Tween Camp is Full! (Monday)

MONDAY

Today breakfast was at 8:00 am for the nature activity campers because they were headed to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. I woke up early and helped corral the 4 boys and 2 girls who were headed out on the trip.

I had a little bowl of mini-wheats, but the campers had biscuits and gravy with tater tots and hard boiled eggs. If you haven't read any of my previous posts about breakfast here at camp, it's the meal that comes standard with all of the following menu choices: 8 different types of cold cereal, packaged oatmeal, four types of fruit juice, 2% milk, almond milk, rice milk, or soy milk, fruit, fruit cocktail, yogurt, granola, toast, bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, jelly, and everyone has to have at least a half cup of water.

I headed out to help the nature trip get safely away from camp before I headed to the Trailmaster activity to teach class for the first session. I really like to move around camp, and the hiking class is a great way for campers to experience the achievement that happens when you literally climb mountains. We had four students today, and all four of them completed the first test hike. It's not easy to walk in a straight line in the dust for an hour, so I was really proud when everyone finished before lunch.

As soon as the trail hikers were done, I ran over to mail center to see if they needed any help with camper mail, but they were already delivering it to the campers. There is a lot of camper mail this week, mostly because we have 160 campers at PSR Camp right now. The mail goes out at 12:40 pm every day, so even though it takes longer to pass out we do our best to make sure it all gets delivered.


Lunch today was something wonderful, I'm sure, but I skipped lunch to check in with our camp nurses, camp office staff, and went to collect a delivery of supplies for the camp. Every lunch period the cafeteria serves at least two entrees, a vegetable, and the following items: A starter salad (with romaine and iceberg lettuce) with 9 different vegetable toppings, two crunchy toppings, three salad dressings, cottage cheese, Jello, fresh fruit, peanut butter and jelly, three types of bread, soda, tea, milk, rice milk, almond milk, and soy milk, along with orange slice and dessert (I heard the entrée was vegetarian chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and the vegetable was broccoli. Yum.).

After lunch I spent my quiet period doing camp administrative work, but the campers generally take a short break before their afternoon activities. At 2:40 pm we had a fire drill, and counted everyone again before going to our afternoon rotations. This week is a bit different because everyone at camp has a morning class, and then they all do rotations in their cabins in the afternoon. I was going to take Instagram pictures during rotations, but I ended up calling parents instead regarding campers who wanted to switch activities.

On Monday of Tween Week, about 10 campers every summer want to switch activities. We do our best to contact parents and make it happen for everyone, but some of the activities are different prices, some are 100% full, sometimes we can't reach parents, and sometimes the parents don't want their campers to switch activities. We do our best to make everyone happy, but after tomorrow morning, we won't allow anyone else to switch activities so that we can prepare department awards by the end of the week.

Once I finished calling parents, I went to big event on the field which is a group game we play with everyone who's at camp. You can see the photos (above) were the campers started cheering and yelling for their cabin (or gender) to win each round. This week the campers were a bit more competitive than the previous two sessions, but they also tried to be fair. I saw a cabin call themselves 'out' but then laugh and join in the fun by cheering for another cabin that was still in. We had fun and no one got hurt, a really good thing!

Dinner was taco salad, along with all the toppings and a full salad bar. No soda for dinner this week, otherwise the rest of the menu is similar to lunch. I didn't really have too much time to sit down and enjoy dinner today, but because they create their own taco salad, dinner takes longer than usual.

We lowered the flag at 7:50 pm and Cabin Iroquois helped us bring it down from the flagpole tonight. The nature campers got back tonight around 8:40 pm while the rest of the campers were watching the first night of the Outpost play and everyone was in bed before 10 pm.

It was a bit warmer today than usual, so we took a few more breaks, put on a bit more sunscreen, and drank more water than normal. I hear it's going to be even warmer on Thursday, and the heat can really ruin a perfectly good day out in nature. If the forecast is correct, it's going to be really hot this coming weekend, so I hope you'll join us in praying that something changes and we get a good breeze or cloud cover.

Blessings,

-Jeremy

It's Time for Junior Camp #2 (Saturday)

SATURDAY

Breakfast Entrée: Breakfast Baskets (cinnamon rolls, cold cereal, juice, fruit, hard boiled eggs, etc...)
Lunch Entrée: Vegetarian scallops, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn.
Dinner Entrée: Build your own sandwich bar.

This is the final full day of camp for Junior #2, and it's really been a great week.

