Monday's evening activities include ice breakers and games in the chapel. This is a great way for the campers to get to know each other, and the staff to get to know the campers. We waste no time getting down to the nitty-gritty questions like "What's your favorite cereal," and "What's the last thing you do right before you go to bed." With questions like this, we can laugh and play and get the week started off in an energetic way.
Tuesday's are my personal favorite, because we bring out the popcorn and Camp's most interesting people during Carnival. After singing at Vesper Point concludes, the campers head down to the transformed hub for carnival games, face paint and fun. Staff come prepared with costumes for this wacky night, like the Bearded Lady, and the Strong Man. It's hilarious to interact with the campers as these fun alter-egos while carnival music is playing and you're trying to get your counselor soaking wet in "Soak the Sucker" booth. Everyone is a winner during Carnival, and leaves wanting more.
Wednesday is the most jam packed night we have in terms of evening activities. We start off the night with swimming and dinner outside for the Luau. We have pool floats, beach balls, and camp tattoos while we lounge and cool down in the pool. We eat BBQ and watermelon under the setting sun and continue to get to know the friends that we have made thus far. When we head to the chapel, do silly dances to silly songs, then we are met by a glowing fire and s'mores to finish off the night. Each of the staff members have their signature camp fire song that they lead the group in, each of them goofier and louder than the next. We usually close the night in a story, and send the exhausted campers to bed to rest up for their last full day at camp.
Thursday night is a really significant night for most of our campers here at Lookout. After dinner we send each Bible study group off to come up with a presentation, a skit or a song about something that they learned from the week. Some of these are silly, some are sentimental but all of them mean something extraordinary to our campers. After all the presentations are over, we are lead into a time of worship and communion. On clear nights, we light candles and walk silently to the Maynard worship center. We think about our walk with Christ in these moments. How our light may go out along our journey with him, but we have people near us who can relight our fire and help us along. This poignant imagery is crucial for young Christians to understand. They are never alone on their walk with Jesus, and they have a huge support system behind them, cheering them on. Each Bible study is served communion by their leaders and a time of dedication/re-dedication around the fire ends our night. We always end our week this way, in hopes of them seeing Christ throughout their week at camp and understanding what it's all about.
We're sad to see our campers go on Friday, but we send them off feeling reassured that they have a foundation of what it means to walk as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and what it means to be in the "Build Them Up Business".
That's All Folks!
The Carnival Clown