Salt and Light Outfitters, Eau Claire WI

God's speed

2007-07-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

Dean blogging on Sunday after I got home. I'll try to catch you up by starting with Friday night as skit night. The kids made skits that had to have a popular game show theme. Pretty funny stuff. (One child decided he was going to be me and did this by shoving a volley ball up his camp t-shirt. Hmmm. subtle and funny) The staff presented awards to the kids for various accomplishments. i.e. best belly flop or the sweetest swimmer etc... I think you get the idea. Many parents had the opportunity to attend the event and the kids always have a good time with this.

The older campers got to stay up later than the younger campers, and make pizzas, watch a movie and take a scary walk in the woods on a full moon night. We finally got them to bed about 2:30 a.m.. They said that they had a great time.

CHECK OUT TIME.
Saturday morning came quickly. One of the kids said. "This week went by so fast. It seemed like only an hour." Yep, I would agree. The kids and the staff all pitched in and cleaned rooms and the campus. (btw the down side on a water balloon is that the broken balloon has to be picked up and we picked up alot of them.) Everything was mopped, washed and wiped down.

Hugs, email addresses and cell phone numbers were exchanged and the difficulties of saying good-bye and beginning to think about a "normal" life again have begun. As one child greeted her mom with....'Mom - I have a whole mouthful to tell you!"

If you don't know this I have to tell you that the children that you sent to camp are wonderful children of God. To be able to see the gifts and the love that God pours out on them, and in turn on those around them, is incredible. Each child of God - whether camper or staff - brought wonderful gifts to the camp. The interesting and entertaining mosaic that results clearly shows the finger prints of our Lord in all our lives.

Thank you again for bringing your children to camp it has been a Blessing for all of us.

Almost Done...

2007-06-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

One day left and counting...
The sun came up shining on our second-to-last day of camp. We started off the early morning hours with calisthenics and bible class. Our topic of study today was trusting in the Lord's timing, rather than our own. The kid's minds whirred as we read about Lazarus rising from the dead and Jesus turning water into wine.
The conclusion of Bible class marked the beginning of our daily activities. We had a little change in scheduling, which left the kids playing dodge ball, shooting arrows, and crafting up a storm a little longer than usual. When the activities had passed and lunch was sitting firmly in everyone's stomachs, the children's paths diverged. One group went to the pool while another group stayed behind on campus to catch up on some much-needed rest.
After naps, the kids met in the gym wearing their new camp t-shirts for a church service led by Pastor Pfeiffer. The service was complimented by collecting an offering (from the kid's canteen money) for orphans in India. When the service was complete, and a group picture of the kids in their new t-shirts had been taken, everyone retreated to their designated group for skit practice (the big skit night is on Friday!).
The evening brought a new arrangement of activities. After supper, everyone participated in a praise service, filled with wonderful scripture readings and music. To finish out our evening of praise, various age groups met with counselors for a prayer session.
For our nightly activity, the kids headed outdoors to a bonfire. Campfire songs filled our ears while smores filled our mouths. When the fire had died down, it was time for the ultimate team competition. Tonight, our competition was a little racier than normal. Each team had to go on a glo stick scavenger hunt. After solving various riddles, the kids could discover the locations of different colored glo sticks. Once all of the glo sticks were retreived, the team had to assemble them to create a picture of feet leading up to a cross.
Once the scavenger hunt was finished and the pictures were assembled, the kids headed off for bed...hopefully they will be well-rested for our final day tomorrow.

Middle Day

2007-06-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

It's halfway over and all is well. The day started as usual with calistenics and breakfast. We talked about Waiting on HIS Answers in this morning's chapel and Bible classes, focusing on how God's timetable is better than ours, and we all need to pray and wait for the answers God will give. Morning activities had the sixth graders learning about teamwork, seventh graders doing crafts, and the other grades rotating through archery, GPS, obstacle course, incrediball, and soccer basketball.
The team's competed again in the ultimate team competition: today they slid down a giant slip and slide to fill buckets to overturn seesaws using pool noodles filled with water. The kids ended up muddy and wet, as well as covered in pudding.
Another delicious lunch (Check out all this delicious fruit!) was followed by skits and pool times, with some of the more sunburned campers staying behind to watch movies and stay out of the sun.
After supper, the campers met in their discussion groups to focus on personalizing the messages of chapel and Bible class. Then we all sang "Amen" and various camp songs before their favorite part of the day: canteen. Tonight the Karate American demo team came and gave a demonstration for the campers and staff. Afterward they stuck around and put everyone through a few moves, enough to earn a white belt.
We had another round of "You lose it, you win it, or you don't get it" before sending the kids to the dorm. We finished another full day with prayer groups in the dorms before sending the campers to bed. Tomorrow is the beginning of the home stretch...we hope you are having a great week like we are...In Christ, Sarah Olmanson

