A Snowy Weekend at Teen Haven Camp

During a weekend retreat in January at Teen Haven Camp, the camp staff and I were preparing for the boys to arrive at camp. As I contemplated their arrival, and considered that it was going to be a smaller group of campers, and that there was a snowy forecast I wondered, “why did we not cancel the weekend?”

Shortly after, the boys arrived! As they sat down in the dining hall, I noticed one boy, Kory*, with his head down on the table. I asked him if he was alright. He acknowledged that he was ok. Yet, I noticed that he had tears in his eyes. So, I asked again.

This time, he filled in the details. He had just gotten 20 staples removed from his skull and was experiencing a headache. He told me that his brother had pushed him out of the car and he sustained a good gash on the side of his head. It was healed but still ached in the cold weather.

I looked at him and questioned his being here. He looked up at me and said, "Mr. Vin, I just had to be here. I just had to be here!" And again his eyes swelled with tears.

As the weekend went on Kory got into his routine, and it was apparent that he wasn’t as aware of the pain that he had shared about on Friday night. Saturday afternoon the kids went sledding but Kory did not have a hat. One of our interns, Willie Davis, came up to Kory and gave him his hat to wear. Kory had a blast and wore that hat all weekend.

Kory came up to one of the staff members and said, “I was able to go sledding because someone gave me a hat to wear to keep my head from hurting.” He shared, "That made my weekend." And as I heard his excitement and joy, I realized that this demonstration of compassion made my weekend also!

I realized that this weekend was worth it even for just for him. As Kory received something as simple as a hat, I believe it helped transfer the burden’s he carried before his arrival to camp, to an understanding of how loved he was!

Sunday before he boarded the bus, he came up to me and said, “I'd like to be a junior counselor one day.” I believe that he will be! As he spoke these words, I praised God for the privilege of seeing this hurting camper experience Christ’s hope and healing.

Only God can transform a broken situation like this and allow our campers to leave camp with this type of excitement to serve others and grow as leaders!

Vinny Mikusow, Field Director – Teen Haven Camp
*name changed