During the last week of July, the three of us girls and our sweet friend, Leah, had the opportunity to help with an overnight Bible camp that is down the road from us. This is a camp that operates under Redby Community Church where we fellowship up on the Red Lake reservation. Normally, there are groups that come in and do several camps during the summer. However, this summer, only one group was able to run a camp (all the way from New York!) and we were excited when the pastor from our church asked if we could help them out. We had about 20 kids from the reservation attend the three day camp.
Leah & Abby – happy campers (or rather, counselors)
All of these kids come to the Kid’s Club that we do Monday nights at the church during the school year. All of them were SO excited to come to camp. When we went to pick up kids on Monday morning, many of them were waiting out at the road with their bags – there was even one girl who told us that she was already packed on Friday night! 🙂
The group from New York that ran the camp did an excellent job. There was singing and a Bible lesson once or twice a day. There were fun crafts in the morning and evening, and several hours of swimming in the afternoon.
The Bible lessons were taught by Moses
Craft time!
Fun action songs
More crafts!
Throughout the day, there was a lot of free time to spend playing with the kids – we spent many hours in games and activities like Candyland, Uno, badminton, basketball, frisbee, making friendship bracelets, taking goofy pictures, and just talking.
The basketball court was rarely empty
Badminton was a popular game of choice
A campfire is never complete without s’mores!
It was a great time getting to know the kids better. When you live with someone for three days, you certainly get to know them a whole lot better. Even though we’ve known all of these kids for at least a year (some of them for three years), deeper relationships were built with the kids simply by playing, talking, and loving them for three straight days. Many of them told us they wished the camp didn’t have to end.
Camp group picture – everyone say “beefaroni”!
We returned home exhausted, but grateful for the opportunities to share the love of Jesus with these precious children. Some of these kids have professed Christ in the past. Please pray that they will grow in their faith, and that those who don’t know Jesus would be saved. And please pray for us as we continue to share God’s love with these same kids throughout the school year.
Four sunburned and tired counselors – sad to leave