PYV North Camp 2017 – Day 2

The weather changed yesterday afternoon, and we have woken to a much cooler morning. It is a beautiful time of year here and the while it is a little bit cooler, the warmth of spring is wonderful to feel. Even at 6.45am.

The leaders began the day together being briefed on the plans for the day ahead, and spending a bit of time to pray together. This is a great team of leaders, once again, and it is a joy to be amongst them for a weekend. If you have some of these people in your church community, please talk with them about their experience at North Camp. The leader’s meeting was followed by an open prayer meeting. Some of those reading this will know the joy of praying with others. But there is something different when praying with a group of young people, and hearing them pray for each other. May God continue to bless this generation.

Breakfast was terrific, as expected, and some of the boys seemed to be seeing how many weet-bix they could eat. I think the answer could be “more than can fit in that small bowl”, but they over filled the bowl anyway. Breakfast finished in time for us to prepare ourselves for our time of worship together which I missed while helping in the kitchen. Here’s a report from someone who was actually there:

Today Luke spoke on the topic of “In Christ Alone”. He spoke about how a drain was blocked at home, which he could not clear no matter how much or how hard he tried. Eventually he called the landlord, who got the plumber in, and he found some sticks and rocks in the drain. One of the children confessed, and was asked to pay for the repair – which was an impossible request. In grace, they were forgiven and the debt paid by Luke himself. Our debt can only be paid through Christ alone because of God’s grace.

As we are focussing on the Reformation, we are enjoying some reformation videos made by Luke and his family. Today we learned about Thomas Cranmer, who was burned at the stake for his faith. These are fun videos that help teach us a bit about these important men of the past.

Chats with Gresham, and a good review of a good book, and some good singing all contributed to this time at camp.

Yesterday’s afternoon tea featured some home-made cup-cakes. Today’s morning tea featured home-made choc chip biscuits. They made our home smell amazing while they were being cooked, and I’m sure they tasted fantastic too, but they were all gone by the time I got to the table. I should learn to remember that teenagers eat big and they eat fast. They certainly enjoyed these biscuits.

From there the campers divided into their study groups to discuss more about what they heard this morning. While they were doing this, the pastoral care team sorted through the response cards completed during the worship session so they could be handed to the study leaders. It was interesting reading the answers to the question “Are you right with God?” Some campers were very honest when they answered “No”, but it was their answer to the second question that really caught my eye. The second question was “How do you know this?” Some who said ‘no’ answered this question with “because we are all sinners” or words like that.

I was intrigued in reading this because it means they are understanding exactly what we are hearing from the book of Romans. We pray now that these young people will know the rest of the story and will be able to recognise that Jesus has paid for their sins, and in him they can be right with God.

Chicken wraps and fruit for lunch was followed by more outdoor activities. The cooler weather helped to keep us outside, though the strong wind helped some people more than others. Developing the skill to work in a team is an important skill to have, and our activity today helped to emphasise this, with varied levels of success. Once people realised the strength in the team, and people were playing to their strengths, things happened very quickly. 

Free time allowed people to rest, play board games, outdoor games, and it gave our leaders a chance to speak quietly with some of the campers. At PYV camps, we take the gospel of Jesus Christ seriously and are unashamed in our desire to help people come to faith in Jesus. If you send your child to camp, you can expect that they will be asked about their relationship with Jesus – and if they don’t have one, you can expect they will be invited to accept that Jesus is Lord.

An afternoon tea break (where I missed out on the lemon slice) continued the opportunity for people to play games, and to talk with each other. Then it was time to get into our costumes for the camp photo and the dinner activities. Each camp we have a theme and this camp has the theme of Time Travellers. Not surprisingly then, we had at least four versions of Doctor Who in the camp. Only one sonic screwdriver though.

PYV North Camp 2017

During dinner (lasagne) we enjoyed a camp concert. There was dad jokes, songs, whistling, a water joke, card tricks, and a DIY version of the Three Little Pigs. Even the young children who are at camp got involved. Perhaps the loudest applause was given to our cooks, Anne and Louise, who dragged out something from their Salvation Army history.  Well done them.

As I type this, people are either in here at the dining room playing various games around the tables, or they are sitting around a campfire enjoying some conversation. Or – and this is the first time we have done this at a camp – they are star gazing through a telescope. If the heavens really do declare the glory of God, and they do, then we will hear it loud and clear tonight.

Today is the long day of North Camp, and it has been a good day. We wait to see what Monday will bring, but we wait confident that God is in control and that it will be a good day indeed.