Week 2: Joy, Gratitude, and Adventure

All smiles on the dodgeball field!

Each week of camp is centered around a certain theme. The theme shapes our skits during Campfire, decides the verses in our Church service, and guides our discussions during Evening Embers. As announced during Campfire last night, the theme of this week is “service,” which goes along with our Servant’s Heart portion of the Falling Creek Code. Last week, our theme was “joy,” and that is what Smat chose to talk about during today’s Morning Watch.

Smat opened Morning Watch by telling the community, “your gratitude sets the altitude of your attitude.” He explained that joy and gratitude go hand in hand, and that the quality of your day can often be raised by being more thankful. When you have an attitude of gratitude, joy will necessarily follow. Smat challenged everyone to find one thing to be grateful for each hour. This would not only trump any negative thoughts that came to mind, but would also encourage the Positive Attitude portion of the Falling Creek Code to be present throughout the day.

As we said the pledge and headed towards breakfast, there were already plenty of joyful boys who couldn’t wait to start this week’s activities. However, after Smat’s thought for the day, these boys were also more aware of opportunities for moments of gratitude. This elevated the mood all around camp, especially as we began our second week of trips and adventure. Corbett was heading to breakfast with a backpack on, ready for his paddling trip. He was grateful for the opportunity to go on his first 3-day trip. “We’re going to a lake,” he told me, “and this will be the first time I’ve been on a trip this long.” He was excited for the chance to paddle and swim with friends for the next three days, enjoying the cool water and sunshine in a new setting.

Flashback to one of our other fun lake trips this session!

William B. was also excited about the trip he decided to join, which was heading out to spend a couple of days backpacking. His group was going to hike in nearby Pisgah National Forest, a beautiful corner of the world with plenty of great trails, beautiful waterfalls and creeks, and stunning mountain views. William had already been on a trip with the backpackers before, and was choosing to sign up for another one this week since he had so much fun the last time.

William wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get enough of the multi-day trips. Xander was packing up to head to Looking Glass with the climbers today, ready for another great trip out of camp. “I did Cedar Rock last week,” he explained, while packing his sleeping bag into his backpack. “I had a lot of fun, so now I’m gonna go to Looking Glass.” Both of those trips go to Pisgah National Forest, and climb beautiful rock faces that overlook the surrounding mountains. It’s not hard to see why Xander was eager to get back out there.

two thumbs up for our second week!

Even though 2-Week Camp is one of our shorter sessions, we are still able to pack in a lot of trips and adventure! Boys are able to get a feel for our outdoor trip program, and they often come back for longer sessions where they have more time to progress into bigger trips. Still, today we had more boys out on trips than any other day so far this session! Besides the three trips already mentioned, there were boys climbing at Gilbert’s Rock, biking in Dupont State Forest, cooling off at Sliding Rock, sailing at Lake Summit, fly fishing at the Green River, trail riding with Horseback, and paddling the Lower Green River. Needless to say, it was a busy and memorable day.

When your day ends with more joy and gratitude than you started with, you know it was a good one. We’re grateful for all the fun had and memories made today, and we’re already looking forward to doing it all over again tomorrow.

-Annie Pharr

Testing out the slack-line

More Highlights From This Monday:

• Breakfast: Cheesy grits, sausage links, hard boiled eggs, fresh strawberries and blueberries, oranges, grapefruit, granola, yogurt, and cottage cheese.
• Lunch: Hot dogs with chili, cheese, diced onions, ketchup, and mustard, plus seasoned wedge fries, watermelon, chicken gumbo soup, a full salad bar, and chocolate cake for dessert.
• Dinner: Cheese tortellini with marinara sauce, green beans, a warm dinner roll, and a full salad bar, plus ice cream sandwiched for dessert.
• We celebrated Will B’s 9th birthday today with cake and singing at lunch!

We’re staying hydrated out there!