Tag: 2016

Just one more day of Camp…

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Believe it or not, we’re in our final 24 hours of our last kids session of the summer… which means it’s time for our last daily update!

We started our Tuesday with the usual polar dip/flag raising/breakfast line-up before going into skills time. We had a good time learning new things like how to read a compass, proper canoeing technique, and the importance of working together as a team!

Skills time was split up by morning chapel, where Nate talked to us about the importance of trusting God. He told us the story of a blind man who was healed by Jesus and how he didn’t have everything figured out but trusted Jesus.

After our second skills session, we had lunch, took a short break for nap time, and saw another installment of the Adventures of Captain Kyper. On Tuesday, she and M4 showed a mean king the error of his ways and taught him kindness!

To kick off free time, we split up into boys and girls to play two big games. The boys played Custer’s Last Stand, a silly camp tradition where guys on staff face off against the boy campers for a tag/dodgeball mash-up, and the girls played The Amazing Space Race, where they ran between many stations as a cabin and tried to finish all the activities first.

During free time, we played carpet ball and nine square, went swimming and boating, and had lots of fun doing tie-dye! Some big dark clouds rolled in near the end of free time and it started to rain, but that didn’t stop us. Luckily, the weather cleared up beautifully for our carnival on The Hub!

In chapel, Nate focused on John 11. He told us the story of how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and talked about how people who believe in Jesus and trust Him will still physically die, but will have eternal life in Heaven. We also opened up the opportunity for campers to accept Jesus as their Savior!

It’s been a great week. Please, please keep praying for us on our last day of camp for safety, spiritual growth and the funnest fun!

In morning chapel, Nate talked about trust and how in order to be saved, we have to trust God!
During skills time, some cabins went up to Eagle Ridge to build forts!
We had split game time before free time and the boys played Custer’s Last Stand, a crazy staff vs. campers game!
The girls played The Amazing Space Race during split game time!
We love swimming!
The craft of the day was tie-dye!
Some heavy rain near the end of free time forced us inside for a little bit, but we still had fun! (And the rain went away pretty quickly.)
During dinner line-up, three campers competed to see who could spray the most nacho cheese into a cup on a counselor’s forehead.
After the rain, the lake looked beautiful!
Campers who caught the noodle bundle when they went down the slip and slide got a few extra tickets!
For ten tickets during the carnival, you could push a staff member in the lake!
The coloring table was hopping during the carnival!
Face paint and hair chalk made the carnival very colorful!
Carpet ball was another station at the carnival!

Only one more week?

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We can’t believe it’s our last week of the summer, but we’re going to end on a high note! We’ve had a lot of fun so far during Super Kids 4 – here’s what we did on Sunday and Monday…

Sunday

All of us on summer staff were pumped and ready to dive into our last week when campers arrived on Sunday! After the kids checked in, they had the chance to take care of some things like the swim test, camp tour, and settling into cabins. We also had some dinner and heard about the rules for the week.

Next up was chapel! We sang some great songs and met our speaker for the week, Nate! Nate talked about the part of the Bible where Jesus talked about being “born again” and how it’s not a literal rebirth. Throughout the rest of the week, he’ll be talking about our quest for Truth!

After chapel was canteen (yay!) and the staff variety show! We went all out for our last performance of the summer, and by the end of the show, the stage was covered in water and pie – the sign of a classic variety show!

We love when people are excited to come to Camp!
Campers arrived on Sunday ready to have tons of fun!
After check-in, campers had a chance to take their swim test.
Instead of the usual cabin cheer, Hannah challenged us to come up with a cabin rap!
The cabin raps were really funny!
On Sunday, we met our summer-long characters Captain Kyper and her robot pall M4-R14H.
Picnic dinners are great!
Singing crazy action songs in chapel is so fun!
Super Kids, we’re happy to see you!
In chapel, Nate talked about being “born again” while Weston tried to fit in a baby carrier.
What’s a staff variety show without some messiness?

