Teen 2 & 3 Review
The last two weeks of teen camp went great, and the Lord was working in several of the campers and staff as Mike Pelletier preached during Teen Week 2 and Dwight Smith finished the summer during Teen Week 3. Teen 3 was an exciting week as the Khusan pulled ahead in the competition for the victory during the week. Bring Home the Bananas was probably the best this week as the counselors joined their teams in a final round with Zulu bringing home the victory. Later that Friday the dunk contest became the main event as almost everybody joined in watching several guys and girls compete in the most amazing dunk extravaganza. With one of her campers riding the bike, Emily Kutz attempted a dunk from the pegs, but missed by a few inches. Next, followed Brad Harris, the winner of the contest with a sweet 360 slam from the side. Isaiah, Alex, and Chase pulled out some sweet air as they hopped over bicycles and benches with girls sitting on them. It was quite an event. After the service that evening, several campers made decisions to surrender their wills to serving the Lord and following the Spirit’s leading in their lives. The testimony campfire and singspiration was great as several campers shared the decisions they made while at camp.
These two weeks concluded our regular camping season, and we are already excited about several of the upcoming retreats, including Fall Festival (Sep. 20) and Truth Weekend (Oct. 10-11).
Week-in-Review Teen 1
Camp jumped into high gear with our first week of teen camp starting off with the introduction of our brand new Monday evening ACA, Kabila Moto (Swahili for “Tribal Fire”, in case you were wondering). Campers and counselors worked to build cabin unity as Zulu and Khusan raced to build the tribal fires at their respective huts. But that was only the beginning, as the week progressed with tons of fun activities, everything from the traditional favorites (blobbing, for instance) to brand new excitement with our Rally Time “Dark Continent Comedy Team” and everyone’s favorite, Homesick Camper. Of course, our African Adventure wouldn’t be complete without the biggest, best camp ACA ever, Bring Home the Bananas. (What makes this game so great? Come to camp to find out. ) But the highlight of our week was our special evangelist speaker, John Goetsch, Jr. With dozens of decisions made during the week, including over 12 salvation decisions, God was glorified during another successful week of camp.
Family Camp Update
32 families joined us this year for our annual family camp week, and we are having an exciting time. Monday Night we enjoyed fresh, Ice Cream Sundaes after the first evening service with Dr. Phelps. Tuesday brought a fun-filled day of fellowship, fresh watermelon, missionary time and activities followed by a challenging message from God’s Word by Dr. Phelps. After the service, Peter Wright entertained many families with “Family Fun Night” - a fun time of trivia and games for all. This morning, each of the families found their different classes, and the 4-11 year olds played kickball and heard a story about “Troy” while the teens met in the Rothe Lodge for an action-packed time with Peter Wright. The men enjoyed a session with the Dr. Phelps in the chapel while the women met in the dining hall. This afternoon, several campers will take a birds-eye view of the Chetek area as they go up for a flight with Mr. Wright in his airplane. The Lord has given us a great time already, and we are excited about the remaining days here in family camp.
Big Game Hunt & Battle on the Congo
Wednesday’s and Thursday’s ACA’s (All Camp Activity) were a blast. On Wednesday, the guys headed out to the back 40 for a trek through the woods in their “Big Game Hunt” while the girls headed down to the lake front for “Battle on the Congo”. ”Big Game Hunt” found the guys searching through the woods for “Big Game” (little discs). The Zulus won this exciting woods adventure. Today the girls went out to the woods for a round of “Big Game Hunt” and the Khusans found victory in collecting just a bit more game than the Zulus.
The girls enjoyed “Battle on the Congo” on Wednesday where the Khusans just beat out the Zulus. Today, the Khusan also defeated the Zulu guys in this exciting water adventure. The competition is close, but the Zulus have been consistent in verse memory and look like they will take the day, but there’s always Friday.
We are all headed over to supper now, and afterwards rally time is “Twin Night” where we all dress like somebody else. Chapel with Pastor John Davis afterwards is always fun as we learn exciting new things from God’s Word, and then put our memories to the test as we play a trivia game after chapel with questions from the message. Tonight, we have “Fabulous Fun Night” that everybody is excited about.
Tuesday
Today was an exciting day as we began the morning with cabin clean-up and then headed down to the lakefront for an illustrated message. After finding out our cabin clean-up scores at breakfast, we went out with our cabins for devotions where we read about the conversion of Paul in the book of Acts and then had our “Testing Tarantula” and “Game Time Gorilla”. Once the old chapel bell rang, we gathered for morning chapel, where we sang “the B-I-B-L-E”, “My God is a Righteous God”, and the Mixed Ensemble sang a song from Psalm 40. Pastor John Davis then preached a solid message from God’s Word. After chapel, we searched all over the camp ground during our morning ACA-All-Camp Activity, “Scavenger”. We went with our counselor finding the most random things and scored a whole bunch of points for finding pink papers hidden in trees. It was great. When the game finished, we returned to the chapel for the Missions Challenge. At the beginning, we learned a new song, “Jesu Cristo Mwokozi”, and then Ben Shore and his family shared their heart for Scotland and their desire to serve there in the near future.
My favorite part of the day came next - Lunch. Lunch is always exciting as we sat with our cabin and enjoyed waiting for “Mail Call”, but they never called my name. Maybe my siblings or my mom will go the Camp’s website and send me mail. Maybe tomorrow. We left the dining hall and went back to our old cabins for rest time, where our counselor allowed us to memorize verses to earn points for our team competition. Once rest time finished, we didn’t waste a second finding our way to a pontoon ride and then go-karts. After we got all muddy on the go-karts, we challenged a Zulu tribe cabin to human foosball - a favorite activity of mine - and we won 4-3. We then chased each other over to swim time, where we “blobbed” and had a great time swimming with friends. We cleaned up from swim time and then enjoyed a great supper of BBQ chicken, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy.
After supper, we put on the most crazy headgear we could find, and headed over to Rally Time to support our teams. Right now, the competition is pretty close between the Red Khusan and the Blue Zulus, but I think that the Zulus are slightly ahead. We went outside after Rally Time for our team meeting, and learned a couple of new cheers, and then because I said 15 verses, I got the official Zulu team button - I was pretty thrilled. Evening chapel next on the schedule. Here we sang several more songs that I enjoy, and then got a chance to solve the stick game that Pastor Randy plays each evening service, as well as one of the rope tricks he does. After the Robertson’s sang a special number, Pastor John Davis preached a message about Jesus Christ and His suffering for us because of His love to us. After chapel, we enjoyed canteen time, and then headed to our cabins for evening devotions and lights out. What an awesome day - I am tired and going to bed!
Junior Week 2
This week has been exciting with over 185 kids joining us for Junior Week 2. Monday began orientation and the great afternoon activities each camper always enjoys. Following supper, Rally Time began our theme for the week “African Adventure” - an epic adventure between the Blue Zulus and the Red Khusan - two African tribes in an adventure for victory. During chapel time, Pastor Randy began with the stick game and some rope tricks campers always love. Pastor John Davis is always a treat to listen to as he keeps campers and counselors alike on their toes with an exciting story of how God has worked in His life. Following the service, the canteen and Camp Grounds served cold soda and hot chocolate, along with favorite candy bars and slushies.
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