Camp C.U.M.O.

This past week, as most of you know, the youth group went down to Cincinnati OH, to work for a week at a camp for inner-city children. The camp is, for the most part, run my teenagers from two different youth groups (with organizational help from Lee Porter and Mike Gulley, the Youth minister for the other group).
Now usually when one thinks of camp, they think of a relaxing time sitting next to the water, maybe with a fishing pole in hand. This week was not like that. There was some fishing, to be sure, but peacefulness was not exactly in great supply this week. Here are just some of the activities we had during the week:
Fishing
Zip Line
Volleyball
Kickball
Bean Bag Toss
Tetherball
Classes
Meals (and snacks and canteen)
Cincinnati Zoo
Musical guests
World-class Juggler
And more!
I would like to take this time to thank all the teens who volunteered to work on this mission, not only did they have to do all of these activities, but they also had to chase down unruly kids, run through torrential downpour to retrieve clothing from broken tents, deal with kids who refused to go to sleep, convince 11 year olds that they really DID need to take a shower WITH soap, and put up with a general noise level of about 100 decibels.
No, this past week wasn't exactly a walk in the park, and if you ask the teens who went, they won't be shy about telling you that, but they will also tell you that what they did was a great thing, something that brightened the lives of 30 inner-city kids, and they even found some fun while they were doing it.
~Phil Travis