The EpiPen Didn’t Work... Now What?

What happens when a mission trip to Cambodia turns into a race against anaphylactic shock — with a wheelchair heist, rats on the ER floor, and a $400 bill to save a student’s life? Or when a friendly game of broom ball ends with a youth leader’s fingernail on the ice and a 2 AM ER visit fueled by Greek flashcards?

In this episode, Nick and Mikiala sit down with youth pastor Dawson Campbell (Diamond Bar, CA) for two of the wildest, most chaotic, and somehow deeply encouraging stories from the front lines of student ministry. From mudfish dinners in Southeast Asia to bloody ice rinks in the South, Dawson proves one thing: youth ministry will absolutely test you — and God will absolutely show up.

Whether you’re a seasoned youth worker or just someone who loves a great survival story, this one’s for you. Buckle up.

Shop our Ministry to Youth Store. Check out our huge collection of youth ministry bundles, teaching series, one year curriculums, Bible studies, games and more.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, and welcome to the Ministry to Youth Stories Podcast. And we are excited about this episode. We have our co-host, Mikai Ayla, who's with us, and we also have our guest, Dawson. So, Dawson, let's jump into your story.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Yeah, uh, so one of my first mission trips I ever led, I've been on many, but one of the ones I've ever led uh was actually a few years ago. We decided to go to Cambodia as a church. We have a great connection there, and we had quite a few youth that were going on it. So some of our youth leaders went with us. And you know, the trip uh honestly is brutal. It's hot, you know, you you're constantly doing something. Um, and then I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

And how far like how how far of a travel time was that?

SPEAKER_01 0:45

I mean, that sounds pretty far away. It was like a 16-hour flight first first off. And then it felt, was it 16 or 16 hours? Either way, it was a teen. It was teens worth a flight. It was in the teens, a lot. It was in the teens, and then you we landed in like Taipei, and then we took our connection to uh Cambodia. And so as soon as you get there, you're already like, I haven't slept in 36 hours. Like you just watched. Totally. And so I tell people all the time, you gotta be tough to go on this trip. You just you gotta be tough. And so, you know, we get there, and the first few days you're adjusting to the food, you know, everybody's stomach's a little upset, everybody's working through something, is kind of what the way I put it. You know, you're you're down in liquid IVs, just trying to hang in there. And so eventually you get to the point in the trip where you're just like, okay, like I'm tired of eating mudfish, I'm tired of eating rice, like I'm just I just want something else.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

So one night is mudfish, just on a little side note, I'm curious.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

So, so you know, me being from the south, it's kind of like it's kind of like a catfish, but they like cook it over an open fire, or they just like put seasonings on it or something like that, and then you just like they just put the entire fish in front of you.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

They don't cut it for you, just there's the entire fish, and you just put through it and work with the bones and all that.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

You just take a fork, you just jab it in there, like the eye is like the prize thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Kind of like crawfish. If you're from the south, you'd probably know a crawfish.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Absolutely. Yeah, no. Crawfish is more work than that, even. Yeah, exactly. You gotta suck the head and all have that one. Yeah, no. Yeah, yeah. No, I I actually uh I I pastored down Louisiana for a year and a half, so I had plenty of crawfish bowls. Oh my god. Okay, well, I'm from New Orleans.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

What part of Louisiana?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Uh Lake Charles.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Oh, Lake Charles, okay. I'm sorry. We took a little rabbit trail, but let's make a story. But we do took us off the road.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

So after, you know, we we've spent the week eating all of that food, and so it, you know, we're on about day eight of the trip. So one night we said, hey, for dinner, like, can we not just eat rice and whatever else? Can we just like go and get some street food? Because then there's a lot of street vendors, there's tourists. So we go to this like skewer place, and I mean, like, granted, situationally, I was like, probably not that great, but man, it was the best thing I ever had in my life. I I eat like five of them. You know, and so I'm I'm a bigger dude, you know, I'm I'm I'm gonna eat. And so one of our guys on the trip, he's he's a he was a youth leader at the time. He yeah, he he chows into one and he goes, hey, like, I don't really feel good after this. Okay, yeah, hey, we're gonna go to this like Korean barbecue spot, like we'll go eat. You go back to the room, no big deal, take a tuk-tuck, go back. Well, there hold on. What's a tuk-tuck? It's like a think of like a mop head with like a carriage on the back and like a awning over it.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Okay, I've seen those like in the documentaries. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, okay. All right, okay, great.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

