Hi everyone! I’m Becca Thomas, and I am one of the summer interns here at Pulpit Rock Church! I had one of the coolest and most remarkable opportunities of serving as support staff at this year’s 3rd through 5th grade camp up at Camp Elim in Woodland Park. I have personally never been to a camp before so this was all a new experience to me, and I will say it was nothing short of extraordinary.
One of the best parts of camp was being away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and having all the distractions of life minimized, so that we truly could focus on God. Just hearing God’s creation amplified in nature, and the way it sings every morning and night was so beautiful, which is something that is definitely a little harder to notice in everyday normal life. At camp it was a lot easier to see and take in God’s presence on a daily basis. Giving the opportunity and chance for you to re-orientate yourself with the Lord. A personal favorite time of mine was every night around the campfire. Everyone gathered around the fire, singing praises to God, and in fellowship with each other. It was one of the most beautiful parts of the whole camp. Words don’t do this experience justice as it was truly a speechless sight to see and experience at the end of every very busy yet fun day.
Testimony Night took place on the last night of camp around the campfire. All week long counselors would speak and give testament of how God has moved in their life. So this night it was the campers turn, if they felt led they could stand up and share how they had seen God move during their time at camp over the week. Watching each courageous kid stand up and share their testimony of the week was so beautiful. Not only the campers that shared, but also the campers who watched and listened closely that you could tell that the words being spoken were resonating with them as well. Seeing how this time impacted every camper was one of the biggest ways I saw God move.
As well as seeing how each counselor and staff person cared about each camper on an individual basis, and strived to build a relationship with each camper was also something I have not seen before. It genuinely touched my heart seeing how all these people were so after God’s own heart that they were able to turn around and be an example of God’s love to each one of the kids.
Something that was a bit more challenging was definitely the weather and having to be able to do a complete 180 of our plans according to the rain and weather. Nevertheless, by God’s grace we were able to work around the rain and thunderstorms and still find ways to have fun, even in the unexpected.
Camp Elim was nothing short of life-changing, and a remarkable time. Seeing God move in ways I’ve never seen before, seeing new friendships blossom from the campers, even to us staff. While also having fun in new and different ways It was truly a time that I will continually thank God for letting me be a part of something so incredibly wonderful.
