Sikeston, MO

(A particular child that attended camp) probably has emotional defiant behavior issues.  Because of that he gets picked on a lot and is bullied a lot.  So, that week he was getting bullied a lot and was causing behavioral issues for their group.  Daily, I would have to talk to him and talk to the counselors to try to figure out what to do.  But one afternoon near the end of the day, something had happened. I and a counselor sat down and talked with the child about this tree in our playground.  We talked to him and we talked about God.  I can’t even remember what was said, but since then he has come back every Sunday.  And nights (Saturdays) when his mom works, he asks to come spend the night with us.  His mom told us that “he had never experienced God like that.”  He still always wants to go back to that one tree.  

There was one day we were coming out of camper rally, and there was a kid that was having a hard time. So, his counselor went out into the lobby with him.  They were kind of over off to the side, and he was kind of leaning over the kid.  I wanted to see if something was wrong, so I went over.  (The counselor) had found a random piece of paper and a pen that only worked half-way, and he was drawing a picture of a cross and the kid was intently watching.  The kid was looking at him up in the eyes and having that conversation, and it was in a moment when everyone was filing out of camper rally.  But who cares?  They started that conversation, and the other counselor would get the kids back to their room while he finished it.  I saw a lot of those conversations all throughout the week.  All of those little conversations were the best thing about camp.