This morning after breakfast we all got to do the Sabbath AM activity, which is a bible quest that campers try to complete by traveling to different stations around camp. Its notable because it's pretty difficult to visit all the stations in the time allotted, so the campers have to really practice their decision-making skills and work together.

Today, I saw a few cabins having disagreements, but some of the groups were really pulling in the same direction. Since the counselor have done the bible quest twice already, they really take a back seat and let the campers make most of the decisions. Some of the counselor are really good at this, even though I know they really want to give the campers all the right answers.

Since we have a class system in the game, it's really interesting to see how the campers react to the different characters. One the biblical actors in the quest is a king, who treats the fishermen poorly, treats the scribes better, but treats the roman soldiers best out of all the camper groups. Some of the camper groups who are fishermen react very negatively to the king, because he treats them bad. They usually leave that station without getting anything from the character. Other groups of fishermen show the king respect, and then the king gives them what they need. In many ways a lot of the campers get to make choices and then live with the consequences in an environment where ultimately their potential losses are short-term.

After the game the groups talk about their choices and they really get to listen to each other talk about the decisions they made. Some groups are more successful than others, and a one or two groups talk even get to talk about their failures.

This activity is probably my favorite one of the summer, and I'm glad we get to do it on the best day of camp.

After the quest is the mail call, lunch, and then some rest time before church. If it sounds like I'm really breezing through the day, it's because the camp administrators have been hard at work getting ready for the next session. We have 160 campers arriving tomorrow, trips going out every day, and staff leaving and arriving to supplement the activity roster next week. I have to admit, I missed most of the afternoon but everything went really well according the team of leaders we have who plan all of the camp activities.

In the afternoon the campers rotate through four stations that are tied to the next theme year, which we're calling our 'Belong' session. At one stations they write affirmations to the other kids in their cabin, at another they cut out hands from foam and post them on the cafeteria wall, for the third station the campers do a 'fish fan' and direct wayward paper fish into the school they belong to, and finally at the fourth station the campers write a letter to their future self.

Once the rotations are finished we have dinner, vespers, and they we have a program of silly skits, games, and presentations. Once that's all over we send the campers to pack and get ready to leave on Sunday.

It was a good session, some of the campers are a little sunburned, a little chapped, a little dry, but This group really had a lot of fun. We hope to see all of you again next summer!

Blessings,

-Jeremy

It's Time for Junior Camp #2 (Thursday/Friday)

THURSDAY

Most parents on Sunday thank me for writing the blogposts, but one parent told me (very nicely, I would add) that the blog was the most 'sanitized' story of what was happening at camp. I suppose that's true, but I did want to shatter that image today by telling all of our readers that we expelled a camper on Thursday night for being a bully.

Now, I imagine that some parents would be happy to hear that news while others would probably be worried about the camper who went home. It's not easy to send someone home from a Christian Camp because the message Christ gave us was based on acceptance and love. Every time I have to send a camper home because of our zero tolerance policy, I feel like we've failed the child in some way by not being able to guide them towards better choices.

I really believe that their has to be accountability and that camp as an institution shouldn't ruin the entire session for a cabin when one camper is really making everyone very uncomfortable and causing trouble. When we have an odd camper in a cabin or a camper who is difficult; we don't kick them out for just being different. Children are going to meet odd and difficult people during their lives, and learning to get along with those kids of people is an important life skill. However, if the campers feel unsafe or bullied by another camper, we just can't tolerate that kind of behavior.

If you're worried about the camper who was expelled, then we have something in common. Children who are bullies are often bullied themselves and I never know what kind of home life I am sending them back to when they leave camp. Parents whose campers are bullies generally have two reactions to their child being expelled from camp: 1) My child would never be a bully, or 2) Yep, my kid has bullied kids in the past and I'm so sorry. Both reactions make sense to me, even though I'm not a parent. I just hope that the camper remembers their time at camp in a positive way and that they will have the opportunity to make better choices in the future.

FRIDAY

After we drove the camper home, I went on some much needed time off. The biggest things I missed here at camp on Friday were Super Big Event (3:10 - 5:30 pm) & Pageant (8:00 - 9:30 pm). Pageant is our Friday night program and it's geared towards helping camper decide to become followers of Christ, some of them for the first time.

I don't like missing Pageant, but I heard it went very well. When I got back to camp, everything was running of schedule and we were able to give the staff a nice snack.

Otherwise I will have another update for you tomorrow.

