August

It's coming down to the end of the summer and things are just going a bit crazy around me. With assignment teams for the camp coming and going, there is a constant stream of people moving in and out of my life. I feel like there is never really time to get to know any of them before they are gone, to further complicate things, my job change has moved me to the very edge of camp where I spend most of my days. I rarely venture as far as the main camp and almost never venture to the middle school camp, so my life has become a bit isolated.

I didn't realize how much until this morning. Wednesdays are my day to job coach for the guys in the morning. I supervise their work and make sure that they are on task and continue to work in a fashion that both helps them and the camp. An order came in to the Iron Kettle (dining hall) and we helped them put it away. It was a small order, and therefore didn't take much time, but the little time that I got to spend helping them out felt like a mini vacation from the cooking and cleaning that I do every other day of the week.

Backing up a little to the assignment teams, they aren't the only people that are fixing to leave. Here in the first part of September, there will be a number of staff people that leave property. The end of the summer is joined by the end of a job for kitchen and grounds staff, some of which I've become very good friends with, mainly because they have been here so much longer.

Looking forward a bit, once the summer ends, my job will change further. They guys will have an easier time of work and my day will almost exclusively be spent in the Mark 2 area of camp. I won't leave unless I have business elsewhere, but I won't really ever have business elsewhere. What will my isolation look like then?

I've made some new friends, and many of them will be here longer than I am, so I'm not too worried about my island. I will be isolated, but I have God. He's been enough help to get me here in the first place and will continue to provide me with the guidance that I need in the months to come. I need to focus on what he needs me to do and listen carefully to learn the things he is trying to teach me. After all, I will be on an island and will have plenty of time to hear.