Junior 3: Wednesday

We have had a great week with our last Junior group of the summer!! We have had so much fun, and we aren't done yet!


This morning we got up and gathered around the flagpole to start our day off with stretches and a fun run to breakfast, to get our blood pumping! After flagpole we headed to the Dining Hall for a delicious breakfast!

When our tummies were full and happy, we went back to our cabins to clean and decorate them! Today's theme for decoration was "Noah's Ark!" The cabin that is the cleanest and decorated the best gets to go into lunch first, while carrying the "flaming torch" (plunger)!

When our cabins were cleaned and decorated, we went out with our cabin groups to start Bible study. This week in Bible study we have been going through the book of 1 John! Each camper has a booklet with the passages of scripture in them along with questions. After reading the passage together, the campers are able to go through and circle, underline, and highlight certain things in the passage with their crayons and color code. This has the campers read the passage multiple times, which furthers deeper understanding and has them interacting with the text.

Today in Bible study, we looked at 1 John chapter 3!

After Bible study, our choice activities for the day began! Every morning campers sign up for 2 choice activities, which vary depending on the day. Today's choice activities included basketball, carpet ball, nine square, GaGa, archery, kickball, game room, crafts, swimming, and fishing!

Following some really fun choice activities, it was time for lunch! Today's delicious lunch was sandwiches, chips, fruit salad, and ice cream sandwiches for dessert!

When we finished eating, we all headed back to our cabins for rest time, to recharge for the rest of the day!

When we were rested up and ready to go, we all went to the chapel to learn about the game we will be playing Friday afternoon, called Mêlée. This game has the campers memorize some of their memory verses throughout the week, to keep their team out of "jail." It's a very fun, active game, and our campers always have a blast playing!

After learning how to play Mêlée, our rotations for the day began! We were all put onto four different teams on Monday, and have been going through our rotation activities with our teams. Today's rotations included recreation in the gym, swimming, and crafts/team building exercises! In between rotations, we had a break at snack shack, and then went back to our activities!

When rotations came to a close, we got to enjoy some free time around camp!
 During this time, campers can play games such as GaGa, carpet ball, basketball, nine square, tether ball, or can swing or just hang out with each other!

After free time, it was time for dinner! Our yummy dinner today was mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, biscuits, green beans, and cookies for dessert!

When we finished eating, it was time for our evening activity. Tonight's evening activity was a great game of Goldrush!

After Goldrush, we gathered in the chapel for worship and a message from this week's chapel speaker, Sue Fenker!






Following chapel, we will all head back to our cabins to go to sleep and rest up for the rest of the week!

It's been such a great week so far, and we can't wait to have more fun the rest of the week! We are continuously praying that our campers would be open to receiving what God wants to teach them this week, as we discuss what it means to be "Alive" in Christ!

Junior High 3: Thursday

This has been such an awesome week!

Yesterday was a very busy day packed with fun. We had our usual activities throughout the day, but since we have a smaller group of campers, we were able to take a canoe trip/hike through Merry Lea together!





The boys canoed through the channel while the girls rode the pontoon boats over and hiked. We all met at Lucky's Landing for a picnic dinner outside! We had pasta, salad, bread, and homemade ice cream for dessert that we had to shake in a bag! It was so much fun. Our campers LOVED it! After we ate, we gathered together to play a few rounds of Tug O' War!





When we finished up at Lucky's Landing, the girls canoed back through the channel to camp, and the boys hiked back. It was an awesome afternoon/evening together. We had good conversations, and we had a lot of fun together outside in God's gorgeous creation. We saw a lot of really cool wildlife.

We are so thankful for that experience!

