The Heat Has Come

Well it was certainly a hot one and quite a different start compared to last week. Last week we had three days of hard rain. Now it looks like there will be sun for quite some time. No complaints here.

Camp started out great with some icebreaker games and getting to know one another in each cabin. Along with that they came up with some funny cabin names... everything from "Mushy Marshmallow Girls" to "The Super Dudes."

I then explained some rules and the awards we give out to camp. The Ridge Runner Award is for any camper that goes on our morning hike every morning. The hike starts at 7AM and is a mile long. That may not seem very long, but it is tough when you see how steep it is. Once you get to the top, you get a wonderful view of the Cottonwood Canyon and parts of the Gallatin Valley. Anyone that does that hike every morning is certainly worthy of being a part of the Ridge Runners' Club.

Another Award is the Grimmer. Grimmer is a wooden statue of a bear that we hand out to whichever cabin is the cleanest. We have campers clean their cabin every morning after breakfast. Once we examine them, we declare a winner at lunch. The cabin that gets Grimmer gets to eat first. Its definitely an award I want. Your kids can get pretty creative with their clean ups.

The greatest award that YAA gives to a camper is the Soaring Camper Award. At YAA, we strive to direct people to Jesus Christ and develop them to reflect his character. So, it is only natural that we reward those that resemble a quality of Jesus. The Soaring Camper goes out to one girl and guy each camp session. Every camper and counselor vote to see which one they think was the best servant and had the best attitude throughout the week. I am always amazed to see the caliber of kids that come to this camp. It is not a easy decision, to say the least, to pick just two campers for this award. I look forward to seeing who the two are for this week.

After dinner, we split up into our 4 competition teams. Throughout the week, we will have competitions to eventually declare one team the winner. There are a wide variety of games. Everything from tug-o-war (which we did today) to the Great Race. The four teams this week (which your kids came up with the names) are "Mythbusters," "Rock Hard for Jesus," "Kamikaze Cats," and "Flying Frogs." Make sure you ask your kids about the cheers.

After running around, we settled around the fire pit for Fireside. At Fireside, we get to have some fun watching the high school service team do a funny skit and then do some crazy worship songs. We then get to hear some stories from Jerome and Harriet Jackson. The Jacksons have been sharing about missionaries all over the world. There are some amazing things that God is doing throughout the world. Everything from aviation mission groups to the famous Jim Elliot story, the Jacksons know it all. They get everyone on the edge of their seats.

Well, it is getting close to lights out here. I better be going. I am the Program Director at YAA. I get to plan all the fun that your campers are having this week, and I don't think there is a better job here. Thank you so much for entrusting us with your kids. I look forward to seeing you later this week.

God Bless,
David Denny