Okay, I promised it… I’ve finally gotten most of what I needed to say in my journal, and so I’ll give you the highlights… Meli’s semi-official report on camp. Of course, most of the people who will swing by here were there too… but this is for the rest of you, I guess! Anyhow, towards the end of the week there’s less stuff to report because a lot of it turns personal and… well, if you don’t know that stuff already, you’re not supposed to!

Sunday. We left here around twelve thirty / one-ish and drove out to Anadarko. Amazingly, we fit everyone and everything in. We goofed off some on the way there, just talking and telling stories and such.

We got to camp and immediately saw Xan and Luke and Shane, as well as vaguely seeing Ann. We got our stuff out of the car, got dorm assignments, etc and so forth. It was a lot of fun seeing B’nai people with big eyes, thinking “Melanie’s here? The Wills girls are here?” Eventually Becky and Lisa showed up and it was just madly chaotic until we got our stuff settled in. Becky and I were in West Lodge. There were two girls dorms, and one had all but about ten of the girls in it, upstairs and down. West Lodge, on the other hand, had (like I said) about ten girls, and it was separated into actual dorm rooms… one full bed and one bunk bed, three per room. I ended up rooming with Lauren Judah (wow… that was one I hadn’t heard just yet!) and Becky.

I ended up in the tribe of Asher with Rico Cortez… and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with his teachings, with what he has to say. He’s a really awesome teacher and a very humble man. I already knew Courtney, Ashley, Solita and Garrison, and I sorta-kinda-unofficially knew Tim as well. Everyone else was new. Our tribe gelled pretty well, even though we were kind of an unlikely bunch. Once we got talking we did great, and the ropes course really helped a lot of us to open up with each other.

We had worship that night, and it was amazing. Jimmie Black was the worship leader this year at camp. At first I wasn’t too sure about it because I was privy to some secret plans about who might have led worship this year (shh), but Jimmie is really awesome and his heart is really in it. He’s not an entertainer, he’s a worshipper, and he knows how to draw each and every person into the holy place with him. I was crying the first night during worship for no apparent reason… just being in the center circle with Ann and Lisa again, and just feeling the connection you get when you worship together… wow. I mean, I’ve been worshipping on my own because I just hadn’t been getting that even at Beit Yeshua, but when you take that and connect it to others… wow. It was like old times but better, if that makes sense.

I don’t even remember much else about that night… just being so happy and feeling like I was once again where I belonged with the people I loved again. I wouldn’t trade that feeling in for the world. Oh!! Ann taught us a dance that she and Lisa choreographed in the living room to a song called “Salaam”… and that was really neat. The dance, we figured out, also works gloriously with Zealous over Zion… finally, a dance for it!

Monday . Amazingly enough, I went from not seeing anything earlier than about eight to getting up at six thirty and showering every morning. Of course, the creaky bunk beds helped! Becky’s an early riser, and the springs under the mattresses screech so badly that the minute she wakes up, you know. Anyhow, the first full day of camp and we all go stumbling down to meet in the tabernacle before breakfast. In the breakfast line, I got to know a couple of the people in my tribe a little better.

Hmm, what else happened Monday? Oh, a hilarious game of Bill’s Bucket of Babble, second year running… I got out there for my camp (Sady’s husband Gabe was the one yelling for us) just as another camp won it. We also played Brent Ball (as per tradition, of course) but I didn’t actually play because it was just too hot and some people are really tough. Advanced dance class was fun but it wiped me out. I ended up in the middle circle helping Ann, which always is a lot of fun, and then I assisted her in teaching Kaparoche, which pretty much means that Ann finally learned it as well. It seemed to be a popular dance this year… hooray! Dancing for me was intoxicating this year, like I couldn’t stay away until I was completely punch-drunk.

Tuesday. A lot of the same thing throughout the day. For morning recreation, we split up into teams by tribe, and Asher ended up going to the ropes course that day. The two most exciting parts of this were the King Swing and the Trust Fall. The swing was absolutely amazing. You had to climb up onto this high platform, straddle the swing, and then let go. OH MAN! I’m afraid of heights and falling so I was a bit nervous when I first stepped off, but WOW, it was fun! There’s a great picture of me on the CD, I fear, that is me stepping off with my eyes closed looking absolutely terrified. Thank you Lauren!

Anyhow, on the Trust fall… okay, I can’t even do this when someone’s standing directly behind me and I’m supposed to fall back. My knees bend or I step back every time. Well, this time we had to do it off of a platform which was about five and a half feet off the ground. I was great catching people for a while, but then Rico somehow persuaded me to do it. Rather than look like an idiot saying that no I wouldn’t do it, I got up there. Big, bad mistake. The Oakridge staff member who was with our tribe, a guy who was probably my age, was really understanding even though I was completely shaking and pretty darn close to crying. “We can catch you!” they all said. We had no problem catching even the biggest guys, so that didn’t worry me. But I have such a fear of falling that when I went back… my knees buckled and I ended up almost sitting, and my arms flailed out. I ended up grabbing Garrison’s hair with my right hand (kind of embarrassing)… but my left elbow caught Rico Cortez in the face and I ended up giving him a bloody nose!! That’s my legacy… the girl who gave Rico a bloody nose.