Monday

Monday was our first full-day experience this week, and it was awesome! It started out at 7:40 for the Polar Dip (a chance for an early morning dip in the lake), followed by flag raising and breakfast! When we were done eating, we squished together at the Steps of Faith for the all-camp picture. (After several minutes of silliness, we finally managed to get a good one.)

Our morning was filled up by skills time. Throughout the week, our cabin groups will rotate through six different skills: Outdoor Survival 1 (fires and forts), Outdoor Survival 2 (plants and orienteering), Canoeing, Archery, Space Adventure (where we learn more about stuff related to our space theme), and Team-Building. Our two sessions a day are split up by morning chapel. Yesterday, counselor Kenn talked about the Bible and gave us tips for finding things more easily using the Table of Contents and verse references.

We really worked up an appetite for lunch, but then we definitely needed a nap during Toes Up time… which recharged our energy for the Staff Hunt! After we pushed almost every staff member in the lake, we went straight into free time! There were so many activity options – swimming, boating, crafts, octoball, and zip-line were just a few!

Before dinner, we saw another installment of the Adventures of Captain Kyper. This time, Captain Kyper and M4 rescued the planet Ahecknah from an infestation of giant space spiders!

Our evening was filled out by Free the Hostage (a more-complicated version of Capture the Flag where you have to find two staff members hidden on opposite ends of Camp), canteen, and chapel. Nate talked about searching for Truth in the wrong places and told the story of the woman at the well and how she was looking for life in things other than God.

It’s going to be an awesome week! Please pray that we can all stay safe, have fun, and learn more about God!

We found SO many staff members during the Staff Hunt!
Thanks for sharing with us in chapel this morning, Kenn!
Yeah, this is right after his first bullseye and right before his second. No big deal.
Canoeing is such a fun skill to learn!
The staff tried to hide in pretty tricky places, but we found them all!
Hooray for zip line!
We all got to say hi to Lexi before going down the zip line!
There are so many fun crafts to do.
King of the Saturn!
Super Kids sure love fishing!
During the game, the “berserkers” ran around splashing us with water and tagging us!
Victory!

Junior High 3: Double Blog Edition

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Hey, there! Over the past few days, we’ve braved the Screaming Eagle Zip Line, worked together at the volleyball tournament, fought for victory at the paintball range and tons of other things. We have so much to tell you, so here’s a special double edition of the blog!

TUESDAY

We had gorgeous, sunshine-y weather on our second day of Junior High 3 and plenty of ways to enjoy it! Our morning started off with Polar Dip – our daily dip in the lake before breakfast – and flag raising. After we had time to eat, clean our cabins, and spend time reading the Bible, we moved into our second day of seminars. The Tuesday/Thursday rotation featured topic options like “Finding God in Bacon” (a seminar about different and unique types of worship) and friendship!

We split up again for morning chapel – this time, to talk about the heavy topic of sin, shame and forgiveness. For many of us, it’s hard to feel like we can be pure and whole after deeply struggling with sin, but this chapel was to show us that God’s love and gift of redemption can overcome all sins – and that it doesn’t make sense to not forgive ourselves if God forgives us.

Next up was lunch and the next installment of the Adventures of Captain Kyper! Tuesday’s mission took the crew to the planet M.A.L.K., where they taught a mean, angry king about kindness and invited him to join their team.

It was pretty hot during free time, but the water felt so nice – it was a great day for swimming and boating. We also made some crafts, played some carpet ball, and headed up to the zip line for the first time this week!

Our big event for the day was something that always brings campers closer together – the volleyball tournament! We had four nets set up on the North 40 for the official bracket games, and in the down time between games, cabins could play spike ball, nine square in the air, or run through the sprinkler! Dinner was served up picnic-style out of our new building, The Eagle’s Nest. It was a great evening!

