Lock-In for the YOUTH Group

So on the day we set for our lock-in, we drove into town to pick up the kiddos and bring them out to camp! Our desire was to bring out those who usually attend youth group and hopefully some of their friends! Through our advertising and the kids doing a great job inviting their friends, we had a total of 17 kids join us for the Camp Eagle Lock-in!

Our desire to bring them out to camp was not only to show them where we live, what it is like in our Walkabout program, but also to allow them to see what Camp Eagle in general is like. Most of them have heard lots about it, but only half of them have ever been out to camp or been able to attend a session in the summer. So bringing them out to Camp Eagle would be a fun experience to let them see God’s beauty that we have been blessed with on the 1400 acre land and also have some fun outdoors.

Once we drove back to camp, we had already thrown the ropes for the kids to be able to rock climb! They enjoyed some time out on the rock wall and some of them were really good for never having the opportunity to do an activity like that!

After rock climbing, we had an awesome meal ready for them, campfire lasagna, which is a trail favorite by those who come out and live in the back country of Eagle Quest (one of our programs) in the summertime! Lasagna was served and the kids got to see how we eat out here and serve one another, The family style place setting and passing of the food isn’t something all of these kids have in their own homes.  It was a fun experience to sit up in Mi Casa with over 25 people, who were new to camp, and to pass around some yummy wilderness food!

After dinner we headed up to The Lookout, a common campfire place that overlooks camp. From the lookout during the day you can see up the river, all the way to the waterfront. The lookout is not far from the cross on the hill that is often a hiking spot that groups go out to while at camp. Around the campfire, we sang worship songs led by some of the Walkabouts that have been blessed with talent. We also shared our favorite thing about youth group and the things that we are learning while we are there.

After this, we took the youth group out to the zip line for a real treat!!! We did the night zip, which means exactly what you think it means. We ziplined in the dark.. now for those of you who haven’t been out to camp, understand this… by dark- we mean dark. You see out at camp, there are not city lights or other known lights that most people encounter in the “world”. There is actually complete darkness out here, which means at night you walk with a flash light! So for the night zip, we line the zip path with glow in the dark sticks and send the kids out for a fun ride!

We have found that this is a fun way to help the kids encounter their fears! For most of them, because they can’t see the fear, it is a much more fun experience. Everyone loves the glow sticks and the fun it is riding down as the path is made of glowing lights! After about an hour or so of ziplining, we decided to call it a night and head up to Mi Casa for some cookies and ice cream!

Cookies and ice cream was the best idea before starting the night of movies and staying up till it was time to leave in the morning! Not many of the kids were able to pull an all-nighter! I know I wasn’t and it was a good thing that my sweet Walkabout brother was so understanding and willing to let me stay in my cabin because of me being so sick… cedar allergies.

The next morning we woke up and had a yummy egg scramble with the kids before heading back to town to all go to church together! We decided we wanted to invite the kids to the Sunday morning service with us because it is the church in which they are involved with the youth group, but none of them really go on Sunday mornings. Part of this is due to it is a Baptist church and most of the kids families are catholic. SO with that said, we were excited to have two kids join us for church!

After church we had one family who had volunteered and welcomed us into her home for lunch. So the five or so leaders of the lock-in went and enjoyed a wonderful meal made by one of our favorite ladies in Rocksprings!

Just an update: The night of the lock-in, we also had 17 students show up to youth group! 10 of which were the same kids, 7 of which were not able to attend the lock-in. The Lord is good. He is moving!