A day at camp was nice, a few days during Spring Break was great, but now it was time for a full week of camp! Chris, Caleb, Braeden, and I planned our summer vacation to spend a week at Ponderosa Bible Camp during elementary week. We stayed in the left side of the Duplex. A full size bed, bunk beds, and a pack & play filled the entire room. It was pretty crowded, but we were only sleeping there, thank goodness.
Elementary week was full of campers and we got our first experience eating in the dining hall. What fun!!! Adult/staff tables, kids' table, and campers' tables are lined up along each side with an aisle between them. Food is served family style with bowls held up to get refills. TEAM members scurried every which way refilling bowls, washing dishes, preparing food, and loving their time of service. Just as you finish eating, the chanting and singing begins, "Sing us a song Mr. Jeff, sing us a song. Sing us a song Mr. Jeff, sing us a song..." Delicious food and entertainment all wrapped up into one. The atmosphere and experience are just electrifying.
Eating at camp was just one experience. The schedule for each day included so many different activites and was just jam packed. Each cabin has a counselor, SALT member, TEAM member, and of course all the campers. Each week of camp a girls' cabin and a boys' cabin are paired up as a team for the competitions to accummulate points together. The days are filled with horseback riding, devotionals, arts & crafts, swimming, canoeing, archery, riflery, hiking, obstical courses, chapel games, water games, field games, Bible study, prayer, carpet ball, gym time, Snack Shack, and so much more. We went to missions time each day to hear from the missionary and every night included Chapel time. The counselors lead campers in praise and worship and the speaker would bring a message each night. What an incredible experience for those campers and us!
I attended several cabin time Bible study sessions to hear the lessons and discussions. It was amazing what theses young ladies were discussing in this time together. They were experiencing God in such a special, intimate way. Relationships were grown and developed for so many campers and those serving too. I also got to volunteer in the arts and crafts room. Mrs. Dawn has so much going on in there, it is unbelievable! You can create leather art, sand art, paint pottery to be fired in the kiln. You can also airbrush a t-shirt, create glass art for the glass kiln, and even have a chance to make your own pottery on the spinning wheel! It is amazing that she has so much going on and each child gets to make their own craft. Many campers made multiple crafts.
The week we spent at camp was a great experience. It only deepened my desire for this ministry. After seeing all that goes on during a week of camp, I can see the love that Ponderosa has for these students. The goal is to give every child this experience at an affordable price. These students were growing closer to Christ and developing a relationship and a foundation that I only imagined at their ages. This ministry is special and God is all over it!
The longing for this ministry began to grow even more after this week there.
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