Junior 3: Thursday

Our week is winding down with our Junior campers, but we aren't done yet! :)

Cabin 3 went Polar Bearing this morning (Cabin 5 went yesterday...typo in yesterday's blog!), and the rest of us got up at the usual time to meet around the flag pole to stretch and get warmed up for a new day. After flag pole, we all headed in for another delicious breakfast!

When breakfast came to an end, it was time to get to our cabins and clean them up! Today's theme for cabin clean up was "The Zoo!" Those who brought stuffed animals with them to camp were especially excited. :) Cabin 4A won cabin clean-up today, for their cleanliness and creativity. They set up an entrance to their zoo, complete with someone handing out tickets. Great job boys!

When our cabins were cleaned and decorated, we all broke off into our cabin groups to have Bible study. Today's Bible study can be found in John 21:1-25. This passage discusses when Jesus appears to His disciples for the third time since He had risen from the dead.

Following great discussions about this passage and what it means to us today, we headed to our choice activities. Today's choice activities included fishing, swimming, crafts, GaGa, another beautiful hike, sidewalk chalk on the basketball court, fishing, archery/slingshots, and disc golf! The kids that went on the hike today had a blast, and took lots of silly pictures!








After everyone went through both of their choice activities, everyone headed in for lunch, followed by some cabin time. When everyone was rested up and ready to go again, we all went down to the gym to learn about the end of camp game called Mêleé, which is a game that challenges the campers to memorize their Bible verses amongst other things. The campers have been working on memorizing their verses throughout the week so they will be ready for the game. This week to get "immunity" in the game, you must memorize 3 verses! So far it seems as though they are doing a great job with their verses. :)

When everyone learned about Mêleé, it was time to start rotations with our teams! Today's rotations included learning more about Mêleé as a team, and swim time. Today during swim time, the teams competed to see who could bury their counselor faster. The counselors were just thrilled as you can imagine, but the kids were even more into it!

Following rotations, free time was opened around the camp. When free time came to a close, it was time to head in for a yummy dinner!

After supper, we began our evening activity. Tonight's evening activity was a classic game of Counselor Hunt! It was a great game, and everyone had a blast. When the Counselor Hunt comes to an end, it will be time for chapel and worship in the gym.

Our week is slowly coming to a close, but we still have a lot of important things to do and learn tomorrow as well! We have had so much fun so far, and we're all excited for what's to come!

Junior 3: Wednesday

We have been keeping our Junior campers busy with fun this week! It's already Wednesday, which is hard to believe. Time flies when you're having fun, but we still have so much more to do and learn!

This morning Cabin 3 got up early to go Polar Bearing in the lake, and the rest of us started our day off at the usual time around the flagpole. After stretching and getting warmed up around the flagpole, we headed in for a delicious breakfast.

Following breakfast, it was Cabin Clean-Up. Today's theme for cabin clean-up was related to our message last night from Shirly Woods: Princes and Princesses! Everyone was so creative with today's theme. We saw a lot of castle forts and uses of stuffed animals and crowns. The winner of today's cabin clean-up was both clean and creative: the boys of Cabin 1B! They built a castle out of extra mattresses and deemed it "Mickey's Castle," topped off with a stuffed Mickey poking his head out of the top! Great job boys, very cute! :)

When our cabins were cleaned up, it was time to gather with our cabin-mates and counselors for Bible Study. Today's Bible study can be found in Matthew 26:57-75. This passage describes what happens after Jesus is arrested and faces the council, and also explains that Peter denies Jesus three times before the rooster crows.

After Bible Study, choice activities began! Today's choice activities included swimming, crafts, fishing, archery/slingshots, GaGa, and a very special choice activity: going on a hike! The ones who chose a hike today were gone for both choice activities so they could go as far as they could in the amount of time given. They all had a great time together exploring God's beautiful creation!



When choice activities were over, it was time for another great lunch, followed by some time to rest in the cabins.

Once everyone was reenergized and refreshed, it was time to get things moving again. Everyone met with their teams on the basketball court to create their very own mascots out of old mattress foam! The teams will now bring their mascots to every game they play against other teams. The mascots will also be in a special competition at the end of the week! :)

After making our mascots, it was time to start Rotations! Today's rotations were swim time, games in the gym, and craft time! During swim time today, we also played a game called "Plug the Barrel!" This got our teams working together to keep the water from pouring out of the holes in barrels. Whoever had the most water left in their barrel after 5 minutes, won!

Our craft activity today was painting "Follow" on pieces of logs, to take home as physical reminders for us to follow after Jesus daily.

When the teams rotated through each activity, free time was opened up around camp, followed by supper.

After supper, we had our evening activity: Goldrush!

Following our evening activity, we all headed to the chapel for worship and another great message. Tonight in chapel we watched a video explaining the Gospel, and Monty spoke more about what it looks like to follow Jesus.

After a great message and worship session, everyone split off into their cabin groups to discuss the chapel message. When discussions are over, everyone will head back to their cabins to get ready for bed.

