Expat Youth Camp

The youth camp we helped out at weekend before last was both exhilarating and exhausting. I believe there were about three hundred expat youth there, from 6^th through 12^th grade. I was there as a counselor for a floor of junior high kids; they were a lot of fun, certainly as immature as preteen and early teenagers should be! A few them actually had a surprisingly mature understanding of the Christian faith though, reflected in some pretty good questions. Our small group times after the main sessions were mostly run by a healthy dose of ADD, but we had a few good discussions in there. It is really cool to see young adolescents be psyched about their faith. These conversations, as well as just noticing them singing out to God passionately during worship, especially considering which nation we were in, was awesome to experience.

While at the camp, we had one of the most powerful worship sessions I have had the chance to be a part of; I’m not sure why God lets us feel his presence in a way that is emotionally overwhelming only from time to time, but I do know that I absolutely love it when it happens. Looking around the auditorium was incredible; youth and staff alike were absolutely abandoned to praising God. Most were singing, some were kneeling, some were praying fervently, by themselves or with friends—the spiritual movement in the atmosphere of the room was palpable.

On a completely different note, the location of this retreat was pretty crazy; the purpose of the campus is to be a training facility for the bank ICBC (huge in Asia), and sort of has the feel of an adult summer camp. It has a restaurant-like dining hall, a good auditorium and large central building, a golf driving range, a bowling alley, tennis courts, and the rooms are all organized into luxurious three story villas, with about four rooms per floor. Each room had a personal living room and bathroom, as well as a balcony, and each floor had a common room and sometimes a small game room; my friend's villa even had it's own karaoke room on the top floor. Through all my experience going to these kinds of retreats, in my youth and on staff, I have come to expect that when I go to a camp, I am going to get dirty, and that’s that. This was quite different. It seemed like this would have to be way too expensive, but given the type of individuals that go this church, it would not surprise me if a high-up executive of ICBC was in the congregation and hooked us up.

Overall it was a great time; certainly another first to check off the bucket list ("Be a counselor at a Christian youth camp for an expat community in China"--it's a very specific list ;) ) and a great opportunity to get more involved with serving in our new church.