, but his way of communicating love and kindness surpasses many of the people I know. His brother Roodsen is older, he is older and a big brother to all the younger kids at camp. Today he had a rough morning and I found him crying under the tree in front of the church. I sat beside him and attempted to find out what was wrong. But at this point he had shut down, and wasnt interested in talking. I waited there with him untill the crying stopped and the tears dried and he eventually started playing again. This in itself isnt something that would suprise me however this afternoon at lunch he called me over to his table. When I bent down so he could wisper in my ear he said "thank you for encouraging me when I was sad this morning" At that moment he had my heart. I had felt like I really didnt do anything for him. I was just there but at that point in time that was all he needed. My last story is about a little boy named Sammy. Sammy is a four year old from Hati that comes to our camp, he is missing two of his fingers on his hand and speaks no english. A few of our volunteers speak creole and you can see his face light up when he is able to communicate with them. Anyway today I brought my guitar for camp so as we were waiting for basketball to start I brought it out knowing that the kids would be amused and everyone would get together. I often will give the kids the pic and let them strum as I play the chords. I handed the pic to Sammy and one of the kids says he dosnt even speak english he dosnt know what to do. And right away Sammy started playing just like the other kids had before him. Music is universal, love is universal, joy is universal, peace, grace, faith, is universal and for that I am soooo thankful.