SU Easter Camp 2008
Phew!
Not four hours after I got home from the USPCF Easter Crusade I was awaken and off again to catch a bus to Scripture Union Vanuatu’s campsite at Pango Point. Thanks largely to my friendship with the Paschke’s I was roped into helping organise the annual SU Easter camp, and since it was open from year four up to tertiary I managed to bring a fair few of my CF kids along for the ride.
Picture this: over 170 kids crammed into simple concrete buildings (girls’ dorms with bunk beds, boys with just a slab – BYO pandamas mat) to study ‘discipleship,’ consume vast quantities of rice, ‘stik bred’ (baguettes) and very sweet tea. What you’re picture may not contain is 5.30am devotions, a postcardesque beach across the track (I’m hesitant to use the word ‘road’…), endless games of soccer, and two two-hour teaching sessions back-to-back every morning… Scary as some of that may sound when compared to camps in Australia, but it is a guaranteed recipe for fun!
There were a number of ‘firsts’ (and other exciting moments) for me this weekend: – Seeing my CF kids step up to unofficial leadership in all sorts of small groups in the teaching sessions and sports activities – precisely what I’d hoped would happen!! – Giving a little bit of my workshop on 1-1 Bible reading in Bislama. I got plenty of practice in and some of the kids never spoke a single word of English to me! (As always a few humourous miscommunications occurred…you could write a book of all the ones I’ve had!) – Driving a left-hand drive truck (I hope I got that terminology right…the kind with the steering wheel on the far-left of the car) even if it did stall unless you kept it above 2000 rpm! – Being part of my first ‘in-joke’ in pidgin (for any of you from uni: it was about my personal space…) – Having a bunch of the boys argue over who would share their sleeping mat with me – Being called ‘Pastor Jo-el’
I’ll be at the campsite again from tomorrow for a preaching conference with the Langham Trust, so I don’t think I’ll get photos up until after that time, but some of them will give you a more accurate picture of Vanuatu than the ones of town so far!
In my mind, any camp you miss after five minutes of being back at your house was a good one – and I’m certainly missing it!
Posted: Mar 22, 11:56 PM Category: SU
Tags for this article: easter, su, vanuatu
Katty · Apr 10, 03:35 PM
oh i want to be on the camp!
that sounds awesome mr joel :)
hehe dk would be mad at you for your english grammar btw :-p
J · Apr 13, 07:14 PM
Hahaha, I blame the fatigue and having to think in pidgin for my irregular grammar! (sic.)