Northland Camp!!!

This year I had the opportunity to go to Northland Camp. I had always heard wonderful things about Northland Camp, but had never been there before. I was really scared coming up to camp because I only knew Kayle Humphries and Jenessa. But I am so glad I was able to go.

So I rode up with Scott Graham and Ashley Haulsted. It was a little weird because I had never met these people before, but they were pretty nice and as the time passed by it wasn't as awkward. We ended up getting there an hour and a half before registration. So we just sat there in the heat talking. Then we turned in our drugs to the nurse, and we went downstairs where we were assigned our counselor and cabin. So we went outside waiting for them to call our counselors name. While we were waiting someone else was called who also had our counselor. Then finally we were introduced to our counselor. She helped us carry our things to our cabin and then the adventure began.

Like I said I had never been to Northland Camp before so I did not know what to do. So for a while I just waited to see if we would get any more kids in our cabin. Well after a half an hour, I decided to wander around. So I went and played football with a bunch of guys that I did not know. Then I went back to my cabin to see if any more kids were there. Shortly after my counselor walked in the door with some more people. Then we went and played football. Then I played 9 square, which is an extremely fun game. Then we went back to our cabin. So by the end of registration we had 9 kids in our cabin: Jenessa, Erin, Allyson, Holly, Kailey, Sonie, Dominique, Bernette, and I. After the free time was done, we went to a building and met as the red team. It was really weird at first. The counselors were going crazy. Then we were introduced to the team leaders and they taught us a bunch of cheers. After that, we went to the gym for orientation. Then we played 4 court volleyball. That was so much fun and Dominique was beast at it. Then we went back to our cabins and got ready for chapel. We had the privilege of having Aaron Coffey speak for our night services. Chapel is amazing during camp. The music is wonderful and the preaching is amazing. I was challenged greatly each day by God's word. That night Aaron Coffey talked about Matthew 7. It doesn't matter what people think of you, what matters is what God knows about you. And it's not what did your faith cost you, but what it does cost you.
Tuesday was our first full day of camp. By then we had all gotten to know the people in our cabin pretty well. You start off the day by waking up and cleaning your cabin, then there is flag raising, then breakfast. Well after that, we have our morning chapel. For the mornings Will Galkin would talk about

Hebrews 12. The theme for this week was, Hebrews 12, "Because of the faithfulness of God and the finished work of Christ, you can endure to the end." He also talked about how God is here, God has spoken, and Christ is superior. He talked about how we are in a race of faith, and how we can run this race because of Christ's faithfulness. Then after the morning session of chapel we have something called power groups. It is a time in which we come together as a cabin and talk about a passage from Hebrews 12. I absolutely loved power groups. We were all open to each other and it really helped hearing that other people have the same struggles as you. Then after power groups we had a time set apart for cabin unity and also cabin pictures. We were supposed to go do cabin pictures first, but the line was long so we did cage ball as a cabin. Cage ball was super fun. You are in holes in this little room and it is basically like hand ball. We also play 9 fast holes of mini golf. I am pretty sure that even though Dominigue and I were probably the worst at it, we probably had the most fun. So after that, we went and got our picture. I am pretty sure our cabin had the coolest picture. We had a pyramid with people doing the red team pose on the sides. It was awesome!!! Then we had our afternoon session. Mr. Frazier spoke about our relationship with the Lord. He talked about how we need to have a special time and place to spend time with the Lord. He also talked about how we need to have a special someone who can keep us accountable. He also talked about an acronym called DEPAC. Doctrine-a truth to believe, Example-an example to follow/avoid, Promise: a promise to claim, Attribute: a character quality to dwell on, Command: a command to obey. Then our steps for DEPAC are 1. to pray and ask God to help you understand what you are reading when you read His word 2.to read the planned passage for the day 3. to underline the verse that you think has DEPAC 4. put the letter beside the verse you underlined 5. finish reading and answer what things did I learn and how should I apply it to my life 6. and then spend time in prayer using Praise, Repent,Ask, and Yield. Then after this service we had free time. For free time I decided to do the swim test so I would not have to wear a life jacket every time I wanted to go swimming. Then I went off the eclipse swing and the liquidator. I epically failed at the eclipse swim, but the liquidator was so awesome I had to go down twice!!! I loved it!!! Then I had one on ones with my counselor. It was really nice being able to talk to her. Then we had supper. After that, they expected us to be able to run on a full stomach! Jk it wasn't that bad. We played a game called tag-a-lot. It was so much fun!! So there are a bunch of buckets and one person sits on either side of the bucket. Then you have to try tagging someone, yet you cannot cross the line of buckets and you can only run when you get the piton. It might sound confusing, but it is really easy. After that we had a little bit more free time, which I used to get to know some of the girls in my cabin a little bit more. Then we went to the last session of chapel for the day. Aaron Coffee talked about Isaiah 2. He talked about how we should not have idols in our life, or anything that we spend more time with than God. He talked about how Jesus is Better!! When you think about it, can your idols really save you, no, Jesus is the only one that saves. So shouldn't we actively pursue Him instead of other things. Then we went back to our rooms for devotions. That night we met our assistant counselor Cassia. Isn't it wonderful to see people who truly love the Lord and want to serve Him. I am so glad that God allowed Juli and Cassia to be my counselors.

