When I think of camp, I think of allergies, bug bites, and of course those late nights. This camp that I went to had everything that I thought it would have. My allergies acted up. I got a few mosquito bites. And the latest I stayed up was midnight, and this was late because of the time we had to get up to get ready for the day. A few allergies, bites, and late nights can not make this week a negative week though. This week wasn't terrible at all.

Monday:
This day was pretty good to a certain point. I get up around 7:30 in the morning to get ready and to pack those last minute things that you don't care about until, well, the last minute. I make a mental check list of everything. I tell everyone goodbye like I was going away to Iraq. They're hugging me and telling me to be careful, and I'm thinking, "It's only for four and half days, goodness."

I get in the car, and I put in Hannah's CD that she made for me. I listened to Jamie Foxx there. Had to listen to something that could be blasted. Right before we drive in the church, I put on some R. Kelly and blasted that also. I'm sure people heard it. I wanted the attention, sorry. I get out of the car like I'm a king. Like I seriously got out of the car, and thought somebody was going to come over and carry me to the bus. Obviously, that is a joke, but I did thought that they were going to carry my stuff for me.

Here is a picture of me and some meaningless people (just kidding, guys) getting ready to leave: http://www.buckcreekbaptist.com/userFiles/1544/pic1544_dgyshj.jpg

*How cool do I look in that picture? (you must answer)

The bus ride there was awful. If you were on Facebook at all on Monday, you might had seen my status updates. I described the kids as "young and obnoxious." I also said the bus was very hot and that I had uncontrollable sweat. Was the air conditioner broken, really? And if you were looking on Facebook while I was posting these status updates, you might have came across an Internet conversation with Bryce and I. Call me cool. Do it. Yes, do it now. But as the ride continued, I found that these kids weren't so bad after all. On the way up there, I sat beside Ellison, and we tried to think of movie quotes for the game that we played. When you're on the road for a long time, a movie quote game is fun to you. Trust me.

We get to the camp somewhere around the early stages of the evening. The bus was driving pass all these nice looking cabins and this awesome basketball court with cool basketball goals that when you look at them, you think "this is a rich place if they can afford these types of basketball goals." Turns out that we were not that section of Logan Valley. We were on the other side. Now this part of the camp wasn't too bad at all. They could improve the basketball court a little. And the boy cabin was like it's own little country compared to everything else. Kinda just there alone, by itself, apart from everything. Other than that, there was nothing wrong about it. The other side just looked better.

We all get off the bus and I'm of course looking for Catherine. I have no idea where she is. I'm just walking around, not talking to anybody, looking for this girl. I couldn't even find Cynthia at the time. I ride a bus, with those obnoxious kids, for four hours. There could have been a bear heading my way to possibly murder me with its claws, the only thing I am worried about is seeing Catherine. I just thought they were in the girls cabin, putting their stuff up, and setting up everything. I come back to the girls cabin about an hour later, still no Catherine. And I'm walking back to the boys' cabin all angry and stomping the ground, killing all those innocent bugs while doing so. As I am doing this, I wave at Heather and she yells for me to come over. She asked me if Catherine had complained about a Steak 'N Shake burger. I was totally confused. I didn't know if she wanted to know if she should order the burger next time she is at Steak 'N Shake, or what. Turns out, Heather was talking to her mom, trying to figure out what was wrong with Catherine. I walk into the dark, cold room and I see Catherine in bed, in so much pain. I had not thought of anything to say, because I just didn't know what to say. This girl that I see and make happy each and every day is now laying in a twin-size bed, grasping each of our hands, and scowling at the pain that she was having. I waited until the adults walked out and I walked over to the side of the bed, and sat on the floor near Catherine's ear. I whispered some stuff. And I tried to make her smile. the only thing I know how when she is sad or tired. So I whispered "Hey, Catherine. You look sick." into her ear in this quiet, smooth voice and she gently laughed and then smiled. When I saw that smile, I knew everything would be okay. But I just continued to worried. I actually didn't eat dinner that night. I didn't sleep that night also, because she got back from the hospital around 8:00pm and I was still worried about her health.

Monday was not my favorite day. When Catherine got sick, I couldn't help but worry and think about her more than I normally do. She is okay now. She doesn't need more attention! Don't give it to her!

Tuesday:
When the morning came, it was early. I woke up with Casey and Ellison and ran with them for about twenty, twenty-five minutes. Because running in the early morning attracts girls. I don't know why we had to wake up at 6:00am, but Casey was in charge with that. It was the worst road to run on. Rocks the size of softballs scattered every where. Up and down like you were running a track of a roller coaster. Eroded areas like no other. All this running and dirty, edgy softball dodging made me very tired. I remember that I slept during our little quiet time. I just simple put my head down and acted like I was praying. I was really just resting my eyes for about five minutes. I used talking to God a way to sleep! How dare I!

