Family Camp: The Final Chapter for 2011

 This was my first family camp, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Misty and her family were so excited that I was going to family camp this year.  I knew there had to be something to it.  I got so much out of Camp this year.  I formed closer bonds with people.  I became closer with God.  I can't wait until next years camp.  There are a couple of things I would have one differently.  In this last blog, I will discuss some of those things and what I plan on doing going forward.

Regrets
Lake Doniphan is a beautiful Camp Ground.  We had an awesome time, however for me I feel like I didn't take in the nature part of it as much as I wanted to.  I didn't enjoy the birds chirping, the beautiful trees, and just sitting out by the lake as much as I should have.  I didn't take that all in, so next year I want to do more of that.  I want to do more fishing and taking early morning walks.    I also think we might have been a little too guarded with Levi and Issac.  We have to realize that they are probably more familiar with the campground than we are, and there is a ton of people out there to help watch them.  Hopefully, next year Mom and Dad Corn can go, but if not, I think we would handle watching Levi and Issac better. 

Going Forth
As I mentioned before I do feel rejuvenated from this experience.  Later on this year, I do plan on being baptized and confirmed as a member of the Community of Christ Church. This experience has me ready me more than ever.  I have been reading more about the sacraments since we have been home.  I love the Community of Christ Church and I love my Congregation.   I will write about my story on this decision later on.  Another thing we are going to do is visit different churches within our region.  After meeting with a lot of the younger adults, we feel led to do this.  We  want to see the different styles of worship.  I am guessing we will do this at least once a month until we visit the churches in our region. 

That concludes my posts on Family Camp this year!  Later this year, I will post my story of why I wanted to join the Community of Christ Church. Why have I decided to be baptized and confirmed as a member of this church?  I am really looking forward to writing about this.  Until then, God Bless you all. 

Family Camp Part 3

Family Camp was a time of worship.  It was a time to celebrate your relationship with Jesus Christ.  It was also for relaxing and having a good time!

Food and KP Duty
As a man who really enjoys his food, may I just say that the quality of food was just amazing. My favorite was probably the pulled pork sandwich for lunch!  The pizza was pretty good too.  It was a chance to have fellowship with others.  I really enjoyed my conversation with David talking about Elvis.  I know what you are thinking, why are you considering KP duty having a good time?  You just had to be there to understand it.  It was working as a team.  Misty, the boys, and I really enjoyed it.   We had KP duty on Sunday night.  Matt assigned us to the clean dishes, which means as soon as they come out of the dishwasher, we would put them away.  Levi and Issac bussed tables.  They did an outstanding job and they really enjoyed doing it.  It is just amazing how everyone pulls together to make this camp work. 

The Water!
Remember when I said the 2nd most popular question Issac asked was "Can I play with Joey?"  The most popular question Issac asked was When we going fishing?  He was fired up to go fishing.  I kept on telling him that we would on Sunday.  I am not a fisherman, even though I think I am going to become one now.   I would love to thank the adults and kids that helped Issac and Levi with hooks and helping Issac reel in the big one which I am sure will get bigger every year.   Issac was so excited.  He couldn't wait to go out again.  Unfortunately Levi didn't have as much luck during the fishing derby, but he went out the next day with the Dutels and caught a whopper.  It was also great watching Levi do boating.  He was flying around in that kayak. Misty and I were sitting under a shade tree taking it in.    Unfortunately, Issac was only able to go on the paddle boat.  He was a little sad about that, but he hung in there.  We only had 1 chance to go Swimming.  It was a little too cool most of the time we were there to swim.  The pool at Lake Doniphan is awesome!  The boys had a great time swimming there.

Talent Show
I had so much fun in the Talent Show this year. They started out announcing the fishing awards.  Guess who got the biggest fish.  Yep, you guessed it, our fisherman Issac. He was super excited he won his fishing box.  The Community of Christ sure has a lot of talent.  We had everything from group numbers, to some beautiful instrumentals, along with some really cool magic.  Levi was amazing doing his card trick up there.  That took a lot of guts.

I even decided to sign up for the talent show this year.   I decided to pay a little tribute to the king, Elvis!  I had the hair, sunglasses, and was showing a little chest.  It was tasteful though.  I sang Hound Dog.  I had such a good time up there.  Thank you ladies for rushing the stage. I know it was because of my amazing moves! :) That made the performance for me!  Of course, midway through the song, I was doing the Elvis back pedal swivel as I call it. Unfortunately, the foot didn't swivel and I landed straight on my bootie!  You aint nothin but a..... OUCH!  :)  A lot of people thought it was part of the show!  I should have stuck with that.  Thank you to everyone clapping during the song.  It was appreciated.  We will have to see what is in store for next year.   :)

My final chapter will be tomorrow.  I am going to talk about some of the regrets I had during camp, and what I hope to do going forth from camp!

Family Camp Part 2

As I said yesterday, I was going to talk about a few things about the class I was in, our experience with Issac and Levi, and talk about some friends who were there for us in our time of need.

