By Karis and Chloe
A couple of weeks ago, a group including both Jr. High and Sr. High youth traveled up to Easton, Pennsylvania to participate in a week-long Kids in Motion camp. Going into this experience, there were different emotions running through many of us. This week really made us look into our hearts and wrestle with our choices that we make every day.
Going into the week, I was very nervous and was anticipating a very hard week full of lots of hardships and struggles. The night we got to Easton, we talked about love. It was an eye-opening moment, realizing how much love we needed to use throughout the week and how much we all struggled with love in our own personal lives. The first day of camp was hard getting to know and work with our campers and our other counselors. Some struggles were getting to know the kids and getting them to participate in the games. After each of the hard days of camp, we went back to the church, where we would worship and learn about the fruit of the Spirit. Throughout the week, we learned and wrestled with the fruit of the Spirit in our personal lives and also how to use it at camp with the kids. The week also allowed a bond to be formed between kids of different grades, and those we may not have bonded with otherwise.
Many of us went into this trip as strangers and came out of the trip as a family through Christ. Not only did we have to deal with campers, but we also had to learn how to have patience with our fellow counselors. God tested us a lot this week through troubled campers, early mornings, late nights, and even through our friends. Every night we had a talk about the fruits of the Spirit and it highlighted a lot of our weaknesses and made us feel vulnerable. This is where our team did a great job at comforting one another and coming together.
At the end of the week, everyone was both relieved and sad to go. Not only had we come to serve at a camp, but we had also come to grow in our faith and relationship with God. It was an exhausting week that tested us in many ways, but it was also fruitful week filled with lots of fun and friendship.