So so he takes tuk-tuck back, whatever, and um, so we whatever. And and weird thing about Cambodia, there's places with no running water, no, no power, no electricity. But you have cell service, full-on, 4G, 5G, you want it? There it is. So there's literally kids watching brain rot on their parents' phones, just like American brain rot is right there, just right. It's there. And so he goes back to the room and we're eating, and then he just FaceTimes me. Like, why is he FaceTiming me? Like, he doesn't feel good. I don't what's he FaceTiming me? And I see on the FaceTime, he's purple. He's just like, he does not look good. That's not a good sign. And I'm like, okay. I was like, hey, buddy, like what's going on? And he just goes, I I I think I'm allergic. I have an allergic reaction, which he had a food allergy, so we knew that. And I'm like, okay, well, hey, you know, hang in there. Don't don't hit your EpiPen yet. Like, let's just see if we can regulate, like, control your breathing, like, let's let's get it going. And so one of one of our guys earlier had gone back to uh to the room because he didn't feel well just to begin. He was we hot and probably dehydrated. So we texted him, like, hey, can you go check in on this guy? Yeah, no problem. So he checks in on him, and it's side radio silence from him, and then I get another FaceTime call, and he's even more purple. And I went, Okay. And I just said, just nod yes or no. Do I need to come over there?

SPEAKER_02 4:51

And he just went, Oh, he nodded yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

And so we go, okay. So uh we had two guides, they they're part of our church, they're Cambodian nationals, and but they moved to the US, kind of made a lot of they're awesome people. And so one of them, she was a nurse, so she goes, Hey, I'm gonna go with you with you. And then another her husband came with us, and then uh, so we just go, Okay, we'll we're gonna leave the group, like we're gonna we'll be back. We I had another pastor on the trip, so he he helped kind of corral the other crew, and he said, Hey, just keep me up. Yeah, I'll keep you up. They did, and we get there, and as soon as and he's on the third floor, so I don't even like wait for the elevator, I just sprint up the steps, and then I just like I basically kick in the door. I'm like, what's going on? And I just see him. I mean, he is like shaking on the bed, like gasping for breath, and we're like, oh no. And so I say, Hey, did we use the epi pin? And I see the epi pin. The epi pin's the size of a pencil, it's not very big. And they already hit him with it, and it just it did nothing. And so that's not if the epi pen doesn't do it. That's a really bad sign, plus the double purple situation. Exactly. So, I mean, he's looking worse and worse, and we're just like, ah, this is not great. So um the lady, she just leaves. She just goes, Okay, I'll be back. We'll go. Wait, this is the nurse lady? The nurse lady. She goes, I'll be back. And she just leaves.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

I don't know where she's going, but it is smart to have a nurse with you in some capacity. But she just leaves, but hopefully she's gonna do something.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

She just goes downstairs, just disappears. And so we're sitting there, we're and so I like CPR first day, I coach football, so like you have to be like certified and all this stuff. And so I'm just hey, we're gonna like rub his ribs, we're gonna rake his ribs as much as we can just to kind of keep him awake and just so he can maybe regulate. So we're doing that. I mean, it's it feels like forever. I probably I I couldn't even give you the time, maybe 10 minutes of just doing this. And eventually he just slumps over. And we're just like, oh no. And so in my mind, I don't know why. I just had this split second where I thought back to like a couple days before we drove by the US Embassy, like on our way to a village. And like, oh yeah, hey, if you if anything ever goes wrong, just go to the U.S. Embassy. So in my mind, I was like, okay, we're going to the embassy, like, or just it doesn't matter, we're going. And so our phone, my phone just buzzes, my Apple Watch buzzes, it just goes, bring them down here. And that was from the ladies. Just bring them down here. I was like, okay. So I go, all right, we're moving, we're going. So, and if you've ever probably never, but if you've ever carried somebody who's completely unconscious.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

