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!
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.
