24 Jul
the last night
Tonight we celebrated a great week. I’m pretty sure I asked every kid how his/her week was today, and almost all of them had an amazing time. A few guys said “It was alright”, which was about as descriptive as they’ve been all week!
The students were challenged this week to do the two things that matter: to make followers of Jesus by putting the gospel on display in their lives, and to care for the poor and the oppressed. The speaker Scott had solid content and was very articulate. The teaching and music were definitely the highlight of the week, in my opinion!
There is a great feeling of unity and momentum in the group right now. I took some time to talk about why we’re going to do what we’re going to do as a youth ministry, and the students received it well. I’m excited to get back home and dig into everyday life. I already love these kids and this team. I’m so honored to work at a church with a vision and mission that the youth ministry can plug into so seamlessly.
Thank you for allowing us to play a small part in the life of your family! Please ask your students what they learned and experienced at camp. Be patient with them as they try to answer, because they might have so much to say that it will be hard to know where to start!
23 Jul
Day 2 and 3
Well, it’s 1:15 AM and I am finally sitting down long enough to write a post! I’m currently uploading about 600 photos that Lorrie took, so keep your eyes open for them 
Tonight was amazing, at least in my huddle of guys! Tonight’s session was all about living a life worthy of the Lord, and our kids really got hit hard. I had a few great conversations with students afterwards, but one that topped them all. We had at least one students give his life to the Lord, and it was an AMAZING conversion. I don’t want to tell you who it is until he has a chance to call home and share the news. I’ll just tell you that it brought lots and lots of tears (the good ones) to a circle of guys, ESPECIALLY the student who took a step towards Jesus! And for this guy to break down and cry is a huge deal. Walls just came tumbling down tonight. He was broken, in a beautiful way.
The beginning of the day was great too. Our girls painted two houses, and our guys got their hands DIRTY! The fellas had to do some random jobs around the camp, most of which involved some pretty heavy lifting! They handled it like champs though.
The whole crew is heading offsite tomorrow during free time to do some rock climbing and other fun stuff. Tomorrow is our last full day at camp, and so far everyone I’ve talked to is upset about that.
It’s a whole lot easier to send out the Twitter updates than it is to power up the laptop, but I promise to try! Thanks for reading along Feel free to text me or post a comment on the blog if you need anything.
20 Jul
Day One
It has been a great start to camp! We got off the bus and ran for cover because it was raining and hailing. We all loved it though. 
The speaker and band are top-notch so far, and the students are having a great time right now in the pool, on the zip line, playing basketball, and just enjoying the cool weather that the rain brought.
I’ve loaded a whole bunch of photos into the Flickr account on the right. I’ll load them all into my Facebook account soon so that the kids can tag themselves and share them with their friends.
The speaker has kicked things off by asking if we identify more with the “religious” people in the bible or with the “broken” people. It looks like he’s going to be pushing them to become FOLLOWERS of Jesus (who understand their brokenness of course).
The guys were up LATE last night talking about their faith, asking questions, and encouraging each other. I heard the same thing happened over with the girls
19 Jul
Camp Schedule
Here is the camp schedule. Please join us in praying for the teaching and conversations that will take place this week.
11 Jul
Here’s a peek at the camp
I found this video on YouTube that a church from Phoenix put together after their week at UCYC. I thought you guys might like to get a peek at what the camp looks like! We’ll make our own video when we get back
10 Jul
Camp information
You can click HERE to find the UCYC Camp website.
The speaking will be done by a pastor named Scott Nickell, and worship will be led by Randy Pearce. They work together at Flat Irons Church- which you can check out by clicking HERE. You can also watch videos of Scott teaching and Randy leading worship by visiting their Vimeo page HERE.
UCYC’s phone number is (928) 445-0391
Ryan’s cell phone number is (480) 239-9377
Please only call for emergencies. You can reach Kim Robinson at the church if you have any questions at (480) 545-4024, or by email: KimR@mission68.org
