And We're Off!!

We started summer off with a smashingly great week! The weather was great (it only rained one night) and kids had a blast across the board.

We had 158 campers enrolled in camps this week - Internships, Pit Crew, Trail Blazers, Roughin' It Girls 1, and Charge 1 all ran at capacity this week. What a way to start summer!

Whether the kids were enjoying what we like to call "extreme colouring contests" out at Charge (paintball) or a relaxed, yet adventurous experience at our teepee site (Roughin' It Girls) - or maybe running around sleeping in cabins up here on our Base Camp...fun was had, ridiculous games were played, and Jesus was present.

Our Interns and Pit Crew are part of our discipleship campers where campers are learning how to be Camp Evergreen Staff. They work hard to clean facilities, serve the Base Camp kids, and learn about God in new and deeper ways.

There were moments this week when I had to sit back and laugh as Lendrum Lodge girls walked by with their hair all done up crazy on their way to breakfast. This is what we get to do for a job! It's so much fun and running around with the kids is amazing.

Mike and Joy Willms from Lethbridge, Alberta joined us as the speakers for Trail Blazers this week. A camper this week, when asked to explain what they were learning in chapel told me this: "Bam Bam and Pebbles (Mike and Joy) talked about how we're all like broken down shacks and how Jesus comes down and wants to make us new. That God can change us from the inside out and he doesn't just want to rebuild us but that he wants to turn us into a giant floating castle in the sky with a rainbow moat.". You may have to get a better explanation on that last part but it's clear that kids loved listening to Bam Bam and Pebbles this week in chapel.

At the end of each week - we have a campfire chapel where the kids get an opportunity to talk about what they learned - here's some of the things you would have heard at the campfire chapel last night:

- "I learned that God is with you wherever you go. Even if God says to do something crazy - you should always trust him."
- "I learned that when you're feeling down, God is always by your side. We can be strong and courageous anywhere."
- "I learned how to talk to God."
- "I learned that God works in mysterious ways and you just have to keep trusting him."

That's some pretty cool stuff if you ask me. We're looking forward to all of the new campers that are coming in just a few days. It's the second week of programs but as we always say here at camp...It's always the first for our kids! See you Sunday!