Camp today was a blast! Although it was a little rainy, we still had a lot of fun! Relationship and team building started early today at Merri-Mac with the typical 7am wake up call and morning chores, where every girl works together in the effort of cleaning the cabin. Every day, the girls compete for who did the best job in cabin clean up. Then, at breakfast, we enjoyed some English muffin sandwiches and hash-browns to fuel us for the morning.

After breakfast, our campers headed off to chapel where they spent time worshiping the Lord through both upbeat and peppy chapel songs as well as slower, more meaningful songs. We also listened a message by one of our Cloud 9 counselors, Kate Sansbury, who used a story to illustrate who we, as humans, are in God’s eyes. Tribal pep and enthusiasm is a staple aspect of camp, and we love to enforce that spirit through a daily tribe meeting that meet directly after chapel. At their tribe meetings, our oldest campers lead the rest of the camp in their tribe in songs and build tribal strategies.

Activities allow our campers to experience new things as well as offer them the opportunity to grow in areas they are already familiar. In activities today, campers did all sorts of things! Campers in canoeing played a game of canoeing basketball where they had to maneuver their canoes using team coordination to make a goal. Our backpacking classes learned how to filter water so they can replenish their water supply while camping.Our volleyball class worked on serves. In pottery, our younger campers made personal key chains and our older campers learned how to throw on the wheel! DIY was working on drawing landscapes and cooking was whipping up some delicious grilled cheeses. Cheerleading class worked on back tumbling skills such as back bends, back walkovers, and back handsprings. These are just a few of the many things the campers were learning in their activities today!

For lunch we had some delicious meatball subs accompanied by a crowd favorite; waffle fries!!! After lunch, the girls got to spend some quality quiet time before perhaps the most awaited part of the day, Trading Post! At Tray Po, our campers get to enjoy a snack and have some free time before our afternoon activities begin.

Our afternoon activities were so much fun and the campers worked up an appetite for dinner and desert. Dinner is an especially fun meal because every cabin/ cabin area gets to sing their own song to the rest of the camp!

After dinner, tribal spirit is at it’s peak for the tribal game! Today the tribal game is Tribal Trivia. The girls competed in teams of 10 girls to come up with answers to camp and Disney themed questions. After the game is over, our girls spend quality time with their cabin in either a fun post-evening activity like pickle ball, s’mores, or milkshakes or in devotions where we explore what was talked about in chapel more in depth. In devos, girls are encouraged to ask questions and spend intimate time with their peers and counselors discussing Jesus and learning and growing spiritually. Overall, today rocked!!!

Georgia Schutz – Dreams Begin Counselor