Camp

Zeven Z., Age 13
Tribe of Benjamin

Camp Gilgal is so exciting! On Tuesday of teen camp the whole camp went over to the upper and lower initiatives courses. These things had challenges that were close to the ground and you needed to work on as a whole group, and the other activities you had to wear more specialized equipment and you were more on your own. I especially liked something called “The Leap of Faith,” the wall, and the trust fall. For these activities we were given an explanation of what the feature looked like and we were given examples of things we should do and things that we weren’t allowed to do. 

The trust fall is where one person stands on a wooden platform that is two to three feet off of the ground and then the rest of the group has to stand behind them and prepare to catch them when they lean backwards. They have to trust that their team is going to be paying attention and keep them safe and their team has to work together to keep their “falling” member safe.  This really is all about teamwork. If you don’t pay attention and work together someone could get hurt. 

Then, there is the wall. The wall is about eight to ten feet where you must lift each camper and staff member over it, by only using each other. The wall is flat, but there is a ladder so that one or two people can climb up into the platform at the top to help grab people as they are being lifted up the wall. At first it looks impossible, but if you think about the order that you send people up and work together everyone can make it up and it feels awesome! 

The last part I’d like to talk about is my favorite, “The Leap of Faith.” This is part of the high initiatives course and for it you have to wear a helmet and a harness. There is someone who has been trained that is belaying you to make sure that you are very safe. This is a telephone pole that you climb up. You can’t just get to the top of the telephone pole, you have to stand on top of it. This might be a scary thing for some people, but I thought that not having anything to hold on to was really exciting, especially the part where then you have to jump. I loved this part and I did it at least four times! During my jumps on the leap of faith it was so awesome to be able to take the jump off of the top and then glide to the ground. It is amazing how your adrenaline is pumping through the whole thing! 

I personally would recommend camp because it teaches teamwork, respect, the Bible, and good values. If you like to have fun Camp Gilgal is the place for you, so come join us! I can explain a lot about what we did, but if you really want to know how great it is you will just have to join us at Camp Gilgal. This was my first summer at Camp Gilgal summer camp and because this initiatives activity was so early in camp and was so surprising to the veteran campers I wondered what other cool things might be coming up. It made me so excited for the rest of teen camp and for camp in future years to come.