First of all, I apologize for going so long without an update. Things have gotten pretty crazy here at Camp des Cimes, and it’s hard to find time to do anything unscheduled. I’ve also limited myself to using the internet only on my days off (once a week-ish) so that’s another factor. Anyway. I think the best way for me to cover all that’s been going on would be by walking through the schedule of a normal day here at English Camp. So… here it is!
8:15 – Breakfast. Breakfast is served in typical French style here, which means bread with jam or honey, and hot chocolate or coffee. It’s always the same, which is fine with me, because I love bread! Fresh French bread has yet to get old.
8:45 – Staff meeting. Here most everyone gets together and discusses how things are going, and what the upcoming day will entail.
9:30 – Morning activities. These are a variety of short team events we do in order to help wake up the campers and get their blood flowing before the morning teaching.
10:15 – Morning worship/teaching. After we sing a handful of worship songs (think the most popular mid-90s worship songs here), a staff member will lead the morning teaching. At the beginning of camp, students were given the opportunity to write down any theological/life question anonymously and put it in a pot. We got a total of 54 questions from 58 campers, and these are BIG questions. It’s serious stuff like “Can God really love me although I’ve sinned?” “Why does God bother to love us?” “Is science the contrary of religion?” “Why can’t you have pre-marital sex? Pray for me.” “Why doesn’t healing always work?” “Why aren’t the laws of Leviticus followed anymore?”… and so many more. These questions are being addressed both as an entire camp and in small group discussions.
12:30 – Lunch! The food is always fantastic (we have great cooks).
1:15ish – Free time. Campers do all sorts of stuff during free time, including ping-pong, foosball, volleyball, basketball, etc. As staff, we just hang out with them and get to know them. With the language barrier, it’s not exactly easy for me, but it’s fun to learn a few French phrases now and then as I help the campers communicate in English.
2:00 – Workshops. There’s a great variety of workshops going on, and campers are in the same one for the entire camp, so I’m sure they’re learning a bunch. The workshops include watercolor, puppetry, theater, photography, woodcut prints, pottery, dance, self-defense, and film. I would say more about these, but I haven’t actually seen them in action, because during this time I’m helping to prepare for sports!
4:00 – Gouter (pronounced goo-tay, literally means “tasty”) This is a quick snack to tide people over until dinner.
4:30 – Sports! Sports are a big deal here at Camp des Cimes, and I’m fortunate enough to be able to help make ‘em happen. We’ve already done a bunch in the past week, including Summer Olympics, a bunch of relay races, team challenges, team sports, and others. It’s fun to be able to help the campers have fun and get some exercise.
7:30 – Dinner. More great food… not much else to say about it though.
8:30ish – Veyee (evening activity). There’s a ton of creativity in the staff here, and they’ve come up with a bunch of great ideas for evening events. We did a 4th of July celebration where campers got to “visit” different states and experience an aspect of living there. There was a pirate night, which involved a massive, modified version of tag. There’s even a Bourne-esque spy game going on, which finishes tonight. The campers seem to have enjoyed everything a bunch!
11:15ish – Bed.
So that’s a typical day here. If you can stand to keep reading, I’ll tell you about my favorite part of camp thus far. On Friday, we left for a backpacking trip. It was a little overwhelming to me to see a backpacking trip come together for over 80 people, but it did! The first night, we were split into two groups, and I went on the upper, rocky hike. I’m not even going to bother trying to describe in words how beautiful it was, so just look at my pictures on Facebook if you want to see. We had a staff member give his testimony at the campfire, which is always powerful. On the second day, we met up with the other group, and all camped together (there was a testimony given on the second night as well). Sadly, day three was the end of the trip, and we all made it back in time to get cleaned up before goutee. Ever since I started going on backpacking trips with my youth group in middle school, I’ve wanted to be able to help make them happen for other teenagers. In my experience, God reveals himself in a very real, unique way through His creation, and backpacking is my favorite way to get out into nature and spend time with the Creator. I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to help in a small way to make a trip like this happen. Helping to give teens in another country the chance to experience God in this way is a dream come true for me.
I could keep writing, but I don’t want to bore any of you to death, so I’ll wrap things up. If you’ve even read this far, I’m impressed! Prayer would definitely be appreciated, for a number of things.
- First of all, the campers. From the questions they asked, they’re obviously searching, and working through some deep issues. Please pray that their eyes would be opened while they’re here.
- On that note, prayer for those who lead teachings would also be great. They’ve got a huge responsibility, and could use clear thoughts and clarity while speaking.
- Prayer for all the workers here in general would be nice too. It takes a LOT to make a camp like this happen, and it definitely wears on everyone. Personally, I’m used to living a quiet, introverted life for the most part, so spending nearly every waking minute with up to 100 people is unbelievably draining. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great too, and I’m happy to be here, it’s just tiring. So I’d appreciate prayer for strength and energy.
I think that’s all I’ve got for now. Next time I update, English Camp will be over, and we’ll be about to start Adult English Camp. Thanks for reading!
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