By the way, I have never done that.

unknown 7:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

It's on the resume now. But no, not somebody that's a full-grown person with the body.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

And he's just, I mean, he's out. Like he's he's he's a lint noodle. Dude can't move. And you're carrying him down the stairs, or well, there's a so a few of us, there's three of us in the room right there. So we have this younger guy, and then we have the Cambodian national and myself. And so, you know, I work out, I'm an ex-college football player, like, I'm strong. Like, I was like, I'm just gonna throw him over my shoulder and we're gonna go. I tried to pick him up and he like slipped out of my hands, like, yep, that's not happening. So it's not happening. So we the elevator there can only fit like two people at a time. So I just said, stuff them in the elevator. We're not carrying them down there. We're gonna drop them, we're gonna hurt them worse. So we like, I'm telling you, we fold him like a pretzel and put him in that elevator. His body has never bent like that. And we just like threw him in there. We we're just spamming the buttons.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

And then I'm the first one down the steps. I sprint all the way down the steps. I'm talking like I've never moved, I've never I never moved that fast in my life. I get down there and I just see his hand pop out of the door.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

So that's so bad.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

The the nurse lady's nowhere to be found, so we just we pick him back up and we take him to the front steps of the hotel, and then we just like sit him up, and he's just weaken at Bernie's just out.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

So that's a great reference, weekend at Bernie's. Yeah, I remember that a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

And so we we have him sitting on the front steps of the uh hotel, and then I just remember the younger guy looked at me and he's a pre-med student, so he just goes, Do we start CPR? And I went, We're not there yet. I was like, We're not there yet, we're not gonna start this yet. And right about that time, I see the lady running from across the street with a wheelchair and two people chasing her. She had just turns out, this is a God thing, across the street was an ER. Across the street was an ER. You would you would never know. I'm telling you, it didn't, it looked like just a pharmacy. It was just a pharmacy, but somehow they had this ER clinic, and so she has this wheelchair, and these dudes are trying to stop her, but then they see us with this almost blue dude, and so we pick him up, and like we pick him up, we throw him on there, and then we obviously have to get through the street of traffic. But people started to like slow down, they started to pick up on the situation, and then he was doing involuntary movements, like his muscles were flicking, so he couldn't like we were trying to wheel him across, like his leg would get caught in the wheel or something.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

So actually curious, tell me more about the involuntary movement because that can get really weird and kind of funny.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

So from what from what from what I understand is when you're when you start to like lose oxygen, yeah, your muscles will be suffocating actively. Yeah, your muscles will fire. And so if there's any meta healthcare professionals and I'm wrong, it's all right. Like, don't don't come at me. This is just what I saw, all right? And so, but like he would like kick or like he'd flinch or something like that. And so he like got caught in the wheel of the wheelchair, and and I just said, forget it, pick him up. So we all just picked him up, and but we finally had the orderlies, like we're all like a bunch of people at this point. Yeah, we're covered in like whatever fluids coming out of his mouth, sweat, like we're just like carrying this dude. And then we we take him into what is apparently an ER over there, rats running on the floor, cockroaches on the floor.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

What a weird in Cambodia.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

And then we just I'm I mean, I we just like slam him on the gurney, and I just step back like somebody do something. Oh and then like then, you know, they obviously they went to work, they they pumped him full of steroids and adrenaline and everything. But as they're like, they're they're hitting him with oxygen, and then slowly is modern medicine's pretty cool as you start to see like his colors start to return and like him just go in full hives, like his entire body is just swollen. But as they're like, I was thinking like, okay, they're about to hit him with like defib, like they're gonna defibulate this guy. Yeah, and but they didn't. But what happened is the national, the guy, he goes, Hey, they're about to pull you away. And I go, why? He said, they asked who the leader is, and I pointed at you. I said, Why would you do that? He goes, because they know you'll pay.

