True Life Church Youth Camp

This past week we had church camp.  It kicked off on Sunday afternoon and wrapped up on Thursday evening.  The theme this year:

This is the second year of our church camp for youth.  It was the first year for Michelle and I to be head counselors as well as chefs.  As the theme says we encountered many mountains.

We arrived late Saturday evening and set up our camp.  Pastor Harold Inman was kind enough to let us use his trailer for our accommodations this year.  The trailer was small, but had air conditioning and a nice bed.  We were going to grill for our meal but decided not to when Dawn and Rueben suggested pizza.  It was getting late.

Sunday arrived and we continued to set up the camp and prepare for the arrival of the kids.  We had everything set and the kids came in and we had a taco bar that night.

 

Group photo!

 

 

The kids setting up camp!

 

Dinner served.

 

The super moon was incredible!

 

We had our first devotion and did smores over the camp fire.  Then it was time for bed.

 

Day 2 arrived and it was hot and humid.  We did our usual breakfast followed by morning devotion and then free time for the kids.  Things were going great until a storm rolled in after evening devotion.  A look at the radar showed us storms, possibly severe for most of the night and going into Tuesday morning.  We made a decision to move camp to our house for the night and into Tuesday to ensure the safety of the kids.  So we packed up what we would need for the evening and into Tuesday and headed out.  We arrived at the house around 11pm.  It took some time to get the kids settled in.  It was a late night.

 

We woke up Tuesday morning and started breakfast.  Pastor Rueben arrived around 11am, just in time to eat.  After eating we had our morning devotion in the living room while it rained outside.  We caught the forecast on the noon news and decided we would head back to the camp ground after 5pm.  This plan worked well and we found out that they had heavy rain at the campground.  There was standing water everywhere.  We made super and had a great evening.  Evangelist Brian Allen gave the message at the evening devotion.

 

Evangelist Brian Allen

 

We woke up Wednesday to heat and humidity again.  We made the decision to do the championship activities that afternoon.

 

First Event, Putt Putt golf!

 

Scott tees off.

 

Putt Putt official, Pastor Rueben.

 

Readying for event #2.  Kayaking.

 

Start of the teen Kayak race.

 

The kid had a lot of fun with these events.  We then had our dinner and night time devotion.  As we started the devotion we started to get some rain and cut the devotion short.  It started to rain harder and a severe storm alert was issued for our area.  We tore down some of the camp so that nothing would get damaged.  Our prayers were heard and the severe portion of the storm split and went around us.  Around 11pm the kids went to their tents and settled in for the night.

 

We woke to sunny skies on Thursday for the last day of camp.  We had breakfast and our morning devotion.  The kids went out for free time.  We gathered for lunch and after lunch we decided to have the kids break camp in preparation for the end of camp.  This proved to be a wise decision as the rain rolled in around 3pm.  The weather just kept throwing curve at us as the storm grew and showed no sign of letting up.  All the kids gathered with Michelle in the down and they played board games and did crafts.  I tore down and started loading our stuff for our evening departure. Around 5pm Pastor Rueben and I met and decided that pizza at the dome would be our best choice for our evening meal.  We would also hold our closing ceremonies there.  We did get a break in the rain as we assembled for closing ceremonies.

 

Everyone is ready to close.

 

 

Outstanding Camper, Tyler Cody.

 

Tyler was awesome in helping us this year.  He was there every time we needed assistance without anyone asking him. Thank you Tyler!

 

The Mountain Movers!

 

Although we faced many mountains during camp it was very successful.  I must add that it was also very exhausting.  We are already looking at what we need to do to make next years camp even better.  Thanks to everyone that was involved and to all our great kids.  They are our future!