Weeks 3 and 4 at Camp K!

Week 3 at Camp K was youth with physical disabilities. I had 2 wonderful campers: J, who had both physical and mental disabilities, and A who had only physical disabilities. It was a lot of hard work having 2 campers in wheelchairs, but my campers were so absolutely adorable! One of my favorite memories from this week was watching our non-disabled campers interact with our disabled campers. One time, four boys around the age of 12 wanted to play a game of basketball; 2 were in wheelchairs. As I watched from a distance, the 2 boys not in wheelchairs each picked one of the boys in wheelchairs to be on their team, and countless times one of the nondisabled boys stopped moving towards the basket to hand one of the boys in a wheelchair the ball and give him a chance to shoot. Such good kids! Or the time I was making E a bracelet that took 20 minutes to make, he spent those entire 20 minutes interacting with my camper J, trying to make him laugh. Seriously, what 11 year old boy uses free time to make a disabled boy smile? Not very many. It made me so happy to watch!
Week 4 at camp (teens and adults with cognitive disabilites) was probably one of my favorites so far, just because it was a very special week for me. I owe a lot of it to my 2 amazing campers I had this week! My first camper was B (I'm not allowed to specify names, due to privacy issues :/ )He's 26, has downs syndrome, and is the highest functioning camper I've ever had. He did everything on his own, completely without prompting, and waited patiently for hours at a time while I got my other camper ready. He never once complained, just always smiled and cracked the silliest jokes. Every night before bed, he waited for an hour while I got my other camper ready until I could come read the Book of Mormon with him before bed. He prayed to himself before every meal, and one time I walked into his room to check on him and he was sitting on the edge of his bed praying. It was the sweetest thing! Reading the scriptures with him every night before bed always made the stress and exhaustion of the day just disappear. I couldn't have asked for a better camper!
My other camper, S, was very physically demanding to take care of, but he taught me so much. S and his twin brother were born prematurely with cerebral palsy; is twin brother died 4 days later. On the first day of camp, S's mom gave me a book when she dropped him off. It was a book he made, in honor of his twin brother, using the words from the song "I believe in Christ" and amazing artwork from his older brother. I didn't have time to pick up the book and read it until Wednesday, and when I realized what it was, it brought tears to my eyes. The first page reads "I believe" and has a picture of 2 small baby boys attached to machines. The second page continues the song with the words "in Christ", accompanied by the same picture, except this time there is only one baby boy. The other one is gone. The book continues in this way, following along with the song while showing pictures of S struggling through grief, pain, and surgeries, but at the same time remaining hopeful through Christ. There is a picture of him looking up at a bright blue sky with a smile on his face as he sits in his wheelchair, and on the last page is a picture of Christ standing with open arms. It is probably the most touching book I've ever seen. Though S has stuggled and will always struggle with his disability, he pushes forward with a steadfast faith in Christ. And the same could be said about my other camper, B. Witnessing that strengthened my own testimony so much! Which is why this week was so special to me, apart from the usual fun of canoeing, fishing, ropes course-ing, horseback riding, making s'mores, singing, dancing, etc. My campers are teaching me so much about how much we have to be grateful for! S wasn't supposed to live, but he's defied science and keeps on bringing joy to those around him every day, not knowing which day will be his last. I don't think I'll ever take another moment of my life for granted, thanks to him. I loved my campers this week so much!