Article originally posted on the Challenge Youth Ministry website and article submitted by Amelia Hoover.
From June 22 -28th and July 6th – 12th, Hobb’s Farm in Milton Carolina was buzzing with over 50 Challenge campers for the annual summer camp. The June track was offered for girls in the North Carolina region and the July track for girls from DC and Maryland. Amelia Hoover directed both camps with the help of a great team of counselors, team leaders and volunteers.
The theme centered around the camp theme song by Francesca Botticelli “He Knows My Name”. The main ideas from the song that carried through to the daily activities were Chosen, Free, Forgiven and Child of the King. Conferences and activities touched on the 10 needs of the adolescent and helped the campers discover “the Me I hide, the Me I show and the Me I am.”
The talent show, Messy Olympics and learning to dance to the camp theme song were some of the activities the girls enjoyed the most. But the most memorable activity of both camps was hands down the all night Adoration.
Amelia Hoover explained how this worked. ”The campers begin with a Eucharistic Procession. Beforehand, each team prepared an altar with a different theme. This year the themes of the altars were gratitude, suffering, and a missionary heart. The girls wrote prayers of thanksgiving at the gratitude altar. They lit candles for the loved ones they knew were suffering at the altar of suffering and they received a quote from Pope Francis to pray about at the missionary heart altar. After praying at each altar and receiving benediction, they proceeded to a tent with an altar set up for adoration turns all through the night. The girls ended in song and then were able to accompany our Lord all through the night. It was an experience for them that Jesus is a real person who I can console and accompany and who enters into my life and allows me to also share my heart with him.”
A comment that was heard during both camps by many girls was that they loved being at the Challenge camp because they were able to be in an environment where they were free to be themselves and free to love Jesus.