Camp Woodmen plunged into "the Zone" with both feet Sunday, July 2, kicking off its final year at the northern Alabama facilities. Fifty-six staff members and 124 campers from 17 different states joined together for a week of "immersion education," as they spent every hour of the next week learning God's way of life by complete immersion into it.

Each day began with Christian Living to start out on the right foot. Those giving the classes presented God's Holy Day plan in order, covering one festival each day of camp. Meanwhile, the staff received training through a series of leadership classes.

Activities included high and low ropes, archery, speedaway, swimming, riflery, softball, basketball, volleyball, golf and outdoor living. Many of the activities, like low ropes and speedaway, were designed to emphasize the necessity of teamwork.

Outdoor living brought a new challenge, "The Amazing Woodmen Survival Race," in which campers ran around campus gathering clues based on compass coordinates, and used survival skills such as pitching a tent, tying various knots and starting a fire with no matches or lighter.

Special activities were planned for evenings. Monday night, Bruce Gore called a lively square dance and led campers through the basics. Tuesday night brought dorm-building activities ranging from physical competitions to math games, Bible Baseball and Name That Tune.

Dorms competed in the Novelty Olympics Wednesday evening, ending the night with an exciting race in which the female staff members fed male staff members orange juice out of a bottle to earn points for their teams. Campers versus staff activities occurred Thursday night, with challenges in softball, volleyball, basketball and archery/riflery.

The Friday night Bible study was formatted in a way that was new to Woodmen: Situations and real-life problems were posed to campers, who were then given time to find biblical answers. If anyone disagreed with the group's answer, they could challenge that statement, and debate continued until a general agreement on the solution was reached.

The week's activities concluded with Saturday night's traditional dance. Mark Winner, who served as disc jockey, lamented that it would be the last time "Sweet Home Alabama" was played at the Alabama campsite.

Final farewells took place the morning of Sunday, July 9. Hugs and addresses were exchanged as campers left as ambassadors for "the Zone."

Campers came away with many fond memories of Camp Woodmen, Alabama, and have high hopes for the new program next year as their journey continues at Camp Woodmen in Georgia.