The Olympic games in London may only be half over, but the Red Rock Olympics have officially come to a close. Last night was the final night of Summer Sizzler, and we made sure to end it off with a bang.
However, the day started out as it always does, with Morning Watch and Discovery. Morning Watch was a great time to debrief the powerful Worship Night the campers experienced the night before, and it gave the campers an opportunity to share their experience with their Big Brothers and Sisters. Friday was a day of lasts for the campers, but they would have one more opportunity on Saturday morning to do some talking as they have one more Morning Watch.
Before lunch the campers went off to their skill areas one more time to finish off the week. It’s been a long week for these campers, and some of them may be lacking a little bit of sleep. So at some points of the day, when it came do doing anything, it looked a lot like this.
But don’t worry, they got their energy back, and were able to eventually enjoy the day at camp as if it were their first. For example, the kayakers were given a jolt of energy from the adrenaline of sliding down the slide in their kayak. That has always looked like so much fun to me, and it’s often a favorite skill time memory for the campers.
Speaking of fun, the fishing skill was given one thumb up for its degree of fun. I never really know if they catch any fish, I suppose I should ask at some point, but every picture I see of them they always seem to be smiling. So let’s just call fishing skill a success.
The sports skill still clearly had some energy as they played one of the most draining games we play here at camp: Steal the Bacon. The goal is to pull the bacon (an inner tube) to your side of the volleyball court. It’s basically a high energy tug of war over and over again. It’s a great time.
The campers also got to experience their last Chapel of the week last night. I can’t say enough how much of a blessing Kent has been to camp this week. The kids loved listening to him, and clearly the Holy Spirit was speaking through him as many kids made decisions to follow God more devoutly, or just to follow God for the first time. We have been so blessed this summer with amazing camp speakers every week. They really make a huge difference in these young peoples lives.
After Chapel, the kids went back to their cabins to prepare for our main event: the Closing Ceremonies. If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you would know that we had an Olympic theme going on this week, and it was only fitting to celebrate our great week in Closing Ceremonies fashion.
And whenever we do any special events here at Red Rock, it seems to be a requirement that the kids and counsellors have to dress up.
We had…snorkelers…
We had…kitchen staff?
And we just had a plain old good time.
Since we called it the Closing Ceremonies, we had to make sure that we tied the Olympics into it. So, when campers arrived to the lodge, they were greeted with medals, because really, they are all winners.
We also got every cabin to make a cabin flag for the decorations. It was awesome to see every flag end up being really cool, but I must say the consensus favorite was this Cheerio flag, with a hole cut in the middle. Awesome stuff by Cabin 11.
We had some live performances as well at the Closing Ceremonies, as a camp band called “The Rookies” took the stage to perform an acoustic version of P.O.D.’s Boom, followed by a skit from the ever popular Pablo Rodriguez aka Cullen Klassen and his crew of hilarious characters. The kids were entertained, and a great time was had.
However, the crowning moment of the night was when the winner of the Red Rock Olympics were announced. After a week of good deeds, searching for rings, and memorizing verses, it was Trembling Aspen that took home the ultimate gold medal, and the pizza party that came with it. It was a great moment for them, and it was definitely well deserved with all of the hard work they put into the week.
What a week it has been. Everyone had so much fun, and God was definitely at work. We have been blessed to get to know these campers, and see their growth, and we pray that they can continue to pursue God wherever they go. Thanks a lot for your prayers and for checking out the blog. We’ll be back on Tuesday when Spark week starts up at camp. Have a great long weekend!
