It has been another exciting week at camp. Since our Americorps team left us two weeks ago, we've been very short staffed (aka very busy). When they left, they reduced the number of our staff by half. So, this week we had youth with mental disabilities and interns became hybrid intern-counselors. Half our time was spent doing our regular activities and the other half was spent helping the groups out with whatever activity they were doing. I was privileged this week to be part of the Group B Wildcats (I'm pretty sure their mascot was taken from High School Musical) and there were several great stories from this week. I'll start with my favorite:
Thursday morning I was belaying at the high ropes course for one of the groups (acting as an intern for this part of the day). One of the boys in this group had a goal to try the high ropes course. He wasn't afraid of the height, but he had some strength, balance, and coordination problems that made him (and others) doubt his ability to climb up. However, he was determined to give it a try, and I was determined to help him do it. This guy was one of my favorite campers this week. He got his harness and helmet on and before too long had worked up his courage and was ready. Before climbing up, he had some questions, as most campers do, about the ropes, if they would break, and what happens if he were to fall. So I taught him a little about the belay system and how I would hold him up if he fell while climbing. Keep in mind however that he probably out-weighed me by a good 60 - 70 lbs.
In order to get up to the elements of the high ropes course, you first must climb 30 feet up little metal steps on a telephone pole. This in itself often proves a difficult challenge for our campers. When he started to climb, I called one of the counselors, Troll, over to be my backer. (Yes, that is her camp name and she did pick it herself) Because Casey* out-weighed me by so much and was unsure of his climbing abilities, she simply holds on to the loop on the back of my harness to provide a little extra strength and weight so I don't go flying off the ground if he were to fall. With both of us ready, Casey began climbing. He wasn't sure how to go about it though, so for each step we coached him on which hand or leg to move, where to put it, and which leg to stand up on to get higher. Even with this coaching, Casey could not physically do it on his own, so Troll and I started pulling on the rope to give him a little extra boost with each step. I often wound up a few feet off the ground with Troll pulling me backwards trying to get Casey just a little bit higher so he could get his foot on the next step.
By the time Casey's head got to the bottom of the wooden platform, he, Troll, and I had each worked so hard to get him up that there was no way that he was coming back down without making it to the top. My hand was cramping from holding the rope behind me in the brake position, and my legs ached from supporting myself in a lunge-squat-like position for so long. I felt like my arms and legs were going to fall off, but his courage and determination to meet his goal kept me holding on with all I had. It took us 20 minutes to get him up, but he made it because he never gave up; he never asked to come down, only how do I go up from here. All the effort was worth it to hear the excitement in his voice and see it in his face. He knew that he had accomplished the impossible.
Some might say that we cheated Casey by giving him so much help, that we gave him a false sense of confidence. I disagree. There are many things in this life that none of us can accomplish on our own. There are obstacles that there is no way we can overcome through only our own meager efforts. We all need help from each other and most importantly from our Savior. None of us can leave this world having never done wrong. We cannot be worthy to enter God's presence by our own merits alone. Because of our Savior was willing to pay the price for our sins, He has given us the greatest gift we can ever receive, that of repentance and the path back to live with our Father in Heaven. It is not cheating to accept this gift, making possible a miracle we can never achieve on our own. With our Savior's help each of us can accomplish the impossible.