The girls talk, I believe, was also on Tuesday… and man, it was so much better in years past. It had no teeth this year. It was all about fences or something… personal boundaries and such. No teeth, whatsoever. I mean, it finally got interesting when girls started asking questions at the end… you know, questions that the girls really needed to hear, but it didn’t really touch on modesty and it really didn’t touch on real live courtship and that kind of thing. A couple of us, independently, came to the conclusion that it would be really beneficial to merge the guy and girl talks so that we could hear each other’s concerns. I mean, most of the problems in guy / girl relationships are miscommunication. Girls don’t know that guys will see every inch of skin that is showing. Guys don’t know that girls will lose their head if a guy shows them individualized attention. I mean, we really need to hear that from each other, you know?

Tuesday night the worship was incredible. I mean, we were just so there spiritually. I think that was the night that it was Lisa and Robby and I in the middle circle, and it just kept going and going and going… and then we had to stop because the Oakridge people had set up a fireworks display for us. I mean, fireworks are cool and all, and I’ve never been so close to a fireworks show, but weigh out fireworks against worship? I’ll take Jimmie Black in the tabernacle anytime, thank you. After that, we either had the option of an early bedtime or going back to the tabernacle for more worship (thank you Ann!), and that’s what I did, I went back to the tabernacle. I was in the circle for one song (Baruch Adonai) before I was toast again, and then I jumped up and down and just generally had a good time with James and some other people in the back (with strange looks from Shane the entire time).

Wednesday . Another day of a lot of the same things. I think this was the day… yes, it was, this was the day that Rico was teaching during the evening service, so he had me take “fifteen minutes” of that morning’s tribal conference. Jamie also had another fifteen minutes (of course, between the two of us and then some things that Rico had to put in, we took the whole hour and some). Jamie talked about what it meant to be Israel and who exactly Israel was and what that meant. I talked about pretty much a summary of first Peter, which is addressed to those of Israel who live as “strangers in the land”… telling us to abstain from sinful desires and to live set apart for Him. It’s also the book that tells women to not adorn themselves with “gold and braids” but to let their adornment be their inner self or “secret heart.” It also tells men to live humbly and how to pray. We had a great group discussion about what it means to be set apart, especially from other youth.

During recreation time we played Killer Ball, which is pretty much dodge-ball from four different sides. You know, get them out before they get you out. That was a lot of fun, even though Asher stunk! We also did this hopping relay race, where you held your ankle as you hopped. Some people were really good, and then people like me got three hops and knocked their ankle out of their hand. I had to call in reinforcements. Good grief, I felt dumb!

Wednesday I also went to Rico’s self-defense class, and made a fool out of myself again. I pretty much learned that if someone comes after me, I’m toast. Cream cheese on toast, in fact. Actually, most of the problem is that I got paired with a guy I had never met before, and I’m kind of uncomfortable about physical contact when it involves a guy I don’t know. Thankfully, Robby was able to help me… I’ve known him forever and a day and so I don’t have a problem with pretending to punch him in the arm. HA!

Thursday. (skipping mostly personal stuff). Thursday ended up being the day that I was in and out of the kitchen all day with Sady and Taylor (when he showed up). That wasn’t bad at all. The only bad part of it was when Thursday night rolled around. “Ladies appreciation night” as I’ve heard it called loosely by a few guys. You know, the girls go in and sit down and then the guys go and bring the girls food. Don’t get me wrong, the first year they did that (2004), I cried. Ask Becky; I just sat at the table and cried because I had no idea that guys could be so nice and selfless, even for a few minutes (don’t get me started on my bad guy experiences). This year? Oh, I was stuck in the kitchen with Sady and Taylor serving green beans. I keep sort of half-laughing at the fact that I was the only girl not served (Sady’s married, so Gabe brought her food and such). Well, I laugh about it now, but I kind of felt bad about it at the time.

Oh, Thursday was also talent night. It wasn’t quite as great as years past, but it was still pretty good. My favorite acts were Rosalinda’s dances (WOW!), Ephraim trying to be as cool as Geraldo, Shane and Xan’s song, and (of course), the two WILD AND CRAZY GUYS! It didn’t quite live up to Save a Seal, but it made me laugh just the same!

Friday. (I have to rewrite this because it’s mostly about friends sniffing their arms and personal stuff, so I’ll make it quick). Friday was horrendously sad because camp went by so quickly. I swear to you that it gets faster and faster every year, and that by the time I get too old, camp will last five minutes anyway! It was really sad to see everyone go, even people I had hardly met.

We got home and goofed around for a while… talked lots about camp and a certain girl (*cough*) and that kind of thing. I learned three chords on a guitar and Tegan tried to learn how to line dance, and then we ran out the door on the way to B’nai Shalom.

Now, that was weird. I mean, it’s been months and months since I’ve stepped foot in there, and while it was REALLY awkward, it was also strangely comforting, like coming home again after being gone for so long. Dancing with everyone one last time was AMAZING and very fulfilling, and I was really glad that Jimmie led worship that night. After services were really hectic; I was trying to catch up with Lisa to talk to her, and I kept getting sucked back into the dance circle, and James was busy perfecting next year’s talent act (if you haven’t heard this yet, TALK TO HIM. HA!).

That’s pretty much the entire camp experience… with much hopping around and being vague and leaving all highly personal details out. Over and out!