Day 6

Here we are at the last day of our Zambia Youth Camp.  It’s always such a sweet and sad experience to see so much take place, but then have it be over.

Our day started early, but not completely by our choice.

You see, there was a wedding reception planned for this evening at Spree so the preparations started yesterday.  They went late into last night and kept some of us up.  I eventually gave in to using my ear plugs which I usually carry with me for our re-enacting overnights (you never know how loud the folks in the next tent are going to be snoring). Then the preparations seemed to recommence about 6:00 am this morning.  But those aren’t the only sounds we hear at that time of day.  Roosters, barking dogs, the front gate swinging open (Spree is situated within a walled compound with an iron front gate), and road traffic are among the usual morning sounds. So it seemed like a very short night.

After breakfast we headed to the fields where we were holding Youth Camp.  We did a quick set up and were underway again.  The day consisted of worship, a teaching from Joel then games and the usual formation activities (what’s Youth Camp without a tug of war between teams). We attempted teaching the game “Trash Can”, but neither the tire we used instead of a trash can or the concept really worked.  We also had to improvise for Volleyball as our reserved court wasn’t available.  The campers used a fence as a net to make due.  Then the buses arrived to take us over to Lighthouse Christian School for our lunch and the remaining activities.  While some of us waited for the second shift of buses to arrive we had an impromptu worship session with Zikki (I hope that’s how she spells her name) teaching us a Zambian worship song as well as other singing hymns and African worship songs.  It was a lot of fun.

Once we arrived at Lighthouse we had lunch as a team in one of the school rooms.  During lunch we tallied the points for the teams. More to come on that later. Then we had another worship session and then Joel taught again. Joel did a fantastic job on James 3 and the tongue.  His passion for Christ and his love for the Savior really came through and I think it greatly influenced the kids.

 Then we closed Youth Camp with announcing the winning team.  I was so proud of all the team leaders for their excellent leadership, engagement with the kids, love for them and their investment of time in being here.  I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them all better. But I was most proud of my girl Emilianne for her part in her team winning.

The highlight of the day for me was the impromptu (we do a lot of impromptu stuff here) “Dance Competition” we had with the campers.  Emilianne brought her dance moves for sure and raised some serious cheers of support.  She cracks me up.

We returned to Spree and had another delicious meal and then our usual team meeting.  THEN the wedding reception started.  There is an open sided pavilion of sorts in the center of Spree.  That’s where the reception is being held (still going on as I type).  If was fun to watch the wedding party arrive (we were able to watch from the shadows outside the pavilion) as they danced their way into the reception.  The Bridal Party did a choreographed dance as they entered.  We had seen them practicing here yesterday.  All of us, some more than others, were dancing to the music.  I suspect I’ll need my ear plugs again if I intend to sleep tonight.