I was going to title this thread 'Happy Campers' but I thought then people might talk about all kinds of camps, and thats ok, but I am really wanting to know more about church camps.
Have you been on any, what do you like (or don't like) about them. Have you helped organise one? Do you go every year?
Does everyone sing grace together and what activities do you do.
Do you stay in cabins or pitch tents or both? What are favourite games to play and foods to eat. How do you get to sleep?
Have you made life-long friends at church camps or do you only ever see them at church. Is it just your denomination or can any Christian go to them? Does it cost to go, and how do you get there. How long do you stay for?
If someone hasn't been before or didn't know anyone would you encourage them to go and be your buddy?
I went to a Lutheran summer camp (it lasted a week,) around the ages of 10, 11, and 12. I don't remember what the cost was. My best friend and I were just amazed we talked our parents into paying for it and driving the couple of hours it took to drop us off and pick us up.
We stayed in cabins and did all the things you mentioned -- singing, games, crafts, swimming, bonfires, Bible lessons. It was freezing in the morning and hot during the day, so the temperatures weren't very comfortable. And I did not like having to use a community shower.
It was just for our denomination (WELS Lutheran) or those we had fellowship with (for example, I think we had fellowship with ELS but not MLS... it got very confusing.)
My favorite parts were mail call (I was always trying to get people to write me,) and Kangaroo Court, where the counselors made up funny skits about what had happened during the week (like a mock fire drill in which a counselor yelled "FIRE!!" -- and a group of girls proceeded to run INTO the cabin instead of outside.)
I have two counselors I've stayed in touch with all our lives -- I just saw one this past summer. I think she was 19 when we met and now she adult children and new grandkids.
There was also a very infamous counselor when I was there, Paul. He was very sweet and very good-looking -- it' was said during the rest of the summer, he was a lifeguard -- every female, young and old, had a crush on him.
My brother and I won a Simon Says contest he was leading (we learned that the secret was to look at the ground and listen to the instructions, but not look at person giving them so we wouldn't follow what they were doing,) and for some reason, after that, Paul was always especially kind to me.
He would invite me to sit at the Counselor's Table and choose me as a partner for games. It was never anything creepy -- just a very popular guy being nice to an awkward, misfit little girl.
About 25 years later, I found him on Facebook -- it was interesting to see him now as a grown dad-- an ordinary person instead of a childhood crush. He was still cute, but in a middle-aged man kind of way. I wrote him and told him how much his taking the time to be nice to me had meant when I was a kid.
He wrote back and told me he was proud of the person I had become. I had to laugh because I could tell he was really struggling with what to say to a now mid-30-something-me instead of the 10-year-old me I'm sure he still saw me as.
I learned from him that we never know how we might help or inspire someone.
I told God all my life that if it was His will, when I got older, I wanted to boost other young people's confidence the way Paul that had done for me.
I have a soft spot for underdogs I see myself in, and like my Lutheran camp counselors, hope I can be of some help to them.