unknown 11:46

That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

That's fine. And so they go, he's in intensive care. You don't have to pay now, but you have to pay later. It's like, fine, whatever, dude, however much it takes. And so they like took all of my fingerprints, like fingerprinted me. Fingerprinting.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

They were gonna get that bill.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

How does that stop me? Like, I just left. Like, I you didn't get my social security number or anything. Like obviously you wrestling, but like you didn't get my phone number or like my address. But so they fingerprint me, and then he starts to come back, and then whoever the nurse practitioner or whoever was on staff that night, like just said, Don't let him talk. Do not let him talk. You you just oxygen the whole night. So he he would so eventually Why would you not let him talk?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Because it would take energy out of him, or I guess I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Man, I you just followed instructions at this point. He's not dead, he is not dead. I'm not going to the MS. Duct tape his mouth. Exactly. So he wakes up and he tries. I said, Nope, nope, don't you say anything to me right now. Don't you say anything? And now I'm kind of like, You just put me through the I love it.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

This is how he's coming too. He's coming too consciously. I'm not mad. He's saying, Don't say anything.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Don't say anything. And he's like, and and then eventually, you know, he starts to kind of really come to, and and then they're like, okay, he's okay. And so I he was just like, What happened? I said, dude, what happened? What's the last thing you remember? He's just like, I just remember I eat the chicken, I sit down on my bed, I wake up here.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

And I'm like, You serious? Because you went on a journey, brother. You went on a journey. Okay, so what was he allergic to? Peanuts. And it was that was what was on. That was what was on the skewer.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

I had a peanut allergy and just destroyed it. Who knew that peanut would be in chicken?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

But I guess it's the whatever, the green water. Well, when you're right there by Thailand, because we're we're closer to the Thailand border, so I'm guessing that because Ty uses a lot of peanuts. So I'm guessing that was what was on there. Man, so wow.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

The fact that he was able to FaceTime you initially is like that's the miracle part because I was like, that was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

And then so we get the bill, and it was $400 to save that man's life.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

$400.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Like I was like, man, it's about pay in the U.S. It's about to be thousands. Like I'm about to have to take out a mortgage to get this guy back to the U.S.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

And they think you're pretty cute, over $400.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

$400. I was like, I will pay it. I will pay it.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Man. Wow. So so how long was he there? He was there for about two days, if I remember correctly. At that point, I was just like, we're we just gotta get home. Like there's nothing else we can do. I just want to get home.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

And so, you know, and the weird thing was just like after two days, jumped right back in. That was it. All right, it's over. But the next morning.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

I'm sure the students were like, what happened? And then you guys had just a crazy story to tell. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

I mean, and that that was the thing is like my phone's blowing up with the other past I do. What's going on? Like, how's everything going? But I just text them hospital. Like, it's just like I couldn't get another text out. And so, you know, we get it all done. And the next morning, you know, we're like, okay, well, we need to get ahead of this because we don't want somebody to call their mom or dad or send a text and it just be like spreading like wildfire that you know somebody died. Because before you know it, three people died on the trip instead of one person at a peanut reaction. And so um, so I end up, I go, hey, like, we're gonna start with his mom first. So, you know, he's a younger guy, he's like 20, you know, and so I was like, okay, like we're gonna call his mom. So I made them somebody, that wasn't me. I don't know who. He called his mom first and goes, Hey mom, I almost died. And I went, that's good. Way to go. Not the way you want to leave talking to your mom. So then somehow it got communicated to me that his mom was like, Is there like somebody else I can talk to to get this story? So I was like, Yeah. So I called her.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

Who's the adultier adult that I'm gonna do?

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Is there an adult present? Yeah, exactly. Is there an adult present? So I that so like obviously I wake up and I'm just like, I just can't believe we just saved a man's life. Like Jim Bra. So I call his mom. I'm just like, hey, how you doing? She goes, What what happened? I'm like, yeah, fair question. I'll tell you. So I I run her through all of it, and she was just like, Oh my goodness. I was like, Yeah, it was a rough night. She goes, Well, how is he now? I said, couple days, you guys should probably get him a better epi pen next time.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

He had the epi pen because that didn't work. Wow. Well, did we ever figure out why the epi pen didn't work?

