Today was a Grand Slam!

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Happy Wednesday from Ox Lake!

What a jam-packed day! Our morning was full of new and exciting games never-before-seen at Ox Lake this summer. These games included FBI Fugitives and Gladiator. In the afternoon, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent our free time out at Ox Lake. We jumped off the raft, took out paddle boards and canoes on the water, and played volleyball, spikeball, and cornhole on the beach. Our campers especially enjoyed lounging on the raft in the sun and making friendship bracelets.

In the evening, we fueled out bodies with gyros – a new experience for some campers – before hopping right into our third field game of the day: kickball. The setting sun, while lovely, was not a friend to our outfielders searching the sky for pop flies. However, our night didn’t end there! After a high-energy campfire, we enjoyed s’mores over a smoldering fire as we waited for night to descend. We also had a dance party as we snacked, which included a whole line toe-tapping to Cotton Eye Joe. As if our day wasn’t busy enough, we also played our night game: Lightning Bug! Our cabins had a great time chasing down our counselors for chips, dodging giant light-up pool noodles, and engaging in silly activities and challenges when they didn’t dodge our counselors well enough. Our smallest cabin, with just four boys, managed to pull through with the win! Congrats to the Ash cabin!

As you can see, nothing can stop us from having a great week! We’re so excited for everything our last full day together holds: laser tag, knocker balls, and specialty worship, to name a few. We’re so thankful for the joyful spirits and enthusiasm of this crew!

Flowing through the Week

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Happy Tuesday from Ox Lake!

This morning we had the opportunity to spend time on our lovely low ropes course. Our cabins had a blast doing trust falls, walking across wires, and other challenge activities. Afterwards, we spent our afternoon at DD Kennedy, a local park, where we had a picnic, played cornhole, spikeball, kan-jam, and splashed around in the water. While some campers enjoyed making bracelets, playing board games or cards, others spent their time going under the waterfall. On the walk back to 2nd village, we handed out electrolyte freeze pops to improve our hydration and stay cool!

After the walk back from DD, we gave our campers some rest before we fueled their bodies with a delicious meal- fajitas! After dinner we moved on to our first field games of the day which included Snake and Rat-a-tat-tat which seemed to be a big hit for this week’s campers. Finally, our night finished with a movie screening of Tarzan in the Earth Chapel with popcorn, snacks, and pop for a complete movie-going experience.

We couldn’t be more excited for tomorrow and all the activities and opportunities to grow in community and in relationship with God. We’re thrilled to have so many more days of fun ahead!

A Monday to Remember

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Happy Monday from Ox Lake!

Another great day in the books. We started our morning with sunshine and swim test, then moved into some new and fun field games: Wizards-Giants-Elves, Battle Bots, Ox Ox Noodle, and Mighty Mighty. Our Bible study today focused on the story of the Good Samaritan, delving deeper into the nuance of the story and how it relates to our own walk as Christians. The night wrapped up with an energetic campfire, with Prince of Peace and Waymaker being big hits. Before bedtime, the kids got to enjoy a delicious night snack called choco tacos! We can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

 

Small (but Mighty) Sunday

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Happy Sunday from Ox Lake! We’re coming at you live from Week 9!

We are so excited for this group of campers  – our second week of just senior high campers, our smallest group of the summer, AND our last group of the summer! – and all the fun activities we have planned for the week. To welcome our campers, we served a gourmet pasta dinner and threw them into two classic camp field games: Medic and Exploding Enchiladas. Although the rain made the ground muddy and we all walked away with dirty shorts, we also walked away with big smiles as we transitioned into our first canteen time of the week. So far, cream sodas and Nerds ropes have been a huge hit! We finished off our night with a drizzly outdoor campfire, where our top singles of the night were Feewah and Gospel Light.

What a great start to camp! We love the energy of this group already and can’t wait for everything else this week has in store.

Big Ending!

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Happy Friday from Ox Lake!

Time flies when you’re having fun, and today was no exception. After brunch and Bible study, we managed to sneak in one final game of Mighty Mighty to warm up for our closing worship. We had a great time singing and doing actions for all of our favorite songs with our families (and family pets) present. We loved all the energy our campers brought for the last day of camp!

Although goodbyes are always bittersweet, we’re so happy to send off this week of campers into the rest of their summer physically exhausted, but spiritually refreshed. Even though we teach the same Bible studies week to week, this group surprised us every day with their enthusiasm and creativity. Today they surprised one of our staff with three jugs of water, a memory that will definitely remain with us long after this week. We can’t wait to see them again next summer – maybe even on staff! As always, we welcome our campers to stay in touch with us via snail mail. We would love to hear from you!

