Back from Camp

I just got back from Super Teen Week at Living Waters. The cool weather, picturesque view, good food, fantastic activities and the safe Christian environment added up to a fantastic week full of good memories that were at times full of sidesplitting laughter. Of all the good times I had at camp I remember some of them forever. One of them is my counselor, Tom. I usually have trouble relating to people because until you know a bit about Haiti, you won’t understand half my life story. It wasn’t that way with Tom at all. His mom was a missionary in Port au Prince for fours years. Though Tom has never been to Haiti he seemed to know a lot about Haiti and I could relate to him like no one else. He is also a Pastors kid so he understood the purpose of ministry and he had a fiery passion to serve. In fact that’s why he was working at living waters. He had felt God call him to summer camp ministry and he sacrificed his time and the money he could have been making this summer to come and minister to campers. I commend him for his tireless effort and patience needed to reach others for Christ. I know that his life example and his awesome devotions challenged me. I hope that Tom doesn’t just live in my mind as a good memory because I want keep up him. We have exchanged our contact info are going to try stay up to date with each other’s life.

Another one of my unforgettable memories is our campfire service. It really was spectacular. The sound of the fire popping and cracking mixed with a loon in the background was very majestic. Our camp director said it best, “God, this is your Orchestra.” Sitting around the campfire we sang songs and some of us stood up and talked about what God was doing in our lives. Others threw pieces of paper with lists of things that they had put before God into the fire and made the decision to put God first. We also saw some shooting stars. I only counted two but some one else said that he saw four shooting stars. Most amazing was getting to see other teens accept Christ and many more rededicated their life to God.

Our normal camp life was usually pretty orderly but on the last day of camp we decided to create a little bit of chaos. You see everyday after the morning Bible hour each cabin receives a score based on how clean it is. My cabin knew how to score perfect tens. However on the last day of camp my cabin decided we would go for a zero. A cabin has to pretty disgusting to even score a three or four. So we had to get pretty creative. We put a big “8” (our cabin number) on our door in shaving cream. We scattered dirty clothes everywhere and poured coffee grounds on the floor. We also put a mattress and Tom’s guitar in the rafters and strung toilet paper everywhere. It was pretty funny. What took us ten minutes to wreck took over an hour to clean up. Yet we all realize that when we’re old and gray we will still be able to laugh about it. So in the end it was worth it.

Apart from my daily activities which where sports, team building, archery, canoeing and just hanging with campers I really enjoyed all the camp devotions. Every morning and evening each cabin had devotions along with the morning and evening bible hour. I found my week to be both recreational and edifying. In the end I found everything I was looking for in a Christian Camp.