Tuesday was special for a number of reasons, but the most important part of the entire day was evening chapel. Josh showed us another video clip and talked about how he loves the story of redemption shown in the character of Finn, a stormtrooper who runs away from the darkness of the Empire and towards the light. He explained that Finn became aware of what the truth was and came to a place of realizing he needed a reset on his life. In real life, Jesus offers us a reset – a big, immediate, supernatural reset when we choose to follow him. Even after becoming a Christian, there are many things we can ask Jesus to reset – our purpose, our purity, our focus, and so much more. Near the end of Josh’s message, we had a time where he encouraged us to ask for Jesus for a reset. It was incredibly powerful to hear campers and staff reaching out to God in that way, and it opened up the door for many campers to dedicate their lives to following Him!

Please pray that campers would continue to have these important conversations, ask questions, and allow God to work in their lives!

 

The lake was so refreshing!
Campers have so many options in the craft room, including painting, friendship bracelets, the craft of the day and more!
Learning memory verses is a great way to start the day.
Cabins were very creative with their face paint during the volleyball tournament!
Ready to play!
So many campers signed up for zip line this week!
Indoor free time activities include pool, ping pong, carpet ball and foosball.
The water mat is so much fun to play on!
Got it!
It was a beautiful, sunny day for boating!
We took so many cabin pictures during the tournament!
The volleyball tournament is a great bonding time!

WEDNESDAY

The weather was a little wilder on Wednesday, but that just gave us some different activities! Rain forced us inside for flag raising, but let up for most of the day.

We flip-flopped our morning and evening chapel times, so we all gathered together in the morning to listen to Josh in the main hall. Much of the message was a follow-up to what he’d said the night before, and he encouraged us to not forget what happened here, to not let fear and the unknown drown out what happened. He explained that when we ask for a reset, it might not end up feeling like what we “signed up for,” but that following Jesus means you have to change things that are working against the reset you asked for.

Free time had most of the same activities as the day before, but we also had four-way volleyball for our option and had one last opportunity to play paintball! Free time was also a great time to play our ongoing game of Assassins – each cabin received ten clothespins and has to sneakily pin them onto different members of staff. Each staff member is worth a different number of cabin points, but you can also use “power up” pins hidden around Camp to earn even more points!

In evening chapel, we split up into guys and girls like we normally would in the mornings. Girls talked about leadership as women, and the guys talked about brotherhood! After chapel was canteen and our night game – Clue! Campers had to run around the Chalet as a cabin, talking to the characters scattered throughout the building to figure out who kidnapped Rich and why.

Today (Thursday) is our last full day! Please pray that God would continue to keep us safe, give us fun opportunities, and teach us more about Himself.

We HAD to sing “Arky, Arky” because it rained!
Sometimes cabins eat without their hands and we just don’t question it.
Before dinner, four campers competed in an amphitheatric to see who could move the most pieces of candy with a straw in a minute.
We also gave campers the chance to come up and show everyone their “stupid human tricks.” This camper was “playing the harmonica.”
Paintball is serious business.
Rainy days are great for crafts!
Waiting to get back in for Octoball is fun, too!
It’s a Camp tradition to skip around the dining hall on your birthday!
This picture is cute, but it was also a ploy to distract the photographer as part of an ongoing “Assassins” game…
A mysterious crew of characters showed up around evening canteen time… just before our night game of Clue!
Cabins went around the Chalet, talking to different characters and gathering information.
Questioning the characters was a lot of fun!

What a fabulous first day!

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People like to complain about Mondays, but our Monday was great! We kicked off our week with a day packed full of fun games, relaxing hang-out time, delicious food and great teaching!

Right after breakfast, we took our weekly camp picture. There are so many campers, so it took a little maneuvering to fit everyone in the frame, but we did it! From picture time, we were dismissed into our first session of Clinics and Seminars. Throughout the week, we’ll learn about prayer, finding our identity in Christ, overcoming the distraction of technology, and much more! There are also two activity-based sessions (clinics) for Ultimate and basketball, and a clinic-seminar hybrid about appreciation God’s creation in nature. Neat! A short break separated that time from morning chapel.

For morning chapel, we split into two groups – guys and girls – so we can talk a little more deeply about things that might be harder to discuss in a mixed group. Both groups talked about what healthy relationships look like, just from different perspectives and covering slightly different subject areas.

