PYV East Camp - Day Three

Daniel Turcato has provided the blog posts through East Camp 2018. Thanks Daniel. 

After a big day 2, our final day at East Camp ’18 was likely to see a lot of tired campers and leaders.  Despite this, day 3 turned out to be an amazing day and probably my favourite day on camp so far!  After our day started again with early morning prayer and breakfast, we had our final session which was primarily about the Bible’s teaching on words. 

Nick taught us about how words are incredibly powerful and how the words of others are important.  We were challenged to not only be careful of not using negative words but also to be deliberate in using our words to encourage.  The old phrase “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” is only half the picture!  We should be aiming to build each other up as well.  We were also challenged to be good listeners and to view the words of others as important.

Our session today also included a panel of leaders answering questions submitted to an anonymous question box.  There were a number of really honest and genuine questions from the campers.  These were answered with Godly wisdom from the Bible by Nick, our speaker, and Dean and Sandy, our leader’s chaplains.

Following session we squeezed in some morning tea, packing up and then went into our study groups.  These seemed to go really well with the kids really engaging with the topic of words.  Then after the studies and lunch, we had an opportunity for campers to have a time set aside to spend time with God.  These quiet times are invaluable and we have encouraged our campers to continue this on into the week ahead.  Maybe you can grab a copy of the camp booklet, have a read and help encourage your child to continue on –even join them in doing the quiet times!  On camp we have found it was a real blessing to see leaders and campers doing quiet times together, studying God’s word and praying together.

As camp finished, the leaders expressed how there was a lovely spirit at the camp.  All campers were very well behaved and joined in the activities with enthusiasm.  On behalf of PYV, thank you for your partnership in gospel ministry for youth.  We look forward to future opportunities to continue this work!

PYV East Camp 2018 - Day Two

Thanks again to Daniel Turcato, Convener of East Camp, for writing this report. 

Day 2 at East Camp ’18 began bright and early with a prayer meeting at 7:30am.  We focused our prayers on the persecuted church.  It was great to have a time of prayer specifically aimed out needs other than our own. 

Our second session today was centred around God’s wisdom when it comes to money.  Nick led us through many of the passages in Proverbs that teach us about money.  He explained that money is good and can be used for our blessing but that it is also dangerous.  The main phrase that stood out to me was when he explained that the problem with money is when it moves from being a good thing to an “ultimate thing” – taking the place of God as most important in our lives.

Our sessions also include worship in the form of singing praise to God.  These have been blessed times and we have been well led by our musicians in focusing our thoughts and attention on God during these times.

Following the sessions, we had a second study group times and leaders were encouraged by the understanding of and response to some of the questions.  Then came time for the epic Sunday afternoon activities.  Covering the huge campsite, teams raced the clock to complete tasks, piece together clues and reach the next checkpoint.  Great fun was had by all but fair to say great exhaustion was felt by all. 

Our themed costume dinner centred around Gold certainly made everything seem bright and cheerful – almost everyone was dressed in some form of shiny, bright gold.  Others took a slightly more cryptic path – Gold-ilocks and the three bears!

Our final act of the day were activities.  These were slightly more chilled than the previous night with a bonfire, marshmellows and the pronouncement that team Ruby won the camp competition – congratulations team!

Our final day is tomorrow and we will be focusing on being wise with our words. I can’t think of a better topic for all of us to be challenged on!

PYV North Camp 2018 - Day 2

There was a cool breeze blowing this morning when we came out of our dorms. It was much colder at the end of the day.

In worship today we did what you are probably doing at your church too. We sang songs of praise to our Lord Jesus, we were encouraged by the testimony of one of our leaders, we heard the Scriptures read and then heard those passages applied. Vinesy is preaching from Proverbs on the topic of wisdom, and here we are being encouraged to seek wisdom. Today we were reminded of the reality of consequences that come from foolishness. Lord, help us to be wise in what we do.

During morning tea the group here for training left for their day of learning. I'll say more about this group in a separate post.

The study today was about our comparing the joy that comes from a good action and the joy that comes from a bad action, which might sound odd at first, but you probably know what we mean. The consequences of negative emotions which are uncontrolled is something that will rob us of any joy. These are good lessons for teenagers to learn.

Quiet time is always interesting. It's good to see people sitting quietly reading the Bible and considering what this passage means. Today was looking at the letter of James, gaining wisdom from what God has said and then putting that wisdom into practice.

Fish and chips for lunch today was great! So much food.

The afternoon activity was a treasure hunt. Teams were given a series of clues which would lead to a picture. The full list of pictures and clues would lead to . . . well I don't actually know what it would lead to. The two people who are helping me write this were in teams that didn't finish the treasure hunt. They tell me the clues were very hard. But it was a good walk around the campsite.

During free time in the afternoon, there was the opportunity to gather for a prayer meeting. It's always encouraging to see people praying together, but particularly so when it is happening at a youth camp.

The theme for the camp this year is "Toy Story" so the costumes came out for the camp photo today. Once again, there were some magnificent costumes amongst the campers and leaders, so we want to give a big shout out to the mums who worked really hard to help get these things together. (Of course, some dads might have helped too.)

After dinner we really kicked on with the theme and watched the movie. For some of us it's been a long time since watching this classic film, and it was good to hear some of these lines again.

"This isn't flying. This is falling with style."

Now it's time for people to head to bed. It's a cold night, and this might help us all to sleep better. We'll find out in the morning. 

PYV East Camp 2018 - Day One

This post written by Daniel Turcato, Convener at East Camp 2018

In 2018, East Camp is at Camp Rumbug (not a great name but the campsite setting is stunning) near Foster in Gippsland. Our theme for camp is Gold and the studies and talks are about God’s wisdom as it is found in Proverbs. It has been amazing on day one to see the links between our theme and our topic. The Bible uses gold or treasure as both a symbol of wisdom and as a contrast.  We have seen how God’s wisdom is a great treasure but that it is also worth far more than physical gold and is available to everyone.

After all leaders and kids had arrived and were registered, day one began with an introductory session, where we introduced the executive team and other key leaders, talked about the camp rules and encouraged the kids to get excited about finding real treasure that lasts for eternity!

Then after a delicious lunch we started our activities. We are in seven teams all represented by a different jewel and colour so naturally each team had to decorate a team flag with their jewel in the middle. Following that the teams competed in some epic tug of war (always a winner) for points that will add to their tally across the weekend.

Our first full session was focused on how a right fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and that wisdom is not just knowing what is right, but doing what is right. That it is not just knowledge but knowing God’s ways and living them out. Our studies followed on from this and were full of lively discussions. Some more lively than others but everyone seemed engaged.

To finish off the day we had some enthusiastic team games involving balloons and stomping (and loud bangs and cheering)! We also had some memory games where the teams had to remember some specific sequences and be the quickest team in order to score points.

Our remaining talks over the next two days are about being wise (God’s way) with money and words.  Can’t wait!