This morning, I helped make a bread pudding using leftover rolls.
I cleaned up a breakfast buffet table where 87 campers in the 5th and 6th grades spilled chocolate gravy and dribbled their eggs.
Yesterday, I diced tomatoes and cut a sheet cake into 100 slices.
I helped stack bottles of tomato ketchup and huge cans of beans on storage shelves after they arrived on a tractor-trailer.
I struggled with putting on purple plastic gloves. I also stood around and looked bewildered a lot.
Have you guessed? I’m a volunteer this week in the Camp Lookout kitchen!
I have wanted to do this for a long time. I talk a big game about wanting to cook for the church or a worthy cause. I thought I ought to throw myself into the fire and spend a week working in a real kitchen.
When I arrived in Rising Fawn, Georgia, on Monday morning, I was excited but suddenly feeling like a first-time camper or a new employee. It’s good to be reminded of what that feels like – and to be forced to ask questions, learn new things, and make mistakes. I had to fight myself not to sneak off to a quiet place with a Coke Zero.
The staff is amazing and patient, so I have no excuse but to hang in there and try to be a help rather than a nuisance. For the rest of this week, I’ll try to share what it’s like to cook for 87 campers and 30 staff members … but also, I hope to share what I’m observing and learning about the children, the workers, and this wonderful ministry.
If you don’t know already, Camp Lookout is one of five camps under the Holston Conference Camp and Retreat Ministries umbrella. Don Washburn is the executive director.
I’ve got to wrap this up. I’m due in the kitchen at 4 p.m. It’s spaghetti night!
The Call to Cook 
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