After lunch, we watched an installment of The Adventures of Captain Kyper, our summer-long character who is on a quest across the galaxy with her robot pal, M4R1-AH, and then went into free time! We finished our swim tests, splashed around the waterfront, took out boats, played Nine Square in the Air, made crafts… and so much more! It was also the first day for paintball.

In evening chapel, Josh continued his illustration of how in Star Wars, Stormtroopers are stripped of their identity and programmed by their surroundings to be destructive – and tied it in to how our sinful nature and the clamor of the culture around us tries to do the same. He encouraged us to consider what we’re listening to in our lives – media? Other people? – and turn towards God’s voice.

There were two things left between chapel and bedtime – canteen and a night game! We played “Board the Space Craft,” a wild game where the campers try to avoid being tagged by “berserkers,” figure out which door of the Chalet is unlocked, get in and deliver their ticket to the kiosk. The twist? The location of the unlocked door is constantly changing! It was SO much fun!

Please pray that we keep having the funnest fun, stay safe, and have open hearts to what God wants to teach us!

Ireland cabin started off cabin pictures with a splash!
During clinics and seminars yesterday, one of the clinic options was Ultimate.
Gotta stay glamorous while watching carpet ball.
It’s fun to get to know new friends over bracelet-making!
The usual pre-dinner stampede.
The weather is beautiful, so we have plenty of outdoor activity options!
Practicing for the volleyball tournament?
During dinner line-up, Hannah had two campers compete to see who could be the first to dissolve an Alka-Seltzer tablet (stuck to their counselors’ foreheads) with a squirt gun!
Yesterday was the first day for paintball this week!
We took the camp picture yesterday! (This is a silly outtake.)
Canteen treats are a great way to cool off in this hot weather.

So many Junior High campers!

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Good morning/afternoon! Our first evening of Junior High 3 was a blast – and we still have four more days! Here’s a little bit about how we started the week…

The summer’s last Junior High session started, of course, with check-in and meeting our counselors. For a few hours, we had had time to settle into our cabins, take our swim tests, and just hang out. Many campers flocked to Octoball, which suddenly seems a lot more crowded when the session is this big!

Just before dinner, we gathered as a group to create cabin cheers and meet the other counselors. Dinner was a delicious picnic of pizza, salad, and brownies! After dinner, we got a camp tour, learned the rules, and had canteen.

At evening chapel, we met our speaker for the week: Josh Keller, a youth pastor from Litchfield. He talked about how our culture is changing – and to illustrate that, we played “Name That Tune” with songs from the past 15 years. It was super fun! He also set up for what he’ll talk about the rest of the week by talking about how what’s around us impacts what we seek after.

The last part of our night was the staff Variety Show, which included skits we’ve seen in the past as well as new material! So fun. Afterwards, we headed off to devos and bed so we could be ready for another great day today.

Please pray that we would all have a fun, safe week, and that we would see God work in amazing ways in the lives of these campers!

We have 223 campers this week – the biggest session we’ve seen this summer!
Bobber Bill and Hannah greeted every car with a smile!
We’re so excited for all the junior high campers who arrived yesterday!
Step 1: Check in. Step 2: Move in. Step 3: Swim test!
Brazil cabin is extra excited about the Rio Olympics and incorporated it into their cabin cheer.
There were plenty of fun activities to try out on the first night at Camp!
Octoball is always super popular!
We had a lot of fun jumping around and singing at the beginning of rules and during chapel!
Campers could hardly wait to find seats for the Variety Show!
We closed out the night with the Variety Show!

Super Kids 3: Double Edition

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Hello, everyone! Super Kids 3 kicked off two days ago and we’ve already had SO much fun! Here’s a look at what we’ve been doing…

Sunday

Everyone arrived on Sunday, pumped for a great week! We went through our usual first-day activities – check-in, swim tests, meeting our counselors and cabin mates – and then went to dinner line-up, where we made up cabin cheers to show everyone else. Dinner was a pizza picnic! After hearing rules and hanging out as a cabin, we all crowded into the chapel to watch the beloved annual Staff Variety show!

