Hey Friends,
My name is Ellie Ferguson, but on the island of beauty I go by Miss Ellie. Tapawingo is such a special place to me; I was a camper for many years, completed the C.I.T program, and now I am so excited to be a counselor in Oneida for the summer! Monday July 29th was an exceptionally beautiful day here on the Island. My day started with my morning quiet time in which I spent meditating on Psalm 23 and picking the raspberries by the front dock, which was such a reminder of God’s faithfulness and personal love since raspberries are one of my favorite creations of His!!
In Power Hour, our whole camp devotional, Miss Joy spoke on how our appearance changes the longer we are looking at the Father. Psalm 34:4-7 states, “I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from every fear, those who look on Him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed.” I love this verse because it really shows the glory of God and shows that simply through pursuing and adoring God He actually makes us more like Himself.
Later that day was spent hiking Crane Mountain which was such a blessing. Hiking is one of my favorite things and it’s a way that I have experienced tangible revelations that point to the glory of God. When I’m hiking and fear starts to creep in due to the heights I’ve reached, through the power of the Lord we can speak the name Jesus and all anxiety has to flee. Or, when I’m feeling my ankles start to give way I can reference Psalm 18:31-33 and be reminded of God’s faithfulness. When we summited, our whole cabin was in absolute awe and wonder at the glorious sight, but what never ceases to baffle me is that sights like these that are so beautiful don’t even come close to the beauty of the God we serve. Crazier still, that God who is so so beautiful loves and adores us in a personal way and desires intimacy with us. The drive back was filled with laughter as we shared embarrassing stories, worshiped together, and took a quick stop to pick some wildflowers. My co-counselors and I can’t help but have an overwhelming feeling of gratefulness for how God so specifically placed each of our girls in Oneida Session 6.
After we got back to the island and ate dinner, it was time for Monday night cabin bonding! We planned to take lake showers and swim due to the state of our smelliness and sweatiness. However, our girls were under the impression that we would be doing some Naval Academy drills and were dreading it all the way to the beach, until we revealed what we were actually planning to do and their faces were priceless. Afterwards we heard from Miss Rosie in Vespers. She spoke on Hebrews 1 and what a blessing it is that we serve a God who speaks. I think it is so awesome how the Lord can put one topic on so many people’s hearts and it led right into our cabin devos, in which we taught them how to do hermeneutics on Matthew 5 and how it helps us hear the voice of the Lord through Scripture. It really resonated with some of our campers. We then sang them to sleep as they climbed into their bunks and as I set my head on my pillow I was so thankful to God for his faithfulness to show up and work, another day on the Island.
In Christ,
Miss Ellie
