Nobody likes goodbyes

Last night, the campers played the Pirate Game; the object of it is to find the hidden “treasure chest” without getting caught by the pirates, who were really just the staff. Whoever is the first to find the “treasure chest” wins the game and gets to keep the contents. Frank won everything inside the chest and shared it with his dorm mates. It contained boxes filled with candy, little bottles of bubbles, and t-shirts.

The counselors this week have really aced making the games fun, especially last night. During the Pirate Game, the campers usually jump from the dock at the deep end of Lake Agape, but this week the counselors were “shake ‘n baking” the campers and throwing flour bombs at them. Shake ‘n bake is when a person gets thrown in the lake and then rolled in the sand. The flour bombs are made with tissues, flour, rubber bands, and water. The flour goes inside the tissues and the rubber band is used to close the top; the water is used to just soften the tissues enough so that when they are tossed at someone’s back the tissues break open, covering that person in flour. The campers had a blast; some kids even found a few unbroken flour bombs on the ground and threw them at the counselors. Everyone was covered in flour by the end of the game. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any pictures since I was one of the pirates, plus I didn’t want the camera getting wet or worse, covered in flour.

Today is the last full day of Jr High 2, and the last day is always everyone’s least favorite day. However, the campers didn’t let that stop them from having fun. In chapel this morning, the campers all received a Certificate of Extreme Love to tape to their backs. It displays and certifies the love and appreciation of that camper from each person who writes on it. The campers wrote really nice sentiments on each other’s certificates. Before chapel ended, each camper removed the certificate from his back to read what his peers wrote about him. It was a nice way to start the last day. After lunch, the campers all wore the shirts they decorated yesterday for the group photo; prints will be available to order online.

During free time, the campers took part in a volleyball tournament and a basketball tournament. The Spikers, an all-counselor team, won the volleyball tournament. Some campers had a bit of a problem with the all-staff factor, but that didn’t stop the team from competing. Unnecessary Force won the basketball tournament; they played hard but it was all in good sportsmanship. Tonight Danny Zayas is leading worship and Emily Heckman’s son is playing the drums.

See more photos at the Junior High II Picasa page.