June 2nd to 6th.
What happens when all of your friends leave to go to camp and you’re stuck in the office? Well if you’re me then you work as much as you can in the morning, so you can join them at night. And that’s exactly what I did. I was only a little over two weeks into my internship, so I didn’t know much about camp nonetheless how much fun it would be. But boy was I bummed that I couldn’t stay all week long.
Hawaii camp is nothing like the NorCal camp that I’m used to. For starters, games aren’t just games; they are battles between large Samoan camp counselor and small teenage boy entering high school. Ever heard of peel the onion? Well it’s a game where people try to stay as connected as possible while other members of a different team use any tactic to pry them apart. Clawing and pulling both allowed. Though I wasn’t a firsthand witness of this game, I heard it was awesome.
Something I did get to be a part of was worship. On Tuesday night the Holy Spirit filled the entire chapel, and entered the hearts of every teen there. What started out as two closing worship songs turned into three, then four, then five, then we finally stopped around ten when the worship leader ran out of songs. We didn’t want it to stop, and as the song said, we wanted more of Jesus Christ. Never before have I seen a group of teens so on fire for God that they refused to stop praising Him. It overwhelmed me to see how much they loved Christ, how much they needed Him in their lives, how much I loved Christ, how much I needed Christ in my life.
Though camp is over, my prayer for all that attended is that this fire felt during praise and worship will continue to grow. I hope that every teen will continue to seek and yearn for God. I hope that every adult will continue to be a leader and mentor in the lives of these teens. Camp should not just be a one week high for Jesus, but it should be a reminder of what everyday should feel like when God is in and of every aspect of your life.