A Week at Camp...

Ok... I'm going to attempt to highlight each day at camp.  We have been here 4 weeks! Each week we get a new group of campers (400-500 kids from all over). The days are referred to as Day 1, Day 2, etc., which in turn means that I have no idea what day of the week it is when I am here.  Every second of camp is exciting...however I will only highlight the really important/fun stuff!

Day 1 - Campers arrive! In club, campers hear about the misconceptions and first impressions that they might have of Jesus. Buda (the speaker) asks them to come into this week with a unbiased heart and just listen to what he has to say about Jesus.   The night ends with an intense obstacle course through the woods. Complete darkness. Completely muddy. Complete madness.  The obstacle course is a way to set up the leaders in a leading position, and help knock down barriers kids have towards each other and their leaders.

Day 2 - All Camp Volleyball Tournament!  Leaders have secretly brought uniforms for their cabins (i.e. bumblebees, princesses, avatars, etc.) to dress up and battle each other in volleyball.

Day 3 - Rodeo!  After playing games where the camp is split into "families" (i.e. Hatfields, Clampets, Bodeans, McCoys), they are paired off for a real square dance!  They are then herded back to the clubroom for a Hoe Down.  

Everyone dressed in their hillbilly outfits for the Hoe Down.   From left to right: Laura Tuel, JT Buda, Clinton Bruck, Ted Tuel, Ben Tuel and Chris Buda.

Day 4 - Lumberjack Night! Campers go to club before dinner on this night...when they come out of club there is a tableau set up. It's supposed to look like an 1890's scene. When they shoot off a gun, the people unfreeze and engage in 1890's activity.  They shoot the gun again and they freeze...it's hard to explain but looks really cool! The campers are then told to go back to their cabins and come dressed as best they can like 1890's lumberjacks!  Dinner is served in a cast iron skillet with potatoes, carrots and beef...very authentic!

Tableau scene.

After dinner, the kids go back into the club room for a big production of the program they have been seeing everyday.  The premise - there's a TV show that is being cancelled and needs to be saved so it can stay on the air.  Best part...John is in it!  He plays a police officer who has to arrest Gary the Label Guy (Ben Tuel) for going into Wal-Mart without a shirt on.

Oh yea...and he has to ride a tricyle...hahaha! He makes his own siren noise into the mega phone.

He then proceeds to make his prisoner drive himself to jail so he can ride on the back.

A couple scenes later he then plays the judge, with a questionably short robe and large boots..haha

The wig is really meant to be worn as pig tails.

Day 5 - Breakfast in bed day. John loves this day because he gets to sleep in.  This evening in club, the kids hear about how Jesus paid the penalty for their Sin and died a death that we deserve.  After Buda shares this heavy news, the kids are asked to spend 20 minutes by themselves outside, just to give them time to process and deal with what they just heard.  After the 20 minutes, they come back into the club room. The work crew (high school kids who volunteered to work at camp for the entire month) do what is called a "Cardboard Testimony".  One by one they walk out on stage and show a poster board that says who they were before they met Christ and then flip it over to show who they are now.

"Rejected"

"Embraced"

Since John is a Work Crew boss, he gets to participate. You can't really read his here, but it says  "Looking for purpose in life"

"Found purpose in Jesus Christ"

I didn't take pictures of everyone's but some of them are really powerful.  One kid's said "Almost took my life..." and then "God took it instead..." Another one's said, "Abandoned by my dad..." and then "Found by my heavenly father.." 

Day 6 - Last day for the campers.  In club, the kids are invited to stand up and "say so" if they have decided to start a relationship with Jesus.  If you don't do this, it doesn't mean you didn't start a relationship with Christ...but there is something really powerful about owning up and saying out loud this life changing decision.  

After club and the "say so", the back doors of the club room are opened and all the campers are cheered out by the Work Crew and Summer Staff.  It always makes me a little teary eyed, because it's like their new brothers and sisters are being welcomed into the family of God!

 So that was a quick day-by-day camp highlights blog. It really is incredible.  

On a side note, I've been playing around with our camera trying to learn how to take good pictures....