Eleven 4-6th graders, 2 adults, oreos, 3 cases of Capri Suns, serious amounts of chips, chocolate, and Advil, and you’ve got the makings of an awesome weekend!! We set off Friday after school for Covenant Harbor Bible Camp in Lake Geneva, WI. The drive was SO much shorter than we’re used to, as well as the personalities of the kids involved.
Instead of talking about boys, the girls sang camp songs at the top of their lungs for an hour straight. Instead of just listening to their ipods or sleeping, the boys saw who could fart the loudest and gross out the girls the most. It was seriously awesome.
Upon arrival we were greeted and shown to our luxurious cabins. There was a Hawaiian theme for the weekend so we all received a flower necklace and a Hawaiian name as well. Mine was Pekikei-needless to say it didn’t stick. We had our first big group session with about 100 other kids, sang more camp songs, enjoyed some fun games and skits, and were introduced to our speakers, Paul and Lyna. They were ready to challenge us to put on the full armor of God this weekend!!
After a long day we headed to bed-the boys a bit later than the girls I might add-haha. The next morning we had a bit of a set-back as one of our campers had an upset belly-but he just got to sleep the morning away and felt ready to go for the afternoon activities. Meanwhile we had another big group session where we learned more about God’s armor and had some small group time afterwards to discuss their thoughts and feelings about needing God in their lives.
We had some super fun free time where we went tubing, ice-skating, the boys played some b-ball, a few of them braved the giant swing, and we all got pumped for the afternoon scavenger hunt. First we fueled up at lunch-and boy did we need it. We spent the next 2 hours running around camp finding suitcases filled with missing items that "Jenny" needed. Let me add that the entire camp is situated on an enormous hill. We must have run up and down it 20 times!!!!! I’m not gonna lie, I’m still sore today-ha! We won prize money that we got to spend at the camp store that night at our luau! We also had a blast making smores at an outdoor fire pit and having a HUGE snowball fight. After another big group session with more fun songs and teaching we cleaned up for dinner (I use the phrase "clean-up" very loosely for the boys). We chowed down on some delicious island food and got ready to party! The luau gave the kids a chance to spend their bucks from the afternoon, participate in a limbo contest, eat a TON of sugar-then run it all off in the big gym. My favorite part of the evening was when the kids were given an opportunity to think and pray about what it means to put on the full armor of God. They lit candles showing that they need to be the light to the world, they wrote praises on sticky-notes and stuck them to a breast-plate of righteousness, and they were even given the chance to be "knighted" for Jesus. Several of our kids felt they wanted to recommit their hearts to Him that evening. Sunday morning we packed up, not an easy task-lots of lonely socks, shopped at the camp store, and headed for home. What a wonderful time to get to know these amazing kids better, have tons of fun, and grow closer to our Lord! Pictures to come:)