Living Waters Camp 2013

We've been home from Family Camp for almost a week now.  I've wanted to write a little post about our time there, but find it so hard to wrap up a week of "all things camp" with a simple picture or description.  Camp is something you have to DO in order to understand.  My friend recently asked me "what do you do at camp?" and I found the reply kind of funny!

 

"Um, we get up, have a quick breakfast, go to chapel, have lunch with 300 people, hang around with 300 people all afternoon, have supper with 300 people and then go to chapel again, followed by wandering aimlessly through the Canteen/campground, looking for someone to visit."

 

 

Lots of social time, lots of "God" time.  Lots of volunteering time.  Lots of visiting time.  And lots of really precious friends.

 

It's funny the things that become nostalgic in one's experiences.

 

I've been attending this camp in some form since I was about 9 years old.  I attended Kid's Camp, Youth Camp, worked at Kid's Camp, worked at Youth Camp, have been part of the LWC Family Camp Worship Team off and on in a variety of formats for many, many years.  Took a few years break when I couldn't handle working full time and commuting every evening and also when the boys were babies.  Family Camp was a huge incentive for us to purchase a trailer and we haven't missed a year since.  And we're on our second trailer.  And we've found the best spot to camp in - because it's by our friends....  We know where each other hides their trailer keys, we parent every kid in that little neighborhood as if they were our own, we watch each others' kids hit puberty and become increasingly beautiful, responsible and adult-like and we're proud of them, we think it's fun to huddle under an awning when it's pouring rain, even when the awning is way too small for that many bodies, we talk, we laugh, sometimes we cry....and we love.

 

So, yeah, LWC has been a huge part of my life....all my life.

 

I recognize the feel of LWC sand in my shoes....there's lots of sand and it always feels the same.

 

I recognize the tabernacle shuffle - i.e., the sound of people shuffling into chapel in flip flops, the sand grinding under their shoes into the cement floor.

 

I recognize the tabernacle acoustics - the sound of the speaker's voice bouncing off the cement walls, adding audio enhancements to their words and passion.

 

I recognize the feel of the music as it, too, reverberates and bounces back while we sing and, even better, the strength of many voices as they often join as one choir, singing hymns of the past and  songs of today. And when I go home, those songs stay in my heart and soul; not just the songs, but the sounds of the voices that sang them.

 

I recognize the smell of the cooks preparing food for 300 people in the battered old dining hall, home to the development of many friendships, and of hamburgers and onions being prepared in the canteen for after chapel snacks.

 

And I recognize the meeting places, because we've been to them all - from the preschool chapel to the kid's chapel to the youth class to the adult chapel and I think about the Biblical teaching that my kids have absorbed through so many years at camp.  And I'm grateful, so grateful, that for one week a year, we've been able to set our normal lives aside and come and take time to nurture our souls.

 

There is no one picture or view that it "typical LWC", but this one comes pretty close.  LWC Tabernacle

See that big boy?  He's mine!  He got to be a Junior Leader with Kid's Chapel this year.  He was an excellent leader and worked really hard.  High energy required from Junior Leaders!  They have their own chapel times, but this picture is from Thurs. night where the kids came to the adult chapel to sing for us.  They kept coming and coming - 70-80 kids strong!

Dean so enjoyed time with this guy - a friend of ours from way back who is now a missionary to  Estonia.  They share a mutual love for all things Starbucks and our trailer was the gathering spot for a fresh cup several times a day.

c

There's my Andrew on the drums.  I think Camp was complete for him once he was able to sit behind the kit and play. How he loves to play.  And I love to listen.



And there's me!  I got to sing alongside some of my favorite people.  We have sung together at camp for a few years, and something just feels right when we meet again the next summer and do it all over again.



LWC Family Camp in a nutshell!!  Every year, I get a little choked up when it's over.  We'll meet again, but there's something about the end of a really good time and parting, temporarily, until the next year that makes me happy/sad!

 

Mostly happy though.   It is good.