

We watched a few movies including the Incredibles, UHF (a camp tradition) and the Parent Trap (the 1998 version when Lindsey Lohan was innocent). We stopped in Tulare for “Lunch” around 10am… we were all VERY hungry by then. Because we made great time we took until 11:30 to eat, strech and go to K-mart for refills of our snacks, or for people like me to get some water. (Can you believe I forgot to bring something to drink for the bus?!?!?!) Our driver was very nice and I thought that he drove VERY well. I don’t think I could have maneuvered a 56 passenger charter bus up those mountain roads.
When we arrived at Calvin Crest I was very confused. This being my first time here I didn’t know where things were or what the normal plan was, which turns out wouldn’t have helped me anyway because they are doing things differently this year. It was quite confusing and it took me awhile to figure out where I was to go with who, but I got it in the end. I checked us all in and got everyone all situated and went to my room in the Lodge to shake off my frustrations the check in process. We had a few left over scones so I decided to divide them up among our cabins for a treat this evening and gave them to our councelors at our 4:30 meeting.
From there we went up to the “Dining Hall” for camp orientation, where they went over all the rules with the students. I call it the “Dining Hall” because in actuality we eat on the patio outside the “dining hall” and the actual “hall” is what I would call a “multi-purpose room.” After the Rules were given we had dinner. We had pizza and salad and when we went back for seconds the pizza dough was GREEN!!!!! It was good though because instead of sauce on the Green Pizza it was sun-dried tomatoes and basil…mmmm. I think Remy would be proud (especially for camp food).

The cabins were then arranged into teams with a “LC” or Lead Councelor to the rest of us. I went with the girl’s cabins and our team we decided was to be called “The Scream Team!” And we all know how well Jr. High girls can scream…fun! We came up with a skit and performed it for the rest of the camp. I really enjoyed this and it was fun. I will say, and I’m not bias or anything, but the teams with the students from IPC, have the best names (the boy’s team is called the Indonesian Chupacabras).

Well then we headed up to CAMPFIRE in which there was no campfire at all, just 6 tiki torches. I liked it a lot it was really pretty. Anyway we sang and then Ryan gave his first talk. I gotta say right now that it wasn’t until he was up there that I realized that I was so GLAD that he was the one up there. I really love listening to Ryan’s talks, they are so well done and even though it’s for a Jr. High audience, I get something out of it every time. It was so comfortable to see him up there and he did a really great job. His talks this week are titled, “Lessons from OZ” based off the movie the Wizard of Oz. It’s really going to be great and his theme verse is Mark 12:30, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.” I’m so excited about these talks and I’m sure they will be really great.
I want to end this post with how we ended the night. Calvin Crest is doing a theme this summer with finding our Identity. Tonight we went to three different stations where they read questions for personal reflection and then we prayed. It was great just being in silence while going through these stations. I’m going to write the questions for reflection below and I hope that you’ll just think of them too. It’s really neat to think of these and how we identify with the things in our life.
The first station was our Individual Identity:
1. What is an identity?
2. What is shaping our identity?
3. What things in your life make you who you are?
4. As individual people, what does it mean to be followers of Jesus?
5. Should Jesus be invited into any of it?
6. Is Jesus involved in any of it?
The second station was our Corporate Identity:
1. What does it mean to go to a certain school?
2. Be a member of a certain family?
3. What does it mean to be the church instead of just going to a church?
4. Are we a part of something bigger?
The third station was the International Awareness and Response:
1. Should we even care about people we’ve never met?
2. Is being a Christian more than just praying a prayer?
3. Do you know where theses hot cocoa beans were grown? (we got hot chocolate at this station :)
4. Should we care about where we get the things we have?
Think about it…. That’s a lot to ponder.
Well until tomorrow, peace and grace to you from Calvin Crest!
Quote from today:
“If you were from Tokyo wouldn’t you be a Tokian?” –Kelsey Stevens