8 Weeks

8 Weeks. 56 days. 1,344 hours. 80,064 minutes. 4,838,400 seconds. That’s how long it took to forever etch Camp Shipshewana into my heart & life-to meet some of my best friends; to be simultaneously encouraged & challenged; to live in true community; to be used by the Lord as we together ministered to hundreds of children.

Well, maybe it wasn’t exactly 8 weeks. Maybe it only took a few weeks. Maybe it happened on the 3^rd day of staff training. Maybe I got it several months later when I helped with Snow Camp. Whatever the case, this quaint little camp will always stay close to my heart. How could it not?

Now, I’m incredibly fortunate to be living here. This is week 14 of my internship. I’m still learning. It’s a much, much different feel than summer camp though. Have you ever heard silence? Well, there’s a lot of it here in the off season. It isn’t bad-just a different pace of life. I went from the community of girls living in Platt 2^nd, where it was rare to not run in to a friend as you walked down to the hall or to the bathroom, to a little cottage with no occupants other than my thoughts and an occasional ant.

This Monday, I hit the official 3 month mark. It’s strange, and I have not quite decided how I feel about it yet. Part of me feels as if this has been home for years. I can hardly imagine being anywhere else, doing anything else. There’s another part, however, that feels as if I’m still just visiting for a week. This part longs for the community of Trine or of summer camp. This part of me is all too anxious for the next 2 months to pass so that the next season of life can begin.

 I can’t let this part of me rule my next 2 months here, though. In 2 months, there are 8 weeks. So, here’s to the 8 weeks of this internship that remain. May I not take them for granted; realizing if it weren’t for those first 8 weeks I spent here in the summer of 2009 my life would surely look much different than it does now.