In the spring of 2016 I was blessed to be able to serve my field experience hours at Camp Luther in Nebraska as a counselor for His Kids camp. It was for one short weekend, but I sure did learn a lot from the experience. We served people of varying ages each that had a disability. I was surprised at how many responsibilities we were expected to manage over the weekend. Each of us in the class were assigned a buddy for the weekend. We were expected to care for our buddy in every way imaginable. We took them to the bathroom, made sure they showered, ate dinner with them, and did a variety of activities. I realized what the expectations were when I found myself in a cabin with six other college sophomores and five grown men, each over the age of 30, with various disabilities. Everything ran very smoothly and it was a great weekend. My buddy’s name was Michael, a 36 year old man that suffered from spinal meningitis at 4 months old and has been developmentally delayed since then. He loved to talk about Disney and Sesame Street and was quite adept at impressions of his favorite characters. We had a lot of fun playing frisbee, basketball, doing puzzles, playing games, and singing songs about Jesus. After the weekend ended, I found that I had learned much more from Michael and the other campers than they had from me. They taught me that no matter the circumstances, everyone deserves the chance to reach their full potential and everyone is incredibly loved by Jesus. Through this experience, I discovered that I am entirely comfortable around people with disabilities. They make the world a more joyful place.
