Day Four Is a Day for Grads

 Today started with much like other days at camp.  First a hot breakfast, followed by Breakfast Club and then J-Zone.  In J-Zone we heard the account of Daniel, who was pulled for his homeland and taken to a foreign country.  Daniel, renamed Belteshazzar, was chosen to serve the king Nebuchadnezzar.  Daniel was singled out by his enemies for praying to God, rather than considering the king a God, as required by law.  Although this brings trouble for Daniel, in the end God recognizes his faithfulness and helps him persevere. 

Campers play King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel with a little coaching from Pastor Sue

Our campers can relate to Daniel's story, sometimes moving, possibly experiencing name changes, and experiencing being the "new kid" in class.  We learn that through it all, God will help us deal with our circumstances.  

After lunch we headed to the waterfront to ride the camp pontoon boat. This boat is new to our camp and the campers really enjoyed the experience.  The rest of the time was spent swimming and enjoying the beachfront.  

Camp pontoon boat

 On Thursdays, we celebrate our graduates.  Campers are considered graduates if they will reach the age limit for attending camp. Graduates receive a medal and a new Bible to take with them as they head into their next adventure.

Prayers for our graduates  

Ready for the traditional throw of caps in the air.

Graduations are an emotional time, knowing we might not see our graduates again.   

Wrapping up our evening was a time to reflect on what our fears might be and how we can replace those fears with hope.  Campers, buddies, and staff were encouraged to write their fears on a rock and throw the rock into camp pond as a symbol for releasing our fears and refocusing on hope. 

Camper and buddy toss their rocks with fears written on them in the pond

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 6-7.

Day Four- Frosty Morning Swim

It was a calm, cool, clear, morning for our polar bear swim. The glass like surface of the lake  was soon broken by the chop of our polar bear swimmers.  This early morning swim gave us a chance to to continue to bond with our campers.

Some of our very young campers were somewhat reluctant to dive into the icy cold water.  But they really want to make the swim and prove they were polar bear material. Their counselors dove in first and trod water encouraging them to make the dive. Each camper in turn slid into the water from the far dock and made their way to the beach. There was one story which, particularly plucked at our hear strings and was representative of our role here at camp.  One little camper want to claim the title of Polar Bear, but was nervous about making the swim.  Once he was in the water, he swam over to his counselor and clung to his shoulders as his counselor swan them both to shore.  The camper beam that he had made it to shore and met his goal of making Polar Bear.

 

 

Each counselor looks to support their camper in anything the camper wants to accomplish while at

camp. The support can happen in many ways, whether it’s an encouraging word, teaching a new skill or just being there when the camper wants to share something about their lives. After the swim and a warm shower came Activity Center time.  Archery is one of the activities in which the campers can participate.

 

We were excited to see that the host camp has built a new archery course. Archery instructor Lee did his usual stellar job of teaching archery skills to the new campers who have not had the chance to participate in the sport of archery as of yet, and had them hitting the bulls eye and the 3-D deer target in no time.

 

 

 As mentioned in yesterday’s post, this year’s play centers around a sheepfold and the trials and tribulations the sheep experience as they disobey the good shepherd and strike out on their own to discover new grass and what they perceive to be freedom. it’s not long before they meet a wolf, who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and find themselves in very dangerous situations.  Today we left off with the wolf luring one of the most rebellious rams into his den and now the ram finds he may be the main course for dinner rather than a guest for dinner as he first thought.  Tomorrow we learn if he ends up as the wolf’s next meal or if the Good Shepherd rescues him in time.

 

Tonight was both awards night and graduation night.  If you’ve been following our blog over the years, you may remember that each camper receives a unique award specifically chosen by their counselors for them.  For example, you might have an award for the the best zip line rider or the best dragonfly catcher. The sky’s the limit on both the creativity and categories for what can be chosen as the award.  Each camper beamed as he/she received his/her award.

We had five graduates this year.  A graduate is defined as a camper who will reach their twelfth birthday prior to the next camp.  Each graduate wears a mortarboard, receives a RFK medal, Bible and tee shirt which states they are a RFK graduate.  It’s always both exciting and sad to say goodbye to our grads.  We pray that God will watch over them as they journey on to the next chapter of their lives. 

Day Four- Skimming The Waves On A Speed Boat

 

The day started off briskly with our annual Polar Bear Swim.  The counselors started us off with the first heat of of the swim meet, followed by the boy and girl

campers, which made up the second and third heats.

To make Polar Bear status, the participants must swim from the far dock to the beach. If that sounds like it’s a little too much for 7:30 in the morning, there is the option to wade into the water at  knee height and the participants who accomplish this feat are awarded the Penguin status.  

Congratulations to this year’s Polar Bears and Penguins.

Face painting is always a favorite activity for the
campers and the counselors.  Many of these paintings have turned out with award winning quality.  It would not be unusual to see lions, tigers and bears walking about the camp as well as a few pirates and robots.

At the lakefront, the campers were treated to speedboat rides. the campers really enjoyed skimming across the surface of the lake with the wind flying through their hair.  When they weren’t on the speedboat, many campers spent time on the beach making sandcastles complete with water in the moats.

We held our graduation this evening. Our camps are for children in Foster Care between the ages of seven to eleven. The graduation is for those campers who will turn age twelve before the next camp.  We wish our graduating campers many blessings, a happy future and hope they have fond memories of the time they spent with us at camp.