After our adventure across the lake, we all gathered together to have chapel on the beach! We had a really special and powerful worship session in the sand, and then Matthew Cable came up and talked to us. Matthew talked about the weight of our sins that we carry, and that we don't have to carry them any more. Jesus came to carry that weight for us. We don't have to hold onto that baggage, but because of Christ's death and resurrection, we are free from that sin. Matthew had an wonderful object lesson during this discussion. Everyone got a rock and thought about one (or a few) sin that they have felt convicted about this week. We stared at our rocks, and the longer we did, some campers said they began to be disgusted with that sin they carry with them. We prayed that God would free us from that sin, and we wanted to lay that at his feet--and never pick it back up.

After thinking and praying about our own personal sin, each camper and staff member--one by one--walked down the pier on the lake and chucked their stone into the lake as far as they could throw it. Matthew told us "Now leave it there. That sin is not yours to carry any more." We are free through Christ and Christ alone!

Some of our campers accepted Christ for the very first time last night or rededicated their lives to Christ. A lot of our campers were very moved and learned so much through the message God gave us through Matthew. It was powerful and SO awesome to be a part of. It's such an exciting thing to watch God move within people around you. After our time in chapel at the beach, we went back to our cabins and had further discussion with our cabin groups. God is here, folks! He is moving and is teaching these campers so much about what faith is, and what it means to be ALIVE in Christ!

Yesterday was a great day and we are so thankful for each and every moment.

Today has been another great day as well! We began our day at flagpole to get warmed up for the day, and then we headed in for a yummy breakfast of cereal and bananas and baked oatmeal!

After our tummies were full of deliciousness, we went back to our cabins to clean them up and decorated to today's theme: The Circus!

When our cabins were clean and decorated, we went out with our cabin groups for Bible Study. Today in Bible study we read through 1 John chapter 4, and discussed what we found and anything we had questions about.

Following Bible study, our choice activities for the day began! Today's choice activities included dodgeball, crafts, disc golf, game room, swimming, and basketball!

When choice activities came to a close, we went in for lunch! Cabin 3B went in first, because they won cabin cleanup today! Congrats, girls! Today's lunch consisted of chicken nuggets, tater tots, carrots, and banana pudding for dessert! It definitely hit the spot :)


After lunch we went into our cabins for some rest time to recharge for the rest of the day, and then we began our rotations for today!

We did today's rotations with our teams. First, we all went to learn the rules for Mêlée. Then one team watched "What's in the Bible?" while the other team enjoyed the Slip 'n Slide! The two teams then switched activities, followed by a break at snack shack.

After snack shack, a storm rolled in, but we were flexible and headed down to the gym to enjoy a Bible quizzing game. The teams would send campers up to the front to compete in Bible quizzing, and the winner would have to then complete a task, such as bouncing ping pong balls across a table into a cup, eating crackers and having to whistle, or other fun, entertaining tasks.

When we finished up the game and we had a winning team, we headed up to a DELICIOUS dinner of chicken, rice, broccoli, bread, and peach and apple crisp for dessert! It was a wonderful meal prepared by our awesome cooks :)

After dinner we had an option of going swimming, playing in the game room, or doing a craft until it was time for chapel.

Tonight we will gather together to worship and hear another message from Matthew!

We have had such a fun week with these campers, and we can't wait to see what the rest of the week has in store! We are so thankful God has brought each of them here, and it's our prayer that they would walk away with a deeper desire to pursue Christ.

Here's to the rest of the week!

Junior High 3: Tuesday

Our week with our third group of Junior High campers is off to an awesome start!!

We have a smaller group of campers this week, so we have some special things planned for them that we don't get to do with bigger groups! We are so excited they're here, and we can't wait to see what this week holds!

They arrived Monday morning and we've been going ever since!





This morning the boys started the day off with Polar Bearing bright and early! Then everyone gathered around the flagpole to stretch and get warmed up for a new day. We took a short fun run to the Dining Hall, and settled in around tables for a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausage.

After breakfast, we all headed back to our cabins to clean them up and decorate to the theme of "Old Testament Prophets!" The cabin with the cleanest cabin and best decorations later gets to enter into lunch first, whilst carrying the flaming torch (plunger wrapped in tin foil)! It's such a high honor.

