Treasures of the Summer

This summer I've once again collected a few treasures from my time here at camp.  Of course there's the obligatory t-shirts and camp pictures.  But let me tell you about a few special items.  

Adam told the campers he was "The Amazing Adam," but that they
could call him "Double A."

When Adam showed up at camp wearing his "BAM" shirt I was jealous.  I wanted a shirt like that I told everyone, but I wanted one that said "PAM."  Just a few days later I was surprised at supper when I received a package containing this shirt.  Tirzah had copied Adam's shirt and made it for me.  She did a great job.  It has been so fun to see the look on the campers faces when they realize what my shirt says, and all summer people have passed by me and said, "PAM!"  It made me laugh every time.

All summer long I've gotten sweet notes from lots of different people.  This one was from two campers from Junior Week 3.

"Dear, Pam
You are the best storyteller EVER.  Keep doing what your doing.
Ryan & Morgan"

All last year I took time to send every camper a card for their birthday, containing a picture of them from camp.  The first day of Teen Week 1, Lindsay came up to me and handed me the card below.  She said her grandma told her to bring it to me since I sent her a card.  Lindsay did the artwork for the card and won 4th place in her state for her contest entry.  Receiving this card from her created a connection with her.  I was able to talk to her several times during the week.  This card is very special.

Lindsay lives in Louisiana with her mom but spends her summers
in Canada with her father.

As a gift for our service this summer, Johnnie and Becky gave us this book of beautiful pictures from the town of Sioux Lookout.  It was the perfect gift.

These are just the tangible things I could show you that I've collected.  There are so many more intangibles... walking the trails with the kids and having one of them come up and slip their hand in mine, having campers seek me out to tell me about their heroes (and sometimes having them tell me that I'm their hero), sweet moments with summer staffers at meals, seeing many boys and girls receive Christ as their Savior, beautiful sunsets... the list could go on and on.

My heart is full of these treasures.  It has been a wonderful summer.