Day 3

2007-06-26T16:12:00.002-07:00

Hi, this blog is being written by a fellow named T.J. List. As you will soon realize I have never written a blog before but while being held at gunpoint in a cold dark room to accomplish this, I will not object.

The 3rd day is quickly coming to a close as the blink of an eye, but a very exciting and now tired out blink of an eye. The day started out again with morning exercises at 7:00am but was preceded by all of the campers having no problem awaking at 5:45 or earlier out of excitement and vigor (I didn't mention this because I was awoken or anything like that, just an observation :)

Following the early morning was again a great chapel given by Pastor Pfeiffer about the almighty strength and power of God. This was also the topic of of our religion classes. The discussion was much more productive than yesterday, for most of the groups. The campers seem to be much more comfortable with discussion today and I am beginning to realize how knowledgable they really are in the Word of God. Very exciting!

The activities were once again fun as ever. For myself it was extremely hot down on the field for archery, team building, and incrediball. However, the directors are doing a great job rotating the campers to several different activities very efficiently.

The pool was a very needed activity for all of us considering it would have been no problem to boil an egg on the pavement or on some of our sunburned bodies. The campers were still not tiring in their excitement and rambunctiousness (is that a word? you know what I mean.) It was like starving piranah-infested waters for any counselor to enter the pool. Imediately, upon entering, the pool the campers would swarm to us and try their hardest to dunk us. Very vicious. I sense nightmares tonight of small hands trying so hard to pull me under the water.

Later on there was a very uplifting "praise session" involving different songs projected on the screen for all to sing along. In between there was readings of scripture focused on praising our Lord for all that he as done for us.

Following the praise session was the unanimous favorite of all. . .CANTEEN! That's right get all sugared-up before the next activity, awesome.

Currently, The campers are enjoying their choice of two movies: Monster House and Night at the Museum. Both very fun and exciting movies for the campers to "wind-down" to.

Tonight there are no prayer groups due to scheduling but Lord willing we will be continuing that opportunity tomorrow night.

Have a good night, all. Hope that this is what you wanted to hear in my blogging inexperience.

Day 2--Afternoon & Evening

2007-06-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

After lunch the campers went to the dorms to change into their swimwear. After changed the canteen was open to them to stock up on candy for the afternoon at the pool. The first day at the pool was a fun day in the sun. The waterslide and diving boards are favorites of the kids and just playing in the water is always fun.

Skit practice took place while waiting for the bus to come and go from the school. The first day of planning told the campers that the theme for this year's skit night is popular television shows. After picking a random show they started planning their skit. They will work on these throughout the week so that they can put on the Fun Nite Skits on Friday. Some original works are sure to appear!

Hungry campers then had a delicious taco salad for supper. After eating the campers then split back into their groups for a group discussion. The groups discussed the days events, especially the topics of Bible Classes and chapels. It gives a chance for the different ages to exchange what they learned in their classes so that all of the campers get a taste of what was discussed in the different classes. Also, it is a good time to just reflect on how their days' went, discuss any problems they might have and just chat about anything they would like to in a small group setting.

Music class started with a hymn request and they the boys and girls split up to work on a few songs. "Amen" is one of the songs that they campers will be working on throughout the week. A few other songs were sung and then they closed with another hymn request.

The nightly activity for Monday is Bunco! A camp favorite and a new experience for some of the campers. A dice game with lots of yelling and moving around keeps the kids excited for the whole two hours that we played. The winners at the end had won a total of 26 rounds; but counselors were probably happy to have the noise die down after the game was over!

Campers watched a rousing game of "You lost it, you can try to win it back," hosted by Nick to slim down our supply of lost and found that has already accumulated. Towels, notebooks, cameras, and clothes were tried to win back by doing a variety of things like singing, arm wrestling and a race. Some campers were successful, some might have to try again tomorrow!

