The end of ISA

Idaho Servant Adventures has come to an end. And let’s just say we went out with a bang. 143 people in the final week! What an adventure that was. Over the summer each week would vary on being full of really awesome people, to having really immature and ridiculous people. This last week was full of both since there was such a huge group. I really liked a lot of kids, but then there were a lot of kids who really didn’t want to be there and complained and whined the whole time. But I still felt like it was a decent week.

After my stressful Monday, things got better. Well until Wednesday. Every week I usually get the privilege of being the lifeguard for kids as we float down the river. I am pretty sure I am the only staff member who a) doesn’t swim very well, and b) has never been officially lifeguard trained. (I just have the certification to guard our swimming hole and river)We carry a dry bag with our first aid kit, although no one ever gets hurt, which is good considering our dry bag generally fails and our first aid kit gets soaked.  On Wednesday, I didn’t realize the first aid kit was not with us on the bus and so we didn’t have it to take down the river. Me and Eric decided since we never really use it anyways because no one ever gets hurt it wasn’t a big deal. So headed down the river just like a usual tubing adventure. Because it is the end of summer, the river is so shallow you really could walk the whole route we use, and river rocks are pretty sharp. There is one section (which I HATE) that is just rapids and sharp rocks that you hit the whole way through. If I had the choice I would just walk it, but it is dangerous to have a group of people walk through the fast water, so we just hope no one gets a popped tube and head down. Well on Wednesday a girl lost her tube and stumbled through the rapids spraining her ankle. So here I am being the “lifeguard” I am almost going straight into panic mode. As the girl gets to me she is bawling and freaking out because of the pain. I get everyone else out of the water (because luckily there was a beached area next to us) and think of what to do. Long story short I used my guard thing as a way to elevate her ankle and walk her through the rest of the river. Then, once I reached the end, I pushed her to the side of the water kind of like you would dock a boat, sent all the other kids with an adult back to camp, left one adult with the girl, and ran across camp to find help who luckily turned out to be Clint who is an advanced EMT. I survived that one. It was exciting and scary at the same time. But I did what I needed to do and felt good about it.

Now that ISA is over, I get the pleasure of being a camp counselor the rest of summer. I am actually really excited about it. Next week I have 5 girls. They are in the pioneer group which means they are 5^th and 6^th graders. It should be a lot of fun! I can’t wait to hang out with these girls and just have a blast. Things should go well these last two weeks, and then I get to make the venture home and go back to life in California. I really miss my family and friends and love of my life so that is what I am looking forward to enjoying. I will be for sure posting another blog sometime next week to give details of being a camp counselor for the first time. Be on the look out! =]