On this day, there were some things that I had to get done with. Like I said above, running was one of them. I was done with that. And probably for the rest of the week. Now I had to check up on Catherine. It was the only thing that I thought about. I was probably the 100th person to ask her how she was feeling, but I might had been the first one, who knows. She definitely was not 100%, she said. Which this kinda saddened me. So I had to replace Catherine for the day. I also tried to replace her for the day she was sick. I met a new friend, yes! Catherine's bfflwiwusfh (whatever they called each other), Cynthia. Talked to this girl this week more than I talked to Catherine, I bet. Very cool girl. I suggest you get to know her. Very fun to talk to. But nobody can just simply replace Catherine. You all have to understand that! [Had to clarify that]

This was the first day of the Bible studies. I was in a group with nobody that I knew. I had my Bible and my sense of humor. Turns out that this is a very good combination. First day, I was told that I am "very smart" and "extremely funny." I'm like "WIN."

I don't really remember anything else about this day. I still don't think we were allowed to go to the creek or go down the tarp slide.

Wednesday:
This day was really fun. I liked this day a lot. I probably ran ten miles all together on this day.

It was this day or Tuesday, but we had this recreation thing called "Track Time." This was a thing where you can choose what you wanted to do. The first thing you could do was either ultimate Frisbee, remote car race, or you could learn an interpret dance. Obviously, I chose to show off my athletic ability. I played ultimate Frisbee for the third time of my life. I rocked it. I just kept running, running, and running. This is where most of the ten miles came from. I think I may have been star of the team. But I sometimes like to over exaggerate. I did fall once. And it quite embarrassing. I tripped over my own feet. I was running too fast and I tried to stop, I don't know how my feet were situated, because that is the last thing I kinda look at when I am worrying about falling on my face. One person who just flat out laughed at me and told me it made their day was this girl named Briawna. As soon as I get up, I walk pass her and she tells me that it was hilarious. Now, if she had tripped over her feet and had fallen on her face, I would had been very worried for her health. I would have not made a joke about it. Or would I? Anyway, I looked up at Catherine, and noticed that she had her back turn. I was relieved that she didn't see me fall. But it was a good conversation starter.

"Catherine! Did you see me fall?!" I asked her. "Yeah, it was funny." She replied.

Dang it.

I rocked another Bible study.

I wanna say that this was the day of the skit. I am not sure, but if I am correct on the day, then I won't make a fool out of myself.

When we were told that our Bible study group had to put on a skit, our leaders wanted something outrageous and random. Why? I do not know. Their original idea was this:

"Okay, so we're going to carry Dylan. He's going to be like a dead person. And uh...Uh, we are going to have to have a weird job or hobby something.. We're going to be astronauts. Hahaha! Now Dylan is going to be dead and we have to bury him. Where you want to bury him? Hahaha! The bottom of the Pacific Ocean, awesome!"

I am thinking that is the stupidest idea ever. Like good God, it was awful. I went over to their side of the room and butted in with my own idea. Because if you know me, you know that I never really interrupt anybody unless I have something that I think is more important. So like I said, I went over there and interrupted. I told them that we should split into two groups and call these two groups families. These families will compete on Family Feud. The survey questions will be something to do with road trips to match the selected theme. Again, Jake Willis shows his brilliance. They loved it. We did the skit. And we rocked it. And people kept on telling me that I was funny. FUNNY!

I think we watched Cars this night. It's terrible how bad my memory is. The days were just so long.

Thursday:
Even though this day was the last day of the camp, I don't remember much about this certain day.

I do know that this was the last day for our Bible study groups. We went around and we said some things about the new people we met that were in our group. I basically compliment everybody in the room. And again, if you know me, my compliments aren't just like "you're very cool." My compliments have a story that follows. So I did my amazing compliments and I made the group laugh countless times. If I could ask the leaders, I think I might have been the favorite. Again, I think high of myself. Anyway, I was told that I have nice "swagger" and that I am very nice, funny, and I seem like a sophisticated person. Man, did I fool them with the sophisticated part!

We had a big relay thing for Bible study groups to compete against each other. I didn't do much. I chugged a Gatorade, spun ten times, and carried somebody. Our group came in second place. But we didn't cheat, like Heath's group.

It was worship time and we were all looking nice. That night's worship time was more of a questionnaire. We had to answer questions. It wasn't too bad. All you had to do was listen. A lot of people got emotional about the things that John said. And blah blah.

