What’s it Like at Camp Trinity? | Trinity Talks Podcast

Well, good morning, guys.

Good morning.

This is an exciting Trinity Talks today.

I'm really excited to be joined with some of our camp leadership today.

So welcome Hannah and Abby and Connor to the Trinity Talks show here.

Thanks for joining me.

So for those of you who don't know Camp Trinity is a camp that's run by our church and it

is really an outreach ministry for anyone in the community, children ages four to 13.

And one thing that really sets this camp apart, at least in my opinion, is its commitment

to developing young leaders, which we see right here in front of us, just this commitment

to grow you in your skills, in responsibilities, in your discipleship.

And I would love just to hear a little bit from you before camp gets started this summer

on what camp is all about.

So Hannah, let's start with you.

I know there's lots of different roles here.

And as I said, that Camp Trinity is really dedicated to growing up a lot of different

leaders and we have a lot of leaders here.

So you're representing a small or a large group of them.

So what is your role specifically this year at Camp Trinity?

And what does that mean?

Specifically this year, I'm going to be taking on the role of supervising bakes.

So that's ages eight to 10.

So I'm really excited.

So I work with the director and I basically lead like day to day activities.

I'm in charge of leading lesson, which is what I'm excited for.

That's a new thing I'm doing last year.

I've never done it before.

And then like just coordinating overall leaders and making sure the day runs smoothly.

So I'm excited.

Oh, nice.

So you've got some leaders that sort of are under your supervision.

Yeah, a little bit.

Okay, very fun.

Very fun.

Well, good luck with that.

All right, Abby, what about you?

This year, I'm a leader of the juniors age group, which is ages four and five.

Yeah.

So I mostly just like help out and like keep everything organized.

Like Hannah, like Hannah's supervisor.

So like the supervisors are mostly like giving us the directions and I'm just like helping

out and helping run the games.

Yes.

All right.

That's a lot of responsibility with those little ones.

You also lead your own cabin.

Yeah, the cabin.

All right.

Very good.

Yeah, it sounds like a lot of responsibility.

That's great.

So what about you, Connor?

This year, I'm taking on a different role from what I usually do.

I'll be more of the background stuff.

The official role is the assistant director of facilities and also LIT.

So this week, I'll actually I won't be partaking in their training.

I'll be training the LITs myself and building up the next generation of leaders.

Wow.

Okay.

So you mentioned that this is something different for you.

So how many years have you been doing Camp Trinity as a leader?

Well, yeah, I went up the whole ladder.

Like I was a camper, then I was in LIT, then I was a leader, then I was a leader for like

two or three years, then I was a supervisor for a year.

And now this year, I've moved up to the assistant director.

Wow.

All right.

Let's see what next year brings for Connor.

Oh my goodness.

Climbing the ladder.

What about the rest of you?

How have you been involved in Camp Trinity in the past?

I was a camper since I don't know.

As long as I can remember, I'm coming here and I've been this will be my fourth year

as a leader.

And just like Connor, I was in LIT.

And yeah, I think, yeah, this will be my fourth year as a leader.

Well done.

And you, Hannah, you're a little bit new to the scene relatively.

Yeah, I was never a camper, sadly.

I was never introduced that early.

But this will be my third year leading at Camp Trinity.

I was a leader for two years and then this is my first year supervisor.

So yeah, exciting.

Exciting.

Okay.

So Abby mentioned that she oversees some games.

So obviously games happen and you're sort of facilitating those.

So I thought I'd turn the tables on you a little bit right now.

And I gave each of you a stick at your chair and we're going to play a little bit of a

game to see if you can be creative, quick thinking and just a little bit fun.

All three different characteristics, I'm sure that a camp leader should be.

So you all have a stick, but I'm going to tell you that that is not a stick.

You're giving me some funny eyes here.

You're going to tell me I'm going to model with my pencil or my pen here for a minute.

But we're just going to go around in a circle and we're going to say this may look like

a stick, but it's actually a hairbrush.

And you're going to come up with something that maybe something of this shape could be.

