Each summer since 1995, there have been teen camps in the U.S. That is 25 years of camp--but not this summer. Approximately 770 of us did not enjoy the Zone experience this summer. Hye Sierra camp closed its doors this summer, the host camp in Oregon mandated we must be in groups of 10 only, and those 10 campers could not mix with any other teens for the entire camp. And there were numerous restrictions at the remaining camps. Pinecrest has a small dining room so we would have had to eat each meal in three shifts because of the spacing issue. Even if all other restrictions could have been navigated, in the end, we felt we would be taking too much of a risk.

But, good news is that we hope to have one UYC camp, and that is Winter Camp in Wisconsin in late December.

The Camp Team wanted to give the teens a focused way to connect with each other and to have regular Bible discussions, so we set up six Friday night online Bible discussions. We have had two, with four more to go throughout the month of July. Everyone goes to the uyc.ucg.org site, clicks the link, then enters a password to get in.

We have two separate discussion groups each Friday evening because of the time differences, but the teens can connect at either time. The theme is one from some years ago: Ecclesiastes 12:1—Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Each Camp Director pre-records a 45-minute video study, with several teens as a part of the video so it can be interactive. The chat room coordinators have a copy of the lecture outline, so they develop questions from the content.

On the first Friday night on June 26, we had 143 participants total in both connections. Last Friday evening we had around 90 teens total--the Independence Day weekend may have limited our attendance.

We've had teens from Trinidad, a girl from India and several from Canada. We had a group of 9 at one home who called themselves "Camp Austin."

We archive the past videos on YouTube so they can be viewed later via the link on the UYC site for this.

After the opening prayer, the host begins the pre-recorded 45 minute Bible study video and following the video the host divides the teens into chat rooms of 10-15 people. We use pastors, elders and wives to moderate the chat discussion, plus deacons, wives and some of our senior camp staff.

It is Question/Answer style, where the chat room coordinator makes comments about the video and ask teens for answers and comments. After the 45 minute discussion, the host brings all the breakout rooms to a close so that we are all together again and we close with a final prayer.

Good news! Boundary Waters Adventure begins this Sunday--July 12-19. The group arrives in Minneapolis this Friday for the Sabbath. Frank Dunkle is directing the camp and Kevin Kenady is his assistant. It was Kevin's idea to have a Boundary Waters experience, which is now in its second year. We have 13 young adults and 5 staff. Since the maximum size is 9 per group in the Canoe Area Wilderness, our group of 18 is just right for two separate groups.

The staff consists of Frank Dunkle, Aaron Booth, Lewis and Lena VanAusdle and Kevin Kenady. Interestingly, one of Floyd Kielczeski's daughters, who is friends with Kevin Kenady, has a large farm house near Lake Pelican that her family recently remodeled to use as an Air B&B, and she offered it free to the group for this coming Sunday night. This will serve as a nice base camp. As for COVID, Mr. Dunkle has been contacting the participants regularly and asked them to limit outside contact and to do temperature checks for the two weeks prior to and at the start of the program. An interactive Bible study will begin the orientation on Sunday. All participants are reading Admiral William McRaven's book, "Make Your Bed," and will discuss corresponding lessons from the Bible, particularly Christ's teaching. In his book, Admiral McRaven says that life is tough, but meeting challenges with discipline, determination, a positive attitude and the support of others will most usually lead an individual to a meaningful life that will inspire others.