I’m Rosario from Mexico, and I want to share why Crystal Lake Camps has been one of the best experiences of my life.
I can’t describe exactly how much CLC has changed my life since my first time there. Before camp, I was a shy girl, afraid of people and of the world. For me it was difficult to make new friends and engage with new people.
I had heard about CLC because some kids from my church were campers, and after they came back from camp they and their moms talked about their camp experience in our Sunday School. Also, years ago CLC was promoted in my church by someone sent from camp. Finally, after many presentations of camp, I overcame my fears and decided to apply for 2009 summer.
After my first experience in 2009 at CLC, everything was different. I opened my mind and changed myself. I became friendlier, fearless, free of many personal issues which I had been fighting in the past.
To come to camp I had to overcome many obstacles. The most important was that I didn’t speak English and I wasn’t in the best economic situation. My family has never been wealthy, and in those days my parents were not able to pay even the minimum required, like for my documentation to travel and all the stuff necessary for summer. But all the obstacles were resolved by God’s love, because everything I needed was provided in time. For example, as I said my family couldn’t pay for the airplane tickets and tuition, but I asked for financial aid and camp gave both, tickets and tuition.
And then I had another worry funding my visa, passport, and other stuff needed for the trip. I was praying to recognize God’s provision, and it was manifested through some friends who I met in my Class Instruction and my teacher’s Sunday School who, helped me to cover all necessary expenses. Everything was sent by God’s Love who was taking care of every detail of my trip.
And the language problem was resolved when I was at camp — I just tried to practice and learn with everyone else!
Crystal Lake Camp is one of my favorite places for many reasons: because we learn and practice Christian Science every single day, and for me it’s super-easy at camp to understand more about that and more about my relationship with God; because I have had many healings at camp and many opportunities to see God’s Love; and because I can say after camp that my spiritual growth has been tremendous, and I have to say that the spiritual atmosphere of CLC helps me a lot with that achievement.
Another reason I love CLC is that all the things that I’ve learned there have helped me in my real life in my country. For example, for the different jobs that I’ve had here in Mexico, camp has been one of the important references needed to get those jobs due to the experiences that I have had in past summers. And the most important thing is that I learned English at camp through all the summers that I’ve been there. That tool is opening many different doors for me.
Camp held many surprises for me, starting with the culture, the costumes, the food, the buildings and I think the people too. It was not what I expected, but I can recommend to new people from other countries to be ready to learn new things, ready to taste new food, to live different, fun, and exciting experiences.
At CLC I’ve met and made many friends from different parts of the world, including from my own country. I have to say that one of my best friends is from Vietnam — our friendship started at camp. I have many good friends that I made at CLC, but that friendship is special.
I’m so grateful for being part of CLC family, for the opportunity to get to know this camp and live the CLC experience every summer, and for all the many blessings I have received, both during and after camp.
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