Friday Night

The sun is setting on Hume Lake. We all piled into the dining hall for a final meal and shared stories from the day. I can tell immediately that it was a great week by all the sunburned and tired faces. The staff here really stepped it up on the last day in order to make our exit a memorable one. This morning’s chapel service kicked our day off with some really inspiring worship. It was amazing to see the students who were hardest and most reserved singing and dancing. God has delivered transformation to many of our kids. Even I have opened up and joined the kids in dancing. For rec(reation) time today we participated in one of the craziest games I have ever been apart of. This year’s great race included blowing up balloons with a snorkel, singing love songs, and eating a curry-mayonnaise brownie. No matter how bizarre the tasks were, we all were quick to scream, roll, jump, run, or eat. All the students took their last chance to challenge themselves on the ropes course, shoot a few friends with paintballs, or enjoy time on the lake. Kyle Sigler and I whooped a couple of staff members on the beach volleyball court.
It will be difficult for everyone to leave tomorrow. So many of us have experienced God’s love more intimately then we ever have. We’ve made friends that will last a lifetime. We’ve stepped out of our comfort zones day after day. Our speaker Darrin McWatters has challenged us to base our lives on the relationship with God that we’ve committed to as we leave this place. His message has helped us to say “I know what a Christian is” and then to decide if we are one or not.
Even though the temperature is dropping and the sun is setting, our hearts are on fire.
Lookin’ up,
Pastor Ralph

Friday Around Camp

Thursday Night

Hume Lake is always an amazing experience in that it is constantly changing. I have gone to Hume since my entrance into the 6th grade (I am a junior now). That makes 5 completed years of Hume for those who don’t want to do the math. This is the 6th year. Anyways, I came expecting a certain Hume experience and I was completely blindsided. This week has been completely amazing. I have experienced God in a whole new way. I now am starting to feel genuinely special, and personal with God. I hope that I can soon find out what God has in store for me so I can serve Him to the best of my abilities. Today was awesome. We had a missionary speaker named PK who spoke to us this morning about being servants to the end of the Earth. He motivated me to try and find out where and how I can personally serve God. After his talk this morning, we went to Spirit Day recreation, which was wild. We had a series of relays and many people lost their voices from screaming for their teams. Their singing voices are spectacular now. After recreation, we went to lunch and had the most amazing camp food ever. After our amazing lunch, was free time. During free time thirty of us went to high adventure and another thirty played paintball. At the end of the paintball session two of our counselors volunteered to be live targets while the students emptied the rest of their paint hoppers. For the evening chapel Darren spoke about discipleship. He challenged us that as disciples, we are to abandon our own life and plans and adopt the lifestyle and teachings of Jesus. At the end of chapel there were a number of students who re-dedicated their lives be more fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ and a handful of others accepted Christ for the first time. It was an awesome evening.
-Daniel Fitterer

Thursday Around Camp

Wednesday Night

So, it’s Wednesday and a lot of us are TIRED! This morning after breakfast was the annual Hume biathlon (swimming and lake run). A number of our students competed and ended up in the top 10— our very own Ricky Niese took first place in the swimming challenge (it was the equivalent of eight laps) and Alex Platt took fifth. In the run around the lake (3.2 miles) Matt Day took second place and Paul Stephens took fourth. This morning there were two seminar sessions and we had seven options to pick from. The seminars included: ‘Busting the Boyfriendless Blues’, ‘Life After High School’, ‘World Religions’ and ‘In Whose Image?’ This afternoon, two groups found out the secret of the Little Brown Church and thirty-five students played paint ball. Although our energy is pretty much zapped, we still have enough to appreciate the beauty of the camp, and how blessed we are to be here. Just this morning I went walking around the lake, and it was completely calm and still. It gave me a great chance to talk with God and clarify my relationship with him. The band, Exodus, is giving a concert tonight which will give us the chance to worship and hear some of the band’s own songs.
-Christina Niccolai

Wednesday Around Camp

Tuesday Night

Tuesday is always an interesting day, because it’s the first day of camp where the excitement of being at Hume begins to wear off and you slowly start to realize the draining effect of being away from home and your own bed. You pour all your energy into worship, recreation and free time and seem to get very little sleep. But don’t get me wrong, I can guarantee that each and every camper is really enjoying the experience that is Hume. Just like the previous day, we woke up at seven in the morning to shower and get ready for another good day. We slowly headed off to breakfast, and I begin to mentally prepare for the incoming camp food (which is always . . . fantastic :). After breakfast we made our way to chapel to worship with this year’s worship band, Exodus. Tuesday morning’s chapel speaker was a Christian apologist. To be completely honest, I didn’t agree with all of the things he said, but regardless, there is always some new things to learn, and I took away a few new ideas. Break out time, or small groups followed where we had the opportunity to process the morning’s talk. Today’s recreation was a camp game with, trashcans, green face paint and neon pink spandex. In turn creating quite the wild experience. During free time forty of us headed off to high adventure, which is basically a ropes course made of wire hanging in the trees. Oh, and its over forty feet in the air. Forty. I watched as some of us, who aren’t afraid of heights, made their way through the obstacle course. Afterward we had dinner and headed off to evening chapel. Exodus led another awesome worship session, Exodus exited and Darren McWaters came out and delivered an excellent message. Darren spoke about accepting Jesus into our lives, and seven of our students accepted Jesus Christ for the first time, which was awesome to see. In our cabin we had a great small group session following evening chapel and each person had a lot to share with some excellent questions. Following our small group time, we drifted off to sleep to regain some energy for a new day.
- Zach Garman