Happy Sabbath,

-Jeremy

It's Time for Junior Camp #2 (Wednesday)

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast Entrée: Pancakes & Vegetarian Patties  

Every breakfast comes standard with 8 different types of cold cereal, packaged oatmeal, four types of fruit juice, 2% milk, almond milk, rice milk, or soy milk, fruit, fruit cocktail, yogurt, granola, toast, bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, jelly, and everyone has to have at least a half cup of water. In addition to entrée, we also served sliced fruit, tater tots, ketchup, salsa, and various other toppings associated with breakfast.

Lunch Entrée: Pasta Bar, Breadsticks, & Mixed Vegetables (steamed)
Lunch also includes a starter salad (with romaine and iceberg lettuce) with 9 different vegetable toppings, two crunchy toppings, three salad dressings, cottage cheese, Jello, fresh fruit, peanut butter and jelly, three types of bread, soda, tea, milk, rice milk, almond milk, and soy milk, along with orange slice and dessert.

Dinner Entrée: Hot dogs with assorted toppings and beans

Dinner comes with everything listed for lunch, minus soda.

The standout event of today involved a bird, a cabin of boys, and our daily flag lowering ceremony. It was very inexplicable, but I will get into the details a bit later.

Today it was a really pleasant day at camp, a bit hotter than yesterday but the weather held up and we drank a little more water and took a few extra breaks to cool down in the shade. We have a shade policy here at camp that mirrors the labor code laws in California for our staff; so our employees always invite the campers to stay in the shadow of a tree or building for at least ten minutes per hour. Shade breaks are the perfect time to refill our water bottles and put on sunscreen.

I mentioned in a previous post that we have three sunscreen breaks between 7 am and 1 pm, but we also have two sunscreen breaks in the afternoon between 2 pm and 6 pm (three afternoon sunscreen breaks if you're in the pool). Still, in spite of our efforts, I always spot a few reddened faces when I walk up the line during morning attendance and flag raising. It's a constant battle with the sun at times, but usually I feel like we're winning the war.

After flag raising Pastor John gave us a short devotional before our morning activities. Today I wasn't able to attend even one of the morning activities because I had meetings, but I kept my radio with me to listen for any important calls. At camp we have radios with allow us to communicate over the entire site and they're very useful in a pinch. You really never know what's going to happen any day and the radios allow us to reach the camp nurse, leadership team, maintenance personnel, or camp administrators at a moment's notice.

Tomorrow I've planned a visit to our camp photography class, so I should be able to give our readers an update on how that activity is doing. Photography class is full every week and the short film class is full next week. Overall, the media department is just one of those areas where technology and camp come together to create an activity that campers want to attend each summer.

After lunch (which was pasta bar: two types of pasta & two types of pasta sauce) we had some downtime at camp for store and rest period before the next activity rotation at 3:00 pm. Today I didn't have a hike, but we did have four campers at Pole Position in Murrieta for me to worry about until they arrived safely back at camp. Afternoon activity rotations really went off without a hitch, mostly because of all the planning that goes into creating the schedule.

After rotations we had Big Event (large group game of the field) which today was a game called 'Jedi Dodgeball.' I've played before but its a bit chaotic so I try to stand on the sidelines and help control balls and campers who are getting to into the game. It can be hard to remember that winning is nice, but it's never a good thing to hurt someone else because of a game.

We had a couple campers get a bit out of control, but for the majority of children they just had fun and when the game is over they talk about all of the different times they scored points or almost scored points. Campers and staff love a good theoretical conversation, and all of them seem to lead to the inexorable position that if they had just done one thing differently, the outcome would have landed more in their favor.

Even as an adult, I think along similar lines quite often.

After a nice dinner we lowered the flag. It was during flag lowering that a bird seemed to fall out of the sky near the line call area, flop around a bit, and then it stopped moving. All of the staff and most of the campers were looking out of the corner of their eyes at the plight of this sick or injured bird as it lay completely still on the ground.

One of the staff called for a shovel while the flag lowering continued, and we all tried to ignore it at that point, figuring that the worst had happened. When the flag was handed to me and the cabin finished their presentation, they started walking in the direction of the bird and when they came very close to it, the bird seemed to wake up and it flew away.

Everyone cheered. It was a good day at PSR Camp today.

Blessings,

-Jeremy

It's Time for Junior Camp #2 (Tuesday)

TUESDAY

"Does anyone want to quit?"

We were about 10% of the way up the trail this afternoon when the hiking group took their first water break and I turned around and asked everyone the question above. The campers looked around at each other for a moment before one of them raised her hand. Before I could say anything, another camper started talking. 

