Another day at Family Camp! We started yesterday with an early morning adventure – swimming! Then, some of us congregated in Alford Hall for Lesson Reading, where we read this week’s Bible Lesson on Spirit. Our Thought of the Day was from Science & Health page 266 – “Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuminating the universe with light.”
A good one. A classic.
We were then blessed with four different types of pancakes for breakfast. Not only did we have plain, but also chocolate chip, blueberry, and cinnamon. The pancakes got everyone into a great mood for our Metaphysical Activity Period (MAP), which was with our counsellor Sam on the different kinds of psalms in the Book of Psalms and how they are composed.
Classes for the day started in the morning with archery, Arts & Crafts, photography, and free swim and boating on the Waterfront. The weather was a little cloudy, but the temperature of the lake was just right as our families finished up their swim tests and enjoyed Crystal Lake, the coolest place at camp.
Photography class took a tour of the camp going along some of the back trails to take some photos, and I heard we had some bullseyes in archery! Arts & Crafts has many different projects going right now. There’s jewelry making, weaving, origami, and some nature painting as well. Those crafts carried on into the afternoon after lunch, and we added tumbling and gymnastics, horseback riding, gaga and the rock wall to the afternoon docket.
The rock wall was active for almost four hours with campers and families cycling through the different sides of the rock wall – both the beginning and advanced – and making their way to the top where they retrieved their leaf from the very tips of the trees. I love the rock wall for multiple reasons.
The first, being that you get to see the camp from a whole new perspective as you can look out over Alford Hall and a bit of Boys’ Camp. The second reason, is that even though it’s just you climbing that rock wall, there’s a whole support team that helps you get to the top. You do all the actual climbing, but you’ve got your belayer holding you up in the air, and all your friends down on the ground helping you get to where you need to go.
We had some smaller campers try out the rock wall for the first time, and they all made their way to the very top. But the best part of watching these younger campers climb was that some of the footholds were a bit farther apart than they’d anticipated, so we now have photos of our Program Director, Liam, working as a human foothold towards the bottom of the rock wall – offering his hands, shoulders, and head for the campers to climb up and get to where they needed to go.
Our evening activity was Testimony Meeting, where we had readings in both English and Spanish. Our readings were on feeding your sheep, and what it means to be a neighbor and love one another unconditionally. All very good thoughts, wouldn’t you agree?
The evening ended with a bonfire and s’mores, a camp classic. We all huddled around the flames and roasted our marshmallows while talking about our day and the activities we had conquered. Though it felt relatively late at night, everyone was still full of energy and glowing in one another’s presence.
We’re well into our lovely Thursday, and we’re looking forward to another full day of activities! Thanks for keeping updated with us, and we hope you have a lovely Thursday as well!
– Zoë
Social Media Director/Camp Photographer
zoe@crystallakecamps.org
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