Hump Day

It’s hard to believe that camp is already past half over!

Religion class and devotion centered on God’s holiness. Isaiah 6 was the selected reading for the classes. Isaiah’s vision shows him having a hot coal pressed to his lips to purify him to be in God’s presence. The coal is a picture of Jesus’ death on the cross purifying us to prepare us for God’s presence in heaven.

Activities added some new and recycled ideas to the mix. Line dancing, yoga, street hockey, and hair braiding were all offered to all the grades.

Water balloon nightmare was the UTC today. Campers were all given water balloons and some of the younger campers were given shields and water guns. Teams competed to get hugeballs and tennis balls from the middle of an arena without getting wet. Counselors were given the task of spraying the competitors with water guns. There were a lot of big smiles at the end of the game.

Pool time, supper, canteen, music, and discussion groups went on as planned. The campers were given a chance to recharge during the nightly activity. It was movie night! After the movie, campers were sent to bed to continue recharging in preparation for another big day at camp tomorrow.

Continued prayers for God’s precious lambs are always needed and appreciated.

Manic Monday

It’s another manic Monday here at Summer Youth Camp 2015! After a brief calisthenics session, Monday opened with our first delicious breakfast at July Camp, prepared by our outstanding kitchen staff, Dave Rodebaugh, Desirae Naumann, Joe Lau, and Tracy Ohlmann.

This camp’s chaplain, seminary student Ben Libby, opened the day’s Bible lessons with a devotion focused on the contrast between the world’s view of love and the true love that God shows for us. Religion classes continued this theme of God’s perfect example of love on the cross. The theme, “Calibrated in Christ,” was especially appropriate in light of the extreme contrast in the world’s and God’s views of love. Even Christians need that time to recalibrate their viewpoint into the proper, Godly definition of love.

After religion classes, the first activity sessions included field games, arts and crafts, and “megacards.” Paracord survival bracelets, t-shirt bracelets, and marshmallow guns were a bit hit at arts and crafts.

Ultimate Team Competition was a challenge to get a balloon across the gym using only a pool noodle. Meanwhile, other teams’ players were stomping balloons, counselors were slowing them with fans, and other campers made it difficult to find a clear path across the playing floor. The eight teams were awarded points every time one of their members successfully crossed.

Pool time was a great way to beat the July heat for a time!

Music in the Academic Center was an uplifting session of praise. It’s always humbling to hear the Lord’s praises coming from so many voices.

Monday’s nightly activity, a camp favorite, and annual tradition was Bunco! It’s a dice game with partners that everyone can play at the same time. At the end of the night, the camper with the most winning games was awarded a prize from the canteen!

Campers were sent to bed to recharge for more fun tomorrow.

We thank the Lord for all the parents who have entrusted their children to our care and for the great weather and fun that we’ve had already this week!

Sunday Funday!!!

And we’re back! Opening day of Summer Youth Camp – July 2015 Session went off without a hitch. We were blessed with beautiful weather for our field and lawn games during registration. Lawn games consisted of slackline, croquet, and bocce ball. Field games offered kickball, capture the flag, and boundary ball. The gym was opened as registration drew to a close and casual games of basketball, volleyball bumping circles, and lines for games of lightning appeared.

A delicious supper was followed by some free time for the campers to spend some time with old friends and meet new friends. It’s always exciting to see the new and the familiar faces on the first day of camp.

Next was counselor introductions and the camp rules meeting followed with a campus tour to help acclimate the campers to the campus of Immanuel Lutheran.

After the tour, mixers offered the opportunity for the campers to get to know their fellow campers and their counselors. Mixer games included the cup challenge (stacking plastic cups to try to build the tallest tower), song scramble (finding the other campers with slips of paper that have lyrics from the same song as yours), adjective name game (choosing an alliterative adjective to describe yourself and remembering others’ names and adjectives), and camper bingo (finding campers and counselors that fill certain requirements, such as “find a left hander” and “find someone that lives in a different state than you”).

A root beer float snack helped everyone to cool off after a warm and busy day. After the snack, campers were sent back to their respective dorms for a meeting with their dorm parents.

