Camps Values and How It Changed the Monkey Kingdom!
Dear Parents & Friends,
Happy Sunday to all and here at camp it was “Special Day”, which always bring us together for a camp-wide game. Well almost everyone as Riverside took off today for their backpacking segment. They are on the Art Loeb Trail which starts just around the peak of Cold Mountain and yes it’s the same “Cold Mountain” of book fame. The trail runs over 35 miles down the Davidson River Campground. Mountainside was busy packing and performing last minute checks on their gear and food for the start of their adventures tomorrow. More on that in the next blog.
Our Special Day had a “Rumble in the Jungle” theme that featured a Monkey King and his band of hooligans, who were a bit greedy and demanded that Gwynn Valley round up all the jewels in the jungle and turn them over to him. Gathering all the jewels in the GV Monkey Kingdom was no small task and there were many obstacles both large and small along the way. Some took brains, some took brawn and all took teamwork and collaborative thinking. Each time a challenge was approached, members had to help one another to secure as many jewels as possible which they gathered along on their adventures. After a full day of every cabin group taking on many challenges, the hour of reckoning came at dinner. The Monkey King and his henchmen came into the Dining Room and demanded to see what had been gathered. The cabin groups collectively gave up their jewels to this fearsome figure of a Leader. So many jewels were collected by the cabin groups that the hardened heart of the Monkey King softened when he realized how much the people of the Kingdom worked hard to gather the jewels and save their kingdom. He was overwhelmed and he almost melted with compassion and gratefulness. He summoned his crew together and from then on fairness, acceptance, simple joys, non competitive behavior and love of the land were the values of his new outlook on being the Monkey King! Once again goodness wins out!
It was truly and fun morning and afternoon as campers and staff got wet, ran obstacles, traveled all over camp proper and did so in the spirit of working collectively. Scott, our Logistics guy this summer, put all this together and it was brilliant. The creative juices were flowing today and the weather was equally as nice. There were a few rumbles but they didn’t materialize until just after dinner.
We held our Sunday Worship service after dinner and there was lots of camper involvement along with some staff, Young Leaders and individual campers and cabin groups. After Sunday Service and all children were nestled and tucked in their beds, we hold what’s called “Staff Rec”. It’s good food and lots of it and two different groups come so that there is always someone in the cabin and supervising the sleeping children. We also watched England and Panama’s World Cup game which was televised this morning early.
Camp is dynamic and always on the move and the underlying structure is proof of that. Children were tired at the end of the day and it’s good to be that tired and sleep like a rock. I will certainly do that tonight myself. This week is a big week and lots going on off-site and certainly here at GV. Stay tuned!