We're just going to see how quick thinking you guys can be.

And they're like, what are you making me do?

All right, we're going to start with Connor.

Okay.

This may look like a stick, but actually it's a wand from the Harry Potter universe.

Oh, yes.

Very good.

Yes.

This may look like a stick, but it's actually a candy cane.

Oh, very nice.

This may look like a stick, but it's actually a sword.

Nice.

All right.

We're going to go another round here.

Going to keep it up.

This may look like a stick, but it's actually a Star Wars lightsaber.

This may look like a stick, but it's actually a toothbrush.

This may look like a stick, but it's actually a broom.

Oh, wonderful.

Wonderful.

Okay.

So that's a fun game that you can play with balls or sticks.

You're outside.

You're looking to kill some time.

This is probably why I'm not a camp leader.

You're like, this game is not fun.

But anyway, put your sticks down, everyone.

We've got questions to get to.

I'm just curious because I myself have never been a camper or a camp leader here.

What does a typical day at Camp Trinity look like?

So from the moment you start until the moment you end, what can we expect?

I mean, well, it's different depending on your age group, right?

But I'd say generally they arrive and then we take them outside to play, right?

You lead a few games and then we have worship.

That's the big like morning thing.

Okay.

Followed by a lesson.

And then that's when the activities start to split depending on the age group, I'd say.

Awesome.

All right.

What kind of activities is it that you do?

So there will be like the one activity before lunch, which could be a trip like going to

there's like smaller tier trips and higher tier trips.

So the smaller tier trips would be going over to like St. Joseph or Dolphin to just play

games in a different area.

That's not the church or like walking to Murphy's, walking to bowling.

Those are like the walking ones.

Or we have bus trips where we'll go to this year.

We have a new thing, an inflatable water park that the bigs are going to, I think.

I'm so excited.

So busing over there and like busing to pools and places.

So those will be the activities or we have choose your own activity where they can go

play like basketball or soccer or there's artsy crafty stuff and something for everyone.

Yeah.

Okay.

That sounds like fun.

How does the day end?

Wrap up.

We bring the kids into sanctuary for checkout and sometimes we'll play movie and we'll give

them some tuck.

Some tuck.

I was angling for the tuck.

Yeah.

Oh, the tuck.

That's a really handy incentive in there too, isn't there?

Yeah.

All right.

So for those of you who were campers in your younger days, when you think back on those

memories of your experience as in camp, what were some of the highlights for you?

So I'm looking at Abby and Connor here.

I kind of have like a favorite leader memory and a favorite camper memory.

My favorite camper memory was generally just the bus trips.

The bus trips were always my favorite.

And I remember when I was in youth camp, one of the years I think we actually went to Canada's

Wonderland.

Okay.

That was probably some of the most fun I've had at Camp Trinity.

And leader-wise, I guess it's just kind of another general one.

I love just seeing the buildup of the character and the kids.

I like seeing them come out of their shell.

At the beginning of the week, you'll barely know who they are and they'll be really shy,

kind of cornered a little bit.

And by the end of the week, they're the most ecstatic outgoing person you've ever met in

your life.

Gosh, that's got to be fun.

It's got to be fun to see.

What about you, Abby?

For me, as a camper, I was a really shy kid.

And I feel like there was some specific leaders that would just like what Connor said, they

would help me bring me out of my shell.

Because since I was super shy, I really didn't feel like talking to anyone.

So I would just hang out with some specific leaders, especially when I was younger.

And I think that really helped.

That's really nice.

That stands out to you.

Now here you are as a leader and you have the opportunity to do that for other kids

as well.

Yeah.

So since you've been a leader as well, what has been a memory for you as a leader?

I feel like similar to what Connor said, I really like just getting to know all the kids

and just learning tons of different things about them.

And yeah, just watching them just be more out of their shell throughout the week.

Exactly.

I love that.

And what about you, Hannah?

I was never a camper, sadly, but a leader memory.

I love worship.

I think it's kind of along the same lines as Connor and Abby.