"It's okay, stay with us. Nothing bad is going to happen, everything here is made of plastic and the counselors aren't allowed to let you get hurt."

"Yeah," someone else chimed in. "It's a billboard over there."

"A billboard? What do you mean?" I asked. I thought it was a pretty good question, but the camper who made the comment giggled and then answered.

"That's not a real mountain, its like a billboard with a mountain painted on it."

The conversation quickly started to develop about all of the realities here at camp, and the campers all had ideas about what was real and what wasn't real. One camper told me that camp was like a reality show where no one could see the cameras. Another camper told me that the rocks had been superglued to the mountains by the first director of the camp many years ago. After a brief discussion, they all decided to keep walking up the trail to the top of the mountain.

     

It takes at least 30 minutes to hike to the top of the trail, and I wasn't sure if everyone was going to make it. I had about 5 campers who were very excited to hike up the mountain, and another 4 who seemed to be going along because they were signed up to do the activity. It was really interesting to see all of them interact and continue to challenge each other to continue every step of the way.

When we hike at camp, we have a few rules.

#1: If someone says stop, we all stop.

#2: We encourage everyone to finish, but you can quit at any time.

#3: Listen to the instructors &

#4: Hydrate frequently and apply sunscreen.

When we finally got to the top, we let all of the camper who wanted to sit on a rock that overlooks the entire camp. I personally get vertigo if I sit on the rock, and even being near it makes me uncomfortable, but all of the campers wanted to try it!

Before I continue, I want to say that sitting on the rock is perfectly safe, and the campers are never in any danger. Just as a precaution I stand next to them just in case someone gets dizzy or can't handle the view. I had one camper who wanted to sit all the way on the edge, but I asked her not too and she listened very well.

Overall, the hiking excursion at camp is a bit tough, but all the campers were able to do it and no one was injured. We show the campers how to hike, where they need to point their toes away from the trail and when they need walk carefully. After the hike was over we all refilled our water bottles and then I handed out the wristbands the campers earned by hiking the Stork Trail.

There's a lot of things you can buy in the store, but these trail wristbands aren't there. Each person who wears one earned it by completing the hike on the specific trail. The hiking is nice, but the conversations we have on the trail are really priceless.

Before I completely forget, here's the entrée list for today:

Breakfast: Build your own breakfast burrito.
Lunch: Enchiladas, refried beans, and rice.
Dinner: Eggplant Parmesan, breadsticks, & peas.

For a full list of what usually comes with each meal, please see the Sunday/Monday post from yesterday.

Today, we also had a group of five campers visit Wet 'N Wild in Palm Springs. I know they had Subway for lunch and that they had a lot of fun. I talked to the boys when they came back, and they told me that the waterpark wasn't crowded and they got to go on all the rides they wanted to try.

Both the hiking trip and the waterpark trip are part of our new Day Trip excursions from PSR Camp that we're offering for the first time to campers. Tomorrow we have thee boys going to Pole Position in Murrieta and we have a group of nine campers going to Lake Hemet Waterpark on Thursday.

It's going to be a busy week here at camp, so I'll make sure to write a post about base camp tomorrow. Today everything went the same as yesterday, with the campers switching rotations, playing games, eating three times, and going to evening program. Camp is very predictable for the first three days, so the campers get comfortable following the set schedule.

Blessings,

-Jeremy

It's Time for Junior Camp #2 (Sunday/Monday)

SUNDAY/MONDAY

I love to see all of the campers and parents who are returning to camp this year for the second, third, or fourth time. It's nice to meet all of our new parents as well, but I get excited every time I see a familiar face during the summer.

Every Sunday it's the exact same dinner menu, griller patties with all of the items you'd expect to find in a vegetarian cheeseburger. We have a full salad bar with every lunch and dinner, and PSR Camp is pretty serious about color on the plates of our campers and I'm not just talking about the green Jello. This week we have about 111 hungry campers and 90 hungry staff which equals planning meals for about 200 people each day. When you multiply by three, the cafeteria is producing over 300 meals a day for about 6.67 days this session.

It's also a lot of dishes, pots, and pans to clean!

After dinner we send the campers to retrieve their jackets and then it's off to the evening program. We used to call them 'campfire programs' but we're not allowed to have fires anymore. The campers sing silly songs, see a silly play, and watch some silly videos. Camp can be a really silly place sometimes and we think laughter and smiles are the best way to start each week.

