Youth Bible Camp 11

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Youth Bible Camp 2011
About 32 people attended YBC'11 at the Journey's End Camp in Loburn near Rangiora in Canterbury during October. The theme emphasised the importance of doing what we do well!

The camp had great opportunities for learning, sharing and experiencing in many areas of our lives. By the end everyone was quite happily exhausted. Everyone enjoyed their time! This is what some of them had to say:

"I enjoy YBC because I can study the Bible and talk about God without having to explain everything!"

"Camp was great... The drawkcab race was so much fun... The messages were challenging... "

"i so lorve the camp dis yr.... can't wait 4 nxt yr...."

"Thanks for the camp... I had a ball. I'll have to come to the whole thing next time!"

"I'm thankful for YBC! I've learnt so much the few times I've been. It's been a good influence."

And that's what Youth Bible Camp is all about! — having an enjoyable time together while growing closer to Jesus and each other and studying God's Word, learning practical skills, developing friendships for eternity!

Meetings
In the mornings we started the day with Worship. Emmanuel Higgins took them for us. He shared some interesting messages starting with Jumbled Priorities, he did an interesting example with rocks, pebbles, sand, and water in a bucket to show that we need to start with the big priorities in our lives if we have any hope of fitting things in. The next morning worship was called Trees Preach Too where we learnt about the lessons from an orange tree in our own Christian life. Sabbath morning was The Laws of Aerodynamics when we looked at the four forces of aerodynamics: gravity, drag, lift, thrust and how these are likened to our Christian walk. Gravity and drag are the things of the world which hold us back and down, while lift and thrust pull us up and forward. On Backwards day we had worship in the evening and learnt about giving A Certain Sound. Emmanuel had an old bugle that some of us tried to play. The lesson was that when there is danger it is important to give a clear and precise warning, just like we must give a clear signal of our Christianity and tell others too. On the last day our morning worship was called Time Marches On, we looked at eternity past and eternity in the future and how we are living right at the end of time in between!

Each morning after breakfast Male Bone Laing took our Bible Classes and these linked with the evening sessions he took too. We looked at the importance of knowing God and His purpose for us. Male Bone challenged us to seek God's special promises for our lives and to claim these. He also shared with us about the parable of the sower and how we need to let God work on the soil of our hearts so that we don't become hardened or have stones in our lives that will prevent us from becoming deep rooted.

On the Friday evening we had a visit from Warwick Pascoe from www.masterpiece.org.nz who gave us an amazing presentation on the development of the human masterpiece during the 9 months before birth. It was not only informative but also impacting when we learn how unique, individual and special we are to God.

On Sabbath we travelled to Oxford where we filled the church up and the locals enjoyed our presence and singing. Amos, took an interesting sermon paralleling David and Goliath with how Jesus fights Satan on our behalf. We later returned to camp and after a good lunch and a walk we enjoyed another meeting with Male Bone.

Over all the presentations were challenging and a good reminder of what our purpose is as Christians. The theme was decently and in order and we used Yellow Rubber Duckies as our mascot to illustrate having 'all our ducks in a row'.

Activities
As well as our usual indoor group games in the evenings, we had a lot of fun and learning in our main activities. The first day of camp was called "Work day", we earned camp 'dollars' for special activities and helping out. In the afternoon we had a choice of doing 3 of 5 different workshops. These included Woodwork, Computers, Cooking, Cars, Photography. Everyone enjoyed learning in the different areas and came away with some new skills.

The next day was "Orderly Day", We got split into 4 teams: Team Duckie, Team Pond, Team Land, Team Beak, and went on a Balloon hunt. Each team was looking around the camp site for numbered balloons in their colour which had to be brought back to base in order. There were some unexpected twists and activities along the way. There were also other coloured bonus balloons which were collected, some had minus points... we found out later! Every one was tired out by the end but it was good teamwork and enjoyable.

