Is Camp 1 already over?

How are we already through Pre-Camp and Camp 1? The month is going by too fast!

The back half of camp 1 was full of fun and a whole lot of laughing. On Thursday we started with chapel- which included skits and washing each others feet to learn a little more about how to illuminate Christ in each other. It was so great to watch our youth be the light of Christ to each other!

Later that day we went to St. Mary's in Sewanee to be the light of Christ to others by serving our community. We helped them with their garden and a few other jobs around the convent such as separating the good and bad grapes to help them in the process of making their grape jelly- which we've heard is delicious!

Finally we finished with Coffee House & Skit Night. It is always so fun to see our youth show us their gifts and talents!

Friday is always bittersweet- it is so fun to spend that day together but it's always sad to know it's the last one. Chapel was spent learning how to take the light we found on the mountain with us past camp. We played a game called "Holy Man" where the campers are trying to keep their candles lit while the counselors try to blow them out. It's really fun but also a good reminder that shortly others will be trying to blow out that light so it's important to keep it illuminated! 

The afternoon brought everyone's favorite place- The Res! Thank you to St. Andrew's for letting us use your beautiful space! Everyone had fun swimming around and hanging out on the dock.

Of course we closed with our banquet, Closing Eucharist and the camp dance! I know most of you are hoping to see pictures of the youth but I just had to throw in this one of the staff- it was too good not to share!

Camp 1, we  loved having you here! You have all illuminated us and we are so glad that you spent a week with us! 

Camp 2 has arrived, will be posting about them soon!

Camp 1 Tuesday & Wednesday

Sorry to be slow to post- we've had a busy few days that kept me from the computer. But a day spent outside at camp is a day well spent!
So here goes Tuesday!

For starters we of course had chapel where we talked about how God is illuminated in scripture. Each camper was able to take their favorite verse and put it on a light bulb which made for an incredible strand of lights in the chapel!

Next we played an awesome round of kickball with all of camp. Score was not kept but it was so much fun.

In the afternoon we went climbing and swimming at Foster Falls while some stayed on campus and did things like tie dye, field games, playground.

The evening was rather chalked full between Cabin Olympics 2.0 and counselor hunt. Thanks to the talents of Miss Ashley Reddy our cabin olympics were superb! Now for counselor hunt- only 1 counselor was found! But he took his punishment of being pushed into the pool quite well. 

Wednesday was all kinds of fun! 
In chapel we spent a lot of time reflecting on how God can be illuminated in the dark places as well as the ones that already feel lit. Sam, our chaplain, put together such a beautiful program for yesterday that it just didn't feel right to take pictures during it, but you can all imagine what a beautiful part of the day it was!
In the afternoon we went to Sewanee and played ultimate, ventured to the bookstore and then went on a little stroll on the Tennessee Williams trail to the Memorial Cross! It was such a beautiful afternoon!

We finished the night with a service at All Saints Chapel in Sewanee, and for those of you who haven't been you really should visit. It is one of the most beautiful spaces to worship and there is just something special about a bunch of high schoolers singing and worshiping there that makes it extra special to us!
We finished with some make your own s'mores and finally went to bed- everyone was pretty tired! 
Here's to hoping today is even better! Talk to y'all again soon!

Camp 1 Day 1!

The first full day of Camp 1 is done! We of course started with chapel at the stone altar and talked about finding God in creation- what a beautiful space! Thanks to our counselors we had a pretty awesome skit before we spent some time alone in creation.

After chapel we played games such as Magic Tambourine and Electricity. Most importantly our first Cabin Clean-Up winner of the year was Cabin 5L!

The afternoon brought all kinds of activities. We took an off campus adventure to hike the Shakerag trail in Sewanee- a loop with breath-taking views. On campus we did things like arts & crafts, ultimate frisbee, a science experiment and baking just to name a few.

When night came we did the first half of our Cabin Olympics but due to weather concerns the other half has been put on pause and will be completed tonight. At the end of the 1st half we watched Elf and had a little "Christmas in June". It was quite fun!

Thanks Monday for all the fun, Tuesday here we go!

Camp 1 is in the house (or cabins?)

Camp 1 has arrived friends! They came with a whole lot of energy and ready to roll. It was a great day of getting to know each other in our cabins, taking the swim test, lasagna and then we had a beautiful Eucharist with our Priest for the week-Kira Schlesinger!

Then we spent a little time in our family groups before we started a big ole game of capture the flag!

We are so excited for our first full day of camp 1 today!

Camp 1: Friday and Leaving Saturday!

Camp 1 wrapped up this morning- so we'll fill you in on what happened yesterday with them!

We started off with a hike to Greeter Falls as our chapel program. We wrapped up with a little morning prayer, a few brief talks from Lara, Abbie and Brandon and finally had a little quiet time to pray. We loved being there all together finding a "thin place" as Lara says- a place where we are closest to God. 

When we got back it was time for everyone's favorite- grilled cheese and chili day! We had a great sunny siesta and time to relax before small groups. In small groups we had a good time filling our buckets from yesterday by planting sunflower seeds in them (later to be placed around DuBose). We went to afternoon activities of preparing for our evening and then to the slip-n-slide! 

Our final evening festivities started with our banquet- below you can see our staff dressed up and ready to roll! 

 Next we had our Eucharist- which we all concluded was among the best we've ever had. Thanks to Father Rob McSwain from Sewanee for coming to help us out! We had so much fun singing, renewing our baptismal covenants and celebrating all we have learned through Christ this week!

Next we had our dance! So much energy was used that we were all so exhausted afterwards! Our DJ CoCoD (aka Cody Hawks, one of your lovely Assistant Directors) had an awesome playlist for us last night! Thanks Cody!

We finally ended with a bonfire. It was so much fun as our campers shared their own ghost stories, laughed together and shared memories of the week one last time before we left. It was one of the best bonfires we've ever had at CGM!

This morning was so sad as we let our high school campers go. We hope every one of you has learned something about how to find joy, healing, love and God in living water and always remember you can have a home on the mountain! We miss you already and can't wait to see you again next year! Below is a video of the saddest camp tradition- running after the bus as it leaves. See you next year friends! Camp 2- we're ready for you tomorrow!

Camp 1: Thursday!

Today was full of sunshine- finally! We used it to the best of our ability!

We started today talking about how to fill up our buckets. In family groups we used crayons to make candles that will light our service later! We loved spending time with our family groups as they are such an important part of CGM!

In the afternoon we filled DuBose's bucket by doing service around campus! Some of us painted, others did landscaping, but all were involved and helping our campus! I heard several people say that it was the best time they had doing service!

After we finished we had a tree planting ceremony- and took a selfie with our tree!

Last night was our annual coffee house- which is where our campers get to show off their many talents. From "stomach clapping" (you can ask your camper how that works) to beautiful singing, our campers are so amazing! We had a sad farewell to our favorite camp band- Banchee and the Loopy Mistake last night as these boys are graduating and becoming counselors! Thank you for the years of fan playing, screeching, ukulele and smiles!

We're coming to our last day now and we are so glad to have this time together!