West River Away

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The time had finally come for Austin to embark on his first sleepaway camp. I was nervous and excited for him all at the same time. I don't know if he knew what to think...he had nothing to compare it too. This week, Austin is joining 9 other youth from our church and a bunch of youth from another local church to spend a week at West River Methodist Retreat Center. Its on the water and has a beautiful setting. Its a really nice retreat, with most buildings even having air conditioning. Their week at camp is a week of service. The retreat is located in a rural area with many elderly individuals. Each morning they headed out to various homes where they worked all day. Once back at the camp, they had swimming, canoeing, rock wall climbing, crabbing, playing cards, evening fellowship and service and much more. Austin got to work at the same home all week where he learned to seal and patch a leaking roof, painted lawn furniture, install kitchen cabinets, remove carpet...and so much more! On one of their days, the students took part in "gleaning". Gleaning, which dates back to biblical times, is where farmers would not harvest crops around the edges of their fields, leaving some for those less fortunate to go through the fields and harvest food for themselves. The youth spent an entire day harvesting a huge field full of corn, squash and cucumbers. All of which they harvested by hand! In all, they harvested 6,345 pounds of produce. That is over 3 tons of food! Austin LOVED his week there. I think he would have stayed a 2nd week but he was glad to be home and getting to catch up on all his sleep. Austin enjoyed harvesting and crabbing best. Now he can't wait until next year!