You Win Some, You Lose Some

After counseling a weeklong camp for middle-school girls at the Timothy Center, Connie gives Tom Riley her two weeks' notice. She had begun the week eager to share the kind of fun she remembers from camp at that age, but now she believes she lacks what it takes to be a counselor. To explain why, she tells Tom about the girls she tried - and apparently failed - to help.

Wendy Zannuck arrives at camp withdrawn, poorly dressed, and certain that everything she attempts will end badly. Liz mocks her after they lose a game together, and Wendy admits that her father made her attend camp. Connie looks for something Wendy enjoys and discovers that she likes to cook. While Tom takes the others on a farm tour, Connie gives Wendy a chance to prepare brownies for the group.

The girls love the brownies and briefly treat Wendy like a hero. That night, however, everyone who ate them becomes sick. Something in the ingredients has spoiled the batch, and Wendy, who never ate one herself, becomes the target of Liz's cruel jokes. Connie accepts responsibility for not checking the supplies more carefully and urges Wendy not to define herself by a failure. She promises that success is possible if Wendy does not stop trying.

Connie persuades her to make chocolate-chip cookies with fresh ingredients the next day. The girls hesitate to taste anything Wendy has baked, and the first bites are revoltingly salty. This time Wendy has followed the recipe from memory and mixed up the amounts of salt and sugar. Connie comments that the mistake is funny, but Wendy hears only another humiliation and refuses to speak to her for the rest of the week.

Connie then tries to help Heather, who has been following Liz's example and playing mean tricks on other campers. Heather claims that she regrets putting honey in Mary Beth's hair gel and remembers being kinder when she was younger. Connie suggests that she has changed because she wants Liz's approval. She encourages Heather to tell her friend that she no longer wants to mistreat people and warns that a true friend would not pressure her to become someone she is not.

Soon afterward, Liz complains that everyone at camp is a loser, a whiner, or a backstabber. Connie notices that Liz's complaints have turned into a description of her own loneliness. Beneath her tough behavior, Liz says she is a human being who needs friends and has never felt comfortable anywhere. Connie invites her to drop the act and speak honestly at the evening campfire.

At the gathering, Heather apologizes for her pranks, and Liz confesses that she acts tough because she also fears being rejected. The two begin admitting increasingly ridiculous offenses against each other. Just when Connie thinks her counseling has helped them become honest, Liz and Heather burst into laughter and reveal that every conversation - from Heather's remorse to Liz's lonely confession - has been part of an elaborate practical joke on her. Connie quietly leaves the group in Tom's care, crushed that the change she celebrated never happened.

On the final morning, Liz launches a food fight while Connie is out checking on the buses. Wendy refuses to join in, but the dining room is a disaster by the time Connie returns. Too discouraged even to demand the culprit's name, she calmly tells everyone to catch the bus and begins cleaning alone. Wendy offers to help, then watches Connie through the window before going to find Tom and tell him exactly what happened.

Tom assures Connie that Liz's parents have been notified, that she will be punished, and that she cannot return to camp the following year. More importantly, he gives Connie a note from Wendy's mother. Wendy has reported that Connie never lost her temper despite a week of provocation and did not complain even when left with the food-fight mess. Her quiet service has shown Wendy what following Jesus looks like in daily life.

Connie is astonished because she thought she had accomplished nothing. Tom explains that some efforts fail, while others succeed without the person responsible ever seeing the result. Connie's advice did not solve each problem, but her conduct reached Wendy more deeply than a perfect speech could have. Encouraged by the difference she has made unknowingly, Connie withdraws her resignation and agrees to continue counseling at the Timothy Center.