Our speaker for the week is Jay, the Kids Ministry Director at Westwood Church. On Sunday night, he talked about how God created us to be curious – how it’s that curiosity that makes us fascinated with outer space and yearn to know why and how we got here. Sometimes (often times), we look in the wrong place. This week, we’re going to talk about our quest for Truth!

While talking about misdirection and looking in the wrong place for Truth, Jay showed us some magic tricks!
Bobber Bill was here to greet all the campers.
Before dinner, we came up with cabin cheers…
…and then presented the cabin cheers to the group!
Mmm, pizza.
Our first chapel was a lot of fun!
During the Variety Show, we met Carlos the Flea and his friend Kenn (the counselor of Canada).
Everyone loves octoball!
Campers were eager to take the swim test so they can swim out to the raft!
We had several birthdays this week!
It’s nice to see how excited campers are to be coming to Camp!
Welcome, Super Kids 3!
Everyone rushed to the canteen before the Variety Show.

Monday

Our first full day of camp was rainy off-and-on, but we still had a great time. To start the day, we practiced our Bible verses and danced our sleepiness away with Joel! After that, we had breakfast and took our all-camp picture – you’ll see it at the end of the week.

The typical Super Kids morning is spent mostly on Skills time. There are six different skill stations that each cabin will get to see at some point during the week: Outdoor Survival 1 (Fires and Forts), Outdoor Survival 2 (Plants and Orienteering), Canoeing, Archery, Team-building and Space Adventure (where they learn more about space). Between the two skill times is morning chapel! Yesterday, Bobber Bill talked to us about capital “T” Truth and how God wants us to know that Truth.

After lunch time, we had Toes Up (nap time), mail call, and the big afternoon game: the Staff Hunt! Counselors and other staff member hid all over main camp, and if a camper found them, they got to push that staff member in the lake! Up next was free time, when we got to go swimming, make crafts, check out the store and go down the zip-line.

Much later in the evening, we had a cabin adventure before playing our night game: Free the Hostage (a more complicated version of Capture the Flag where the “flag” is a staff member hiding in the woods). It was super fun! We also had evening chapel, where Jay talked about how the Bible is God’s “GPS” for us and explained how sin separates us from God… but there’s good news in tonight’s talk!

Thank you so much praying for our campers! Please continue to ask God for safety and lots of fun for these crazy kids!

During the counselor hunt, some people picked pretty interesting hiding spots.
Practicing our Bible verses is a good way to wake up!
“I’m a star!” (You had to do silly things like this to get out of jail during the big game.
“Jesus came to earth as a little baby,” Bobber Bill said over the muffled sound of giggling.
Jay invited up some friends to help act out the story from Genesis he was telling during evening chapel.
Canoeing was another skill we learned.
We started off our morning by dancing like crazy with Joel!
Ready for a space adventure!
Rules are rules: if you’re found during the counselor hunt, you get pushed in!
The “amphitheatric” before dinner was a game where three campers tried to spray as much nacho cheese into a cup on their counselor’s face as possible!
One of the skills was team-building, where we had to fit our entire cabin on a small wooden platform.

Senior High Day 3: Open Mic and Western Night

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We had another sunshine-y, beautiful day for Tuesday of Senior High week! Here’s a few highlights from the schedule…

The Camp Picture / Staff Pictures

Every week, we take an ll-Camp picture – but this week was a bit of a squeeze! The motto of the moment was “get uncomfortably close to your neighbor,” and… well, we did that. Even through the bright, suddenly too-hot direct sunlight was suddenly way too hot for our liking, we squished together to fit in the frame and collectively praised Jesus when a cloud passed over.

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Hello from Senior High week!

After the Camp picture, it was also time for the summer staff picture that will hang on the wall with all the past years’ staff photos in the hallway to the Chapel! Any camper who has been / will be on junior staff or D3 this summer got to join in as well!

