We made it to camp! First day highlights

 

Hi all!  

We made it to camp!  

Our day started at 5 am this morning.  We left the church parking lot bright and early for our road trip down to Dover, Delaware.  Our plan was to arrive to the camp around 1:30, but we were closer to 3PM.  A little traffic and some longer than expected pit stops may have contributed to our late arrival.  

We stopped this morning for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel.  Our group made it there right before 6 am when they opened, and I'm sure the staff there was a bit surprised to see 23 crazy-looking hungry people staring at them through the locked doors when they came to unlock them at 5:59.  

The vans cruised past NYC by around 10:00 and stopped for lunch at the Vince Lombardi rest stop in New Jersey.  It was just a few more hours after that when we made it to camp.  

In some ways, it was nice that we arrived RIGHT as they were starting the program (3 PM).  The kids didn't have time to unpack, and they had to go directly into the program area.  So, it was 0 to 60 mph for this experience.  The reason why I believe that was good in some ways is because we have a lot of first-time-campers on this trip.  I think that immediate full-fledged plunge into the program was a great way to kick everything off. 

The camp opened up with some fun skits, most notably from the Carpenter Commandos.  The Carpenter Commandos are two staff members who dress up in army/construction gear and take the kids through training lessons throughout the week. They are not short of any funny skits and games, and they are quite gifted with making puns and telling other jokes.  

After dinner, our groups participated in some ice-breaker activities. I've included some pictures of some of the silly tasks we had as groups and puzzles we had to solve. 

We closed the day with Mass.  One of the readings this weekend spoke about freedom.  It was brought up by both priests (yesterday at Our Lady's and today here at camp) this whole idea that true freedom comes through exercising God's will for us.  In thinking about these readings, I hope to help the kids make the connection between those readings and the camp theme this year.

The theme of the camp this year is "Upside Down".  I'm going to encourage the kids to consider this as they explore their spiritual life and relationships, while they look for ways to find and harness that freedom in their lives.  Many of us stick to routines, and for good reason. routines provide stability in our lives.  However, this camp is a great way to look at life from a different perspective, and turn things upside down a little bit.  Just like in many popular stories we've heard in our lives, we can sometimes be surprised by what we find when we look at things differently.  Whether it's confusion or excitement (I think about Alice falling through the rabbit hole), or even in the tv show Stranger Things where the mirror dimension of evil is literally called the Upside Down, we might find things that surprise us or give us concern.  

Being in a community where we are surrounded by others (especially adults that can be great role models) that are so passionate about their life with Jesus is a great place for the teens to get support as they look to strengthen their spiritual life.

Tonight before bed, a few of the teens asked me to go to the church with them to pray the rosary.  It was very nice and quite unexpected (I'm not the only one exhausted)...and I wanted to get this blog out, so I almost told them to go without me.  But I was just so delighted that they came to me and asked me to come, that I had to go and be with them.  I'm so grateful that I went as it was a perfect way to end our first day here in Delaware.  The church was dimly lit and there was such a wonderful sense of peace in the room.

Tomorrow starts the first work day!  I'll be back tomorrow night to share some pictures and stories of that too.  

God bless,

Jared