When our cabins were spic and span and creatively decorated, we went out with our cabin groups to start Bible Study. This week we will be studying 1 John with our campers. They each have a booklet with the passages printed in them, and they have the opportunity to dissect the text by creating a color code and highlighting, underlining, and circling certain words and phrases. This has the camper read the passage over a few times, which furthers understanding. After they go through and mark up the page, we come back together to discuss any questions we had, as well as how this passage can teach us what it means and looks like to be "Alive" in Christ.

Today our cabins looked at 1 John chapter 2!

After Bible study with our cabins, the choice activities for the day begin! Today's choice activities included soccer, dodgeball, crafts, nine-square, carpet ball, archery, and disc golf!

When we all completed both of our awesome choice activities for the day, it was time for lunch! Cabin 5A got to enter first, holding the flaming torch/trophy, as their cabin was the cleanest and had the best decorations! Great job, boys! Today's lunch was Mac & Cheese, corn bread, peaches, and cookies for dessert! It sure hit the spot :)

Following lunch, we went back to our cabins for rest time so we could recharge for the rest of the day!

After a refreshing nap, we all went out to begin the rotations for the day. Today the boys started out with making this week's craft, while the girls worked on team building activities. After a break at Snack Shack, the boys and girls switched activities! When both the boys and girls had enjoyed both rotations, everyone headed down to the beach together for swim time!

When rotations came to a close for the day, the camp was opened up for free time.

Following free time, it was time to go inside for a tasty dinner! Tonight's dinner was tacos of course, because it's "Taco Tuesday!!" :)

When our bellies were filled with tacos, we went outside to play the evening game. Tonight's evening game was Goldrush!

After a great game of Goldrush, we all went into the chapel to sing songs and hear a great message. This week's chapel speaker is Matthew Cable!

When Matthew's message came to a close, we went out with our cabin groups to discuss things we heard about in chapel. After some great discussion, we will play our night game, which tonight is the classic Counselor Hunt!

Our week is off to such a great start! It's our hope that God would deepen and bless relationships between campers as well as between campers and staff. We are continuously praying that each camper would be open to receiving what God has to teach them this week. It looks like it's going to be a super fun week! God is moving! Here's to the rest of the week! :)

Senior High 2016

We have had such an awesome and busy week with our senior high campers so far!

They all arrived on Monday, and the fun just hasn't stopped since.

This week our campers have been playing a lot of games together. Everyone was split into four teams at the beginning of the week, and those teams have been competing in evening activities throughout the week to rack up points to win overall by the end of the week. The team names are giant Popsicle stick puppets this week, so the teams came up with all sorts of names from "Papa Sicle," who is a Grim Reaper type of mascot, to "Chris P. Bacon" which has a pig as their mascot. It's definitely been a very fun and competitive week, and we're so excited to see who will come out on top by Saturday morning following Melee on Friday night.

Not only have we been having a lot of fun this week, but we've also been diving deeper into the Bible and have been challenged by hard questions. We have been studying the book of 1 John, and have been discussing what God's love looks like and how it changes our lives. We've also been focusing on our theme for the summer, which is being "Alive" in Christ. We have had a lot of great cabin discussions as well as chapel discussions, to talk about what that can look like for us, and how we can be alive in Christ and with Christ.
Our theme verse for the summer can be found in Ephesians 2:4-5.

This week in chapel, our chapel speaker, Adam Stetzel has been breaking down Ephesians 2:1-10 for us in a very personal, applicable way. It has definitely challenged a lot of our campers to reevaluate where they're at in their personal relationship with Christ, and to see how they can continue to grow even more. They have been challenged to look at their relationship with Christ to determine whether they are dead or alive at this point in their life, and if they are dead, how they can start living a life shining the light of life that Christ provides us.