New Options and the Craft of the Day

A few new things happened yesterday in terms of free time options. First, our maintenance crew brought up a new-this-summer game from the North 40 called Nine Square in the Air – basically a combination of volleyball and four square – and campers loved it! We also got to do tie-dye shirts for the craft of the day, play Ultimate for the 4:30 option, and zip-line for the first time this week!

The 4:30 Option yesterday was Ultimate down on the lower field.
In the afternoon, the maintenance crew brought Nine Square in the Air down from the North 40 so we could play in the Hub. (The game is pretty much a combination of four square and volleyball.)
The craft of the day yesterday was tie-dye!
Theme Dinner: Wild West

Last night’s dinner was Western-themed in honor of the 2002 “Circle C Ranch” summer theme. The menu included brisket mini sandwiches with barbecue sauce, chili, corn bread and apple pie – so delicious!

Even though it was raining, the staff all ran outside to pose for a quick group picture!
The centerpieces included branded wood blocks like those that campers got to take home back in 2002.
The kitchen staff always have fun fruit arrangements for theme dinners!
Special Event: Coffeehouse

One of the Senior High-specific activities we scheduled for this week was the annual Coffeehouse – basically, an open mic night for campers to hang out in a cozy setting to share music and other acts with each other. We set the chapel up with couches, Christmas lights, and plenty of snacks to get comfortable as we cheered on our friends! Acts this year included music (piano, guitar, singing, keytar), magic tricks, and a little “slam poetry.”

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“Slam Poetry” with Peter was… not what we expected.

Chapel Things

Let’s talk about what went on in chapel time yesterday.

In the morning, we split campers up for guys and girls chapel. We do this because sometimes, campers really want to address topics that might not be something usually talked about or comfortable to discuss in a mixed group.Yesterday, the guys talked about purity as men; girls talked about leadership, working together and how to respond to Beyoncé-type feminism.

In the evening, Gretchen talked about how shame about our sins can make us feel like we can’t go to God – but God knows what we’ve done and still seeks us out. She reminded us that when we belong to Christ, Satan has no power over us, and prayed that God would grant courage to campers who feel like there’s something that’s keeping them from drawing close to Him.

Keeping on the theme from dinner, our throwback song of the day was the very twangy “Just One Way to God,” complete with crazy dancing and cowbell.

Please pray for the same – and also that we would keep having fun (even though it’s supposed to rain today) and stay safe. See you later!

Senior High Day 2: Peace, Love and the Underground Church

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Good morning! Let’s talk about the highlights from yesterday, our first full day of Senior High week!

Unique Meals

Two things separated our meals yesterday from your average Junior High or Super Kids meal. First, we had a leisurely continental breakfast, giving the campers time to head down the dining hall right away or at the last minute before flag raising.

On the menu: rice pilaf, pasta salad, fruit, salad, veggies, bread and mint brownies.
Many of the staff members were young campers for the 2006 “Real Life” theme summer!

Second was our dinner theme: hippie night (in honor of the 2006 “Real Life” summer theme). Fresh flowers from the North 40 brightened the tables (which were lowered, so we were sitting on carpet squares on the floor), staff went all out on costumes, and we had some groovy Jesus music playing over the speakers. Also? The entire menu was vegetarian!

The Adventures of Xenon and M4

In the next installment of the saga that started on Sunday, we followed Xenon to the planets Ah-hecknah and M.A.L.K. on the desperate search for her missing father, the leader of Dark, Inc. (Throwback, anyone?)

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Xenon angrily questioned the peaceful people of planet M.A.L.K. about the whereabouts of her father.

The robot M4R14-H tried to stop her rampage, but in vain – Xenon left both planets in a state of absolute chaos and destruction. What will happen next… and how will this angry villain become our beloved Captain Kyper?

Spiritual Nourishment

We have lots of opportunities to learn more about God and grow in our faith here at Camp! A few places we could experience that yesterday were during our morning TAG time (quiet time where we read the Bible), clinics and seminars time (which covered various topics including prayer and identity in Christ), and chapel!

