Youth Camp Highlights

• Speeches a Highlight of Summer Camp in Chile
• 20 Campers Enjoy Sea and Gorge at South African Camp
• 54 Attend Australian Summer Camp 2005
• Snow and "the Zone" Descend Upon Winter Camp

Speeches a Highlight of Summer Camp in Chile

Once again we had the summer camp for the youth in the southern part of South America in Paine, Chile. Paine is a small town located only 30 miles south of the city of Santiago, but the facilities we have for camp are so isolated from the city that nobody could imagine we were so close.

The facility for camp is just what we need. No doubt it is a blessing from God. It has cabins, pools, courts for the most popular sports and swimming pools for all ages.

This year we began camp Dec. 23 and finished the 29th. Every year we choose these dates for several reasons, including to isolate our youth from the feasts of this world celebrated during that time. We can also get very affordable prices due to the lack of demand during that season.

This year we had a total of 90 people attending, of which 82 were campers, mostly from Chile, but we also had campers from Bolivia, Argentina and the United States.

Due to the economic problems faced by most of our families, the Church makes the effort to pay for most of the expenses of camp. Campers pay for a small percentage of camp and their transportation. The cost of transportation makes it difficult for the youth from Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil to attend, even though they would very much like to be with the rest of the Church youth.

On the Sabbath we had services and a Bible study given by our ministers.

Camper Speeches

In the afternoon of that Sabbath five of the campers presented the first set of speeches. In fact, every day of camp there was a set of camper speeches. These speeches were one of the highlights of the camp. In those speeches the campers were asked to speak for about 10 minutes each on a subject of their choosing.

This year all of the speeches reflected one common subject: They all want to stay in the Church and become baptized someday in order to be protected from the behavior of this world and become children of God. All of the speeches were very inspiring.

These speeches are very good for several reasons:

1. They allow the campers to express themselves without being criticized or laughed at.

2. The campers themselves are able to teach each other in their own language, experience and age.

3. They allow the minister to get to know the campers better and, through that, the minister gets to know the subjects that are in the minds of the youth in order to help them more effectively.

4. When they speak to their peers about a given subject, they commit themselves to support their speech with their example.

Christian Living and Activities

Every day the campers had a Christian Living class given by one of the ministers. They also had an hour called "Remember your Creator." In that hour they prayed, studied their Bibles, talked about the Christian Living class or prepared their speech. After lunch there was swimming and sports such as soccer, basketball and volleyball.

After dinner they had an activity such dancing, a talent show, organized games, etc.

The camp went by very fast. Fortunately all of the campers went back to the city of Santiago to participate in a church family day Jan. 1. That rounded out the very wonderful time for the youth to be together.

At the end of camp, the campers all became more united than ever. They are very thankful to God for providing the means to have the summer camps and other activities for the youth in order to prepare them for the future of the Church and for the Kingdom of God.

—Saul Langarica

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20 Campers Enjoy Sea and Gorge at South African Camp

The 2005 South African Summer Youth Camp was held from Sunday, Dec. 4, to Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005, at the Glenmore Eco Centre on the Kwa-Zulu Natal south coast.

Twenty campers and three counselors from all parts of Southern Africa experienced a fun-filled week of adventure and beach activities such as sea kayaking, surf rafting, mountain biking, abseiling (rappelling), wall climbing, archery, team building and survivor obstacle courses.

Campers came from Cape Town, East London, Durban and Johannesburg, South Africa, and this year we were fortunate to have one camper from Zambia and one counselor from Zimbabwe. Bill and Cheryl Jahns (minister and his wife from the Johannesburg congregation) and Neil Becker (minister from the East London congregation) administered the Christian education classes. Grant Chick and his wife, Kim, members from the Durban congregation, served as camp director.

One of the highlights of this year's camp was the overnight excursion to the top of the Umtamvuna Gorge where the campers slept in tents, cooked their own dinners and breakfasts, abseiled, canyoned and mountain biked. As it is prone to do when you are camping, it rained, but spirits certainly were not dampened at all.

Sabbath services were held during camp. Local members joined the campers and staff for services. Songs were led by Neil Becker and split sermons were given by Bill Jahns and Grant Chick. The services were made special with special music performed by the campers.

The last evening together was spent presenting campers with awards for achievements and showing photos taken during camp, which the campers thoroughly enjoyed.

Plans are already being made for camp in 2006, and we would welcome any prospective campers or staff from overseas who would like to join us.

—Grant Chick

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54 Attend Australian Summer Camp 2005

The Australian summer camp drew 54 campers, including four from New Zealand, to the new site at the Wambaroo Adventure Centre about an hour south of Sydney.

Camp was held from Dec. 23 until Jan. 1. The campers were served by 18 staff members, including Evan Manning from Canada and Ricardo Villanueva from Mexico.

Most felt that the open spaces and being away from suburbia was a plus for this camp. It was a friendly camp with everyone "waving" to each other (well, some call it the Aussie salute) because of the very friendly and sticky flies.

Relationships and Activities

The typical camp day began with breakfast and a 35-minute Christian Living class. This year's theme was relationships, including with God as our personal Father and with Jesus as our older Brother. Other classes showed that a righteous man chooses friends carefully and showed what it means to be your brother's keeper. We also had three dating seminars for the older campers.

Campers were divided into four teams of mixed ages to do activities during the day. The day was divided up into four periods with an hour and a half break in the middle of the day to eat lunch, play pool or foosball (table soccer) or just hang out with friends.