But like, as you move on through the week, the kids know the songs more and they get

louder and more competitive.

So competitive, because we'll verse like age groups.

So there's I think four different ones and we'll split them up so we can see who's the

loudest.

And it's nice to see them actually become really confident with the songs and very aggressively

loud singing.

But it's a good spirit to walk in and wake you up in the morning.

Right.

Oh, that sounds so smart.

That's another thing to add to your role, right?

You're part of the camp worship.

Yeah, yes, I am a part of the worship team.

Excellent.

Excellent.

OK, so when you see kids maybe by the end of the day getting a little tired, grumpy,

cranky, I'm sure it happens.

I've got kids.

I know it happens.

What are some of your specific tactics?

Maybe it's playing with sticks.

I don't know.

What are some of your tactics that you use to sort of encourage kids to stay motivated

if they're not feeling so great?

I mean, I think what's so great about Trinity is that we have so many activities going on

all the time.

OK, so a lot of the times at the end of the day, kids are just tired of being outside

because as much as like we love water fun and we're outside almost all day for a lot

of us, they just want to come inside and do something more low key.

So we offer them like friendship bracelet making or we'll do just dance in here, something

that just like to change the environment and give them something different, I feel like

always helps them get back into it before the end of the day.

OK, nice.

A change of energy.

Yeah.

Little redirection.

Yeah.

Anyone else have any special stories?

They don't really have time to be grumpy.

Like throughout the day, like the most chill time they have is lunchtime, which this year

we're actually moving down to half an hour.

It used to be an hour and we'd like split it off into half so that like the leaders

could like split up their lunch breaks and stuff.

But this year we're like changing up the lunch.

It's just going to be half an hour.

All of the leaders are going to have their lunch break at the same time.

And like the directors and the maintenance team are kind of going to help run lunch so

that all the leaders can have their break.

And so that's their chill time.

But other than that, like we're constantly moving these kids like they're constantly

they they don't have time.

That's a good strategy in itself, though, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

They're just they're so tired by the end of the day, too.

And I think that it goes for the same as leaders.

Like everyone talks more like you just nap for the first week after camp.

Oh, yeah.

OK, right.

It's a hard, nice sleep after camp.

Yeah.

Right.

What time does camp end?

Four or five?

Four and then we have extended care for an hour.

So five is the latest.

All right.

So you can still get a good solid nap in there.

Oh, yeah.

Next day starts.

And you're mentioning worship.

You're on the worship team and worship is how you begin each day.

And I know that there's lessons where you talk through and walk through some Bible stories

and some creative ways yourselves.

What is one of your favorite ways to sort of share that good news of Jesus with the kids

that are coming into the camp, whether they go to church, whether they don't go to church?

How do you like to share that good news?

I think my answer would be a little bit biased because I've always worked with the older

kids, so the youth kind of like ages 11 to 13.

So it's a lot easier to have these conversations with them because their brains are a little

more developed than the juniors.

But I think it's just keeping it inside of casual conversation.

You don't let the kids feel like you're having a Jesus conversation.

It just feels like a regular conversation.

You're bringing up Christian topics, spiritual topics, and just things that they find interesting.

And you'll be amazed.

They'll continue a conversation for like 20 minutes as long as you let them feel like

it's just a casual combo.

Well, sounds like building a relationship with the kids is one way that you're doing

it.

That's great.

For me, I really like the storytelling of it.

And I think that's for like younger kids.

They get really like interested.

We'll play videos too at the worship time.

So they get an introduction for the lesson and then you break up into groups for the

lesson.

So we'll play like games and stuff.

But I find that they get really attached to like stories and characters because as a kid,

you want like an example and something they can see.

So I feel like those kind of like almost tangible things are really helpful for the kids.

And I don't know for juniors, do you guys do like crafts too?

Yeah, we do lots of crafts and games.

Yeah.

That's what I was going to say for the younger kids, especially the four and five year olds.

I think like it really helps them learn best through the games and like the crafts.

It just really helps them like gain a better understanding.