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It’s fun to let loose and go crazy during throwback songs!

In morning chapel, we had a visitor named Devon from Reign Ministries. Devon talked about his experiences on the mission field and told us more about the mission trips and discipleship program available to students through Reign. He also talked about the importance of missions and how it can change the world!

Last night, Gretchen talked about how if we want to find something, we have to know what we’re looking for – if we want to seek God, we have to know what He’s like. She told us that our God is a relational God, that he wants to seek us out and wants us to know Him. “My prayer,” Gretchen said, “is that you would understand that God loves you to the point of dying for you.” Wow!

Underground

If you would have looked at the schedule last night, it would have seemed like we had a nice, early bed time… until we got back to our cabins and found a secret message! It directed all of us to dress in dark clothes and head back to the chapel for a surprise night game called Underground. Illustrating the spread of the Gospel in hostile countries, campers had to sneak around Camp to find the Underground Church. To find the Church, they had to learn a secret handshake (call and response) to determine whether it was safe to communicate with the non-counseling staff members scattered around Camp. If the staff member knew the response to the handshake, they were a member of the Church and could give them hints about the location of the Church; if they didn’t know, they were “Deceivers” and could send the campers to jail!

It was a good day! Please pray that we’ll keep having fun, staying safe, and growing closer to God!

Look out below!
There are lots of options in the craft room for senior high campers to do. Yesterday’s craft of the day was journal decorating!
Every morning, a different cabin raises the flag.
Lost your grip on the Saturn handles? Just grab a friend. (Classic senior high campers.)
“This better be on the blog or the slideshow.” (Here you go, guys!)
Campers flocked up to the archery range for the 4:30 option!
It was a small session on the first day, but the campers at paintball had a lot of fun!
The views from the weeks-old boardwalk are great!
Ultimate was one of the clinic options yesterday, and let’s just say that senior high campers take it VERY seriously.
Outdoor jam sessions are a fun hallmark of Senior High week.

It’s time for Senior High!

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We’ve been counting down the days to the biggest, craziest week of the summer, and it’s finally here – Senior High week has begun!

We go all-out to give our senior high students the best experience for their last few years of being campers, which means we’re shaking up a few things for this week (and this week only). Here’s what we’re changing…

  1. Cabin Names. We all know and love the international cabin names, but this week, campers got the chance to rename their cabin for the week! A few notable names: Denmark renamed itself “Bobber Bill” in tribute to our awesome camp director, China adopted a tech theme when it renamed itself “404 Error: Cabin Name Not Found,” and Haiti and Pakistan coordinated names to represent their bro-sis bond. Haiti (a boy cabin) named itself “Sis Cabin” and Pakistan named itself “Bro Cabin.”
  2. Bro-Sis-Sis Teams. This week, groups of guy and girl cabins will join forces for a variety of activities that will earn them cabin points. The biggest event? The Competition.
  3. The Competition. In the past, teams have created short films, human music videos, and camp-wide game ideas as part of the week-long competition. This year, teams will compete to make the best parody video for a randomly selected song. Songs drawn from the hat included “Just Can’t Wait to be King” from The Lion King, “Good Morning” by Mandisa, and “Jesus Freak” by dc Talk. Lyrics are due Tuesday and filming starts on Wednesday!
  4. Dinner Themes. Each night, the dining hall will be transformed to fit a different theme, complete with staff in costumes, special menus, and fun decorations! Last night’s dinner theme was “Jimbo’s Roadkill Cafe,” a picnic based on the 2009 Road Trip summer theme.
  5. Special Events. We’re going to shake up the schedule with some Senior High exclusive events scattered throughout the week. It’s a secret for now!

Anyway, most of what we did yesterday related to one or more of those things! We met our teams, started on our parodies, and just got to hang out with other campers. Last night, we also got to meet our (super funny) speaker for the week, Gretchen Luedtke. She talked about what she’ll cover this week, introduced herself, got to know us better, and prayed that we would go deep in our exploration of faith this week.

