Encounter Camps Sprig Fest 17 was once again full of a vibrant spring atmosphere. The seven day residential camp experience was all about discovering more of life and connecting with others along with riding our dirt bikes.
The learning topic was one that relates to youth and is very important at their age and stage of life. The objective was to understand and learn how God created us for meaningful friendship with Himself and other people. One of our core values at Youth Encounter is to nurture a community through openness and active connectedness so this was a great opportunity to discuss what this looks like and share some tools with the 30 campers who attended.
Josh, Joel and Mary shared in the evenings, with testimonies from our other staff as we explored the impacts of friendships in our lives. Josh started us off the first evening with friendship soup and the ingredients that were needed to make it. His volunteers Jordan and Jacob got to taste it at the end and I'm not sure that it was the best tasting soup but this set the stage for the rest of the weeks learning's.
Another example that was used was friendships is like a cell phone connection, when there is no connection the phone cannot fill its purpose. When the phone looks like its got one bar but you cant actually make a phone call off it or send a txt let alone get an internet connection its a fake connection and the phone is just a weight in your pocket. Then there's the bad connection that drops in and out of service which is not helpful when you have an important phone call to make. So what is it that we need in our lives? Real connection, like the cell phone needs real connection to operate effectively so do we.
We believe life's purpose is found in experiencing healthy and meaningful friendships with God and others, in our social like, workplaces, schools and most importantly in our families. This has reminded us of the importance of parent child relationships so watch this space as we are about to launch our first parent child camp!