We went to a place to sit around a fire. And I was like "this is very cool. Just sit under the stars with friends. The moon looked great. What a great way to end our week." But no. We had to go around and talk about what we are grateful about the week. And I'm like ninth from last. I had time to think about it. For the last time, if you know me, I can't just spontaneously make up a deep, meaningful, funny thing to say in front of people. I have to think! So while people were spilling their hearts, I was not listening. I was worried about what I was going to say. My hands were sweating. Not just the palms, man! The whole hand!  It finally gets me to me. And I won't share the whole thing that I said, but I will tell you how I ended it.

"I left Buck Creek with four friends going. And now look. I'm going back to Buck Creek with thirty-something friends. Thank you."

Do I not rock?

After everything was done, it was 11:30pm. This was the lights out time. The boys cabin didn't go to bed til late. It was around 12:15 when we decided to go into our cabin. We stayed outside on the bonfire circle benches, watching this kid try to make a fire with paper and two rocks.

Friday:
Well, the whole week, I told Catherine to get up at 7:00am every morning. But she never did. After annoying her the whole Thursday night, she finally agrees upon getting up early to talk to me. I got up at 6:30am, and I think I woke everyone in the cabin. My alarm was very loud. I put on a hat, brushed my teeth, and walked to the girls' cabin, to a bench. I sat there for thirty minutes. Freezing my butt off, yes. But I think it was worth it. The things I do for that girl, right?

We took about fifty group pictures. Got on the bus. Got back off. Took another one-hundred group pictures. Then got back on. And we took off.

Skipping majority of the bus ride.

We stopped at this place called Lambert's. Nice place to eat with friends. (http://www.buckcreekbaptist.com/userFiles/1544/pic1544_moiw9m.jpg)

I wouldn't ever take my kids to that place. Too dangerous. Rolls fly everywhere in there. I saw a little girl get hit in the face with a hot roll! At this place, a person was being a loser. I sat with Cynthia. She basically robbed me of a roll. It was going right into my hands. Anyway, I ordered chicken tenders and fries, and got a pile of food. I ate like 10 fries and one chicken tender.

After we were done eating, we took one last group picture.
(http://www.buckcreekbaptist.com/userFiles/1544/pic1544_wtvlcu.jpg)

*Sun was in my eyes, stfu.

We get back on the bus and I decided I would sit with somebody other than Ellison. So I sat with this little girl named Rachel Turner. I have never enjoyed talking to an eighth grader so much in my life. We were two and a half hours from Buck Creek and I think we talked that whole time. She was very cool.


--------------------------

Camp was pretty awesome overall. I mean there were some things that I would take out or change if I could. I didn't like the showers. I liked how I could wake up four days of the week to people that I enjoyed being around. I already told Catherine that she made my week very special, but there were other people. Cynthia, Rachel, Will, Kim, and Ellison.

If you counselors are reading this, thank you. Heath, John, Matt, Josh, Haley, Steph, you guys were awesome. :D



Some things not mentioned:
When I think of camp, I think of strict schedules and strict counselors. Our counselors were amazing. Heath was the type of guy who you would want to be like. Like he was the quiet, laid back, cool one. And Heath and I had the same shoes, man!

John Chidester was the coolest guy ever. He was our youth pastor for the week, and I enjoyed everything he said. All of his sermons (right word?) were hilarious, but taught so much. I'll tell you one topic that kinda hit me. One night he talked about "playing church." I seriously thought he made that up just for me to listen to it. He also talked to me about late night shows. I'm sure he could tell you that he liked me. Wait, no. I know he liked me.

Matt was the guitar player/music leader. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit confused at first. When he started to play the music for the first time, he started out with mistakes. I thought "Man, music is going to be a sucky thing this week." I was totally wrong. Matt did such a good job on everything. He also liked the Jimmy Fallon idea that I had.


This week I did some things that I have never thought I would do. I rode a zip-line. I walked across a cat-walk that was about thirty feet above ground. I also climbed a rock wall in a matter of seconds. I'm not going to lie, I think I was the most athletic one there.

Some more pictrues:
When I would eat lunch, I didn't sit with the guys. I sat with the girls. Well, I technically sat beside Cynthia or Catherine. In this picture, I'm sitting beside Cynthia. (http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae327/JakeDWillis/lunchtablegang---myface.jpg)

When you look at this picture, you might be confused for a second. So I must tell you that I am in the background of this picture. I'm rubbing my eye. At least I think I am. (http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae327/JakeDWillis/me1--codymepickingsomethingnoseeye.jpg)

If you had read this whole blog, then you may remember the Family Feud idea and how I said I rocked it. Well, I did have a couple of mistakes. Like in this picture, it is shown that I got out of character by laughing at one of the ridiculous answers that were given. (http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae327/JakeDWillis/outofcharacter.jpg)