Our campers have been spending a lot of time processing these lessons and reflecting on who they are, and it's been awesome to watch and grow alongside them as well! We love having tough conversations with them and struggling through these lessons with them, and hopefully provide them some guidance and love along the way, all the while pointing them back towards Christ.





Though we have had a few storms in the evenings, causing our evening activities or night activities to shift a little bit, everyone has kept their spirits high and have been very flexible. The storms have definitely not taken any of the fun away, that's for sure! We're also so thankful we have been blessed with mostly sunshine this week, as well as complete safety from the minor storms we've had.

We've had such a great week so far, and the fun isn't even close to being over quite yet!

This morning started out at flagpole as always, so we got the chance to start out with some stretches to warm us up for a new day. Today instead of a short fun run to breakfast, we opted for a fun skip to breakfast instead, which was a nice touch to begin our wonderful Thursday :)

After breakfast we all headed into our cabins to clean up and decorate to the theme of "The 80's." Everyone got really creative, but cabin 5A ended up winning this one, earning the privilege to enter into lunch first.

After clean up, we split into our cabin groups to have Bible study. Today's Bible study came from 1 John chapter 4. We spent time highlighting, underlining and circling specific words in our Bible study packages, and then came together to dissect and discuss what we had found and learned from the passage.


Following Bible study, we all went off to enjoy our choice activities for the day. Today's choice activities included the hike at Merry Lea, time in the game room, flag football, archery tag, soccer, carpet ball/corn hole/kan jam, crafts, dodgeball and more! It was a great morning filled with a lot of fun!

After our choice activities, we headed in for lunch and then went back to our cabins for rest time to renew our energy for the rest of the day.

When rest time came to a close it was time to start rotations. Today we did rotations with our cabins instead of our teams, and the activities included water kickball, Ultimate Sponge, and swimming. It was a great day to get cooled off and play games together!

After our rotations, the camp was open for free time.

Later tonight after dinner we will have the oh-so famous hoe-down! Yee haw!! We are so excited to continue such an awesome tradition with our Senior High campers. Everyone will get decked out in flannel, cowboy hats, and boots, and will gather down in the gym. We will have our usual square dance caller join us for the evening and we'll join together to learn some awesome square dances. We'll also get to enjoy other hoe-down appropriate activities such as corn-hole and sno-cones!

In between square dances, we'll also have a few campers perform! Some of our campers have signed up to either sing, dance, act, or whatever they want! They get the chance to take the stage for a little while, and we can't wait to see what they have prepared! 

It's going to be an awesome evening!

We have been having an amazing week with these campers. Watching God work and move in their hearts is always incredible, and we are so thankful we get to be a part of it and grow with them. We are hoping and praying that God would continue breaking down any barriers they may have and totally surrender to Him, and that he would bless our conversations with our awesome campers.

Here's to the rest of a great week!

Junior 2: Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

Even with the rain that fell on us this morning and the very humid weather the rest of the day, we are still having so much fun together!

This morning we started our day off at Flagpole, but we had an abbreviated time of stretches and warming up before breakfast. Afterwards, we all headed to the Dining Hall to eat a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and sausage prepared by our hardworking cooks.






When our tummies were satisfied and we were ready to go, we went back to our cabins to clean and decorate to today's theme of "Medieval Times." Later in the morning, the "Snooper" will investigate each cabin's cleanliness and decorations. The cleanest cabin that also has the most creative decorations will get to enter into lunch first, carrying the "Flaming Torch" trophy (a plunger trophy). It's a high honor :)

When our cabins were clean and decorated, we went out with our cabins to begin Bible Study for the day. Today's Bible Study centered around 1 John chapter 2. This chapter calls us to love one another and also warns against loving the things of the world. These two things can definitely give us a new picture of what "love" truly means. After reading through this chapter, our cabin groups discussed what they found in this chapter and how we can apply it to our lives.