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Was it too small of a dose? I mean, there's like there's different like gauges, I guess. And so he had like the pencil one. No, we need like the the the silo, like hit him with the silo.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

That's not the one you take out of the country. You need the big memo jamma.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Mikhail, I'm curious, have you ever had a student, a student or a leader almost die?

SPEAKER_03 16:52

Oh no. No, no, no. That was harrowing. And no.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

So uh man. Well, that's a good one. Yeah. That's a great that's a great story. Yeah, glad he's okay. And did he continue to serve with you guys? So yeah. Did he ever go back on another mission trip? Or was he like, yeah, I'm done?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Well, so it's funny. So every other year we go to Cambodia, and so this year we're going back. So that was two years ago. Okay. And so obviously, in the interest meeting, everybody knows this story now. Yeah. And so you got you gotta explain it by look now, listen. There's some caveats to this. Um, but yeah, he actually, you know what? Like he really grew in his faith, and now he's at another church working for them. Um, he works in like A V and tech and stuff. And I'm like, and in maintenance, I'm like, hey you dude, hey, I'm happy for you. I'm glad you found a church community that loves you. Just want you to know, we love you. We you you want to know how much we love you? You just think about that.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Just think through that story, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Well, he kept on going, so that's great. Yeah, he made it.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

I don't he made it back. I said, Well, and the rest of the trip, I just said, you can die on U.S. soil, but you're not dying on Cambodian soil. That's right, yeah. Or preferably just let's not die at all. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

That would be terrible. Wow. Okay, wait, I think you have another story. Do you have another story? I do. I have so much. I'm ready to dive in.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Let's jump in. Um we were having a winter camp, and so you know, big thing in the south is D now. Like that's a thing of the past now, which I really hate. Like I love.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Is it a thing of the past? Okay, because I've never been. It's it feels like the D now thing is mostly like Baptist churches, but it's not just Baptist. Uh, but I knew, yeah, it felt like it was a thing for a while, but it's not it's no longer really a thing.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

Yeah, I guess we just call it different things now, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah. True, like Reach Weekend or something like that. And so something catchy. Meltdown. Yeah, if you know it's really that's old school. Meltdown's old school. Um going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for meltdown. Oh man, those are those are the days.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

I always work for uh for New Year's.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

I have a funny Gatlinburg story, non-youth ministry related. Maybe we can come back to that in a future episode. But anyway, okay, so let's let's get going. What happened?

SPEAKER_01 19:05

So so we're try I I'm trying to do like a discount D now out here. Like our kids will stay at a house, which is you know, obviously really trusted people. So we partnered with another church. Um, and so we played broom ball. Now, what broomball is is kind of like hockey, but without the skates and without the puck, you wear uh sneakers and then you have a stick. It looks like a broom, and then they have they roll a ball around, and that's just what you're on ice, right? Is that so the fun side of the stuff?

SPEAKER_00 19:29

So we've done winter camp multiple times uh in Hume SoCal and they have a big broom ball uh tournament with you know four to five hundred students. Oh wow. We would take our middle school there, and the two years that two I think the two years that I went there, our group of uh junior high guys actually won the championship twice in a row. Uh different like groups of kids, but it was still uh our group. So yeah, a lot of fun and very competitive.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yes, very aggressive. It can get aggressive. And so we're playing and it yeah, everything's good. There's the the weird thing about this ice rink is we didn't sign waivers. There was nobody there, like we paid them in cash. Like sketchy. Sounds a little sketchy. You think back like, man, okay. But you know, you sometimes you just respect those old mom and pop shops that are just like, hey, yeah, come on. Like you kind of look for that sometimes, just for the flexibility. So they're they've just put a big timer on the wall. I guess they come back later. I don't know. And so there's literally three minutes left. And one of my best friend now, our worship leader who is a youth leader as well, he comes up to me. And he's pale and he goes, Hey, um one of our guys got one of our leaders got hurt. I go, Okay, well, all right. I go, how bad? And he and he goes, There's blood on the ice. And I just see like like a a a literal like trail of blood. So I'm like, okay, like it's not too bad, it's patchy, it's not bad. Like, you know, I've seen worse. I've done worse. I've done worse. So I go, and I'm like, all right, let he's there. Well, where is he? Oh, he's in the bathroom. Okay, so I go in the bathroom, and yeah, this is my friend. He's my friend Eric. If he's Eric, if you're listening, shout out to you. Um he's a youth pastor up in NorCal, actually, now. Um, but he was a student, and so he's in the army, you know, so we're really cool, we're buds. And so I walk in and I just see him. Eric's pale too. I'm like, Eric, man, what's going on? And he just looks at me and I go, what? He holds up his finger and I can see the bone.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