We have been having an awesome week, and we can't wait to see what else God will teach our campers throughout the rest of this week.

Junior 3: Tuesday

We have been having a blast with our campers this week so far!

Cabin 2 got to get up early this morning and go Polar Bearing in the lake! The rest of us got up at the usual time and started our day around the flagpole to stretch and get ready for the day.

When everyone was ready to go, we all headed into the dining hall for a yummy breakfast, and then we headed back to our cabins for cabin clean-up.


Today's decoration theme for cabin clean-up was: "Dinosaurs!" The campers were very creative with how they incorporated today's theme, but Cabin 4A was excellent in  both cleanliness, and creativity! The boys of this cabin made a "Bed-osaurus" out of sleeping bags and other bedding, and even used flashlights for the eyes! These boys received the honor of the flaming plunger, and they got to head into lunch first!

After cabin clean-up, it was time for Bible study. Today's passage can be found in Matthew 14:13-36. This passage discusses Jesus feeding the 5,000, and also Jesus walking on water. We discussed what these miracles can teach us and how we can apply those lessons to our daily walk with Christ.

Following Bible Study, we began choice activities. Today's choice activities included hockey in the gym, swimming, crafts, archery/slingshots, nine square in the air, carpet ball and more! When everyone participated in both of their choice activities, it was time to head back to the dining hall for lunch. When everyone's bellies were happy and full, it was time to head back to the cabins to rest for a little while.


After cabin time, it was time for the all camp activity! Today's all camp activity was "Clothes Pin Tag!" Everyone ran around the basketball court trying to take each other's clothes pins off their backs. There was a lot of running, and even more laughter! :)

When the all camp activity came to a close, everyone broke off into their teams to begin rotations. Today's rotations were "Wet Kickball," a video in the gym, and swim time! Everyone started out at one activity, and eventually after rotating, everyone had the chance to experience each activity. Today "Wet Kickball" was a hit! It's usually a favorite, especially on a warmer day like today!

"Wet Kickball" involves a different way of getting soaked and cooled off at each base. You even get to slide into home on a small slip 'n slide! :)

When everyone had rotated through their activities, free time was opened up around the camp. This is a time used to hang out, relax, and play camp games like GaGa, tether ball, carpet ball, nine square in the air, and more!

Following free time, everyone headed in for a delicious supper! When everyone was full of energy again, it was then time to head in for an early chapel. We had a guest speaker today from the Euell Wilson Center, Shirly Woods. Shirly founded the Euell Wilson Center in Fort Wayne, and Bear Lake has partnered with her ministry for years. Shirly discussed with us that each of us are valuable, because we have Jesus in our hearts, and Jesus is royalty. She also discussed with us that this makes us royalty as well!

Each girl got a tiara from Shirly, and each boy got a crown, so that we can always remember that we are valuable and forgiven no matter what!

When Shirly was finished speaking, everyone split up into their cabin groups to talk with each other and their counselors about what we learned in chapel.

Following discussion time with our cabins, it was time for our Evening activity: Buzz Lightyear! An all-time favorite for Bear Lake campers.

When our evening activity ends, it will be time to get ready for bed, thus ending our Terrific Tuesday here at camp. We are having so much fun so far, and we can't wait to see what else God has in store for us this week! :)

Junior 3: Monday

We have welcomed our third group of Junior campers today and we are so beyond excited that they're here!!

We have already been having so much fun together, and it's just the beginning!
Our campers arrived late morning, and when we had them all settled in their cabins and they kissed their families goodbye, everyone headed down to the gym to get things started!


First we went over some camp rules, which our awesome staff acted out in skits instead of just explaining them. Next, we broke everyone up into four teams that they will be a part of during games throughout the week. Once everyone was with their team, they went around and learned each other's names. Their next task was to come up with a team name! This week's team name criteria was an adjective and a Disney character!

Our campers (who are always so creative) came up with the "Marvelous Mike Wazowski," the "Magnificent Maleficent," the "Mighty Mufasa," and the "Silly Sullys!" Sounds like our teams are going to have great competition amongst them during camp games! :)

When we all had our team names and made our team flags, it was time to get the games started! We started off with a classic game of passing the hula hoop, and then moved onto Mattress Surfing!




When we got our counselors to the other side on the mattress, it was just about time for lunch. Before lunch though, we all took cabin pictures and then headed up to a picnic lunch outside with our cabins. Thankfully, it has been a beautiful, sunny day--perfect for a picnic!

After lunch, it was time to head to the cabins for cabin time to go over some cabin rules with our counselors, and to spend time with our cabin mates. When cabin time was over, it was time for an all camp activity. Today's camp activity was "Blob Tag," which had everyone giggling like crazy!

Following "Blob Tag," the boys went down to the beach for their swim tests while the girls spent some time in Bible Study, and then to go over the rules of "GaGa," a dearly loved game by nearly every camper at Bear Lake!