Wednesday was a great day. We started off by a great challenge from Will Galkin and then a water game. The water game was insane! There was this huge water slide in which we had to throw a tennis ball into a mini swimming pool or a garbage can. Then there were some medium sized pools that we had to jump through and then touch the other persons hand. Then we had to carry a bucket with holes in the bottom across a line of people. Then the last thing we had to do was put a sponge in between 2 people foreheads and run across to a cone and run back.  It was so much fun!! And we were soaked!! Then we had funny time! Oh my word they were hilarious!!! Then we had another amazing service by Aaron Coffey! After that, we had a night game. So our counselor told us that they would ask us if we randomly had certain items so we brought like everything. We ended up getting like 7 of the things, it was awesome!! Our cabin totally dominated this game! Dominique won at basketball and Erin won for football. Then I won the pillow fight!! It was so scary!! Ok so there are 5 people from each team lined up on a low balance beam with pillows. I thought I was possibly the strongest person so I was going to be last. My counselor told me to shove the pillow into their faces, but they told us we could not do that and we had to whack them instead. I looked at my counselor, worried. Then in just a short time all 4 of the people in front of me were out and only 2 of the other team was out. I got the first person out quite fast, then I got the second person. There was only one person left. I looked up, and I am pretty sure my jaw dropped. It was Ashley Haulsted. She is the tallest, strongest girl in the camp. I felt like David against Goliath. It was so scary!! She whacked at the back of my legs and kept on hitting me. I thought that was a good idea so I did the same. Finally I hit her so hard she got a little off balance so I kept on hitting her and then she fell. I was so happy!!! Everyone said she had the look on her face that said she was going to kill me! When I got back to my cabin, one of the people said that they were surrounded by guys and all of them agreed that they never wanted to get in a pillow fight with me. That is so awesome!!!

Thursday, we are getting to the end. Thursday started off great with another wonderful challenge from God's word. Then we had a game called Phase 10. We had to collect different numbers like in the game phase 10. It was a lot of fun! Our team did quite well, also. Then we had some free time. I was so scared to go on the zip line, but I kinda wanted to do it. I told my counselor, Juli, that the only way I would do it is if she would shove me off. Well she was working on the swingshot right next to the zip line. I went over there and she quickly switched so that she could work the zip line and shove me off. Juli tried pushing me, but I realized she was going to and held on. There was this guy on the other zip line who was really afraid to do it, so after me like freaking out forever I made a deal with him that we would go at the same time. Well, Juli shoved me off and he went 5 seconds after me. I screamed going down, but it really wasn't that bad. Then we played a game called Endurance. For this game we had to run a course that was only .6 miles, but had 10 different challenge courses. The very last course was the mud pit. It was so much fun!! A girl in our cabin was the only girl to completely finish twice. Then we finished off the night with another service with Aaron Coffey.

Friday was the last full day of camp. Will Galkin had to go to a wedding so Aaron spoke in the morning. Then we had another game. For this game there was kind of like 2 parts. It was a Bible quiz and then whoever got the question right would draw a card out of a bag. It would either have points on it, or it would say twister. When it said twister we had to go put either our hand or our foot on a dot that was on the grass. We would run our hardest to try to get a dot. Once a girl bumped me in the head and my nose hurt for a couple of days. =( So our awesome counselor, Juli, gave us a little pep talk before this game and told us like all of the questions and answers. They had not even finished asking the first question and I stood up. It was, "Through the faithfulness of God and the finished work of Christ, we can endure to the end." I was so happy that I got it right! Then Dominique and Sonie were beast at it too and got 5 questions right put together. So basically our cabin dominated in this game, too. Then we had free time. Jenessa, Juli, and I all went swimming. Oh my, that is all I can say. Juli and I went off the eclipse swing and I totally did better than her. =) Then we went down the liquidator! It was awesome! Little Will Galkin gave me a 8 both times!!! The first time Juli went down it she almost got stuck. It was so funny! Then the second time she went down she went super fast. I thought she was going to die. After we got changed and went to the craft shop to make flowers. That was a lot of fun! Then we found out who won, the red team or the blue team. The blue team beat us, but it was still a lot of fun and I am so proud of our team. Then there was chapel. Let's just say there was a lot of smiling going on! uhem Juli and Jenessa! ;) It was really sad because it was the last night. My sister came right before we did our devotions. It was awesome! Then Juli told us some more stories, like her engagement story. It was a really good night!

Then came Saturday morning. I don't think any of us wanted it to come. We were all so lazy when we woke up. We packed all of our stuff in the car and then we went to breakfast. Jessica told us that we had to leave like right away. Well, Jenessa and I did not want to leave. Goodbyes are always the worst. Well after an hour and a half after Jessica told us we needed to leave, we said our goodbyes. We got some awesome pictures with Juli...and Michael Jiro! Then we left and headed home.

Camp was so much fun and I am so very thankful that I was able to go. I needed each and everyone of those sermons. I am also really glad that God put me in the cabin that I was in. My counselor was super amazing and really helped me. My cabin mates were also super amazing and I am so thankful for them. It was a wonderful week in which I will never forget, nor will I ever forget those people.