And I go, see the bone.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

And I go, I go, okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Okay. I like how calm you are. Okay. Yeah, I see the bone.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

I'm not gonna say the bone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Okay. So so what happened? He goes, I I'm I'm guarding the goal, he's playing goalie. A kid takes a stick and just bashes his finger with it, and it just rips the fingernail off. Oh, he's it's he's bleeding, so he's just running underwater. So I was like, okay, well, you Trying to wash it out. You like you're trying to see how bad it is. Oh. And so I'm all right. Well, we need to we stop the bleeding. Like he's he's army too. He's army. So he's like, he's he's on it. Hey, we got to stop the bleeding. Yeah, absolutely. We gotta stop the bleeding. So we go, okay. Well, let's uh let's start, let's find us a first aid kit, let's get some gauze, let's pack you up and get out of here. And so, because you know, then the time's over. So now at the same time, all the youth kids are just like, well, what are we about to do? Well, where are we going? So we got kids coming in the bathroom, like, what's going on? I'm like, no, get out, just get out, just don't talk to me right now. And so one of our leaders, she she had like a nice car, so it had like a first aid kit in it. We couldn't find one there. We found a first aid kit from the ice rink, it's just full of band-aids. Just band-aids. So great, we're not putting a band-aid on that. He's more than a band-aid, a little bit more. So we get in there and I'm just like, okay, Eric, like we're gonna get this going. So we're just using paper towels, just like trying to stop it. It doesn't stop. So finally, this leader, like I send my worship leader friend who like he always helps me with the youth. He's really well respected, great guy. He's go, hey man, just get them in cars and get them out. I don't care. They need to go to their host homes. I can't keep doing this right now. He's like, You got it. Like, no, don't worry about it. So then great, great on my leaders just like took initiative. Hey, I got these kids in my car, I'll make a double trip. Like, they all, like they're good there. And so I eventually wrap up Eric's finger. And I mean, we like the thing is pressure stops bleeding, so we we wrap it really tight. You know, his fingernails barely hanging on. There's obviously some some some pieces missing. And so I go, all right, we're spending the night in the ER, here we go. So the problem is the next morning, like the morning session was like 8 a.m. So I like was planning on getting to the church by six. So I was like, all right, here we go. Like it's gonna be late night. And it's already 11 o'clock at night. So I was just like, well, we're gonna see what happens. So we get like we we get to the ER and the leaders are like constantly updating that hey, so and so's hey, all the kids are dropped off, all the kids are dropped off. So the leaders are like great leaders. I have like I love my leaders, they're a team. Like, that's what I love doing is building great teams. And so we're in the ER and we get there and it's packed. I'm like, great. Of course. So and he his dominant hand is the one that got hurt. So I'm filling out all this paperwork for him. Like, we're just talking, like he he's a Bible student, so we're going through Greek flashcards because we have no other time. Like we're just that's an interesting thing to do. I just like but we had no, we had no, like we didn't have cell service in the middle of this hospital. And so we uh they finally get him a bed, but it's in the bay. So I he's just like in this hallway in a bed, and then we wait forever to see a doctor. The nurses are walking by, like, oh yeah, you're the guy with the bust of the finger. Like, yeah, you want to help him? Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

