My name is Hannah Lehman, and I recently joined the year-round staff at Camp Friedenswald as the Assistant Program Director. 

I first stepped foot in the peaceful woods in 2009 as a family camper. That week, I remember singing that summer’s theme song, “Abide in Me,” scraping my knee while skidding down the waterslide, and learning how to shoot a bow and arrow. I also remember playing ultimate frisbee on the lower flat and not quite understanding how the game worked. 

Since 2009, I have returned to Camp Friedenswald many times, as a camper, summer staff, and a volunteer. I kept coming back to youth camps because they were always the most fun week of my summer. I loved the anticipation of which cabin I would be in and the sense of camaraderie my cabinmates and I developed throughout the week. I remember thinking that my counselors were the coolest people to walk the earth. When I became old enough to be a counselor myself, I didn’t have to think too hard before applying. Working on summer staff sounded like the most awesome job ever, and it did not disappoint. I loved finding belonging in the staff community and feeling like I had helped create a meaningful experience for my campers. 

In 2024, I graduated from Goshen College with a degree in Music Education. Hesitant to go directly into teaching, I signed up for Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) and spent almost two years in Tucson, AZ volunteering with a nonprofit that does home repairs for low-income homeowners. You can read more about my experience in MVS here. 

In May of 2025 my local MVS coordinator led a vocational discernment series. One afternoon, we were prompted to envision a world in which MVS suddenly disbanded. What would we do? I wrote that I would go work at Camp Friedenswald for the summer and beyond. At that point, I had no intention of actually doing so, I was just speculating about what I maybe could do. I forgot about the activity soon after. Six months later, I said “yes” to a year-round position at Camp! 

While packing, I found the notebook where I had written those speculations about working at Camp Friedenswald and entered into a moment of awe. One moment I was imagining working year-round at Camp as an “other-wordly” scenario, and the next I was packing to actually go do it! I chose to return to Friedenswald this time because it just felt right. I don’t have a deeper reason beyond that my bones knew that Camp is where they were supposed to go next. I suppose that might be the deepest reason of them all. 

The theme for this summer at Camp Friedenswald is “Walkin’ in Wonder.” You can read more about that here. I have found it pretty easy to find moments of wonder at Camp so far. Some of those wonderful moments have been: 

• Watching a bullfrog hop down the road and into the fen 
• Going to sleep with a graveyard of dead ants on the counter and waking up to find them gone. Apparently ants carry their dead away!
• Hearing the jeer of a blue jay and then seeing it fly right in front of me 

I hope that my time at Camp Friedenswald continues to be full of these moments of wonder that remind me why I keep coming back to these peaceful woods.