Summer Staff Story - Kevin

If someone asked you to travel 1800km away from home (19 hours worth of driving), to a bug infested, remote camp, without any Wi-Fi or cell service, 45 minutes to the nearest town, to spend 3 weeks supervising kids with loads of energy, all as a volunteer, most people I know would say no. Me, having just graduated university, wanted to take some time off after my many years of schooling, to relax and decompress. My sister, who had worked at the hospital in Soux Lookout the previous year, wanted to volunteer as a member of the Summer Staff at Camp of the Woods, as she felt so welcomed by the community during her time there, especially by one of the churches, who had ties to Camp of the Woods. She asked if I wanted to go with her, and since I didn’t have many plans for the summer, I agreed!

I didn’t really know what to expect, though I had been camping before with my family many times, and to overnight camp once when I was younger. I knew that there would be bugs, I’d get messy, and maybe not sleep the best, but I was excited to go, and to see the town that had been so great to my sister! I had also volunteered at a VBS in my hometown while I was in high school, so I wasn’t nervous about supervising kids throughout the day.

After my three weeks at Camp of the Woods, my entire perspective on God changed, and a newfound desire to learn more and grow closer to him had been found! Not only had my time at camp allowed me to tell others about God, how great he is, and all the wonderful things he has done, but it gave me a new chance to have a relationship with Him. I no longer only focused on all of the things I was doing wrong, but looked at all the ways he had blessed my life and those around me, and worked on being a better Christian through telling others about Jesus and the ultimate sacrifice he made.

Regardless of the age group, many of the kids at camp asked some very interesting, and often funny, questions. I had never before been in the position to be answering questions about the Bible, since usually a pastor or someone who had spent many years studying the Bible would be around and willing to answer them. While most of the questions were relatively simple, some were more abstract, as a child’s mind is constantly thinking about the “why” and “what if”. These really tested my knowledge of the Bible, and the truths that it teaches and holds, but it also revealed to me the importance of the core messages from the Bible. It can be really easy to get caught up with complex situations that we encounter in our everyday lives, and become discouraged by them, but if you hold these core messages from the Bible at the center of your life, you will be securely grounded, and you will feel the blessings that are mentioned so often in the Bible. These core values are extremely relevant in my life today, a full year after being at camp, and they have allowed me to form numerous relationships in my life that I treasure dearly.

I only spent three weeks at camp, but I made memories that will last a lifetime. Not only did I get a hole-in-one in disk golf, become the camp champion of Ping-Pong, and eat some of the most delicious meals, I met so many fantastic people, all with such an intense love and passion for God. Camp was nothing short of life changing for me, and I don’t take the lessons that I learned there lightly; they will follow me for a very, very, long time. If you have thought about going to camp as a camper, I’d 100% recommend it! It will be the most fun week you’ve ever had, you’ll make so many new friends, learn new skills, and learn about God’s love for you! If you’re considering volunteering at camp, for any amount of time, I’d recommend it even more! Words do not do my experience at Camp of the Woods justice, just like God’s love for us; you won’t truly know what it’s like unless you experience it for yourself. Like I said before, I didn’t really know what to expect when I went to Camp of the Woods, but my expectations were exceeded tenfold.