This week was our first full week of camp and I am exhausted. It continues to amaze me how excited the kids become due to the activities we are doing. As I mention last week, our incentive program is based on the attributes of the fruits of the spirit. The kids receive a bead if they are demonstrating one of the attributes. The kids become very excited in the prospect of earning a bead and are starting to nominate their peers and discern what bead they deserve after completing a task. So far, the beads have been a good incentive for the kids to have a good attitude about tasks that they are not completely convinced about. This was definitely the case on Friday. Three of the groups went to Shalom Farms which is sponsored by the United Methodist Church. After a long and scenic bus ride we arrived in the middle of a hot field and were told that we were going to harvest potatoes. We told the kids that if they had good attitudes and worked hard they would earn many beads. They were reluctant at first, but after a short time they were motivated by the potatoes that they were pulling up out of the ground and would shout to the rest of the group when they thought they had dug up a large potato. When we got into the bus we were extremely duty, but they were really excited and discussed how they earned love beads because they were harvesting food for other and joy beads due to their great attitudes. It amazed me how they realized that they were providing a service to others and at the same time came to the conclusion that it was hard work and they did not want to have to do this again!