Class
Misty and I both attended the Young Adult Class.  Both Misty and I didn't say a lot during class, but were soaking it in. I was really impressed with our instructor Diane Allison.  She allowed us to be very open in class.  I loved her quirky personality.  She made class fun and spiritual.  The cookies were awesome too.    It was great to meet up with all the young adults from the different congregations expressing their views and concerns.  I am not going to get into a lot of what we discussed in class because we were asked not to, but I want all the people of this group to know that both Misty and I respect you and love you.  Misty and I also made a decision that we are going to try to visit as many congregations in our region as we can, and hopefully meet up some of you young adults at different congregations.
Issac and Levi
What a blessing to have Levi and Issac with us.  They were so excited for family camp and the joy I saw in their faces to meet with their friends was outstanding.  Levi was hanging out with Keegan, Dhiren, and the other Dutel kids, and some kids I didn't even know.  Levi was such a great brother to Issac during this trip.  He is truly one of the most caring people I know.  The cutest was the relationship of Issac and Joey.  They sure like each other quite a bit.  The 2nd most popular question Issac asked all week was Can I play with Joey?  I think some of the little girls had a  little crush on Issac too.  My favorite moments though was when they either sat on my lap or cuddled up against me.  It was truly a blessing.
Friends
I feel closer to all my congregation after this camp.  The hugs, words of encouragements, and conversations will always be remembered.  Not all of you know this,  but we had some major challenges during camp dealing with a young boy  that made it hard for us to enjoy the experience.  We love you all but there a few people that stick out in my mind.    Thank you Vic Dutel.  When we were close to the end of our rope with this young boy, you came by and saved us.  Both Misty and I learned a lot from watching you handle the situation.  We had another situation arise on Monday that I was actually able to handle.  I was thinking in my head of "What would Vic do?"   Within 10 minutes I had the situation under control. Also thank you Bruce Watson for your help during this situation as well.    Thank you Jeff Kramer for coming over and fishing with me.  Of course I had no idea what I was doing.  I haven't been fishing since high school.   I did a real good job of catching moss.   It was nice to have you there to have a conversation with.  I realized how peaceful and relaxing fishing is even when you aren't catching anything.  I plan to do a lot more fishing next year.  It looks like I will need to buy me a fishing pole.  Thank you Sarah, Elizabeth, Jenny, and I think Arielle for rushing the stage during my Elvis song.  It made me feel good.  Thank you Ilene Sheets for just being who you are.  Thank you Pat Mead for always taking an interest in what Misty and I are doing. 

Tomorrow I will be talking about some of the extracurricular activities.  You will find out Issac's most common question during camp.  You will hear about an amazing card trick and hunka hunka burning love.  I will also talk a little bit of our experience on KP Duty. 

Family Camp 2011 Part 1

We arrived at Lake Doniphan for Family Camp at approximately 5:00 on Friday evening.  It was a beautiful campground with lots of old trees, birds a chirpin, and the lake was magnificent beauty.  It had two mini lodges, a main lodge, classroom buildings, and a beautiful tabernacle where all the services were.    It was Misty, Levi, Issac, and myself.  Thank you so much Mom and Dad Corn for letting us use the camper!  I left Tuesday morning a different person.  I feel rejuvinated mentally and spritually.  This was just what I needed.  It also put an exclamation point on why I want to become a member of the Community of Christ Church!  It is hard to describe everything so I have decided to break it down into categories.  I will be writing a separate blog each day.  Today will be about the Services. 

Evening Services
I found out through this that I am a much bigger fan of the contemporary services mixed with some traditional. I had a little trouble keeping my focus in the evening services which were more traditional.   However, some of my favorite memories was just listening to the music of the traditional services.  It was amazing to just listen to the angelic choir of 300 people or so.  Rick Maupin is a brilliant man, and he was the speaker on two of the evenings.    I learned a lot from his sermons.  My favorite speaker in the evening services was Diane Maupin.  She had a great energy about her, and she talked about one of my favorite books of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird.  :)

Morning Show with Bruce and Andy
The morning show was my favorite part of camp.  I looked forward to this service every day.  I absolutely loved the Morning Show.  It was full of energy, fun and spirituality. There was laughter! Jesus loves you..oooohhhhh!!!  The weather and traffic reports were hilarious.  Way to go Scotty and Edna!  The Family Feud game was great, aside from a few technical hiccups. I loved hearing the Congregational Reports.  It was good to hear about the triumphs and struggles of all our congregations.  There was tears!   Of course, I am a little partial to my favorite part of the Morning Show.  I would have to say it was the Minute of Sunshine with Misty Thieman.   I was so proud of her because she spoke from the heart what she felt.  She showed a lot of vulnerability. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.   I know she touched a lot of people's hearts.  Check out her blog. http://www.encouragingsweetness.blogspot.com/ She has her sunshine moments on there.   There was spirituality!  Hearing people's testimonies really touched my heart.  I loved the contemporary music in the service.  That is the type of music that touches my heart.   Communion on the last day was one of the most spiritual feeling to me.  Going up an hugging Lucas and receiving a hug on the end of the line.  You definately felt loved. 

Baptism of Felix
Sunday evening Felix was baptized at Family Camp.  It was truly an emotional experience.  I know God has big plans for Felix.  I think my favorite part was Felix and Tracy walking out in the water.  Each step getting deeper and deeper.  And then Tracy took the water and rubbed it on Felix's back.  And then the moment he was baptized, the applause happened and Felix started walking out and was shaking off the water.  I felt like he was shaking off his burdens.  He is now walking with Christ.

Later on this year, I will be walking that same walk, as I plan on being baptized and confirmed as a member of the Community of Christ!  I will write more about this decision later on.

Campfires
This is something Misty told me I was going to love and it was one of the things I was looking forward to most about Family Camp!  I loved Campfires.  Misty has been teaching me campfire songs so I would be ready for this experience.  There is just something to be out in complete darkness with just the fire going singing songs and hearing testimonies. My favorite campfire songs are probably BoomChickaBoom and  Koombaya!  I loved the mixture of fun and spiritual songs.  Elizabeth, Lucas, and Kelsey did an amazing job of leading campfires.  You are true blessings!   You got me Monday night!  All it takes is a Big Jerk.  I walked right into that one.  It was awesome! 

Stay tuned for tomorrow where I will share some things about the class I was in, and about what a blessing it was to have Levi and Issac with us, and talk about some friends who were there for us in our time of need.