The Rest of the Awesome Camp Week!!!

Hey y’all!

I figured today I might finish off the rest of the week here on my blog. Because there’s no way to separate the days from one another in my memory, I will describe the whole week.

So, for the rest of the week, the 19 (12 boys and 7 girls) of us would gather up underneath our “porch” outside for team building games and discussions. Then, we would be called up two or three at a time to go fly. And when we were all together in the mornings or late afternoons, we would gather in the boardroom for ground school. With this basic schedule, we all began to foster our love of flying by going up up to 3 times a day, many times one of those being a trip on which you would fly.

Every morning, we would wake at 7 (6:30 if we actually wanted a shower), go to breakfast at 7:30, and finish breakfast at around 8, which is when the other campers started arriving. Then, we would head out to the buses, and complete our trip to the airport, often arriving there before 9. We would then spend some time in ground school in the boardroom, or at the very least a briefing. Then, we would head out to the porch and begin our day. Then everyone would gather for lunch, which would be catered in by the camp. We would eat, then people would go up again.

After our time at the airport each day, we would head back to the camp, where we came late for dinner, and then have free time until chapel, after which would be free time and night games. One of my favorite night games was water polo in a 3 1/2 foot deep pool. I tend to be better in the water (where I was wrestling like a madman for that ball)
than on land (where I was inevitably picked last for the games I did choose to play.)

One day I went up with a teammate and we did steep turns. We were supposed to do 30 degree turns, but… I kept us steady at 5 or 10 degrees steeper than what we were supposed to do. As my passenger noted later, he thought it was a bit steeper than 30. (Sorry) 😉

One day, we (almost) did a cross country. We were 5 nautical miles short. 😦 But we still got to make VFR flight plans and use plotters and stuff. That was so fun!!! I even was told by my pilot and fellow passengers that landing was the smoothest of that flight! I say it was because the other two awesome pilots had heavy crosswinds and I didn’t. Thank you to the fellow cross country pilots on my flight!!

Another day, I got the most coveted position of pilot of the Cessna 150. This plane was a really old two-seater whose pilot let you make radio calls, landings, and take offs. This was one of the best flights. After this awesome flight, we landed at a nearby airport and I switched from the 150 to a 172, where I slid in the backseat for the ride back home to Coshocton.

On days when we weren’t flying, we went on field trips. One day we went to MMS Aviation, which stands for Missionary Maintenance Services. It was here that I had my birthday party with a surprise arrival from my parents. We had a wonderful donut cake, along with much singing…. Oh, the singing. I forgot to tell you.

So, apparently there’s a certain camp tradition that I soon figured out. On my birthday (Thursday), we arrived early for breakfast as usual. I ate my breakfast with the other girls as usual. We finished breakfast as usual. People started getting there as usual. Then, one of the girls casually mentioned it was my birthday. It was then that I figured out the camp tradition. My counselor, JoJo, said VERY loudly, “Hey Tad! Did you know it’s Elle’s birthday today?!?” And no, I do not know Tad. And no, Tad does not know me. And this is why the camp tradition surprised me. Tad then yells back in his VERY loud camp voice, “It’s Elle’s birthday today?!?” JoJo then screams back,”Yeah! We should sing!!!” She does this as if singing would be a novel idea on someone’s birthday. (Who would’ve thought?)

Then the camp birthday song begins: “Happy birthday! Happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! WHOO (at which point they raise up their arms) Happy birthday! Happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! WHOO” I was slightly caught off guard to be honest. So here I was, about to put my biscuit in my mouth, a little shocked by this celebration, considering I was of the mind that they would forget about my birthday. They did not.

Then, much to my surprise, the nice lady who works in the dish pit leaned her head out of the opening and yelled, “It’s somebody’s birthday today?!?” JoJo yells back, “Yeah! It’s Elle’s!” Nice-dish-pit-lady yells back, “Oh, really? We should sing!!!” She does this as if singing would be a novel idea on someone’s birthday. (Who would’ve thought?)

Then the camp birthday song begins: “Happy birthday! Happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! WHOO (at which point they raise up their arms) Happy birthday! Happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! WHOO” I was slightly caught off guard to be honest. So here I was, about to put my biscuit in my mouth, a little shocked by this celebration, considering I was of the mind that they would forget about my birthday. They did not.

Then, to my great shock (even though I was getting used to this tradition), Ben (the boys’ counselor) screams, “It’s Elle’s birthday today?? No way!” JoJo then yells in return, “Yeah, it’s her birthday!”

Then the camp birthday song begins: “Happy birthday! Happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! WHOO (at which point they raise up their arms) Happy birthday! Happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! WHOO” I was slightly caught off guard to be honest. So here I was, about to put my biscuit in my mouth, a little shocked by this celebration, considering I was of the mind that they would forget about my birthday. They did not.

