Primary Week

Before we knew it Primary Camp was around the corner and the summer was coming to a close fast! This was by far our easiest and fastest week as the campers come Monday night and leave Thursday morning for this particular age group. I again had the opportunity to co-counsel a cabin with Nicole (one of our young ladies on staff for the summer) and we had five camper girls this time!  

 We were in the same cabin Angela and I counselled in the previous week! Here's the whole team in front of Captain Jones minus one of our campers whose family was staying at camp so she bunked with her family and was gone when we took this picture that afternoon.

The competition level came down quite a bit with this age group, but their enthusiasm and energy kept us on our toes!:) One of the best games played that week was Cat-In-The-Hat in which the story is read and everyone is given a character to be. When the character's name is read aloud in the story the campers had to run and find a new bucket to sit on and the last one standing loses. When the phrase "cat-in-the-hat" is read everyone must find a new bucket to sit on and it cannot be either of their neighbors buckets. It is a great game to practice listening skills and a lot of fun though there's often a few bruises discovered later, as buckets aren't the most cushy chairs...;)

We also played Dodge Ball and the campers really enjoyed the rounds where they got to play against their counselors! This is always a fun thing to watch, as the campers almost always pick off the counselors one by one. Amazing how well they can work together for such a cause.;)

Here we counselors are, Nicole, Jonathan, Jake, Daniel and I, attempting to beat the campers and although it came close a few times they always beat us! Most of us our dodging and hoping to get some ammunition here...;)

Water games were changed up a little bit and we played Newcomb with water balloons...

Peter and Missy had some fun with us counselors here...relay races filling up buckets with wet sponges! If you ever find yourself here, know that one thing is for certain-the water is always very cold no matter what it looks like outside!

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Playing Drip-Drip-Drop, in place of Duck-Duck-Goose.....

The carnival was held the last afternoon the campers would be there and was very much enjoyed by everyone! Here our team is rooting for our girls Tanya and Kylie....

Trying out the maze!

Daniel worked hard as a stretcher his last week and really enjoyed another week with fellow guy and girl stretchers helping around camp, attending sessions and gaining experience in camp ministry. Though I have posted little of this part of camp is was so very essential to everything running so smoothly, whether it was moving huge boulders to replacing toilet paper they were a huge help and blessing. If a person is interested in getting involved in ministry outside of their home, they have to learn that it starts with simple things like cleaning toilets or washing dishes. What the stretchers worked hard to accomplish during those past three weeks, we counselors and staff benefited from. Thank the Lord for young people who are willing to come and work behind the scenes and make it possible for camp to run! Even more incredible is realizing that even when they worked hard and no one thanked them or knew about it, it was pleasing to God and that is what ministry is all about.

Daniel Shamblin and I in the sponge throw.....AGAIN.

Emma and Angela keeping the mine jump exciting for the campers...

 Our last night we got to have s'mores at the fire ring on the girls side, which was a lot of fun. We enjoyed the yummy treats and sang lots of songs before hastily retreating to the cabin away from all the mosquitos to do our devotions!

What an incredible privilege we had this summer to be involved in this ministry seeing God's hand at work in the hearts and lives of those who came! It was super encouraging to see growth in the past campers as well as the new ones in ways I would have never imagined! God is faithful to work in hearts even after camp and even in the darkest of situations. Sometimes it can be hard to send a camper home after a special week with them and realize that they have to go back to a totally different setting for the rest of that year than they so enjoyed at camp. Seeing them again changed seeing how they have grown spiritually is such a comfort! God promises to keep those He has saved to the end and this is true no matter what the situation may be. With this in mind you do not know when God is working and how He will use one week or even just simple acts of love. Mr. Craven often reminded us during the summer and this is so true no matter what you find yourself doing for the Lord:" Ministry"  is nothing more than loving people, and loving them enough to give them the truth of God's  Word."

 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.   In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             1 John 4:7-11