CSSM MB Summer Missionary Manual - General
HINTS FOR CAMP SUMMER MISSIONARIES AND OTHERS
Every leader at camp must be sure that their words and actions are of good report so that the campers will look up to each of us, be sure in their heart that our words are worth listening to and that our actions are worth following. Here are some practical suggestions:
- Your dress and personal appearance is very important.
- Your manner of speaking to other camp personnel will be listened to and no doubt copied. Care must be taken to keep it free from argument and nastiness.
- The way you work with other summer missionaries is of great interest to campers. This could set the pattern for the camper’s relations one to another.
- A summer missionary member’s table manners should be those of a Christian lady or gentleman.
- Your relationship to prayer, Bible reading, God and the Church should inspire your campers to an appreciation and acceptance of spiritual values.
- Your “small talk” in the tent or cabin about boys/girls, dates and past exploits should be helpful, wholesome and elevating to the campers.
- If you find it difficult to get up in the morning, or that children annoy you, here is an area where self-discipline is needed.
- A summer missionary member must take care of his own personal effects, keeping them tidy and in place. The general appearance of the tent or cabin usually reflects on the leader.
- All summer missionary members must be good sports. The game is more important than the winning.
- Your time off is important to both campers and yourself. Use it wisely.
Your position as a camp summer missionary member is a very important one. It carries with it a great deal of responsibility of action and deed. It is not enough to be able to do a thing well; the important thing is: How is it done? What have you and the campers learned from it?
Each minute of our lives is a learning process, and our goal is to learn those things, which are going to make our lives useful and happy. A camp has one primary duty and this is to see that every camper learns to become a better person by being at camp.
Camp can be a truly great educational experience in a child’s life. Our camp should be dedicated to the ideal that people come to know and respect one another by living and working together.
----Taken from the “American Camp Magazine”.