Word just got around.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Everybody knew. And then eventually the doctor, I mean, it's probably two o'clock in the morning. The doctor finally walks over. Hey, we're gonna x-ray your finger. This is and he just walks away. All right, cool. They get the x-ray. He broke the very tip of his finger off, it's broken off. Not like completely like missing the tip, but like the the tip is broken. Okay. And then he goes, Well, you may have to go see a hand surgeon, like, we don't know. So eventually, short story long, um, they end up like sewing him up, cutting off fingernails, sewing him up, and they couldn't stitch the middle because there's pieces missing. And so, but uh by the time we're done, I get back to my place with him because I was like, dude, you're not gonna drive home. Like, you're just gonna sleep here.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

That wouldn't not be very nice if you made him drive. Not a great idea. Not a great idea.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

You're just gonna sleep in my place.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

You have to drive home.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

So we have a guest bed, you're sleeping on the guest bed, like this is how this is gonna go. So he sleeps, I sleep for maybe two hours, and then I'm up, I gotta be at the church. Like, it's time to go. It's probably like 4 a.m. So I just and we have like a full day of stuff. And so we, you know, they doc I'll say that ER doctor was legit, though. As as weird as he was, and as just uninterested as he was, he sewed him up, did such a great job that he didn't have to go see a surgeon. He was all cleared up. That's great. Yeah, that's now and so yeah, so I was like, I've I've done easy and I've done very difficult.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Yeah, so you have to like pull an all-nighter and then like the whole next day you're just doing, I guess, the best that you can. Yeah, and it was and it's just running that hey, we're gonna get a nap in there.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Oh no, because it was like, hey, we're going to trampoline park. Hey, I preached in the morning, we've got this, we've got this, we've got this. Because you know, like those days, it's a weekend. You're trying to get as much in as you can.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

And so after all of it was said and done, I just remembered like, dang, we did that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

And then like he didn't lose his finger after or anything.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

No, it no finger. The the only thing the funny thing is, is like he has this like really thick fingernail now.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

It's like super thick.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Yeah, sometimes it grows back and it's different. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

And so the doctor called him. So so he, I mean, what do you say? You know, I like yeah, it's just so I never really directly said anything to him because I was just like, you know, because as soon as Eric got hit, he goes, This is why you don't slash. And he like showed him like his finger. But I was like, I've been, I I mean, like, if that's all you're gonna say, I'm I'm cool with that. I was expecting a little bit more from you. Yeah. And so, I mean, but the kid just he's still around, he's a young adult now. And so it just I mean, I didn't I didn't know like.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Okay, so he always has a great story to tell, and so do I. So and we bonded for life. We bonded for life.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yeah, I'm sure. Isn't that the interesting thing? Like, whenever you go through something like that with a student, and it always happens at camps, right? Always. Whenever you're doing a D now or you're doing like a big event or you know, something like camp related, that's when something happens. Yes, crazy. But you do, you have that bond. You have that bond with that student, and it'll never go away.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Oh yeah, and we're friends for life. Eric and I, you know, he's he's a youth pastor now, so we all just yeah, we always just talk back and forth, play video games together. So yeah, we're all we're best of boys now.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

So good.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Man. Well, Mikayela, ever have a student almost lost their finger?

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Uh not their finger. I did, uh, this was in Gatlinburg. I had a kid who went down the uh conference steps and face down uh smashed their face open on the concrete steps as we were leaving um the conference center. Uh so it was at night and it's Gatlinburg, so everything's closed. And so I have like leaders running down uh the street to like CVS and banging on the doors. We need ice, we need stuff, we need help, and uh yeah, but it was great. Uh it ended up fine. Everybody was great. We got ice from a store that had just locked the doors, but I have a very uh tenacious volunteer who made them open the door and give her the ice.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Or something like that, please.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

Yeah. So um, so yeah, there was a lot of blood. There was a lot of blood. It was not fun.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Wow. Okay, so was the student okay? Because if you hit head first and you said on the concrete on the cement?

