Games, Fence Painting, & Bobby // Fairmont, West Virginia, 2021

Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a lovely morning/afternoon/evening! In the summer of 2021, I went to Fairmont, West Virginia, with my church. My church annually sends a team down, and this past year was my sixth time going! We had our typical team again (contrasting to last year when we had only eight people). We had two work sites throughout our week in Fairmont, so our group split up. We painted the front exterior of a house at one site, including both porches and the fence. Another part of the team repainted a dining room and painted a porch at the other location. Overall, it was so much fun, and here I am to share with you my time (from my journal that I kept throughout the week) and show some fun pictures I took!

>> Saturday (Day Zero) <<

We left the church (where the team all met up) around 1:27 PM. I sat on the front bench of the 12-passenger van that all the other kids were riding in. We played a bit of Charades on the way, talked a bit, and eventually approached the camp at around 3:13 PM. I ended up pretty hungry and had to use the bathroom, but other than that, I was super pumped! After a few complications—concerning who was sleeping in which room in the cabin—I ended up in a room with my older sister and one of the female chaperones. I finished unpacking at around 4:42 PM and had my stuff all neatly laid out, which made me very satisfied. There were two bunk beds in the room, and while my sister took the top bunk of one, the female chaperone took the bottom bunk. Meanwhile, I had my stuff unpacked and neatly set out on the top bunk of the other bed while I slept on the bottom bunk. Neat freak things, am I right? When I finished unpacking, I went outside to join the other kids in playing some volleyball in the small court in the middle of the cabins. At 5:30 PM, we ended our volleyball session, and most of us were hungry. However, dinner didn’t start until 6:00 PM. A few of us planned on getting some snacks at the camp store, but I don’t have it written down if we did or not.

At 7:23 PM, we finished dinner (I had nachos, vanilla pudding, and a salad), and my social battery was kind of dead, so my vibe wasn’t too good. I ended up talking to my younger sister, Briana, and one of my friends about work and crushes and fun stuff like that. Briana and I fooled around with Bobby the doll (It’s a really long story), which reminded me of a really funny story from earlier. When the whole team was grabbing suitcases, duffel bags, etc., from the big truck, Bobby fell out of Briana’s bag and just sat on the bed of the truck. So I thought the imagery of a random baby doll just sitting on the ground while people shuffled around it made me laugh (and still makes me laugh). We always go to Walmart on Sunday (official “Day One”), so I made myself a list of some stuff I needed, which made me pretty excited because I love shopping. We soon had the orientation where we reviewed the rules and basics of the camp, and afterward, around 9:30 PM, we went to Dairy Creme Corner! I got a cookie dough avalanche, one of my favorites, and on the car ride home, I talked with another few teens about Minecraft and some Minecraft streamers/YouTubers. When we got back to camp, I did my skincare, brushed my teeth, but as I was leaving the bathroom, it was raining, so I had to run back to the cabin… When I got back, I talked with my sister and the female chaperone about languages for a bit, then I went to bed!

>> Sunday (Day One) <<

I woke up at 7:00 AM and got out of bed at around 7:05 AM. By 7:40 AM, I was dressed and had just finished my devotion. I waited on the porch and talked with everyone else while waiting for breakfast (which started at 8:00 AM). I burned my tongue a bit on my coffee, but other than that, everything was just fine. I had fruit, blueberry yogurt, Lucky Charms, and a blueberry muffin for breakfast that morning. I cleaned some tables, brushed my teeth, then we had quiet time at the camp until worship at 10:30 AM. At 10:17 AM, folks started heading toward worship. During our quiet time, I read the book I brought along (Hardy Boys: Cast of Criminals by Franklin W. Dixon), sat on the porch with the others, and listened to one of the men play guitar (which gave me serious camp vibes). However, before I joined everyone for worship, I had to add ice to my coffee; it was still piping hot. During worship, which ended around noon, we began to smell burgers… guess what was on the lunch menu? (I’ll give you a hint: it starts with ‘b’ and ends in ‘urgers’)