Yeah.

Sounds so well thought out.

I think it's really well done.

And what are you both looking forward to this summer?

I already heard about an inflatable water park.

Oh, that's exciting.

So that sounds like fun.

Is there anything else that you're just looking forward to that you're so excited for?

I mean, I'm looking forward to Gaga Ball again.

I love that.

I don't know if you guys have probably seen it if you're at the church, the big pit.

Yeah.

How many sides does it have?

It's like an octagon.

I think it's an octagon.

I think there's eight.

All right.

We can fact check that and make some comments later if Gaga Ball has a lot of namesets.

That's definitely my favorite, choose your own activity.

Like to stay at the church is a good one and the kids really get into it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I sense that you like the competition.

Yeah.

And seeing this theme.

What about you guys?

I'm really excited to just like meet all the new kids because some of our juniors are moving

up to the the next age group, littles.

So we'll have a whole new batch of new kids and it's gonna be so excited.

I'm so excited to meet them and just like get to know them.

And we're going to go on lots of fun field trips with them as well.

Like I know we're going to a petting zoo.

That'll be really exciting.

Yeah.

And yeah, I'm excited to also teach them about God as well.

Right.

Oh my gosh.

So exciting.

I'm excited for a week with the LITs.

Like I have some some pretty interesting stuff planned.

Like on Wednesday, I think we're we're going to Toronto, but I'm going to have the LITs

split off into two groups and then they're going to take turns leading the group.

And we've given everybody Presto cards, like preloaded Presto cards, and they have to get

us to Toronto.

Oh, that'll be fun.

So good luck.

It's kind of like when you when you throw a bird out of the nest and it's got to fly.

Yeah.

Like you're just throwing them into leadership roles and we're seeing what they can do.

Right.

After like one day of leadership warm up.

I'm also excited.

Like Hannah said, choose your own activities.

A lot of fun.

Yeah, I probably won't be as much of a part of it this year.

But you know, if I have some extra time, I can always like go dunk on the youth.

So.

Absolutely.

Well, well, everything behind the scenes.

Like you said, you're doing is super important, I know, to the just the running of the camp.

A godsend.

It really is.

It really is.

All right.

So last week we had our commissioning Sunday where we as a church had the opportunity to

pray for you as you go forth into training and then actually serving through the camp

in this way.

And you even had the opportunity, I believe, to meet with a mentor.

Some of you may not have met your mentor yet, but I'm just wondering, what did that Sunday

mean to you?

My mentor sent me a letter because they weren't able to make it, which is really nice.

It was just really nice to see support from the church.

And like this, this is the first year we were doing commissioning Sunday.

I don't think.

Yeah.

OK, yeah.

So it was definitely a different kind of like introduction to camp.

And I really liked to see like the behind the scenes because we know how much the church

puts into it.

But I feel like to get to like have the personal connection with people in our congregation

was a really different way to start it off.

And it was really nice.

It was really supportive, is how I would put it.

Yeah, that's great.

Yeah, I agree with Hannah.

Like, it was just nice to see like how we have a community like supporting us throughout

all of camp.

And yeah, I just think it's really great that everyone is going to be beside us along the

way.

It was so great just to see all of you up there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're being called Smurfs.

Yeah.

The kids are like, it's the Smurfs.

Yes.

I had a special case with my mentor because it was Bruce Preston.

But I had known him for two weeks prior to him becoming my official mentor because he

was helping out with some of the training.

And I mean, I think he's an awesome guy and I already knew him.

So it was just like a casual Sunday conversation when we had our first mentor talk.

But I can tell he's really going to push me in my faith.

He's quite an intense man.

So yeah, intense in a good way.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you for taking the time away from your coffee hour and your cookie break here

in the church to chat with me and everyone who's watching about Camp Trinity.

Because next week, everyone is doing their training.

And then after that, we begin a full six weeks of camp right here at the church.

So thank you again.

We wish you the best and we wish the whole camp the best and all of the kids as well.

And again, thank you for your dedication to this ministry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.