this is camp

it's what we do.

objectives/themes

perhaps one of my favorite parts of being on staff at a camp is the orientation week.

it's a time where we (the four of us) come together and spend time dissecting and analyzing every aspect of what we do. questions surface like.....

• how do we help the campers/counselors to build relationships?
• how do we enable campers/counselors to experience the Gospel?
• how do we encourage the campers/counselors to enjoy life?
• how do we ensure that every camper/counselor feels loved?
• how can we engage the campers/counselors in taking ownership of a curriculum/program that we have (in a sense) created?

i love doing this.......to an extent, we are ensuring that every moment of each day at camp is filled with purpose. we analyze creative ways to wake the campers up in the morning.....or to grab their attention at moments of critical instruction. we discuss the powerful impact of the most simplistic gestures.......and we laugh hysterically on a regular basis at some of our ridiculous ideas.

i'm excited to see what God does with this program........and i pray that we don't get in the way

i forgot....

i'm taking a brief hiatus from israel for the next four weeks to focus a little more on camp. our final project does not need to be completed until august, so there are more pressing events with which to concern myself at the moment.

and besides.....i forgot how much i love camp....
......and how much there is to discuss


yesterday evening began our orientation week. woot! ......and due to a couple unanticipated events our original team of six has been reduced to four returning staff from last year, and our originally scheduled one week of orientation has doubled into two weeks. thus, we get to hash out a lot more brainstorming/creativity/absurdity together......and even complete a few work projects around camp. it's a good time.

but if i may be so bold as to use this space to promote "logging camp" at big bear lake to any out there still reading this blog......we have some recent developments:

our numbers are low, and so we are still accepting campers and/or counselors who are willing and eager to come up (or down) to big bear for a week at camp. we're offering a week of camp at half-price.....and even that is negotiable for those who cannot afford the expense.

so please......if you know of anyone from the age of 3rd grade to a senior in high school who would like to come to camp during the week of july 27th or the week of august 9th, visit pccci's website and make a phone call. we just want to get campers here so we can share the Gospel story, and let them enjoy life, freedom, and community for a week.

and if you don't know any interested campers, please pray for us in the next couple weeks as we do promotional spots and seek out campers who are interested and available.

pictures are available!

at last......i've posted pictures from israel to my facebook profile

for now, here's the public links to see all 300 pictures

sorry for the wait.....and the massive amount

• inspiration 1
• inspiration 2
• inspiration 3
• inspiration 4
• inspiration 5
  

i'm back

and there's at least one item that i can check off the list.....

woo hoo!



so, i'm officially back.....in hanford......sitting in my room......on my bed.

it's rather surreal to be honest. the plane landed sunday, (monday morning if you account for jetlag) my brother drove me home monday, and on tuesday we were down at church and working on vbs decorations. wednesday i was even greeted with a hearty helping of church family at our wednesday night meal and fellowship time.

it's been a busy schedule, yes. but i am enjoying myself. vbs has a very personal hold on my heartstrings.

but back to digesting israel....

• "how was your trip?"
  
• "are you glad to be back?"
• "are you glad you went?"

it's funny to expect these questions for so long and still have no straight answer for them. yes, i'm very glad to be home and with my family. this trip has widely opened the lines of communication with some of my closest brothers and sisters..........but i do miss israel.

silly.....isn't it?......i was there for less than a month.......less than 0.3984% of my total lifetime (1 out of 251 months) and i want to go back?! one sister described it better than i ever could:

you've only just touched the tip of the iceberg. and you know that there's so much more to experience beneath surface. you want to go back because you want to learn so much more than you could in these three weeks.

it's true. i've had barely a taste and now i want the full meal. but i am not in israel for a while. i need to be present here.....and i want to be. i want to share my experience with anyone who will listen. but be warned......i can tell if you are genuniely interested or not. we don't have to talk about israel next time we meet if you are uninterested. i'd love to hear about your last month as well.

as a final parting thought. just because i am back from "the holy land," does not imply the end of this blog. i will hopefully acquire permission to use this blog as a final project for the israel course....meaning pictures and explainations of sights and sounds will be coming shortly.

also, summer camp at big bear lake and rancho la sherpa begins on july 12th, so i hope to continue blogging about that as time permits.

dialogue with you more soon! thanks for staying engaged!