As a summer camp director, I strive to make sure every camper has a wonderful time.  We have some of the best cooks you'll find at any summer camp, we have a range of activities from passive things like arts and crafts to active events like rock wall climbing, I try to get the most engaging speakers for our evening chapel services, and I have been consistently able to hire outstanding young adults to serve as counselors each summer.

But every once in a while, I realize that the campers need to learn to give back, and not just receive.  This is a hard goal to achieve in one week.  It works very well at the school where I teach - I call myself a camp director who teaches in the off season - but at school we have nine months to get the kids to the point where they get a vision for serving others.  Nonetheless, this week at camp I decided to give it a try, so I called the nursing home in Caribou, a nearby city of 9500 people.

I had four sessions to teach half the campers some basic magic tricks, including Jade learning how to produce a bunny from a seemingly empty box (see previous blog).  One camper learned a basic three ball juggling pattern and a couple simple tricks.  But Rose had the biggest job.  She has recently returned from a two week stint with YWAM, doing street theatre in New York City.  She taught ten of the campers to perform a 12 minute mime-drama called "Doors" in only four 45 minute sessions.  The kids an excellent job learning this and taking it seriously.  So Friday we loaded up the vans and headed to Caribou.

Besides juggling, magic and mime, several of the campers had learned Psalms to recite to the residents.  This, too, was well received.  After a 35 minute program, the campers gave the residents cards and bracelets with the colors of the "Wordless Book" on them.  The same colors were used in our closing trick performed by Ezra as he reviewed the basic Gospel message for the audience. 

In the end it was a successful trip because the kids and seniors all had fun, it was good PR for the camp, the campers never complained about missing an afternoon of swimming, etc. in order to bless others, and the Gospel message was shared.  In so doing, it reinforced the message to the kids even as they presented it to the adults.  Our camp speaker, Peter Valji even asked the cast of Doors to present it again for the parents and grandparents at the camp's closing service.

PS:  You'll have the opportunity to hear more about Rose's work in NYC in upcoming blogs.