Following Bible Study, our choice activities for the day began! Today's choice activities included floor hockey, time in the game room, crafts, swimming, nine-square, dodgeball, and archery!

When our second choice activity for the day came to a close, we gathered together for lunch. Cabin 3B got to enter in first, because their cabin was the cleanest and decorated the best! Congrats, girls! :) Today's delicious lunch was macaroni & cheese, corn bread, peaches, and chocolate cookie bars for dessert!

After lunch, we went back to our cabins to enjoy some rest time to recharge and boost our energy for the rest of the day.

When rest time was over, we gathered together in the chapel for our all-camp activity! For today's all-camp activity, we all watched "What's in the Bible?" This video breaks down the Bible in a very entertaining way, and our campers loved it! :)









After our all-camp activity, our rotations for the day began! Today's rotations continued from yesterday. Two teams went swimming, one team spent time playing games in the gym, and one team worked on a craft and team builders! After the first rotation and a break at the snack shack, the teams rotated activities.

When rotations came to a close, the camp was opened up for free time. During free time, campers are free to play games like GaGa, tether ball, carpet ball, swing, or even just relax and talk to one another outside.

After free time, we gathered together in the Dining Hall again for dinner! This evening's dinner was mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, biscuits, green beans, and jello cake for dessert!

When we had finished eating dinner, we got ready to play this evening's game. The game of the evening was Jailbreak! Everyone ran hard and had a lot of fun.

Following this evening's game, we all gathered in the chapel for worship and another great message from "What's in the Bible?" It's always so encouraging to be surrounded by campers singing their hearts out to God, and it's a joy to get to join them in such a special part of our day.

When chapel ended, everyone headed back to the cabins to go to sleep. We had a wonderful Wednesday for sure!

This week has been a week of learning and of growth, and it's been so much fun! We can't wait to see how the Lord is going to move and work in the rest of the week we have with these campers. We trust and believe He has big things planned for our week. We hope and pray that our campers would be receptive to what God wants to teach them, and that seeds of growth would be planted so that when they leave this place they would continue to grow in their knowledge of our great God.

Here's to the rest of the week! :) 

Junior 2: Monday

Happy 4th of July!!

Today I hope you not only think about how great it is to live in a country that can declare freedom, but I also hope you think about the freedom we are offered in and through Christ! Even in the midst of chaos and sin in a world that is not entirely free, we are able to live a life of freedom because of Christ's sacrifice, and I definitely think that's worthy of celebration and pursuit!

That being said, today we are not only celebrating a National Holiday, but we are also celebrating because our second group of Junior campers have arrived!! :)

It is certainly an exciting day!

Our campers arrived this morning, and many of them were wearing very patriotic attire! After everyone was settled into their cabins and we kissed our parents goodbye, we all headed down to the gym to kick off the new week!

We gathered together to welcome everyone to camp, and to go over some basic camp rules. After the staff acted out short rule skits, we split everyone up into four teams that they will be enjoying activities and playing games with throughout the week. The teams got to know one another by playing name games, and also came up with team names! This week the team names had to be a state name, and a plant! We had everything from the Wyoming Weeds, to California Cactus! It's looking to be a great week with names as cool as those! :)

After coming up with team names and decorating team flags, it was time to head up the hill for a picnic lunch of hot dogs, fruit, chips, and popsicles!

When our tummies were all full, we came together for a camp picture and then went off to our cabins for cabin time to go over basic cabin rules.

After cabin time, the boys went out to start their Bible study while the girls went to take their swim tests and learn how to canoe! When they were done, the boys and girls switched activities!




Today's Bible study can be found in 1 John chapter 1. Our counselors talked with their cabins about times they had personally experienced God in a very real way, and the campers had time to reflect on times they might have experienced God as well. It was an introduction to our theme this week, which is "Alive." This week we will be talking about what it's like to become "Alive" in and with Christ, and what it looks like to live a life with Christ.

