Summer Update: Part 2 (As in, K-2!)

After nearly two months of hanging out with the elementary kids (7- through 11-year-olds) at K-Kountry in Branson, I moved up to Kanakuk's high school kamp, K-2, out here in Lampe on July 14. Not only is K-2 where Kanakuk owner and president Joe White is director, it's got the most kids of any other Kanakuk kamp (close to 500 two-weekers and four-weekers combined). It is sprawled out along 170 acres of rolling Ozark hills, nestled on a bluff above shimmering Table Rock Lake.

So, how fun has K-2 been? These pictures will help you understand: (These are just a sample from the roughly 12,000 pictures I have taken since I arrived here in the Ozarks back in May.)

While my main job has still been sports and feature photography, I have had a chance to work on several big progjects that have generated Kanakuk thousands of dollars toward ministering to kids from across the country, and there has been plenty of time to hang out with kids playing sports. The other day, I got finished with my quota of action shots early, so while I was hanging out with the baseball specialty guysup at the fields, they challenged me to join them in a home run derby. They
learned their lesson after I tied for the win. It was great to see that I haven't lost a whole lot of pop in my bat (regradless of how little I had in the first place; I was a pitcher in high school, haha). I've also been able to go play out on the lake, goof around in the pool, and every now and then work on my forehand.

Sports is the main thing at Kanakuk...from 9:30 until 6:30 everyday except Sunday, the kids are out playing sports, with a two-hour break in the middle for lunch and a rest period. So it has been really trying the last week or so with the heat around 100 degrees each day with little rain. Thankfully, last night a storm came through and it hasn't made it out of the 70s yet today. Hopefully the unbearable heat is over with for the summer. One night last week, the power went out at K-2, and when
the fans don't work it can be pretty miserable and impossible to sleep. Some of the guys in my cabin went down to the dock and slept in the boats.

Maybe the best part of being at K-2 has been being around Joe White and getting to hear him speak pretty frequently. He speaks to thousands of college students and adults each year at events around the country, and he has authored several books. So far, I have been able to hear him speak on creation and how scientists are now admitting that darwinism is impossible; purity; having passion for the Lord; and how current events point to the Bible's prophecies of the end times and the second coming of Christ. I've also been in a discipleship training class with the K-2
men's director, David Liggitt, which has really been helpful in putting in perspective how to lead others to Christ, which is what Jesus commands us to do in Mark 28:19, the "Great Commission."

This summer has also given me the chance to do some reading that I normally don't have time to do during the school year. So far, I've gone through Taming the Bull (a biography of former NFL linebacker and Memphis native, John "Bull" Bramlett), The Ragamuffin Gospel, The Hiding Place (a biography of Corrie ten Boom) and Becoming a Contagious Christian. Right now I'm reading Courting Disaster (a book that takes a look at how the U.S. Supreme Court and its tributaries have recently usurped the
laws and traditions this country was founded on in favor of liberal agendas). And speaking of such, I have been able to spend some quality time with my LSAT prep materials. My practice test scores have been steadily improving, but I still have quite a bit of work to do before Oct. 1 rolls around.

Anyways, I have a little over two weeks left here at Kanakuk, and hopefully it will be the most rewarding two weeks of the summer! I know that I'll have an overloaded schedule when I get back to Oxford, so I need to enjoy the Ozarks while I can. See you soon!