June 07, 2021
To the Activity Leaders of 2021
First off, I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for choosing to invest your time in Camp Aranzazu this summer. I hope you know how impressed I am by you already for showing up and starting this new adventure. It takes a great deal of courage and curiosity to do something like this. I also hope you know how much I recognize and appreciate the sacrifices you’ve already made to be here. You’ve all left people and pets you love to be here spending your time serving and impacting the lives of the people I love and I can’t put into words the gratitude I feel for that. I also can’t wait for you to meet them.
As we’re about to jump into All Staff training and soon after into camps, I encourage you to let yourself be here, fully in the moment, as much as possible. I encourage you to be patient with yourself and all the new information you’re learning, and be patient with me too. I encourage you to pause and recognize how wonderful it is that we all get to be together, working towards a common goal and connecting with amazing people along the way, and I hope you rest in gratitude for that.
I can’t wait to learn from each of you, and I am always honored and humbled to get to share some of the wisdom camp has taught me over the years. Camp is hard work, it’ll push you in new ways and in strange ways. I still feel like I’m constantly learning here. And while camp will push us, and challenge us regularly — it’s so very full of the good stuff and the easy stuff. It’s the sweet “good mornings” at breakfast, and the “did you see me do that’s?!” at activities. It’s the moments in the in-between when you learn about another human and their struggles and your heart gets a little bigger and softer because of that raw connection. It’s when you kind of forget about yourself and your needs and are filled up by just being a part of the joy of another. You play a pivotal role in camp’s good stuff. You get to impact lives this summer, you get to encourage, support, teach, and get to know some incredible people over the next 10 weeks. You get to be a vehicle for adventure and triumph and you’re making a difference in a person’s life every day. How amazing is that!?
So, here we go! Enjoy it. Soak it all up and be proud of yourself and what you’re doing here. It’s going to be a beautiful summer — and so much [better] because we’re [together].
Cheers,
Amelia
