Summer Camp 2007 |
12 children and 5 adults from four congregations in Germany attended summer camp from August 1 to 5 just east of Bielefeld, Germany at the hostel "Naturfreundehaus" in Oerlinghausen. The camp was the fourth one hosted jointly by UCOG and the Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["United Church of God-Germany"]. Following a brief orientation meeting on the afternoon of the arrival day – Wednesday, August 1 – campers enjoyed various games as part of a "Fun Olympics" on the grass playground near the "Naturfreundehaus". Before dinner several campers built a dam at a nearby play area called the "Amazonas" where a small creek has carved a deep gorge into the hillside. In the evening campers began learning the hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers" by heart as their special music for Sabbath services. The hmyn was requested by one of the campers. Prior to "lights out" for the night, staff members quizzed campers on the gospel of Matthew, which was designated as the subject material for the Sabbath Bible quiz. On Thursday (August 2, the first full day of camp, campers visited a nearby museum featuring the life of brickmakers at the end of the 19th century. Because there were not enough job opportunities locally, one third of the men in the region around Oerlinghausen worked as traveling brickmakers, journeying as far as the Netherlands to work in brickmaking kilns for 7-8 months of the year. After hearing an explanation of how brickmakers lived and worked, campers were divided into groups and given tasks to imitate the life of a brickmaker. Friday's main activity was a visit to the nearby "Hollywood" amusement park with its wild animal zoo. Traveling in four cars, the campers and staff drove through the zoo area only a few feet from lions, tigers, elephants and other exotic animals before arriving at the amusement park. Once inside the park, campers enjoyed a day of roller coaster rides and other attractions. For the daily interactive Bible study, campers were divided into three groups based on age. The theme for this year's camp was "God's way works." Instructors Jesmina Allaoua, Reinhard Habicht and Paul Kieffer discussed subjects with a practical application in Christian living. On the Sabbath campers were divided into three teams for a Bible quiz competition conducted by Paul Kieffer. Questions for the quiz were taken from the gospel of Matthew and were divided into four categories by degree of difficulty. The boys won with a total of 185 points, and the two girls teams tied for second place with 80 points each. In the afternoon, visitors from the local Bielefeld congregation joined the group for Sabbath services. Campers performed special music after Rolf Marx's split sermon entitled "You can do it!", highlighting the story of Canadian Terry Fox, who raised money for cancer research by running across Canada despite being an amputee. In his split sermon, Paul Kieffer emphasized the examples in the Bible showing how young people took a stand for God's way of life. Right after the church service, each camper received a certificate of participation that emphasized his or her contribution to the camp. David Leier was given special mention for having scored 80 points in the Bible quiz, including being able to name all twelve apostles. Following services, the group had coffee and cake, a German tradition for mid-afternoon. In the evening campers, staff and visitors enjoyed a barbecue dinner. After a Sunday morning breakfast, campers started their journey home. For some, summer vacation ended the next day. The "Naturfreundehaus Bielefeld", the venue for the camp, utilizes volunteer supervisors during the year. Its members are expected to volunteer a couple of weeks a year to provide oversight when groups use the venue. This year's volunteer supervisor was the same one as for the previous camps. He again called us a "low maintenance" group and expressed a desire to serve again if the house is used as a venue for camp. |