Activities included a low ropes course, volleyball, touch rugby football, public speaking workshop, dance classes, canoeing, orienteering, crafts (where the campers made toys for disabled children) and archery.

The campers also attended four personal leadership classes where they were taught about the problem of binge drinking and given information on drugs, body image and relaxation exercises as they visualized their goals for the future.

On Wednesday and Thursday the Outbreak Adventure staff came in to supervise the challenge activities. This was tiring and challenging, especially for those who were not very good with heights. All the campers did very well, and there were some great examples of perseverance and trying things that were hard and scary.

Campers rode on a 150-meter (almost 500-foot) flying fox, scrambled up a vertical climbing playpen, worked around a series of challenges on the high ropes and, the favorite of all, experienced the giant swing. The campers were pulled up by their team, and then they released a type of rip cord and swung through the air. You could hear the screams all over camp. The "girliest" scream was by our oldest boy camper from Mackay... we know who you were.

Several of the teams also attempted the milk crate building challenge. Each camper tried to build a tower straight up made of milk crates. As they went higher, another camper would throw up the next milk crate. The Wambaroo Camp's record is 21 crates high and two girls, Penny McQueen, from Victoria and Denielle Tearle, from Queensland, both climbed to18 crates.

We had a special sports challenge this year. The New Zealand campers and some from New South Wales who had New Zealand parents challenged the rest of the world to a "serious" game of touch rugby. The game began with a haka (a war cry New Zealand teams use to put fear in the other team) led by Pau Marshall, from Sydney. The game was close but "unfortunately" the New Zealand team won... again.

Evening Activities

After the evening meal we had activities that included seminars, dancing, spotlighting and games in the bush.

On Wednesday evening we had our annual speech banquet. The dining room was decorated and the campers dressed up for an evening of speeches that were only prepared in between activities a day or two before.

A highlight this year was Australian Idol with video clips and judges similar to Australian Idol —Holden, Marcia and Dicko. It was a great show with the winning act being Joshua Barton from Queensland playing guitar with Ricardo Villanueva, a staff member from Mexico. They sang "La Bamba."

On the last Friday evening campers made cards to send to members who had made a donation to contribute to the camp. This was followed by hymn singing, with a number of campers leading songs.

Of course the last evening is always a highlight. The four activity teams had added dance steps to a progressive salsa, called a rueda, and had a dance off to see which team had created the best steps.

Camper Comments

We asked some of the younger campers what they learned from camp. Here are a few of the responses:

•"I learned how to communicate with guys more, I learned how to push myself on and step out of my comfort zone and I learned how to plan my goals."

•"I learned to be encouraging and have a go at anything. I also learned to trust my team with the harnesses."

•"I learned who a true friend is and what one can do to improve a relationship."

•"I learned about relationships, to avoid drugs and how God sees us."

We received the following comments from a couple of older campers who have been to a number of camps at different locations:

•"I have heard that you have booked the same site for next year. That's great; it was definitely the best out of the three areas I've been to. Even the flies weren't that bad."

•"Once again it was absolutely fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Why did I miss all those years?! I hear you've booked the same camp for next year. It was a great setting there, and the activities were the best I've ever had."

Finally, thanks to all the campers who came to camp for being such a fine group to serve and have fun with.

—Bruce Dean

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Snow and "the Zone" Descend Upon Winter Camp

Campers had been hoping for snow in time for Winter Camp, and snow they got! The 11th annual Winter Camp began on Dec. 21 and ended Dec. 26. Campers from 13 states enjoyed the winter activities of tubing and cross-country skiing. The 48 campers and 33 staff members enjoyed five days together building bonds and learning more about God's way of life.

Relationships were emphasized in daily Compass Check Christian Living classes. Topics included "Inclusiveness in our Relationships" by Steve Nutzman and "Words That Hurt and Words That Help" by Victor Kubik. Dawn Familetti conducted a class for the young ladies on "Growing From Girlhood to a Feminine Woman." Gary Black spoke to the young men on the topic of "Ambition."

Special guests were Vic and Bev Kubik, who instructed in indoor team challenge. A lively question-and-answer session allowed the campers to ask questions about the Bible and practical situations in life. Daily dorm inspections encouraged campers to keep their dorm rooms and personal items clean and neat.

Dance class helped the campers to learn new dance steps that they displayed at the dance on the last night. Other activities included floor hockey, basketball, volleyball, outdoor team challenge, snow football, open game night and arts and crafts.

The camp activities and classes are designed to assist campers in their spiritual and emotional growth. One camper wrote that camp "has helped me develop more self-confidence and has brought my spirits up." Another camper wrote, "Camp gave me new friends and a new attitude on life for a new perspective."

The dedicated camp staff generously gave of their time and talents to these future leaders. And for that, we offer our deep thanks for a job well done.

After directing Winter Camp for nine years from 1997 to 2005, Steve Nutzman is retiring from his duties as camp director. Overall United Youth Camp coordinator Larry Greider has asked him to help with ACA accreditation this summer. Former Winter Camp assistant director Gary Black will now be the camp director of Winter Camp.

What does camp mean to the youth? Three campers responded this way:

"To help develop godly character and work on relationships (human to human and God relationships)."

"To help us to become closer to God and create a 'Zone' environment."

"Camp always helps me feel more loved and more outgoing. It's such a great investment of time and money."

We certainly see evidence that the United Youth Camps are training, mentoring and inspiring the next generation of servants for service in God's Church. This truly is exciting!

—Steve Nutzman

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