Youth Camp 1

Ah yes. Now it begins. I think I'll start with telling you all about the Youth English Camp, which was the first two weeks of camp at Camp Des Cimes (con-day-seem), or as we would say, Camp of the Peaks.

But first, allow me to introduce the 2010 Sky Ranch Missions France team.

That makes us sound very official.

We're totally not.

We girls love chocolate in a way unlike I have seen any four girls combined ever before, we aren't afraid to share just where we're at with each other, we support one another, and drink more tea than normal.

After a little confusion, and a change right at the end, the official team is made of the four of us girls, plus our fearless leader Glenn (not pictured), whom we fondly refer to as Uncle Glenn.

He doesn't mind so much anymore.

The four girls are Elizabeth, myself, Lydia and Katy.

Elizabeth is the sarcastic, genuine and funny one,

Katy is the goofy, expressive and warm one,
and Lydia is the energetic, on task and friendly one.
Oh, and me- I laugh a lot, and do not share the obsession of the other three with Harry Potter.

(I think they have forgiven me).

The four of us have learned so much together, and I loved being with them throughout this entire adventure; God truly blessed us! We had a ton of fun, though it seems the only time we spent together was in getting ready for bed- we went days where we wondered where the others had been, even if we were always within 150 yrds of each other. The camp is pretty small in area, but beautifully laid out in the extremely small village of La Rivoire. (Here are some pictures!)

This is the house we stayed in for the first two weeks.

At one point we looked down on camp from up there!

Now, of course we weren't the only staff. Camp des Cimes has an incredible staff, who is very competent, and aware, as well as fun loving and hilarious. There are 11 full time staffers, each leaving their valuable, individual impression on me, and the campers within a short amount of time. (I would go into their stories, but we would be here all day). They all work toward the goal of Camp des Cimes, to be "a haven in France for God to save the lost and strengthen the found.” They manage sound, activities, schedules, and more importantly, relationships with people; we had 54 campers one camp, and 20-something the next. I am very glad that I got the chance to rub elbows with them!

There are also a number of other volunteers, couples, and French counselors, who were great to work with! I learned a lot from everyone, that is for sure, and by the end had made some very good friends.

Now that I've introduced the staff, and the camp itself, let's talk about Youth English Camp 2010. There are a bunch of pictures, people, memories and ideas that come to mind when I think of it, so I've tried for our ease and convenience to organize those thoughts into topics... some to be covered now, and some in the next post. Forgive me when it sounds impersonal, or removed. We'll start in the background, and work our way forward. Kind of like painting a picture, or setting a stage.

The first thing my parents asked once driving me home from the airport was, "So, did you learn any French?"

They are not the first, nor will they be the last :]

Language difference/communication:

Anything deemed necessary was said in both languages, such as lessons/messages or instructions for a game. But the little individual conversations with kids were always an adventure.

Most of the campers had fairly good English. At any rate, their English was better than my French (I have managed to pick up just a few phrases). This "complication" turned out to be a fun one more often than not. Why? Well, how do you look when you are trying to communicate without using your language as the primary means? You make lots of funny faces, wave your hands way to much, and slow down your speech to about half the speed. Hilarious. I was particularly excited when I discovered the pure joy the kids took at teaching me French words and phrases, and listening to me butcher them. Really. With French, unless you say things with an exact accent, they will have no idea what you have just said. Which, combined with an anglophone's (big word, I know.. it means 'English speaker's') way of saying our "R's", and a francophone's way (theirs is not like Spanish, much more throat) provides endless entertainment. Through many training sessions with my friend Celine, I have officially been determined incapable of pronouncing the French word for 'tree'. But I did learn a few phrases, including how to say "Hello, my name is Lauren, I am 21 years old, I am from Texas," "I am a rock," "I like stars" and other random words like "today," or "aujourd'hui" which is my favorite to say. (The best phonetic spelling I can come up with is oh-jou-dwee). Regardless, we got a kick out of all of these exchanges. More importantly, whilst we were so gracefully butchering the French language, the kids became more comfortable with speaking in English. Which is great, because that is part of the attraction in coming, and because of the two languages, it's the one I speak fluently. I firmly believe that this is one tool the camp has figured out, and that God uses in this camp. The English language... who knew an idea so simple would work so well? I think that God uses this in many ways, two of which are 1) the parents love that their kids are going somewhere to practice a valuable language, and 2) the kids love coming and having fun, while being in a supportive learning environment for their English. And that supportive environment, runs deeper than just the language. Whether they realize it or not.