The next morning we're up at 7:00 am (some of the girls wake up earlier, but I've never been around to witness that) and then we start to clean ourselves in the showers and the cabin for inspection. Every night from 10 pm until 7:00 am their are two adults in each cabin to prevent instances of bullying or to make sure that someone can be with the campers if they have to visit the bathrooms in the middle of the night.

We can think of dozens of reasons to have two counselor with them at night, but its for the reasons we can think of that makes this camp policy so necessary.

The entrée for breakfast today was biscuits and gravy. Every breakfast comes standard with 8 different types of cold cereal, packaged oatmeal, four types of fruit juice, 2% milk, almond milk, rice milk, or soy milk, fruit, fruit cocktail, yogurt, granola, toast, bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, jelly, and everyone has to have at least a half cup of water. In addition to entrée, we also served sliced fruit, tater tots, ketchup, salsa, and various other toppings associated with breakfast.

Campers aren't required to eat everything on the menu, but our goal is to provide a wide variety of options for campers and staff to choose from for each meal time. Plus, at camp the food has to be excellent because we have to compete with all of the wonderful things you provide for your children at home every day.

After breakfast the South Village ladies raise the flag and then at 9:39 am we apply sunscreen to all the exposed areas of our skin. This the second application of sunscreen, the first takes place in the morning before breakfast and the third application takes place during rotations or morning classes. Sunscreen is important but the first and best line of protection against the sun is shirt sleeves and pants! Some of the campers get to much sun and it's a constant battle against the sun that includes the routine application of sunscreen and having the right clothes for your particular camper.

After "Sunscreen Time" we send the campers to morning worship. Each camp council worship consists of singing songs, listening to a short devotional from our camp pastor, a skit, a nature presentation, prayer, and our scripture lesson for the day. Camp Council used to be my least favorite camp program, but I think every year it gets a bit better. This summer our theme is 'Connect' and so far all of our camp pastors have been able to tie the scripture (Philippians 2:13) to the lesson of the day.

Worship ends around 10:30 am, and then the campers are off to their activities. Some campers choose to take the same class every morning for two hours and some campers sign up to rotate through activities in the morning. This morning I looked in our photography class for a few minutes before our administrative camp meetings and I also walked by the camp pool and I could hear the girls splashing around and using the diving board. One young lady told us that she didn't know how to swim so we sent her to a different activities (Arts and Crafts & Archery) so she wouldn't have to miss out on an entire activity period sitting by the pool.

Two hours of activities usually makes the campers really hungry, so we get them all together at 12:40 pm for mail call. The amount of mail is highest for the first week, but still pretty high for the junior weeks at camp. The gymnastics department did a short skit to introduce mail call, and then it took about 20 staff almost 5 minutes to pass out the emails, packages, and notes from parents.

Lunch begins right after mail call prayer, and today the entrée for lunch was Frito casserole. Just like breakfast, at lunch you can expect a few things every period: A starter salad (with romaine and iceberg lettuce) with 9 different vegetable toppings, two crunchy toppings, three salad dressings, cottage cheese, Jello, fresh fruit, peanut butter and jelly, three types of bread, soda, tea, milk, rice milk, almond milk, and soy milk, along with orange slice and dessert.

Once you've selected your options (being careful to construct a colorful plate) and eaten your lunch (hopefully all of it) it's time for a break! Our staff like to spend a bit of time resting while the campers either rest, go for a hike, or visit the camp store. The camp store is a really popular option after lunch, but usually their are some pre-conditions to a store visit. The campers should expect to be on their best behavior before and after visiting the camp store. We're really lucky because last week and this week most of the campers have really good manners and are very polite. I heard a lot of 'please' and 'thank you' during Junior #1 and I'm hoping Junior campers this week will continue the trend.  

Rest period ends at 2:50 pm, and then the campers gather to dismiss to afternoon rotations. Unlike the mornings, afternoon rotations are done by cabin instead of by activity, so it's a great chance for everyone in the cabin to be together and build some shared memories. I spent some time at Archery with Nez Perce and checked in on the Nature Center class where they were making some kind of blue goo. I was asking a few of the campers what their favorite things at camp was and the boys in Nez Perce all told me that they loved the go-karts. In this age group (10-12) they're finally old enough to drive the go-karts and they all really enjoy it.

After PM activities it's time to get some Ultimate Cabin points by playing a large group game on the field. Today's game was a tournament of champions where campers try to tag the other campers with soft dodgeballs or pool noodles. It's a pretty fun game and the campers were mostly able to police themselves in determining who was out and who won each round of the challenge. The cabin with the most points at the end of the week wins a hat, but right now were focusing on the fun of each challenge and building each cabin into a team of friends.

