Youth Camp 2007

Ha! I'm sitting in the computer lab at school, waiting for inspiration to finish my paper. But I thought I'd be the "first" to blog about YC07, since that was probably the biggest event this summer. [Edit: This post actually took me 6 weeks to write.]

This year was the best year ever.

I was a team leader again this summer. This year was my 10th year at camp, and my 3rd as a team leader. I was also the oldest team leader, which was weird. This amazing guy was my co-team leader. Our team was called (oh-so-appropriately) "Spaced Out," and included this Camper Of The Year. I've got a ton of pictures on my computer, so I'm going to invent a term and "photo-blog" my way through camp. My apologies to those whose photos I used, but haven't credited. I'm sorry! (Jason, I do not have a team picture. I have hundreds of YC07 pics on my hard drive, and none of them are of the team!)

I love camp!
(my bro Matt)

Jason was an amazing guy (did I say that already?) to co-lead with. Thanks, Jason!








This is the best picture of YC07, or of Monster Volleyball--EVER. Kudos to Mike for taking it.

Monster Volleyball.

Increasing the contrast
made the net look so cool!

Um, girls...Are you aware of your surroundings? Yeah, there's a camera and all...but watch out!










The strategy game was called "YC Amoeba," and involved running while holding hands with those in your group (the number of people grew at every station). This was near the end, and right before the hardest station--the picnic table carry.





This guy's job was to yell in our faces until we laughed or 30 seconds elapsed.

It was hard!

One of the stations was to run through a gauntlet of noodles swung by the players of Noodle Sockey. It was the best station...to swing noodles in :-P

Games were amazing.
Our team did very well in most of them, and I enjoyed them heartily.

Dan, being awesome. I did this, too, and right after shaking the water out of my hair, Mr. Tumino approached me and said, "you know, Shannon, only a guy would do that." I was appalled. Lane immediately started to tease me about it, and the phrase "only a boy would do that" became a regular part of my interaction with her. (Thankfully, she retired it recently :-P)








Mike H. served as the "Water Nazi" by forcing people to drink and spraying them with water.










This kid is dear to my heart, and an incredible blessing to many.

(this is me feeing important, whereas the picture itself has very little importance here)

The skits were amazing. Ours was good (in everyone's opinions but the judges), though it cost us first place overall at camp. We were in first until skits were scored, and our skit came in last. So we got second place overall. Downer. But good for the pride :-P



Steve shaved his head for our skit
and played the role of Old John

Mr. Pierson counsels a
young Johnny B (er, Nick)

Here's a video of one of the best skits:





















I love the focus that YC has on the parent<-->teen interaction. It's so, so, so important, and it doesn't get emphasized or encouraged enough. Many parents participate by being referees (like Mr. C here) and get the chance to influence their children and others'.


This is a girl who was on my team with her father and brother (yes, I remember her name, silly, but I don't know if she'd want me to publish it).




The reason why camp was so good this year was simply because God was there. During one evening, Jess M and I were sitting at the front of the meeting hall, hugging and laughing and sniffing away tears of joy. "God, thank you that you are so present! Thank you that our pastors don't know what to do next because you have completely taken over this meeting!" Several people got saved, relationships were mended, and a general sense of impending joy proliferated.

There was one point where Dave T had finished praying for a friend and was walking around looking as if his face would burst with joy. I asked, "Good time of prayer?" and he laughed--a belly laugh. He never answered with words, it was just a laugh! And yet, I knew exactly what he meant. He left the building because he couldn't stop laughing and didn't want to disturb everyone else.

Oh, man. It was amazing. I get goosebumps still, just thinking about it.

Lane, thanks for letting me share your time with God on the second night. I hope you benefitted by it, because it was a defining moment for me.

Ahhh, so delicious.

How was camp possible? These guys! And Katie C.
And so many more people.
But John spearheaded the whole thing, and for that I am grateful.

"Check out our whiteness!"

"No, Mike, we're trying to show off our muscles!"

"Oh..."