By Karen:
I am getting older….I just don’t have the steam that I used to have…and that brought about huge blessings on this trip. As I thought through the four day camp, possible topics, activities, snacks, songs, crafts and more, I got tired just thinking about it. I remembered that my goal was always to leave something in Salone that the leaders there could implement themselves later. NOW, I thought, IS A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY. The college students were off for holiday break, so I had them all to myself! LET THE PLANNING BEGIN.
We met together and began to think about roles, responsibilities, possible themes, projects and more. The young adults signed up for an area of responsibility, from administration to games to songs to Bible teaching. Then we were off and running. The next session involved small groups working together, and I mean working.
The teaching group: David, Janet and Seibatu studied the stories of Stephen and Saul, noticing that Jesus changes things! They adopted 2 Corinthians 5:17 as the camp theme. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.” They started planning their stories for each of the first three days, rephrasing ideas so that the kids could not only understand the stories, but also retell them!
- Day one started with Saul approvingly watching Stephen as he was stoned to death.
- Day two highlighted Saul on the road to Damascus and his encounter with Jesus, his blindness, healing and coming to faith.
- Day three introduced Saul, transformed to Paul, as he spent the remainder of his life encouraging others to come to faith in Jesus.
The games group: Moses and Musu had the difficult task of coming up with games that reinforced the teaching from each day, and they were very successful! The kids played ‘stoneball’ remembering the death of Stephen as Saul looked on. They used blindfolds and helped each other search for Jesus, the Light of the World, just as Saul had done. And then, the JAIL GAME as people tried to capture Paul and put him in prison for sharing his faith in Jesus. (picture modified “capture the flag”.) The kids had a great time and continued to learn.
The music group: Anifa, Hawa and Zach-Isha were the song leaders, making up a new song each day to reinforce the concepts and stories being taught. Their first day reinforced our “WHO IS GOD”? teaching. “Amen, to the Father, Amen to the Spirit, Amen to the Son of God, AMEN AMEN AMEN”. (add in an African beat and some dancing…..) Days two and three consisted of chants about Saul, also called Paul. The repetition of these ideas firmly planted the teaching in the brains of the campers!
The crafts group: Princess and I handled the crafts. On day one the campers made salvation bracelets and were able to tell what each color meant as part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On days two and three we helped them work on t-shirts with their very own butterfly decoration, learning that God changes a caterpillar into a butterfly just as he changes us into new creations when we accept Jesus.
The Administration Group: Mary and Princess, worked with me and the other leaders to practice for a camp celebration on Saturday morning, day four.
The Celebration Performance Meal
Saturday night, the college students hosted a celebration performance and meal for the campers and their guests. They sang, they did dramas, they shared the Gospel with their bracelets, they told about butterflies on their shirts, and they had fun! As a storm rolled in to end the evening, I was sorry to see them go, but I was so proud of the amazing leadership and training done by our college kids. It was by far “the best camp ever.”
We were especially blessed on Sunday morning when these two little boys (pictured above), both named Musa Kanneh, responded to the invitation to come to church and Sunday school! Before camp, these boys knew nothing of Jesus, and now they are singing songs and tell stories of how God makes us new creations in Christ!
