Jul 14, 20212 min read

Camp Friendships: Long Lasting and Life Changing

Monday afternoons, cars drive up Long View Ranch’s driveway and unload campers as diverse as the license plates that adorn the back bumper. Some campers live in rural environments and have the accent to prove it. Others have never spent much time outside of Wifi-range.

Watching campers move into their cabins, I always wonder what the dynamic will be like. Within cabins, athletes will spend lots of time with book-lovers. Campers from public schools, private schools, or homeschool spend a week with people they likely would not have met otherwise. I’m always grateful and pleasantly surprised to see the deep friendships that come out of a week of camp- unifying people who otherwise may not even know each other. Teen Action Camp: Volume 2 has been no different.

By icebreakers on Monday night, campers were already showing their comfort around friends from their cabins. By the time we announced color teams and they got to work creating their chants and flags to wave around for the week, you would hardly notice that they were strangers hours before.

Yesterday, I spent a few minutes talking to a camper from the Green Team. I asked her what her favorite part of camp was, and even though she had only been at camp for one night, without hesitation she said “time with my cabin!”. Getting to sit in their bunks and talk together after a day filled with activities, Bible lessons, and fun leaves a lasting impression on campers.

Campers started going through activities yesterday. At archery, the barn, or the Mountain Waterslide campers encourage their friends as they try something new. They sit and talk to each other while they wait their turns. During the rodeo last night, campers rallied around their color teams, screaming their chants as teammates competed in the events.

Our mission at Long View Ranch is to share the love of Jesus through fun, friendship, and adventure. We are so thankful for the long-lasting, life-changing friendships that develop here and the way they reflect Christ’s love.