Tomorrow will bring the first day of our religion lessons that all work off of the theme, “Calibrated in Christ.” Each day, devotion and religion classes will focus on a different attribute of God and the comfort that attribute brings us in our sanctified lives as children of God.

Prayers for good weather and another successful and blessed camp are greatly appreciated!

Taco Tuesday

Tuesday marks the second day of camp and the first day of pancakes!
This week’s theme for camp Bible lessons is “Calibrated in Christ.” Monday’s lesson focused on the the God of Love and the difference between God’s love for us and the love that humans have for one another. Today’s lesson focused on the God of Power. We were reminded that God is the all-powerful driving force throughout history, but man’s sin constantly tries to deviate from God’s plan. However, despite man’s sin, God used His power to execute His master plan for our forgiveness of sins.
UTC was “Water Balloon Nightmare.” The goal of the game was for the campers to collect as many miscellaneous items from a circle as possible without getting wet. Campers hurled water balloons at one another while counselors used water guns to keep sending the campers back to their starting point.
The nightly activity was a Youth Camp tradition: HUGEBALL!
The third annual hugeball tournament was again MCed by Pastor Matt Hanel. Hugeball is an adaptation of dodgeball with a few twists. Huge yoga balls are added to the regular game. The White Wolves took home first place in the double elimination tournament. A team of “ILC Legends” made up of campers’ parents participated against various all star teams. It was a blast May the God of Power continue to bless us all throughout the week!

Happy Birthday to Jenn, Sam, and Joel!

Hump Day!

Wednesday started with a bang: French toast sticks! Line dancing was a hoot and a half. Sand volleyball was a success. Dancing with Dr. Suess, a new activity, was filled with energy and fun. Music from Seussical the Musical is integrated into an interactive Dr. Seuss experience. Parking lot hockey was also added to the activities mix.

UTC was croquet catastrophe. The event was a relay with a kickball while other teams used assorted items (including marshmallow guns made in arts and crafts) to distract the players.

The high dive was the big attraction at the pool today. Counselors and campers alike were entertained. Gymnastics in the grass kept others busy throughout the swim time.

Supper gave way to an early session of “What’s in the Box?” Campers are invited to put their names into an entry box. Winners are drawn from the entries and the winners are asked to select between a prize and a mystery box. Yesterday an egg roulette competition selected one of the winners (see the video below). Today a Don’t Forget the Lyrics competition chose one of the winners.

Supper was worth the wait! The hamburgers were delicious.

Music in the Academic Center was great! The campers filled the room with songs of praise.

The nightly activity was a movie in the gym. Big Hero 6 was a hit.

The Bible theme was God of glory and holiness. Campers and staff were reminded how amazing it is to have a God that is all-powerful and able to rule us from above. May the same God of glory continue to smile upon us and all His children!

Katherine’s Mission

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A Vesper Service is held every year at Camp, and during that time we give the campers an opportunity to participate in an offering for a designated foreign mission. The foreign mission that Camp supported this year was Katherine’s Mission. The mission was started by Katherine Mayhew in 2011 with goal of helping to support orphans in East Africa. Katherine was a camper this year, and she was able to tell us about what her mission stands for and what the LORD has accomplished through this young lady so far.

“My dad, Pastor Nathanael Mayhew, serves our CLC congregations in East Africa as a part time foreign missionary, so I’m able to learn a lot about our African brothers and sisters in Christ. I wanted to do something to help share the message of Christ overseas, especially with the children. In the summer of 2011, I started Katherine’s Mission and began to knit and crochet items to sell to raise money for missions. I make dolls, dishcloths, winter hats and headbands, and all profits go directly to our schools in Africa. So far, by God’s grace, I have raised $2,500. That money has been used to send 68 students on a trip to a big city to learn more about life outside their small rural area, as well as to feed over 160 students and teachers for three months. I look forward to seeing what other opportunities God places before me in the future! To learn more about Katherine’s Mission, please visit my blog: fortheorphans.wordpress.com.”

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Take some time to check out her website and see everything that she has done. Thank you Katherine for all that you do, you are an inspiration to us all!

Photos & Video

Click here to see PHOTOS from Camp. We also have a YouTube Channel where you can check out more VIDEOS like this.

Feel free to tag Summer Youth Camp on any pictures that you upload to facebook so we can see them too!

