God rested on the Sabbath but our Merri-Mac girls use Sunday to focus on the activities they love.  From tournaments, to free swim, to bars work, to hammock time, these girls never stop loving camp! The day started off with an 8 am reveille, meaning an extra hour of sleep at the end of a week full of activities, trips, songs, and tribal competitions.  A special Sunday breakfast with bagels and coffee cake put the girls in the perfect state of mind to worship the Lord in chapel.  With songs like Loo My Way and On Jordan’s Stormy Banks the campers praised their heavenly father while the sun shone on Lake Dorris.  Big Dipper counselor Davie talked about how God requires us to trust Him and how He will take care of us.  She shared a time when she was lost and how God brought her the help she needed.  Verses from Proverbs 3:5-6 and Matthew 6:33-34 tied her story into God’s word.

After chapel little dipper hiked the Tomahawk trail on camp and had a picnic at the shelter, a pavilion at the top of the ridge.  The girls got to experience God’s beauty with their friends and counselors who they love.  Dreams End went off camp and hiked up Black Balsom with a picnic lunch.  Seeing the mountains all around them filled the girls with awe and wonder.  Dreams Begin took a trip to Adam and Ann’s house to swim in their pool and have fellowship with each other in the sunshine.

Back at camp the campers were busy knitting, hammocking, painting nails, and making friendship bracelets.  All in their whites it was quite a sight to see.  Fried chicken is a camp Sunday classic along with more worship songs after apple turnover dessert.  Tweedle Doe, Milkyway, and Dreams End earned extra dessert for having the highest scores on cabin inspection every morning this past week.  The chocolate cabin cakes tasted like victory.  One-hour rest hour followed lunch, but the tweedles got a head start on free swim during the last 30 minutes.  The girls on senior hill heard the tweedles’ screams of laughter from their bunks.

After trading post is when all of the tournaments started up.  Caroline K. and Elizabeth O. held a fencing tournament that Corinne M. won!  Girls from tweedles up to Sunnyside competed in the tournament that Caroline K. and Elizabeth O. scored and organized.  Lucy W. had a volleyball tournament in which the staff team “ombre fingers” beat out the “nuggets.”  All of the campers and staff laughed and had sand covered feet by the end of the games.  Some comet girls, Mary Katherine F. and Anne Carter C., held a tetherball tournament giving the whole camp the opportunity to show off their skills.  After some hard fought matches, Katherine G. now has bragging rights for the rest of camp as the camp tetherball champion.  All of the girls who held these tournaments earned marks that count toward higher ranks in the White Feather system.  These elective marks show a girl’s dedication to camp and desire to succeed here.

The cookout outside with hot dogs and hamburgers was a great change of pace for the hungry campers.  Girls in Sunnyside, Dreams End, Dreams Begin, and Sunspot came down dressed in ridiculous costumes for the Sunny-Dreams prom.  The theme this year is Twins and Triplets.  From Katschup and Mustard, to Charlie’s Angels, to a stoplight, these older girls showed off their creativity in a place where the sillier you dress, the cooler you are!  With out boys around to make them worry, the older girls could show the rest of camp what it is like to radiate self-confidence in any situation.

Vespers was the evening activity during which counselors dress up in southern themed outfits and perform silly skits to make the camper laugh.  Our camp band, the Black Mountain Oysters accompany the skits with fun songs by Taylor Swift and Mumford and Sons.  After a counselor’s prayer the evening takes a more serious turn as BMO plays worship songs.  The Mike, the camp gym, is filled with joyful praise.  Alex “Batman” Godfreyed spoke about how we are made in God’s image.  As his beloved daughters, our sins are paid for and we are redeemed.  His message was a great way for the campers to end the day and further discuss God’s love in their cabin devotions.

As the sun sets over the Blue Ridge Mountains, camp is quiet with sound of peacefully sleeping campers.  And while the campers did not rest much today, their surety in the Lord grew more and more.

Lee B.

12th Summer

Tweedle Doe Counselor

Proud Seminole for life.