Oodles of Snoodles

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Happy Thursday from Ox Lake!

Our morning began with laser tag. Our campers had a blast navigating our custom-made course at 1st village, teaming up against their cabinmates, and challenging their counselors for free canteen items (and bragging rights)!

During free time, our campers had the opportunity to tie dye their shirts – and their hands, as well as one lucky white water bottle. Campers also spent their free time lounging in the hammocks, playing gaga and carpet ball, and making friendship bracelets.

In the evening, we played a field game almost entirely new to this group of campers: Snoodles! They had a blast chasing down noodles, ripping flag belts, and crawling beneath their teammates’ legs to save them. As our campers finished chowing down on kempswiches, which were in high demand this week, we directed them into Earth Chapel for specialty worship, which included a performance from our counselors followed by prayer stations. Each station was crafted to encourage the campers to reflect on their time at camp and engage more deeply with their faith. As the storms rumbled in the distance, our night ended with a cozy campfire, delicious night snack, and cabin devos.

We can’t wait to see what our last day holds. With this group, it’s sure to be just as fun-filled and faith-focused as the ones before!

Paddle Pals

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Picnic at the Park

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Happy Tuesday from Ox Lake!

This morning, we had the opportunity to spend time on our lovely low ropes course. Our cabins had a blast doing trust falls, walking across wires, and other challenge activities. Afterwards, we spent our afternoon at DD Kennedy, a local park, where we had a picnic, played cornhole, spikeball, kan-jam, and splashed around in the water. While some campers enjoyed laying in the sun or playing cards, others spent the entire trip playing 500 in the water. On the walk back to 2nd village, we passed out electrolyte freeze pops to improve our hydration and stay cool!

During free time, our campers had the opportunity to make wood-burning creations, challenge (and defeat) their counselors in games of spikeball, gaga, and carpet ball for free canteen items, and chat while tying friendship bracelets. After dinner, we played a few intense rounds of medic. With such an athletic and energetic crew, our rounds were very exciting and long-lasting!

In the evening, we held worship followed by roasting s’mores over the campfire. As our campers enjoyed their treats, our counselors were stretching and warming up for our weekly night game: Lightning Bug! Our campers had a great time chasing after our lightning bugs and dodging our swatters with their light-up noodles. And for the first time in history, our campers

We couldn’t be more excited for tomorrow and all the activities and opportunities to grow in community and in relationship with God. This group continues to demonstrate not only a positive attitude and enthusiasm for all our activities, but also uplift one another, exemplify kindness, and act with maturity and intentionality. We’re thrilled to have so many more days of fun ahead!

Waffles and Quaffles

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Happy Monday from Ox Lake!

To kick off our first full day at Ox Lake, we fueled our bodies with stacks of waffles and fresh pineapple. From there, we hopped right into knocker balls for rounds upon rounds of Sharks & Minnows and Gladiator in the fight to be the last bubble standing. While our female cabins enjoyed going head-to-head in duels, our male cabins preferred playing bubble soccer. During our second session, our male cabins created a beautiful bubble snowman!

Our day was also filled with exciting cabin challenges, where cabins competed in games of noodle jousting and human foosball. One cabin even managed to take a break from gaga (a shock, since it has been our favorite game so far this week) to utilize the gaga pit for competitive marco polo!

At sunset, we played a classic camp field game – Wapo Quaffle. Everyone had a blast dodging tags, chasing down items, and throwing balls across the line. At the end of the day, we still had energy to spare and had a great campfire full of fun actions, dancing, and laughter throughout worship. To celebrate our first full day, we all enjoyed making choco-tacos over the fire before diving right into devotionals.

We are living for the energy this group brings, from games to campfires to all the moments in between, it seems like they’re always bouncing around and finding something to laugh about. We can’t wait to see them do it all over again tomorrow as we head into a day of low ropes, a picnic, and night game!

Sunday Funday

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Happy Sunday from Ox Lake! We’re coming at you live from Week 8!

We are so excited for this group of campers  – our first week of just senior high campers – and all the fun activities we have planned for the week. To welcome our campers, we served a gourmet pasta dinner and introduced them to THE Ox Lake. We had a swim test that was safe, but also full of smiles, silly questions, and highly-coveted neon orange swim bands. We finished off our night with campfire, where our top singles of the night were Feewah and Gospel Light.

What a great start to camp! We love the energy of this group already and can’t wait for everything else this week has in store.