Kids Camp

For the first time in my life I spent a week at Kids Camp! Yes, I'm too old for Kids Camp, but I never had the opportunity as a child to go to summer camp. I had the privilege of participating in a week of camp for kids in 3rd through 6th grade as a counselor for six 6th grade girls.
We met at North Phoenix Baptist Church on Monday morning, got to know each other at the church, then boarded the bus at 2:00. We had an uneventful, peaceful ride up the hill to Prescott's Pine Summit Camp. We got settled into our cabin where I roomed with my six girls in one room with three bunk beds. Dinner...Worship...Camp Fire...Late Night...Lights Out...Asleep around 1:00 am (at the earliest). :)
Tuesday through Friday consisted of rising by 6:00 am, rousing my girls at 7:00, Leader Meeting, Rally Time (aerobic dancing), Bible Study, Recreation, Lunch, Seminars, Free Time (Taking kids hiking for me), Dinner, Team Time, Worship, Reflection in teams (our team included my six girls and five guys led by Ken Shoup), Camp Fire, Late Night, Lights Out, and falling asleep no earlier than 1:00 am. It was an intense schedule! The Worship times were amazing. Our Team Time's and Reflections were great, Ken was a wonderful spiritual leader for our team.
Each team had a color and a Biblical Prophet's name - we were Orange and Haggai. For recreation we played flag football, spud, mush-ball, and street hockey. Keep in mind that whatever the kids did, the adults did too! The seminars were led by our church's children's ministry staff - Karyn, Ann, and Ruth. Each spoke about spiritual disciplines. It was exciting to consider how to introduce spiritual disciplines to kids. I was also challenged to be more disciplined in my spiritual life. Three of my girls sang on the praise team during worship and one of the boys on our team participated in the drama team. His name was Daniel, which gave him the lead in our skits about the Daniel from the Bible. Each morning in Bible Study and each night in Worship we learned about Daniel, reading through chapters 1-9. Our pastor preached each night at camp, he really connects with the kids and still manages to challenge the adults too. Each night at the campfire (no, there wasn't really any fire, but we did sit around a fire pit) the teams did a skit (three teams each night). Team Haggai went on the first night, nerve-wracking! Late Night was high energy at 9:00 pm. The highlight was messy night where I had the privilege of covering my kids in mustard, ketchup, relish, chocolate syrup, and caramel syrup. Then we topped them off with marshmallows and animal crackers. It didn't stop until the leaders (me too) were covered in sauces too! I spent about an hour afterwards manning the bathrooms timing the girls in the showers. Each one got five minutes to get the mess off. :)
Tuesday night was cool because the 6th graders went to Thumb Butte at 10:00 pm for a night hike to the summit. We got back to camp around 12:30 (midnight). Thursday night the 6th graders were invited to camp out in tents on the soccer field. It was all fun and games until the sprinklers came on and soaked the tents, even collapsing one! :) So, back to our cabins for sleep after about an hour of trouble-shooting for dry bedding. Friday was also eventful as we were ready to head home. The bus company was confused and went to the church to pick us up. Our Late Night and Rec Staff created great fun for the kids for two-hours while we waited for the busses to drive up to Prescott. On the ride home one of the busses broke down, but luckily we had enough room on a couple of the other busses to get all the kids home safe-and-sound. So much fun!
All in all it was a great experience. I will treasure it always. I think it was great preparation in teamwork and flexibility for my trip to Zambia, Africa. Thanks Ann and Karyn for the experience!!