Ministry Flows Both Ways
God works through the small moments around us. Often, it isn't until we stop and reflect that we begin to see the beauty of His story. That's certainly been true for CAMP-of-the-WOODS Summer Staff member Abby Kraftson.
“God has brought each person into my life for a reason, whether he worked through me or He's used other people to impact me.”
Abby & her Grandmother at COTW
A legacy on COTW Staff
Abby's connection to CAMP-of-the-WOODS stretches back generations.
“My great-grandparents started coming with my grandmother and my great-aunt. I think my grandmother was only three years old, so she's been coming now for 70 years.”
Abby's grandmother served on housekeeping staff. But instead of cleaning beachfront cabins, she remembers cleaning tents and taking baths in the lake.
“My mom was also on staff; she worked at the Front Desk as well as a counter girl in the Hill Dining Hall before they had the buffet.”
Connections at the Hill
Abby has been coming to Camp since she was little, but it wasn’t until 2022 that she joined Summer Staff. Since then, she has worked in the Hill as both a waitress and head waitress, as Marketing’s Communications Administrator, and, this year, as the Summer Staff Program’s Female Dorm Head.
There have been many vacationing families that Abby remembers each summer, and some have stayed connected with Abby throughout the year. One of Abby's closest mentors came from a family she first served as their waitress in the Hill Dining Hall.
“At the end of the week, the mom, Kristen, was tearing up a little bit because that was their family’s first time at Camp.” Abby and her co-workers were then able to spend time with the family in prayer.
The next summer Abby served the family again, but remembers her connection with Kristen growing stronger.
“Each week she would take an hour and a half just to talk with me…it was her intentionality each time of coming up, checking in, and showing that she cared for how I was doing.”
From a Card to a Call
Then, the simple act of leaving a card sparked a long-term connection between Abby and the family.
“Originally, they had left me a card. The boys had written me notes with their address. So I ended up writing back, and then, we would write back a little bit here and there throughout the year.”
Those handwritten notes eventually turned into regular phone calls.
“The mom and I will call just once a month for like two hours and just talk about life…as I’ve gone through different hard seasons, Kristen's just been really good at listening, talking through it, and I think it reminds me that I'm not alone in certain things.”
Dinner and a Sunburn
Now, in her fifth year on summer staff, Abby still gets to continue the connections she’s made with guests, including with her mentor and her family.
“They were here recently. I got to go to dinner with them one night at the Hill, and then I ran into them at the beach one day. Now I have a really bad sunburn, because it was really fun!”
Through moments like these, Abby has grown closer to not only her mentor, but the whole family.
“They treat me like family in a lot of ways. I would say I’m learning a lot about God's kindness towards us through other people.”
Abby with a Family she Served at the Hill
Ministry Flows Both Way
“Whether it be this specific family or other families who I have seen over the course of the years, their intentionality and the way that they care for me and extend their grace and their love towards me has really impacted me. I'm challenged in a lot of ways to love others in the same way.”
“None of us deserve such love, but we have these tangible moments of God's grace whenever somebody does care for us in that way. I've experienced that through people here at Camp. It's really cool to see how the Lord blesses us through service, too. I think that in my time on Summer Staff, I just wasn't expecting to be cared for by the guests.”
Abby's story reminds us that ministry at CAMP-of-the-WOODS flows both ways. As staff pour into guests and guests invest in staff, God uses those relationships to encourage, disciple, and draw people closer to Himself.
Written by Summer Staff Anna Collins