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We all woke up in order to pack our bags and have breakfast at 8AM so that we could get to Camp Canaan on time. We got our sunscreen on and headed out for Camp Canaan at 9:00AM. The bus ride was filled with Kate sharing her story of how her and Randy met and eventually got married. Then we got to Camp Canaan.
We got out of the bus, unloaded our bags into the space we are staying in this week, and then got a detailed tour of the whole camp. The directors were very nice and the one director knew some English and attempted to make a few jokes. By the time the tour ended and we got settled into our rooms, the 60 kids had finally arrived and we all got ready to have a lot of fun for the rest of the day!
When we were introduced to the kids and staff, we were attached to different cabins in pairs. Our first event of the afternoon was lunch and we all got to slowly build relationships with the kids in our cabins. They had fun teaching us Spanish and we had fun teaching them English. We then played in the pool and on the soccer field with the kids before heading to possibly the best chapel I’ve ever been to!
It started with playing something similar but different to Red Light, Green Light. Then Simon Says. And then the best part: real life Just Dance!! They were playing Spanish songs and leading actions, but all we could do was follow the actions. Some of the actions they were doing made it feel like we were playing Just Dance! I personally thought it was the best thing I’ve ever done, but others were concerned for their ears because the music was quite loud. We then transitioned into the message portion of chapel which was based in John 5:5-18.
Then we played a chaotic game of dodgeball, a very cool dinner (there were lots of connections and bonding moments between us and the kids), and then an amazing dozen games of Basketball! They split the boys and girls into teams of six (including us), put teams onto the court to play against each other, and whoever scored first or got a free throw at the end of 5 minutes got to stay on and play the next team. Alecia’s team stayed on after playing 6 games, and then lost to the third boys teams to go on. Afterwards, there was a 6v6 game with Canada vs. Guatemala. Ty, Christian, Sofia, Alecia, Emily, and myself played as Team Canada and then 6 of the camp’s staff played as Team Guatemala. Canada won 5-1 after the most enjoyable game of Basketball I’ve ever played!
The kids then went to bed and we had our team debrief. The day was overall an amazing experience for all of us and the energy of the kids surprised us in the best way possible. We all feel like it’s going to be an amazing week and are looking forward to what will happen next!