This was just breakfast.

All day proceeded like this. Kids in my team would begin to do a rendition of what you just heard three times (I won’t do it again). We thought we were going to stop at twelve times, one for each year, but… That didn’t happen. I think I’m 20 now.

I felt very much appreciated for my birthday. Thank you, fellow campers for celebrating my birthday in a way I never would’ve thought of myself. You’re the best!

Back to our field trips.

Another field trip was to a neat missionary servicing aviation salvage facility/supplier. This was fun, though I would rather have been up in the skies.

Then on the very sad “last flight day,” we had our debriefing where we received flight magazines and some resources, along with a certificate of completion.

Then, we rode “home.”

This, being the last full day, had plenty of activities. When we arrived back at HQ after our ceremony, we immediately went in for dinner, which was good. Afterward we did our normal free time, chapel, and free time schedule before our nighttime activity, Glory Bowl.

We walked up the hill for the last time together up to a large bonfire with benches arranged in a circle around it. Our team of our cabin and our brother cabins arrived and sat in the same section. A man walked up to a microphone and said that we would be doing a testimony time. A woman came up and did two beautiful worship songs. Afterward, an open mic was set up for testimonies to be told. Several of my teammates quietly got up and slipped in line.

I listened to the miraculous testimonies of salvations, re dedications, and many people encouraged and given much hope. Among these testimonies I heard several people from our camp get up. One of the ones I remember is one about how while we were flying there was much turbulence. He said that the air under the wings pushes the plane up and the higher speed on top of the wings decreases the pressure. He was saying that the winds throughout the week shoved our planes down several feet at a time, causing us to have to correct for it. He said that just like that life will try to shove us down, but God will be the air up under our wings lifting us up when we’re down, and keeping us in the air.

After hearing things like that, I got up and made my way to the line on the other side of the fire. I waited in the line and froze to the bone while waiting. I finally made it to the warmth of the fire and the microphone. I talked about how my fellow teammates helped me realize how I am not alone, rather it be with homeschooling, missions, aviation on the mission field, even though I was a serious minority there, being a girl, under fourteen, and most definitely not from there.

The next morning, Saturday, we grabbed our packed bags, slapped stickers bearing our cabin name on them, and slung them into a large pile with everyone who had had a cabin on that side of the camp’s luggage. Then, we hurriedly walked to the Dining Hall, where we ate gigantic cinnamon rolls, traded contact info, and spread hugs and goodbyes among the whole team. Then, we had to leave after filling out a couple forms.

I started organizing a reunion an hour after everyone left. This is what camp does to you.

Thank You:

Cyrus, Christian, Logan, and Caleb: for being awesome pilots when I was the passenger. Thanks for the ride! 🙂

Cyrus, Christian, Caleb, and Kate (and whoever else I’m missing (I’m sorry!!! 😦 )): for not getting sick and being overall awesome passengers when I was pilot

JoJo and Ben: for being amazing counselors even I wasn’t so amazing

Craig, Eric, and Dave: for being fabulous pilots – even when I wasn’t

Dan: for teaching us and administrating the whole thing. Your job was valuable!

Brigade Air: for starting this whole camp. Your impact means a lot!

Skyview Ranch: for the difference you’ve made by hosting Brigade Air. You’re helping create missionary pilots!

Everyone who wrote me letters: for the encouragement fed to me along with my food every lunch and dinner

The people I rode with on the bus: for yelling at me for unbuckling, for throwing seat fluff on my hair, for yanking my seat belt until it locked up and I gagged, for letting me sleep with my head on the back of your seat, and for not getting sick

Danielle: for being so very tolerant of me rolling and tossing and turning, and in so doing shaking your bed until you almost fell off

My cabinmates: for not snoring

MMS Aviation: for allowing us to hammer the snot out of those little metal tag thingies with your huge hammers and those letter stamps, for helping us twist safety wire until it snapped, and for letting us see everything in your facility

Preferred Airparts: for letting us walk among drilled-apart 172’s, for being tolerant of the time when all 19 of us ignored you because a Pilatus PC-12 was going by, and for teaching us about the airplanes and parts in your inventory

Our drivers, Ben and Eric: for toting us from California to New York and back every day. Oh, and adjusting the A/C every 5 minutes at our beck and call

Our brother cabins: for being so – um – brotherly in your methods of annoying us!

Aisy and Grace: for being so welcoming my first day and being awesome friends even though we didn’t see each other. I hope Equine Camp was awesome!

And last but not least, Coshocton County Airport and its staff: for letting us tromple throughout your property, almost take out your signs and lighting, and stare at your weather chart for hours on end for no specific reason

Thanks y’all!

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for listening to my extremely long post! Adios!

P.S. I’d like to add pictures to this post, because I have plenty, but WordPress doesn’t support the file type. 😦

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