Happy Easter!

Camp… wow

Though we have camped many a time before, in several ways, camp this week was a very new experience. We’ll break it down into three sections for you.

Logistics: Bathrooms, Food, Bathing, Activities.
The thing about the bathrooms was that… there wasn’t any. Well, that’s not entirely true. Nati, Uncle Samuel (Jacquelin’s brother), Jose (a youth from Casa de Dios), some random older guy, and Chris dug a 2’X 2’ X 6’ deep hole for the ladies which was surrounded by a tarp for privacy. After the first couple of people used the bathroom, it was not an attractive alternative to digging one’s own hole in the woods… which we think is what most people chose to do, judging by how the woods looked and smelled. Food was well prepared, always plenty of starches (pumpkin, Rice, Boiled Unripe Bananas, etc.), and successfully satiated the appetites of the 100 campers. Bathing took place in the nearby river that seemed to be running lower than other years, and was full of algae that didn’t seem to bother most but definitely bothered Chris (which may be boiled down to either early childhood experiences, or texture and downright grossness!). Either way, we all had an opportunity to bathe; which is a good thing because we played sports, it was hot, and trees didn’t provide much shade. We are in the Dominican Republic, so clearly the main activity was baseball. One of the players, a 17 year old, was just recently signed to the Atlanta Braves and goes in for spring training in April. Watch for his name in the papers… Wilson Rivera. We also played dominoes, volleyball, and burned trash. Lots of fun!

Spiritual Activities: Morning Prayer and Devotional, Charlas, and Cultos.
Every morning we were woken up at 6am by a loud whistle and the night watchman yelling “Matutino! Ponte a Orar!” or in English “Morning Prayer! Pray!” The members of each tent then prayed together for the first hour of the day. At 8am we had the morning devotional which was some worship songs and a short exhortation. After breakfast we would have a Charla (or discussion) at 10am in which we would discuss the theme of the camp, “Renovando Nuestra Fe en Dios” or “Renewing Our Faith in God.” Friday, we gave the Charla about faith and works, and Saturday, Dr. Melido Zorrilla gave the Charla on a lot of topics from Moses crossing the Red Sea to sex and dating. The rest of the day until the night time was spent eating lunch and dinner, and playing games and sports. At night time there was a culto (Spanish for “Worship Service”) in which there would be a lot of singing, dancing, clapping, and preaching.

Extras: Other Activities.
One night we had a Bible knowledge competition… Guys vs. Girls. That proved to be fun. In the night times, small groups of men/boys thought it would be funny to serenade people tent by tent from 2am to 4am waking them prematurely from their slumber. Katie (and Chris, since we slept in the same tent…obviously) was the first victim.
The last night there was a singing competition. Katie was asked to enter in the competition and tied for first place which resulted in a final round sing-off where she ended up placing second and cousin Juanairis won first place (Katie forgot the words in the first verse). For the intermissions between singers in the competition, a reggaetonero (Carribean Style Rapper) from one of the churches entertained the crowd. After the competition we had “Noti-Noti-tiempo: Noticias del Campamento” (ne-ne-time: news of the camp) in which two leaders from one of the churches recapped the activities of the camp in a very funny manner, including stupid things people did and said, and who ended up dating who.

The pictures are chronologically ordered: top to bottom, left to right. We also included a picture of Katie's crazy bug-bitten ankle.

All in all, it was a good experience. Before camp we spent the night with our friends from Teen Challenge and they showed us their planned projects for working with the prostitutes of Santiago. There's a huge need there and we're very glad that they're stepping up to work with them. We spent yesterday (Sun) winding down, and allowing our bodies to recuperate before another busy week. Talk to you next week!