Next, on Sabbath was "Decent Day". After visiting Oxford Church, we took a walk down the road even though some were too tired to go, every one ended up taking a decent walk and enjoyed the cows, pigs, scenery and fellowship.

Sunday was perhaps the most intense day as far as activities go. It was "Backwards Day" where we learnt about when things aren't in order. We had an activity first, then our meeting by Male Bone, which was normally in the evening, then we had our 'evening' meal! Then we left camp and met at the Rangiora Domain where we broke into smaller groups and were blindfolded and taken into town and dropped off in some random place. After all teams were dropped off we were able to open our instructions and began the Drawkcab Race. First we had to discover where we were and then find our way to various places using a map that was cut into lots of pieces like a puzzle.

We had to do price comparisons at various shops, and buy three items, then buy lunch for our entire team of about 5 with our left over money (which in most cases was about $6-9). We also had to walk backwards along part of the main street and count 188 carparks in a parking area. To make it worse we also had to carry a truck tube with us all the time and in the shops! You get some interesting looks walking backwards down the street with a tube over one of your shoulders!

After we had completed the tasks, we had to text the 'bus driver' and we got picked up and taken to a carpark at the Ashley river. From there we had to find blue flags and follow instructions. First we had to make a stretcher and then cross the river bed without getting our youngest team member wet. When we got to the main flow it was a 'novus' moment, as Shanah would say, it was fairly swift and challenging but we all made it through safely. Next we had to find some more flags and complete some other tasks.

From there we got into vehicles and had to navigate our driver with some interesting instructions all the way back to the camp - every one made some wrong turns but did eventually make it back! Once at camp we had to complete a few more tasks until time was up. The whole day was pretty full on.

The last day was 'Strike Day'. No one woke the campers up, no one called them to worship, no one made breakfast for them. The interesting thing is probably over half of them didn't even realise the leaders had gone on strike, because every one just fell into the normal pattern and even just went into the kitchen to get some breakfast when they got hungry!

Meals
We had three healthy, tasty and popular meals a day. Angela spent plenty of time working on them and every one had turns helping out with meal prep and wash-up.

After earning 'money' on the 'Work Day' we had to buy our breakfast on 'Orderly Day'. We could buy our cereal, toast, fruit etc. Some chose to buy financial advice which gave them an advantage. It was the same at lunch time! But for tea, we had a formal meal where every one dressed in their best and were served at the tables, we even had fancy clothes, menus and table decorations. This was probably the most enjoyable meal of the camp, and everyone ended up pretty full after the three-course meal!

On 'Backwards Day' we had our tea in the morning, and breakfast at night. Some just couldn't get the idea of having potatoes so early in the day, but by the time evening came they had adjusted enough to have porridge! Our lunch that day was part of the Drawkcab Race where we had to buy food for our whole team on a very small budget!

All the other meals were much more 'normal' but still very enjoyable times of fellowship!

Inbetween
Between the morning Bible class sessions each day and in the evenings we had a break and a few smaller activities. We also had opportunity to spend time together in groups to make good friends and just chat. Most campers were pretty tired after a busy day.

We also had memory verses to learn through the day. One team on the balloon hunt spent their hunting time making the verse into a song! A team on the Drawkcab Race memorised while waiting in the park to be picked up.

Throughout the camp, campers had the benefit of mixing with other Christian young people. They gained new friendships and learnt from each other's experiences. Prayerfully these friendships will go on into eternity and the lessons learnt will benefit their lives here and in the future!

Notes for Campers!
• The organisers would like to thank all the campers that attended for being there. We enjoyed running the camp about as much as you enjoyed being there and participating! We look forward to seeing you next year and pray that you will continue to do things decently and in order!

• Be sure to check facebook for plenty of extra photos. There is a collection in Autumn Leaves Youth Bible Camp 2011 album, and others scattered between other friends.

• Remember to keep in touch with each other and encourage friends to grow in their Christian walk.

• If you have any comments, questions or suggestions on the camp, contact us.