I am currently a first year college student, and barista in Kalispell. I like to spend my free time watching movies, swimming in Flathead Lake, going to Whitefish to paint ceramics, bike, hammock, and occasionally volunteer coaching and helping with the Columbia Falls Speech and Debate team. I’m looking forward to a life abroad teaching English, after getting an international English education license this summer, and an education degree!
When I first came to camp, I was looking for hope. Hope that I could find love, acceptance and family. Something that was not filled fully elsewhere. Sheridan Skerritt was the one who introduced me to the idea of “Bible Camp.” This is something I would have never considered as a teenager who at the time was trying to figure out quite literally everything one could ever think of. However, as Sheridan started describing everything that happens at camp, she quickly convinced me to come along.
I knew that I had found what I needed when I saw the way people at FLUMC listened, wanted to know my story, and had space in their hearts to accept and see me. On most occasions when you meet strangers, you don’t really expect to end up hugging, sharing tears and saying “I love you” by the and day of knowing them. But at camp something special, that sadly a good amount of humanity does not get to experience, occurs. An unconditional love, a connection that resonates through every cell in the body. A feeling that gets lost so easily in how fast we grow as a society.
At first when you leave camp, the change in life every time (especially for me) is astronomical. You enter the world with a full heart, a body that embraced the hundreds of hugs and of course the grilling sun on your skin. I understand people more, and most importantly myself. Whenever I’m going through a difficult part of life I think of the weight of love that the people at FLUMC anchor me down with.
I appreciate how much the camp is willing to go out of its way to make sure everyone has a fulfilling experience. The way FLUMC makes sure that past attendees can come through scholarships. And again, the love and care that is shared to everyone. I hope that one day, what I felt there, the family I found can one day be available to more and more people. This camp has the power to change society.