PYOC Summer Camp Out

I find that I often have a "Go big or go home" mentality when it comes to ministry or event planning. So I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that the very first time I go camping, it's because I'm planning a trip for about thirty people, twenty of whom are teenagers! The students in our youth group have been clamoring for an overnight event this summer. So we decided to hold a summer camp out at base beach on Friday night. We rented a small two room cabin, and planned to pitch a bunch of tents around it. The kids could spend the daylight hours playing out on the lake, and we could have fun around the camp fire at night. It took a lot of work planning this thing - but we knew that if everything worked out, it would be a very memorable and worthwhile investment. Especially since these teenagers have so little to do here in Misawa.

Planning something like this in Misawa during the summer is always risky because the weather is so unpredictable. And sure enough, we woke up on Friday morning to gray skies and rain. Weather.com said there was an 80% chance of rain through the evening as well. But we had just learned the previous week that God can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. So we all prayed desperately for good enough weather to hold the camping trip. And sure enough, about an hour before it was time to head down there, the precipitation relented and we had perfect conditions for our water activities! God is SO good.

I don't think the kids could have had any more fun if they tried. We rented a motor boat so they could go out tubing and wake boarding. We also rented canoes and paddle boats. So for three hours on Friday afternoon, and two on Saturday morning, they were all out in the water - splashing around and having a great time. It was so fun watching them through the zoom lens of my camera!

After dark, we pitched our tents, ate dinner, and the split up between guys and girls for a short devotional. Since we have been studying the great stories in the Old Testament this summer, we chose two people we thought would be particularly inspiring to our guys and gals. The boys studied Joseph, and learned about trusting God and persevering in your faith through trials. The girls studied Ruth and learned about loyal love.

Once the serious part of the evening was over, we regrouped around the fire and played games and roasted treats in the flames. Of course, there were the traditional s'mores. But we also roasted Twinkies and learned that s'mores are way more tasty when made with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! I had fun getting to know some of the students and leaders better during this down-time. A couple of my new friends named Josh and Kristin came out and volunteered for the weekend so it was fun spending more time with them as well!

Around midnight we finally started trying to separate the girls and boys into their tents for the night. That did not go over very well as they were hyped up on sugar and caffine and wanted to spend precious time with their friends. But we as church leaders felt strongly about encouraging good boundaries so we stood firm. Anyway, the sun was up at 4 am, which meant we were all up bright and early and had PLENTY of time to hang out before parents came at 10 am.

In addition to boating and swimming, we filled up a bunch of water balloons and let them have a water fight in the morning. I'm sure it felt good, as the weather was stifling hot that day. I think we all left with sun burns and bug bites galore. But it doesn't even matter because we had so much fun!