For lunch, I ate a cheeseburger, two cookies, a salad, and potato salad. Among my lunch table “area,” we discussed how every food falls into four categories: soup, salad, sandwich, or pasta. One of the guys was (and still is) convinced that hot dogs/hoagies are not sandwiches because the bread is connected at one spot… (he’s wrong btw) At around 1:08 PM, we were about to have a team meeting, then leave to visit our “host families” (the people we would be helping throughout the week), and then go to Walmart. We ended up seeing three homes; our two host families and a woman our team had worked for twice in the past and still kept in touch with. A few of us got bored while visiting one woman’s house and began tossing around a little ball (I notoriously kept missing). While we were pulling into another woman’s home, I literally almost died… I thought the man driving the van stopped, and everyone was urged to get out, and I, being on the front bench next to the door (aka the first one to get out), opened the door and started getting out. I was halfway out of the van, and another kid was close behind me when the van started moving again. The heavy, giant sliding van door almost would have split me in half if the kid didn’t catch it and if my friend didn’t pull me back into my seat. I was super embarrassed, confused, and at a loss for words, and would literally rather forget this experience, but here I am, telling the world. While at Walmart, my older sister and I stuck together (due to the mandatory buddy system and since I was paying for her). I bought a brush, allergy medicine, Oreos, and Werther’s Original chewies.

It was 5:36 PM by the time we returned to the camp, and I assumed that dinner would be at 6:00 PM. I heard a murmur amidst the camp that we were having Subway sandwiches for dinner, which made me pretty excited. I ate a Subway sandwich, a salad, and some cake for dinner. It was 7:00 PM when I finished and evening worship was about to start. Worship ended up being a prayer time, and I almost fell asleep. After worship, the other teens and I wanted to play Spoons, but we had a team debrief. After our team debrief, however, we played Intense Spoons. Intense Spoons was played just like normal Spoons, but instead of the spoons being on the table in front of you, they were halfway across the camp in the small volleyball court. After the first few rounds of running about 40-ish feet, we were told by the camp director that we had to speed-walk (to prevent any injuries). I got out the next round… I tried to get some action shots of the others running, but they didn’t turn out super well. After Intense Spoons, we tossed around a volleyball for a bit, cleaned the bathrooms, then I had to take a shower. My shower ended up running a little late. Oopsie. I walked back to the cabin, where my sister and the female chaperone were talking, then I went to sleep!

>> Monday (Day Two) <<

I woke up somewhere around 6:00 AM that morning, and by 6:33 AM, I was dressed, coffee’d up, and did my devotion. For breakfast, I ate grits, a waffle, a banana, and some bacon. I created a list of notable quotes on the car ride to the worksite (which I will list at the bottom of this post). At the worksite, I didn’t do much in the morning because my allergy pills made me super drowsy for some reason. However, after I ate lunch (2 turkey/cheese sandwiches, a pepperoni croissant, and a cookie), I felt back to normal. Back at the camp, after work, I came up with a great shower tactic since we don’t have a ton of time to shower. Set a countdown/timer for a few minutes before you have to be done. EXAMPLE: say dinner is in 45 minutes. You should be done in 30 minutes, so set a timer for a 20-minute shower. Boom. I’m a genius.

For dinner, I ate pasta with meatballs, salad, a breadstick, and a brownie. Afterward, we played a game of Kubb/Viking Chess, and I was VERY bad at aiming for the “towers.” After our game, we had evening worship, and I was literally falling asleep. It was really bad. But, after worship, we had a team debrief, then we went to Dairy Creme Corner, where I had an Andes Candies avalanche (which I didn’t even end up finishing). We got back to the camp at 10:23 PM and chilled on the porch for a bit. Emma began writing down “rules” that we had come up with (listed below, as well) and, while everyone chilled on the cabin porch, we would sing some songs every now and then. I finally went to bed that night at 10:38 PM.

>> Tuesday (Day Three) <<

I woke up at 2:25 AM to use the bathroom, then my next journal entry was at 6:33 (same as yesterday, oOoOh…) I ate some eggs, grits, and a banana for breakfast, and on the way to the worksite, I tried to take a nap. Spoiler alert: I never wrote in my journal whether or not I ended up falling asleep. But anyway, at the worksite, I painted (part of) a fence and railing. For lunch that day, I ate two sandwiches and three cookies, and we sang a few hymns with the homeowner we were with.