Lights out was preceded by another evening of prayer groups in the dorms before bed. Thankfulness in prayers was one of things discussed in girls dorms and the boys worked on praying comfortably out loud with each other. Exhausted kids made their way into bed and are excited for another day of activities tomorrow. More info to follow then!!!

Lunch time-Day 1

2007-06-24T20:26:00.001-07:00

Kendra served up delicious homemade pizza for lunch, but after a long morning filled with exciting and challenging activities. 7:00 came early for some campers as they gathered together for calistenics. Counselors led the campers in some stretching and exercising to make them wide awake and ready for a fun filled day.

After breakfast, Pastor Pfieffer gave a morning chapel with the "Trek His Steps" theme continuing. The campers then broke into smaller groups of grade and gender for the first of the daily Bible Classes. Today's topic was "Believe in HIS Knowledge." Lessons about Job and Peter gave examples of how we do not know better than God and that we need to trust His perfect judgement.

The activities' time followed. Arts and Crafts, line dancing, Incrediball and other sports were just some of the activities that they campers were involved in. One group participated in an obstacle course in which they had to dodge foam balls that were chucked at them and get the quickest time. The 9th grade campers spent the activities period doing Team Building activites to help build leadership, commardary and teamwork.

The Ultimate Team Competition today was the first for the competetion teams to meet. After being divided into groups, the excitment began. The counselors distributed the flair for the year by tying the neck ties around tennis balls and then slingshotting they down the hill for the campers to find. After they whole team finds all their ties, they had to put them on and take their place to recieve their points. All of these competition points will be accumulated through the week.

Lunch followed team competition and now the campers on working on skits and then on the way to the pool. More info to follow later this evening. All are safe, excited and having fun!!!

12:20 am

2007-06-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Hello its been about 9 hrs since my last post. Alot has happen since then. We went from 25 +- semi-organized staff to 25+- staff plus 109 very happy kids... OK 100 very happy kids and 9 home sick ones.

The ice breakers were a blast. First the kids played human scrabble. They would run around and spell five letter words (they used the point system in scrabble)

Then the kids had to put socks on. Using only one hand and put as many socks on in two mins. Oh ya they had to put a sock on their hand to make it that much more difficult.

Then they had to tie a balloon on one foot and break the other person's balloon. WOW the smaller kids had it all over the bigger kids.
They are so fast that was impossible to stop/pop'em

The next question that was asked of the kids was. "How many squares of toilet paper would you need for an over night stay in the woods." When they pulled off a number of squares they where then informed that each square would be one statement about self. I think I now know every one's fav color.

The final ice breaker was that each camper had to put a lunch bag on their writing hand and then write their name on other camper's bags.

Pastor Nate P. preached at chapel about our trek with Christ. We broke for canteen and then had prayer group. The prayer group is about exploring a personal relationship with Christ through prayer.

The kids are great and I need sleep. (sorry for spelling errors and any other errors)

In Him

Three hours to the first camper

2007-06-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Everything is last min crazy. People blowing up balloons and scraping bottles. Planning this and that. It's the fun and excitement of knowing we are doing the Lord's work with fellow Christians.

I think this pic offers another cause of global warming.

Camp day -1

2007-06-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

Mission Statement: As lay people, we have the unique opportunity to use our time and talents to serve the Lord and spread His Word among our fellow Chrisitian brothers and sisters. We will strive to be an example to them in all we do, say and project. Our hope is that the Lord will bless our week of study, growth, play, and laughter - using both fellowship with peers and the strong leadership of counselors and staff to enhance each camper's experience. Most importantly, we hope that each camper will expand his or her personal relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior.

This is mission of the camp and staff. I want this to be my life mission. There will be photos added with hopefully with some witty and poignant captions.

I will be updating photos in Picasa and will add a link from here.

A couple of notes worth posting:

Jennifer O's Birthday was yesterday. Yes we sang happy b-day (twice, because we didn't get it right the first time and I'm not going to defend the second time either)

Many of the staff received extensive training in low ropes course work.
The pic to the right shows staff being told that they have to flip a blue tarp over while not touching the ground. Hmmm v. entertaining.