Class is officially in session here at Red Rock Bible Camp, as the Ignite campers finished their first full day at camp yesterday. This is the day where you really see the campers begin to get along with each other, and cabin unity becomes something that you see almost across the board.
Like I mentioned yesterday, the first day of camp is quite different than the others, and is very jam packed with things that need to get done. The Tuesday of every week is the day where the campers begin to get in the swing of things, as they spend their first night at camp. Since there’s a lot to do during the day, we get the campers up somewhat early for breakfast at 8:45, and then send them off for Morning Watch, where they do morning devotions with their Big Brothers or Sisters. The lake is beautiful in the morning, so it’s just another way to see God in creation.
Once the kids finished up with Morning Watch, they went back to their cabins to clean up. We do inspections of the cabins every day, and it turns out these kids can clean! They all received great scores, probably motivated by the pizza party they have the chance to win at the end of the week. So I guess the solution for a clean room is bribing them with pizza. I won’t charge you for that parental advice, it’s just one of the many benefits of the blog. Just kidding of course. I’m a 21 year old man who would fail cabin clean up every day if they checked the staff lodging.
After cabin clean up it was Discovery, where cabins work through team building and nature activities to learn about God, and to grow as a team. Some of today’s activities included trying to get an inner-tube around the teatherball poles without it touching, and what looks to be a blindfolded Conga line with Jayelle’s cabin.
Doesn’t that look like such a great team? From there campers split up into their first skill of the day. A lot of our pictures on the blog or taken from our Photographer for the week (this week it’s Emily), but maybe I should go and recruit the Photography skill to be my eyes out there.
After skills in the morning, the kids got to experience my personal favorite dish Red Rock serves for meals: Pizza. Pizza Pizza! Which brings us to our sponsor for the day, Pizza Pizza. Pizza Pizza, “Aw man, I could really use some pizza right about now. Hey, how about Pizza Pizza? They make pizza!” Pizza Pizza, we make pizza.
The kids enjoyed it so much, they stuck up their thumbs in celebration. Karl’s just upset because he’s still in line.
And with full stomachs filled with pizza goodness, the campers continued to participate in their skills in the afternoon despite the seriously warm weather. There were a few skills that enjoyed the sunshine on the water, like Kayaking.
Skills like Water Ex enjoyed the opportunity to refresh under the water. These masks may cause some serious tan lines, but they can also cause some serious fun.
Some skills on the other hand, got to cope with the warm weather in a much more effortless place: the air conditioned craft shop. The people in the Arts and Crafts skill couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about, as it’s like a fridge in there (or at least it feels like it when it’s so hot outside).
The archery range is far away from all shade, so these girls used what they could to block the suns rays. Thankfully the rest of the archers weren’t confused as to where to shoot when these girls had the target over their heads.
In all seriousness though, it’s very important to us that we keep these kids safe from the sun, and any skill where the sun was going to be too much, we made sure to make modifications to locations and to the activities themselves to keep the kids healthy and well for the rest of the week. One of the ways we do this is to make it mandatory that kids order a drink during our Swim, Boat, and Tuck time. It may not be the healthiest drink out there, but they are ice cold and quite refreshing. Tuck time is fantastic.
Speaking of fantastic, here’s your Olympic update! The kids have began to earn medals by doing nice and cool things around camp, and the campers are all very eager to win the pizza party prize. And, the Olympics are one ring closer to being saved from the Olympic bandit, Damien Sinclair.
One of the ways they could get more medals is by doing well in our night game called Conspiracy, which was basically a photo scavenger hunt in the dark, with the added challenge of avoiding paparazzi. Cabins assigned one VIP camper, who wore a bright orange shirt, and if the VIP got their picture taken, the cabin would lose points in the game. The kids seemed to have a blast, and naturally they grow closer together (literally). Can you spot any orange shirts?
It was another great day at Red Rock Bible Camp, and I think all of the Ignite campers would agree. It’s another hot day today, and we’re going to make sure the kids have a blast and stay safe as well. Please pray for us as we deal with the heat, and continue our ministry here at camp.