Back at camp, one of the female chaperones (Mrs. S) and I had to rush to get to the showers before dinner… but they were full. Don’t fret, though; they became available quickly, and we were able to shower before dinner (thank goodness). For dinner, I ate cheesy potatoes, broccoli, a salad, and two helpings of a peach crisp dessert. During worship that night, I actually stayed awake! Well, I had to go to the bathroom and splash water on my face, but I still made it! Then, we had our team debrief and, afterward, some of us went to explore the camp store where I got a Reese’s Klondike bar. There was a volleyball game going on in the center of camp, so I went to join and was on a team with one of the male chaperones (Mr. S) and three other teens. I had a few good plays and even brushed up my knee at one point. Oopsie.

We finished the volleyball game at 9:45 PM, when we had to clean the bathrooms. My best friend, Lydia, and I had both brought our overalls and decided to match with them tomorrow (Wednesday). We both brushed our teeth, said goodnight, then separated to our rooms. Before bed, I packed my bag for our half-day tomorrow and went to bed at 10:40 PM.

>> Some Fun Photos <<

>> Wednesday (Day Four) <<

I woke up at 6:00 AM that day and by 6:30 AM was all dressed, coffee’d up, and had just finished my devotion. I planned to do my hair and then read until 7:00 AM when breakfast was. I ate two pancakes, grits, bacon, and a banana during breakfast. I didn’t end up finishing my grits or banana… I realized that I needed to stop getting so much food. On the way to the worksite, we stopped at a gas station, and (most of) the other teens and I ran across the street to another place called Hardee’s, which was part of an inside joke throughout that week. At the worksite, I painted stair railings and listened to my older sister’s “show tunes” playlist as we worked. It was only a half-day of work, so we left before lunch to have it at the camp and get ready for our afternoon and evening off.

We ended up going to an inflatable water park on a river (Similar to Wipeout), and I had TONS of fun! It was pretty tiring but still super enjoyable. I climbed up onto one of the biggest, hardest obstacles all by myself, and I was very proud of myself. After that, we went to Texas Roadhouse, and I had an “All-American Cheeseburger” and most of my fries with water and raspberry tea to drink. Apparently, some of the adults told the waiters that my birthday was coming up (and a few weeks past another girl’s), so the waiters came up and sang us “Happy Birthday” and gave us a brownie with ice cream. On the way back to camp, my younger sister, Briana, showed me her cup full of rocks that she had collected, making me laugh.

When we arrived back at camp, we played Catchphrase, and I got SUPER into it. We had to be reminded to stay quiet a few times. After the game, some of us were showing off our handwriting and fooling around until around 10:37 PM, when I went back to my room in the cabin. I talked a bit about relationship stuff with my older sister and Mrs. S before finally going to bed at 10:53 PM.

>> Thursday (Day Five) <<

I woke up that morning at around 6:22 AM. By 6:51 AM, I was dressed, coffee’d up, and finished styling my hair and doing my devotion. We had kitchen duty that day, but I couldn’t find where anyone else was. At 7:52 AM, we finished breakfast (grits, a buttered biscuit, and a banana). We were gathering by the van to leave for the worksites. I painted more at the site, and during lunch, we went over to the other worksite, and I got to talk with one of the speakers that week about my book, which was pretty cool. At around 3:40-ish, I was standing on a ladder painting the outer railing of a porch when I was suddenly stung by a bee. It hurt really bad (a lot more than I thought it would), and I almost cried. It was my left pointer finger, which was literally just resting on the ladder (a.k.a. doing nothing), so that bee just woke up and chose violence that day or something. It got a little better, though, because I put a freeze pop on it to help with the swelling, and I got to eat it afterward. It was still a bit swollen as we left the worksite, and I sent my mom a picture of me with my swollen finger to let her know I got stung by a bee for the first time :).

At 6:57 PM, we were back at the camp, had finished dinner (mashed potatoes, salad, and a “dirt dessert”), and were waiting for worship to start. My finger was still swollen at this point, but it only hurt if I tried to bend it or straighten it. While waiting, I styled my hair, talked with the other teens, and gathered some candy to munch on during worship. During worship, nearly everyone (even the adults) ended up having their own little candy stash, and I just thought it was the funniest thing just looking down the table and seeing various candy piles. At 8:40 PM, we finished our team debrief, and we had about an hour to spare before we had to clean the bathrooms. My whole body was sore (from the watercourse yesterday), but I went to join the others in a game of volleyball.