Now, I also want to take the time to point out something I will no doubt point out again: A lot goes unsaid in the French culture. Granted, a lot is said, and they aren't afraid to speak their mind, but a lot is unsaid. Maybe I picked up on it because I was in a different culture, or maybe just because I was watching. Either way, something that I was pleasantly surprised with at the camp is that Jesus is not one of those things 'that goes unsaid'. I was expecting to have to be a lot 'sneakier', and more restricted with my "Christian language" than I actually had to. Which was great! We encouraged the kids to consider a bunch of ideas, all of which were core Biblical issues and topics, and to really encounter them. The theme of camp was "Think Big, Live Different". So, we would listen to staff members speak on different ideas, give testimonies, or even watch a movie like 'Invictus', and talk about the core ideas promoted in the movie. I had the chance to share something, which I will talk about later. We encouraged them to really think about why they do what they do, and how God in our lives should affect that. They learn a bit more about philosophy in school than we do in America, so this 'encouraging them think about The Truth and giving them opportunity to talk about it' thing is a window into talking with them about The Truth.

Workshops/Sports:

Another important aspect of camp involves the workshops. We had quite a few- music, dance, watercolor, drawing, video, drama, and a camp newspaper. It was great fun! What happpens is the campers pick one, and stick with it for the two weeks. I helped a wonderful woman named Rose with the watercolor workshop, or Aquarelle, though I felt like I did nothing different than the kids. I learned a lot from it! And most of what I learned has nothing to do with art. Much of it had to do with the kids. I was given so much insight into the kids thoughts just by watching them in watercolor. You didn't need language to do that, and though some things are definitely culturally different, people will read the same to an extent. We often went outside to paint, which helped give us more to talk about. There were five girls, and one boy in there. I loved getting to know each of them, whether through their art, or conversation, or both. Sarah was so careful and had a steady hand, and an eye for detail, Lea told the best riddles, and was brave with her art, Noemi was friendly and painted with a broken elbow, Violaine was sweet and enthusiastic, Katarina was talented at different styles, and Theophil got his inspiration straight off the top of his head, knew what he wanted it to look like, and made it happen.

I really think that the workshops are valuable in that they gave me a window into the kid's heads, and time to relate better with them. It gave the kids an outlet to express themselves in a new or familiar way, and have fun. And, there is a lot to be learned from painting. People who would walk up and watch us, would want to try, and quickly become frustrated. Things that Rose would say in encouraging out little Picasso's would click immediately with a part of me. "Don't be afraid to leave some blank spots, in fact, it looks better if you do." Or "Put it down, and come back to it in a little bit, that will help. Then maybe look at it from across the room."

I see such parallels to life there, not just paint!

During the sports times, I learned more about the kids as a group and about the French culture. How they respond to things, what they think about things; who knew you could tell so much just from interacting on a team with kids while swimming through soapy water on a tarp and performing a dance on a balance beam? The team sports times were fun, and even though I am not incredibly competitive, we of the Orange team managed to do pretty well. (O-O-Orange it's magic... ya knowwww, never believe it's not so!) We also had sports workshops with the kids, and I helped "coach" volleyball. Another wonderful woman named Amanda and I ran through the basics with them, tried to show the importance of communication and a unified mind, and watched them try and embrace it all in three days. I was delighted when they did well, and even more that they had fun, and most of all that they ran with the opportunity to be friends with it. A bit more of that supportive/constructive environment was put into their camp lives there. God taught me a bit too, putting me in the co-coach position (ha!).

There is more about Youth Camp to come soon, I promise! Thank you for reading, I do hope that these posts do provide you with some small picture of what God did during those few weeks, and encouragement of what God is doing in France, as much as they remind me of that fact.

'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.'

2 Thess. 3:18