FACEBOOK | PHOTOS | VIDEO

In Christ Alone

Campers, counselors and staff join together to sing His Praise and glorify His Name every day at Camp. And each day we are reminded of why we are here. Like our directors told us during our after-camp meeting, “Camp is a lot of work, but it’s not hard work and it’s not something that we dread.” We get to spend a week with these incredible young Christians, and it is the best and most important aspect of Camp. We do a lot of fun and crazy things during the week but this is why we do it. This is what makes it all worth it.

We want to thank everyone who helped out with Camp! Thank you for your donations, your thoughts and your prayers. Campers, thanks for being such a great group and thank you parents for letting us watch over and learn from your kids for a week. We couldn’t do it without you. So from the very bottom of our hearts,

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

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FRIDAY!!!!!

Friday is always a crazy day at camp. Since it’s the last day, we try to cram in as much fun as possible! Starting with an assortment of muffins for breakfast each camper fueled up for a full day of camp-greatness. After starting our morning with a chapel from Pastor Hanel, each class broke up for the last Religion Class of the week.

Their are no activity sessions on Friday, instead the morning is filled with our annual UTC Steeple Chase. It gets crazier every year! This year there were 10 challenges that each team had to accomplish. Every team divided up the tasks and each member performed at least one of the tasks. The baton (a stuffed animal) had to be carried by each member and passed along as they went. Each team is timed on how long it takes them to complete the entire Steeple Chase and it’s always a thrill to be on the winning team!

2013 UTC Steeple Chase

Waterslide: One camper will start at the top of the hill and slide down the slide picking up one noodle at a time and returning them one at a time. Camper will then run down to the top of the softball hill and hand off the baton.

Tower Destruction: One camper will set up a pre-designed fort out of boxes and the one at the top of the hill will then shoot tennis balls at the structure until the fort is adequately destroyed. Camper on the field will then run to the west entrance of the gym and hand off the baton.

Bobbing for Oranges: One camper will bob for 3 oranges in a bucket of TANG and then run up to the crossing of the path to Ingram and the girl’s dorm and hand off the baton.

Water Launcher: One camper will spray water at a counselor’s face until the bucket under his face is sufficiently filled. The camper will then run to the east entrance of the commons and hand off the baton.

Meatball Poop: One blindfolded camper will stand behind another camper and feed a pile of mystery meat and other stuff to the first camper. The first camper will then run to the west side of the gym and hand off the baton.

Foosball: One camper will shoot three yoga balls at the goal that is defended by a counselor. Each made goal will result in monster points. The camper will then run to the foyer of the boy’s dorm and will hand off the baton.
Camp Trivia: One camper will fill out five questions that pertain to stuff that happened around camp this year. The camper will then run to the bench at the top of the hill.

Minnow Mystery: One camper will reach each limb of his/her body into a 5 gallon bucket full of minnow’s and will remove the 4 marbles. The camper will then run to the outside of the east side of the gym and hand off the baton.

Frosted Frenzy: One camper will frost the face of another camper and will then throw m&m’s at the face of the other camper. When 5 m&m’s stick the frosted camper will run to the slackline area and hand off the baton.

Sumo Style Beatdown: One camper will enter the arena with jacked monster of a man named Ben Libby. Two shall enter and eventually two shall leave. The only question is how long Libby can last.

Everyone need a break after the extensive event, so we all headed in for lunch. Campers got to enjoy their favorite meals of the week again as we attacked those leftovers.

Swimsuits on. Sunscreen applied. POOL-TIME! Everyone enjoyed our last day at the pool and we held the ever-popular Gun Show. Noah Gamble and Lauren Sotnyk were crowned victoriously muscle-y.

Back to campus to clean up for supper (PIZZA!), music and to get ready for Entertainment Night.

Pastor Hanel hosted our Huuuuge Ball Tournament for the evening. Both parents and campers alike got a surprise when they were called down from the audience to show off their skills.

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We can’t forget Trophies and after the tournament was complete, Sam and Luke co-hosted the award ceremony. Everything from the Sunburn Award to the Stinkiest Feet Award was handed out to our campers. Some freezies to finish out the night then off to bed for our worn out campers.

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