I struggled a bit to play volleyball with my swollen finger, but I managed. Briana bought me a Klondike bar from the camp store, and I, wearing my overalls that had a chest pocket, stuck my Klondike in there and ate it throughout the game… it got kinda messy… 10/10 would not recommend. We stopped the game to clean the bathrooms at 9:45 PM, finished early, and had a little sing-a-long on the porch at around 10:13 PM. Finally, I went to bed at 10:51 PM that night.

>> Friday (Day Six) <<

By 6:31 AM that day, I was all ready to go! This was our last day of work, and yesterday was our last time doing bathroom/kitchen duty. Until breakfast, I just read, and for breakfast, I ate French toast, grits, and a banana. At the worksite that morning, I did some cleaning, painting, and talked with the homeowner we were with. I tried sleeping on our way back to the camp after work, but… I was sitting next to Briana… so that didn’t happen at all. We got back pretty early (at like, 3:30 PM), and dinner was at 6:00 PM, so I couldn’t wait to get a nice, long shower.

At 4:48 PM, I finished showering and grabbed myself one of the Klondikes that some of the others had brought back. I read for a bit until joining a small game of toss on the porch, then once that kinda just fell apart, I went back to my room to read some more. However, just before dinner, I joined a small game of frisbee with some of the other teens. For dinner, I had a burger, potato salad, pasta salad, and a “dirt dessert.” After dinner, I gathered some candy to bring to worship. Afterward, we didn’t sing “Country Roads” (like we normally do every year), and upon requesting it, the musician was like, “no,” so, naturally, we began singing it a capella. Nothing like some peer pressure to get the rest of the folks singing with us and causing the musicians to join as well.

After worship, at around 9:25 PM, I finished packing up my stuff and waited for the bonfire to start. Before the fire, I finished reading the book I had brought (Hardy Boys: Cast of Criminals by Franklin W. Dixon) and joined everyone else up at the bonfire. I stayed up there for about an hour or two and even planned a little birthday picnic with Lydia because my birthday was the following week. Briana and I were fooling around at one point, and she went to pretend to throw a punch at me but fell in what seemed like slow-motion, and it was the funniest thing. We took some group pictures near a picnic bench and even got some sort of album-cover-esque photo. Around 11:45 PM, we walked back to the main campsite, but a few of us stayed up a bit longer just to chat. I finally went to bed, however, at 12:00 AM.

>> Saturday (Day Seven) <<

I woke up twice throughout the night to use the bathroom and officially woke up that morning at 6:10 AM. I love getting full nights of sleep. At 6:34 AM, I was all ready to go after spending my time packing up the rest of my stuff. We weren’t having breakfast at the camp but rather going to a Cracker Barrel nearby, then going home. At Cracker Barrel, I ate three blueberry pancakes, some bacon, and a caramel latte. I explored the store a bit and bought a Sven stuffed animal for my little brother, a sequin dog plush for my little sister, a mug for my mom, and three big-sized York candy patties for my dad. For myself, I bought a dress, a shawl, and some earrings.

The two-to-three-hour long car ride was pretty chaotic at times. I was next to Briana (which was one thing already), and we were messing around with Bobby, and we put a bunch of stuffed animals (plus Bobby) on my older sister’s lap since she fell asleep. We positioned them so that they would be staring right at her when she woke up. We included Bobby because a) why not and b) she is simply weirded out by Briana’s and my inside joke with him. As we passed through a big, long tunnel to get back to our home city, everyone in the large van (like ten kids or so) T-posed, which was another running inside joke throughout the week. I finally arrived back home at 11:33 AM and was not looking forward to the ailments of unpacking a week’s worth of clothing…

>> Some More Fun Photos <<

– The Quotes of Fairmont 2021 –

“Did you not even use my bun?” – one of the boys, “N”
“Was that a butt joke?” – yours tuly
“No scrub, no grub.” – N
“This is better than chemistry; this is Gatorade.” – one of the boys, “R”
“The moist is a little damp.” – N
“Oh, I’m sorry about that… do you want to spit on my leg?” – N
“I have an ant on my knee… do you want it?” – Briana, my younger sister
“I hate stairs; they go, like, up and down.” – my older sister
*one guy, P, eating bark while N is just rubbing the bark on his [own] chest*
*everyone just having their own stash of candy during the evening worships because everyone’s tired and falling asleep and it’s literally the only thing keeping us awake”