We’re going to have a great time! Please pray that we’d stay safe and (as Gretchen said) that we’d be able to connect with God on a deeper level this week!

Bobber Bill was here to greet all 200 campers coming for Senior High week.
Senior High week is the highlight of the summer for many campers! (We’re all pretty excited!)
This week is a big change of pace for junior staff who are campers during this session!
Everyone loves octoball!
Over the course of the week, we’ll reveal the (tragic?) backstory of Captain Xenon Kyper, one of our summer-long characters.
This year, senior high cabins got the chance to rename their cabins for a week.
On the menu: foot-long hot dogs with various topping options, chips, artisan root beer and chocolate ice cream.
Not all the staff members could manage the lightning-fast wardrobe change from space to road trip theme, but quite a few dressed up!
We’ve got a great week of hanging out ahead of us.
What song will his team get for the competition?
Last night was the first chance we had to work on our song parodies.
Our speaker for the week, Gretchen, is so funny!

More than halfway!

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Good morning! We had a great day yesterday, especially at the carnival!

Our day started with the usual schedule – wake up bell, polar dip and flag raising. After a wonderful breakfast, we headed back to our cabins to clean for cabin inspection. The more stars we get, the more cabin points we get, so it’s really important that we impress the nurses with our cleaning skills! When the bell rang, we went back to the Steps of Faith to get dismissed for the first skills session.

In morning chapel, Kenn, the counselor of Canada, talked to us about the Bible and how to use it – how to understand references and how to find passages faster. It really helped us later that night when Frank timed  us on how fast we could find a verse he was talking about!

After chapel, we had our second skills session and lunch, then saw a new installment of the Adventures of Captain Kyper on the waterfront – this time, to the planet MALK, where a mean king rules over his subjects. Once the skit was over, we got our mail and took a nap for Toes Up.

Our big daytime game was split up between boys and girls. The boys went down to the lower field for their annual game of Custer’s Last Stand, a… confusing and extreme game of tag/dodgeball that pits counselors against campers. (Spoiler alert: the campers always win.) Meanwhile, the girls played Space Race, a team relay game where they run between stations and do team-building activities. It was super fun!

Afterwards, we went straight into free time. Swimming was, of course, SUPER popular again yesterday, but many campers also went to the craft room to make the craft of the day (an alien headband) with Craft Lady Jenelle.

Here’s another exciting thing – instead of eating dinner down in the dining hall, we made our way up to the North 40 field for a picnic! Then it was time for the carnival! There were so many fun games to play, a slip and slide, and a dunk tank so we could pay tickets to dump a bucket of water over a staff person’s head! The leftover tickets also went towards our cabin points for the week.

At evening chapel, Frank told more of the story and gave us the same invitation given to the Young Traveler – the invitation to become children of the King. It was a chance for kids to dedicate (or re-dedicate) their lives to Jesus! The counselors were so ready and excited to help the campers understand what that means.

Today is our last full day! Please pray that we can all stay hydrated and safe, and have tons of fun!

Gorilla Gets the Man is a classic Camp game!
Thanks for sharing in morning chapel, Kenn!
Look at that concentration.
We added a slip and slide to the carnival this week!
One of the games was knocking down noodle clusters while on a scooter!
“Why are you wearing that?”
To earn tickets at the Rings of Saturn, you had to throw a football through a hula hoop.
Campers who could hit the farthest target at the frisbee toss got SO many tickets!
One of the stations on the Space Race was crawling under the parachute together!
Nobody was safe from the dunk tank, not even Frank!
It was staff against campers for Custer’s Last Stand, and (no surprise) the campers won every round.
In case you’re wondering, yes, the water was SUPER cold.
Super Kids love fishing!
Ice cream is a popular canteen treat this week, and everyone is flocking to the shade to eat it.
Fishing Grandpa Paul manned the coloring table while Kelsey got dunked!
What a great day!
Almost all the campers who dunked staff members got a wet hug afterwards!