Today's Bible study can be found in Luke 5:1-11. This passage discusses when Jesus calls some of His first disciples to follow Him. This week we will be focusing on what it means and looks like to follow Christ and will be diving deeper into this idea, and how we can apply it to our personal lives.

When the boys were done learning how to canoe and had their earned swim bands, and the girls were finished with Bible Study and GaGa, it was time for the first Snack Shack of the week, and then the boys and girls swapped activities.

Following rotations, the camp was opened up for some free time until supper time! When it was time for supper, everyone headed into the dining hall to settle in around tables with their fellow campers for a yummy supper prepared by our awesome, hard-working cooks.

When everyone's bellies were happy and full and ready to give us some more energy to play, everyone gathered together for the evening activity! Today's evening activity was "Jailbreak!" Which of course involves lots of running after counselors. :)


After the evening activity, everyone went to chapel for worship and a great message about following Jesus. When our message came to a close, we set out for a round of "Follow the Leader!" Each cabin was supposed to follow their counselor around the camp, and the counselor was following a "map." We also had other staff members stationed around the camp as distractions to the campers. The campers were supposed to resist temptation and continue following their counselor no matter what the obstacle or temptation was. Some campers did great and followed the whole way! Others...well, may have gotten a little behind. :)


After our hands on activity, it will be time for our social campfire. Everyone will be challenged to meet new people around the campfire while eating some yummy snacks. It will be the perfect ending to our Marvelous Monday, and a great start to what will be a super fun week! When campfire ends, everyone will head to the cabins to get ready for bed.

We are so excited to have our Junior campers here with us this week. We also can't wait to see how God will work in their hearts this week, and to see how they will grow. We have so much fun with our campers and it's going to be awesome to see God's plan for this week unfold! Here's to a new week! :)

Junior High 2: Friday

We have been having a great last full day with our Junior High campers!

Yesterday was a very busy day filled with lots of fun, including the slip 'n slide!!

Last night we watched a powerful Billy Graham video which included testimonies from the Christian rapper Lecrae, as well as Christian rock singer, Lacey Sturm. This video sparked great conversation between the campers and their cabin mates and counselors.





We then topped off an awesome night last night with cabin skits, and they were all very memorable! Every camper was laughing hysterically at some point last night. They all did a great job putting together skits to make everyone laugh. :)

This morning we started off the day with breakfast and cabin clean-up. Today's theme was the classic "Bribes and Boobytraps." The boys of Cabin 5B won today, for their pranks that definitely worked on the judges. Which included getting tangled in fishing line. Very clever, boys! :) Cabin 5B received the honor of the flaming plunger and entering into lunch first.

After Cabin clean-up, everyone broke off to do Bible study with our cabins. Today's Bible study can be found in Acts 4:1-22. This passage describes Peter and John standing before the council declaring that Jesus is the Christ, whom the council killed and God resurrected from the dead, and they were not going to stop speaking to the people about Him.

This passage presents challenges to us as well as inspires us. Today's Bible study was a great ending to our week long Bible study on taking a deeper look into following Christ.

Following Bible studies, it was time for choice activities. Today's choice activities included volleyball, dodgeball, fishing, "Canoedooling," crafts, carpet ball, GaGa, basketball and more!

Once we finished choice activities, it was time to head to the dining hall for every camper's favorite lunch: homemade pizza! :)

After lunch it was time for cabin time, followed by rotations. Today the teams rotated between swim time, assigning Mêleé tasks for tonight's game, and recreation time in the gym. When rotations came to a close, it was time for some free time and the conclusion of the various tournaments that have been going on this week.

Following free time, it was time for our camp cookout for dinner. Everyone headed down to the pavilion to eat at picnic tables with their cabins and then to spend time outside together. When everyone was filled up with yummy food and ready to get going again, we all went back up the hill to get ready for Mêleé!





It was a great game of Mêleé, and we had a pretty good number of immunities! It's always awesome to watch campers work on their memory verses throughout the week, and then to see it pay off in a fun game. More importantly though, it's awesome to see them leave camp with memory verses tucked away in their hearts, ready to face the world!

When Mêleé was over, it was time for chapel in the gym. We had an amazing worship session and message tonight, putting a cherry on top of everything we've learned this week. Following chapel, everyone had a chance to spend some time with their cabins to discuss what they've learned this week, but to also actually write down how they are going to carry out what they've learned once they return home to their "normal" routines. This helps and challenges campers to actually apply everything they've learned to their lives in a personal, tangible, realistic way.

When we have finished discussing this week with our cabins, it will be time to end the day with our boys campfire, and our girls campfire. This will be a time to sing a few songs together and end the day with fellowship. It will then be time to head to bed, we have had some VERY busy days, packed with fun activities.

We have had an awesome week with this great group of Junior High kids! While we are sad to see them go, we can't wait for all that they're going to do for the kingdom of God in the upcoming year, and we can't wait for them to all come back! 

It's been a week filled to the brim with fun, and seeds have definitely been planted in their hearts, and Jesus has definitely began growing those seeds in them. Here's to another great week! God is so good! :)