This week our campers each have a booklet with the passages of scripture in them, and will be highlighting, underlining and circling various words and phrases based on their color code. This gets the campers to be interactive with the text, and dissect what they're reading. It also has the campers read the passage multiple times, which often furthers deeper understanding of what they're reading as well. So far this summer the campers have loved getting to look at the Bible in such a personal, tangible way!

Following Bible study and swim tests/canoeing, the camp was opened up for free time! During this time, campers can play tether ball, GaGa, carpet ball, nine square, and more!

After free time, we all gathered together for a delicious dinner of spaghetti, homemade bread, salad, and banana pudding for dessert! It was a very satisfying and tasty meal, prepared by our awesome cooks!

When we were all finished eating, we gathered together in the chapel for worship and a message from Monty Harlan. Monty talked to us about how we have become dead in our sin, and why we need to become Alive in Him.

After chapel, we took a break at the Snack Shack, and then went down the hill for our evening game. Tonight's evening game was Rocket's Red Glare, to celebrate the 4th of July!

When the game came to a close, we all went back to our cabins to go to sleep.

This week is off to a great start! We can't wait to watch our campers learn and grow even more. We are continuously praying that God would be working in each of their hearts. Here's to a new week! :)

Junior High 2: Thursday

We are still having an awesome week with our Junior High campers! We've packed so many fun activities into our week, and we still have so much more fun to have! We aren't done yet :)

This morning we started off at flag pole with some stretches and a fun run to get warmed up for our chilly morning. Then we headed into the Dining Hall to eat breakfast together.

After eating a yummy breakfast we went back to our cabins to clean up and decorate to today's theme of "Bible stories from the Old Testament!" Our campers definitely channeled some inner creativity for their decorations!

When our cabins were clean and decorated, we went out with our cabins for Bible study. Today's Bible study focused on 1 John chapter 4, which talks even more  about loving our brothers and sisters, and how "perfect love drives out fear." We had some great discussion about what that can look like in our own lives, as well as how these things can make us Alive with Christ.

After our Bible studies, choice activities for the day began! Today's choice activities included canoeing/kayaking, archery tag, disc golf, crafts, game room, hiking at Merry Lea, carpet ball, and a "Q&A" time with our chapel speaker, Brad Eckerley and his wife, Tish Eckerley (who is also an active reader of this blog, so here's a shout-out to Tish! :)

Following some great choice activities for the day, we gathered together for another delicious lunch of soup and grilled cheese! When our bellies were full of the awesome food our wonderful cooks prepared, we went back to our cabins for rest time in order to have enough energy for the rest of the day!

When rest time came to an end, it was time for Rotations to start up! Today's rotations included swimming, the famous slip 'n slide, and preparing with our cabins for tonight's cabin skits! We had a lot of fun on the slip 'n slide as usual, and everyone prepared some really creative, funny skits for later in the night!

After rotating, allowing each cabin to enjoy each activity, the camp was open for free time. Everything that's usually open for free time was an option, plus the tournaments continued on through today!




Following free time, we headed to the Dining Hall for a great dinner of baked potatoes, corn, ham, baked pineapple, and banana pudding for dessert! It was a very satisfying meal!

When dinner came to a close, we gathered together for chapel! We worshipped together, and got to hear Brad speak again tonight. Tonight Brad spoke about the gifts that God has for us, and how we can draw closer to God together. After he was done speaking, we set out with our cabin groups to have a short discussion with one another.


After some great cabin discussion and processing, we gathered together to watch some very entertaining skits! The campers definitely had a lot of fun putting them together, and they were also really fun to watch!

When the skits came to a close, we went off to bed to rest up for another fun-filled day of camp. We're having such an awesome week with these campers. It's been so much fun to grow alongside them, and to watch them interact and grow with each other as well. We are still praying that God would continue to move within each of them and that this week would be a stepping stone to living a life with Christ even after they leave here.

We can't wait to see what the rest of the week holds for us!