Youth Camp '07

Hi everyone,
Jocelyn and I just got back from a week with the youth group at camp. We had a very fun time and learned a lot about ourselves, the youth, and God. As leaders, we definitely saw things that could have gone better, but I suppose that is simply part of every camp experience. Let me explain a little bit of what we did during the week to give you a picture.


On Sunday afternoon (th 15th) we all gathered in the parking lot of the large local Fred Meyer. After loading all the luggage, we piled into the 5 vehicles and hit the road off to the camp which was about an hour and a half away. The trip went very smoothly and when we arrived, everyone had plenty of time to get situated in their cabins before the supper bell rang.


After supper, we spent some time in worship and Ryan (our youth director) spoke for a few minutes. The camp theme was life. Life as a Christian is not always easy, and we wanted to show the youth group what a regular Christian life should look like and how to live it out practically. After the meeting, we all hung out and played games and talked until it was time for bed.


Early on Monday morning, all of us leaders got up to have a meeting. The camp place that hosted us made wonderful food for us all week. I must have gained like 10 pounds or something. :) We had waffles for breakfast and then had a short worship time and devotion. We spent time alone doing the devotional section for that day, and then we came together in our family groups to have a discussion. After devotions, we played a strange game that was like a mix between kickball, soccer, and a bunch of other games mixed in. We had fun though.


Lunch came and went, so after we ate we had free time for a couple hours. Brian Harmon and I along with Victor and Tony worked on shooting scene 19 for "The Orange of Death". It is a movie that we had been working on for the last few months, but we never had enough time to finish it. Maybe someday. Anyway, we shot the scene and then went down to play in the lake. The water was very nice and I was able to go tubing and had a blast. Jocelyn came down to watch, but she didn't want to swim. On top of having a power boat, paddle boats, and a bunch of kayaks, they had a huge water trampoline. It was harder to jump on than a regular one, but hilarious nonetheless. When you get a bunch of people on it, it moves around, so you are constantly falling down. Needless to say, we were all very tired at the end of the afternoon.


After supper, everyone came together for worship and Ryan spoke for a while about talking with God and how important it is to communicate with God in our Christian lives. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out and playing games.


As the week wore on, we wore out. It wasn't just the leaders, or just the youth. Everyone was completely exhausted by the end of every day, and very tired the next morning. I guess camp is supposed to be like that though because you only get to do it like once a year. During our time there, we went down to the water two more times, played a late night game with glow sticks and a lighted Frisbee. We also had a scavenger hunt at the mall, had a marshmallow war with PVC guns and went bowling. Paul Adams came down on Tuesday night and spoke about sin and how to deal with it and how to watch our for it. Our other sub topics were living our lives as a good witness to unbelievers and believers, and "life beyond" and why we should be excited to be in Heaven.


Jocelyn and I tried to spend as much time with everyone as we could, but after we talked about it later I realized that she still wanted some of my attention. I guess nobody is perfect and I am most certainly still far from it. It's all part of the learning process I suppose, and I will know for next time. God is good though. He kept us going through it all and I pray that at least some of the people there heard something that God was trying to say to them. We have two weeks and one day until we leave for School in Missouri. We are very excited. Until next time,

Bri