SPEAKER_03 29:26

Concrete, face down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

I mean, you're gonna have some like Yeah, no, some stuff happening there.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

A lovely, she's got a lovely face, no scars. She survived. Uh her dad was there with her, so that also helps. But um it was just one of those things where I was like, but she's a dancer, she's able to like do all of these things gracefully, and it didn't matter. Those steps were like, not today, girly, not today.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Yeah. Uh yeah. I remember this one student who I don't know if I've said this. Uh if I did, Mikkaya Aylett, please let me know. But he was real hesitant his sixth grade year to come to camp at all. Uh, but I tried to invite him multiple times to come to winter camp, summer camp. He wouldn't come. Finally decided he'd come to seventh grade camp, uh, the summer, you know, going from sixth grade to seventh grade. That was the puke story camp, which you can go back to episode one and hear that entire story, which basically meant half or more of the students were puking everywhere as a big disaster. So he did not have a good time there, which was his first camp with us. And uh then um tried to get him to come to like the next camp, and he was off and on about it, but he finally decided uh because he had a really bad um time, like his whole family got COVID during Christmas, and basically meant they didn't have a Christmas because of that, or some sort of like version of a drive a drive-by Christmas, and it was really unfortunate, and he decided he was gonna come to winter camp, and he was really hoping that it would be like this great experience, and he's like, Okay, I'm gonna give it another try, like it's gonna be okay. And uh long story short, he starts to feel bad, uh, kind of like maybe the second night of winter camp, and it gets to the point where he his parents have to come and get him, and then his parents told me he had COVID, like as soon as they they tested him as soon as he got home. So he got COVID, felt so bad for him.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

That poor kid.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

And it was like just such a you know, a bummer for him. But then he finally came to the next camp that we had. He gave it a try again, and he he finally was okay. He had a good experience, nothing weird or bad happened. So uh that's I appreciate the the many tries.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yeah, he just kept trying, and you know, uh, yeah, he's just one of our core kids who would show up to everything. And I'm glad like I kept saying, dude, this is like you finally went through camp and you didn't get sick. Congratulations. I feel like I should give you a medal.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

Love it.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

All right, well, Dawson, appreciate you coming here. So we have a few things in common. Uh, we're both from the South, and we both currently live in California. So tell me where you're from and uh where in California you are.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

So yeah, I'm from Greenville, South Carolina originally. So I'm a Clemson fan. So that I was that's I can I can claim that. Um, but uh also yeah, so I live in Chino, California, and my church is in Diamond Bar. So, you know, Disneyland is always the way to tell people where it is. You know, my church is about 15 minutes north of Disneyland, is the best way to say it.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

There you go. Okay, we have you ever taken your students to Disneyland?

SPEAKER_01 32:49

I mean, no, it is uh you can I think it's my leaders that suffer the worst. I could totally understand that. So yeah, but we've gone to Knottsbury Farm quite a few times.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Yeah, Knottsbury Farm is fun. Uh when we were in San Diego, or when I lived in San Diego, uh, I've taken students to Knottsbury Farm before uh because it's not too far from us. And Disneyland, like from San Diego, isn't too far either. So uh yeah, it's great. Well, thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, good stories. Mikaela, any final words?

SPEAKER_03 33:26

Uh no, I'm just grateful that y'all survived all those stories because that was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

Yeah, great. Thank you. Yeah, we we get God blesses, yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

God bless us all. All right. Well, hopefully next time we do a D now or uh a camp, you know, everything's fine.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Or a mission strip to Campbell. Absolutely. You're going this year, you said, right? Yeah, we are, yeah. So that was that was a fun thing to explain before.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

Let me start praying for y'all now.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Exactly. No, I said if you have food allergies, don't go. If you have food allergies, don't go.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Just don't do it.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

All right. Well, thanks again. Have a great day. This episode is brought to you by ministry to youth.com. We save you time and money by creating youth ministry resources to better point students to Jesus. The one thing that separates us from everyone else is our bundles and one-year curriculums, as well as uh, you know, you could also get individual series. We have over 15 years of youth ministry curriculum, including Bible studies for students, teaching series, uh, events, games, and more. So be sure to check us out at ministry to youth.com.