It seems like we just ate, but at 6:10 PM it's time for dinner. Tonight the main entrée was a taco station where campers could construct their own tacos. Personally I smash two taco shells into chips and pile on whatever the protein options are (adding liberal amounts of cheese and sour cream), but these children carefully build the tacos they'd like to take back to their tables with them to show to their friends and counselors. We still have all of the standard lunch options (salad bar, cottage cheese, fresh fruit, etc...) and the only thing that's really missing is the soda. For dinner we concentrate on water and milk(s) only.

There's a bit of free time after dinner, today we used some of the time to have a fire drill and lower the camp flag before heading to the evening outpost. This summer the Outpost Play centers around a mystery involving a man who is possibly about to be convicted of a crime he says he didn't commit and a lawyer who's trying to find out if he's innocent or guilty. Along the way we find out the truth and then its a rush to figure out how to make sure that justice prevails for all involved.

I know that was a really vague description, but the function of the 3-part (Mon, Tues, Wed night) outpost play is to give children a window of understanding into the decisions adults make every day and then they get to see the consequences of those choice play out. I really enjoy talking to campers about what they think is going on in the play, and how they agree or disagree with the choices of the characters.

As an added bonus, the characters are staff members here at camp and the campers also get to talk to them about the play and the cast.

Right now its about 1:06 am in the morning on Tuesday, and we've just finished cleaning the village bathrooms for the third time today. A big thank you to the cleaning crew this week! We're really just practicing for next week when their will be over 160 children here at camp (compared to 111 this week).

I hope you enjoyed this play-by-play of the past two days; we really having a lot of fun already this week and probably eating a bit to much good food. Don't forget to log-in to Ultracamp to see pictures! We've already post a few already from Sunday & Monday.

Blessings,

-Jeremy

Hello from Junior Camp #1! (Saturday)

SABBATH

Sabbath is my favorite day at camp and not just because we have the most well-behaved campers this week!

After a special breakfast tradition where the counselors have a picnic-style continental breakfast in the cabin, we all gather around the flagpoles at 10:30 am to start our day. For the morning we have a special program where campers get to go all over camp to accomplish different missions in a world that consists of Biblical characters. (See photos above)

Each cabin decorates their counselor to look like a Roman Soldier, Scribe, or Fisherman and then the characters from the Bible (scattered around camp) react to them in their different roles. It's a lot of fun and part of the challenge is that there is more to do in the activity than the children can do within the time limit. This means campers really need to prioritize, work together, and try to figure things out in short order.

I spent some time working with Mojave on the journey, and they were able to do about three of the challenges while I was hanging out with them. At 12:30 we were dismissed with just enough time to visit the bathroom, wash out hands, and get ready for lunch before the mail call bell rang. We managed to pass out all of the Saturday mail today, there's no mail left anywhere at camp to hand out for this session.  

Lunch today was vegetarian scallops, with mashed potatoes, gravy, bread, corn, salad bar, white or chocolate cake, fruit cocktail, jello, and there may have been whipped cream. Again, I always try to watch what I eat on Sabbath because the food can really make you feel sleepy, and I think we all did a good job making food choices today.

Church is at 3:00 pm, and its getting better each week. It was still a bit shorter than usual but I think the campers still enjoyed the songs, special music, skit, and sermon. We dismissed to our PM activity a bit early (again!) and it really was the highlight of the day for some of the campers.

From 4:00 - 5:00 pm the campers get to test drive the 2017 theme year materials. It's really fun and we get to see if our stuff for next year is of the same quality as our 2016 program. I don't want to post to much about our testing, but I am very optimistic right now about how our future plans will be an interactive and positive influence on our campers.

Dinner tonight was build your own sandwich, salad bar, chips, and watermelon. It's a pretty traditional meal here and it takes the children a bit longer than usual to eat dinner. I waited until dinner was almost over before I ate, and there was still plenty of food left over.  

After dinner was vespers, and then we had skits, camp songs, a video/slideshow presentation, and our final goodbyes. After program it's time to pack and then get ready for bed. It's been such a great week of camp and the campers have been very well-behaved. I knew it was going to be a good week for our camper from day one. They were probably the most mild-mannered and polite good I've ever had for a session of camp and I know we're going to miss them when camp starts all over again next week!

Blessings,

-Jeremy