Personal Narrative: Camp Barnabas

First,my church called “GOCC” had to take a four hour drive to St.Louis. Me and my family we're excited to sleep is a tent for the first time. We had a tent,two sleeping bags, and a cover. Are church stayed in a train of cars the whole destination. Some of the names of the people that came with my family we're Richard, Adaya,Dayana, Monica, Shawn, David, Al, Shelton, Oliva, Brandi, and Ty’isha.

One camper in particular that made an impact on me was Kylie, a 7 year old girl with cancer. On the first night of the week, I sat down on her bed to get to know her and we ended up looking at a Where is Waldo

I was the only camper in the entire camp; the busses from Chicago didn’t arrive until three in the afternoon. My counselors took me with them to the mess hall where all of these girls on staff were in their Uggs sweatpants and sweatshirts eating breakfast. It’s June, who wears ugg boots in the summer? After hours of sitting on my cold hard mattress on the top bunk, as I wasn’t allowed to unpack until the rest of my cabin arrived, there was an announcement, “Attention all campers and counselors RUN RUN RUN to the top of the hill the busses are almost here!!” I had never seen a more excited group of people in my entire life and I had no clue why. I get to the top of the hill where the counselors are singing at the top of their lungs “we welcome you to Chippewa were mighty glad you’re here” the girls started filing out of the three huge coach busses and tons of hugs were exchanged. There were tears of joy along with sad tears, many squeals and overall just an indescribable vibe. We all made our way to the center fire circle where cabins were announced. I was in the first cabin, the youngest cabin. I gathered with my soon to be best friends and walked back to my cabin. I was looking around, these girls had just spent 6 hours together on the bus and they know each other from home. Are they going to hate me? How do I make friends? These were

I live in Ancient Greece in the year 612. Most kids at the age of 12 are in military camp but i’m being taught by Plato, he is my tutor. My dad is in the military and i probably won’t see him until he is 60 years old or something like that, I miss him even though he can be strict but mother says the reason that he is so strict is because I am special and plus he is in the military so people are strict over there. I usually spend most of my days reading books or at the academy in athens with my tutor Plato learning something called philosophy which I have never heard of. My mom is always supporting me when it comes to that type of stuff. I kinda wonder what it is like in military camp because I never get to talk to other kids my age, but I

Campers live in cabins with no air conditioning and no electronic devices, excluding fans and camp iPods for each cabin. This allows the girls to focus on their surrounding and to be truly present in each moment. We are disconnected from the rest of the world for four weeks. Our only communication with the outside world is mail. Getting the chance to escape our hectic lives to a beautiful mountain retreat is a wonderful blessing. I feel closer to God than ever. On Sundays we have a church service and each girl walks away with pages full of wonderful notes.

When I was younger I always wanted to be a teacher. Throughout my middle school years I figured. I wanted to be a Special Ed Teacher. My sophomore in year high school I had an opportunity to be apart of a special camp. This camp was were special children would come for a week and people would volunteer to watch them for that specific week. My church does this every other year, so when I was old enough to go, I signed up to go. The camp is named Camp Barnabas and it impacted my life in so many marvelous ways.

During the summer I volunteered at camp rainbow in pontiff from 9am to 3:30pm. I worked with kids ages 6-11 with mental disabilities. In the morning the kids and I would play with Legos Try to build something cool like spaceships or skyscrapers. After playing with the Legos, we would pick up and go outside to play with the kids on the playground equipment. There I would push the kids on the swing really high and watch their face light up with excitement the higher they swung. After playing outside the kids and volunteers went inside into the gym and ate popsicles while the kids worked on arts and crafts. When the kids got bored of arts and crafts they ate lunch then we took them to the gym where we played a soccer game until they got tired.

Have you ever been so broken spirited that you just ask “why me”? Last summer my youth group and I journey to Philadelphia for a mission trip. We would be helping plant a church and provide outreach in the local community. We all expected it to be fairly painless trip, but we were blind-sides when God decided to transform our lives, while we were taking the opportunity to revolutionize others.

Growing up in the Mennonite faith, community has alway been a big aspect of my life. Whether it be in church, with my friends, in school, or in sports, I was constantly trying to make connections with people, and to be part of a group that was bigger than just me. Being a piece in a community was, and still is, a way for me to find myself. Never have I felt more like a belong to a community than at Camp Mennoscah, a local church camp I’ve been going to since third grade. Camp Mennoscah is the place that has most defined who I am, and the people there have created their own little community, apart from the rest of the world. We only spend one week a year as a camper out there, but I have so many close relationships with other campers and counselors. Campfire is one of my favorite parts of camp, and the feeling of a trusting community is felt very strongly here. Every evening, two or three people speak at campfire, telling stories about what has brought them to where they’re at in life now. I’ve always loved listening to their stories, because I get to see such a different side of people than usual. These are people I’ve known for a lot of years, some of whom I’ve gone to school with or spent many hours in practice with. However, during campfire I get to see them separate from the context that I’ve known them for before; they’re telling stories you don’t hear in the casual conversations of high school, sometimes stories they’ve never even told before. People talk about

In the spring of 2014 I went to FFA Success Conference in Covington, GA with my teacher Mrs. Beasley. Being sixteen and in High School after hearing about “camp” I thought how lame it was. Not knowing it would have changed my life on how I looked about things in life. So as my teacher went on about it and described how fun and positive it was I gave in. it was a two day conference so we will leave that next Saturday and arrived the same day. After the arrival we logged into our separate cabins girls and boys. From there we went to the first session.

When I was first awoken before 8:00 a.m on a Monday morning in July, it is not hard to imagine how unamused I was. My mom had signed me up to volunteer for two weeks at the Munroe Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Their summer camp for kids with special needs ages three and a half through twenty-one had become my home for the next week. This camp provides an summer camp experience for kids who would not otherwise have one. The campers are divided into groups with staff and volunteers as well. A volunteer at Camp Monroe has a new buddy every day they help their buddy with tasks, offer encouragement, and give simple direction when needed. The activities for the campers include: swimming, cooking, sports, creative

In all honesty, as a young girl who had never been exposed to special needs or those different than me, I was very nervous and did not know what to expect. I was not looking forward to going. My mom convinced me to try it for a day, if not for myself, at least to give Mrs. Patti some helping hands. We drove down the winding country roads and finally turned left down the long asphalt driveway. I got out of the car and immediately was greeted by a camper named Jake. He came up to me and said excitedly, “Hi I’m Jake, what’s your name?” and gave me a big high five. In that moment I realized these kids were not so different from me after all. They have the desire to make friends and have relationships with their peers just as much as we

Every summer during my elementary years I attended a Christian summer camp called Camp Thurman. After experiencing the great joy of many years of fun-filled weeks, I chose to spend my summers in high school working at this camp as a counselor. Without having the honor of working at this camp, I would not be the person I am today.

The rest of the week went extremely quickly; I’ve never learned more about my spiritual relationship with God. Not a single day at Gull Lake Ministries was the same. There was always a new adventure to discover. Whether it was making friends, playing games, or jumping off a one-hundred-foot tower, camp was always entertaining and fun. I found that the “camp high” that my friends had told me about was real, and it changed me for the better. My first year at camp had been made a success through the combined efforts of the counselors, the staff, and my newfound friends. I have returned to Gull Lake six times since my first year, and

At church, in addition to my participation in the worship services, I volunteered at our church’s soup kitchen, medical camps and elementary school for underprivileged children. These experiences opened my eyes to the deprivation of love and care in the world and a dire need of God’s grace for people at large so they could receive forgiveness, healing and restoration in their lives.