Summer Camp Testimonials

by Robby Kiley, PSYL Head Leader

Young Life and Wyldlife camps have been billed as “the best week of your life.” A week of rappelling, mountain climbing, tubing, banana boating, go-cart racing, horseback riding, rock climbing, and kayaking await, not to mention a week full of Young Life clubs and a fantastic speaker who is able to present the gospel in a way that is exciting and easy for students to understand. This summer, we took twenty four high school students to Frontier Ranch in Buena Vista, Colorado and thirteen middle school students to Castaway Club in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Students were given the opportunity to have a blast at camp, but, even more importantly, they were able to spend a week with their leaders, taking quality time to talk with their leaders about their lives and their faith.

I could spend pages and pages of text trying to paint a picture of a week at camp, but the best way to get a glimpse into the Young Life camp experience is to ask the kids themselves. We asked our high school and middle school friends to take a couple of minutes out of their time at camp and complete a couple of sentences about their experience. Below is a collection of their answers, which we hope will give you a better idea of what our friends experienced this summer. We hope you enjoy it!

My week at camp was…

• A great experience. It was full of great people, amazing support, and gave me a chance to connect with God on a deeper level.
• Amazing, fun, dirty, a great experience and one of the best weeks of my life.
• Awesome, life-changing and exciting.
• Eye opening. For a long time, I pushed God away, but the activities, people and speakers made me want a close relationship with him.
• A lot of fun. I learned so much about God and myself through all the activities this week.
• Life changing. I was able to meet God and get to know him in a completely new and different way than I ever have before. I was able to reaffirm my faith and for the first time in my life become friends with my sister.
• So much fun! I had a blast doing all the activities! The speaker was amazing!

My leader is…

• Amazing! They are so easy to connect with and super supportive.
• So, so loving and generous! Throughout the week, it was obvious just how much my leaders cared for me, even though some of them were meeting me for the first time.
• Thoughtful, kind, fun and capable of listening.
• Amazing people who know how to relate to us.
• One of the most genuinely kind women I’ve ever met. She is willing to be uncomfortable and still see the positive in any situation.
• Always there for me when I need to talk and always cares.
• One of the coolest adults that I know and great to be around.
• Someone who is always there, I feel I can trust them because I know they support me. They are always willing to help with anything and made this week at camp amazing.

Jesus Christ is…

• My Lord and savior. I totally couldn’t live without him. This week I was able to view God in different ways and draw closer to him.
• The rock of my life. Camp helped me reconnect with him in a stronger way. It felt good!
• Lord, God and most importantly, my friend.
• Going to be welcomed into my life after this week.
• Someone who loves me and gave up everything for me.
• Probably my closest friend. He knows me for who I am and he accepts me and loves me unconditionally.

While these quotes can go a long way to help you understand a week at camp, the only way to truly experience camp is to go for yourself! Young Life has a fantastic Adult Guest program, and we would love to help you come and see Young Life camp live and in person. Young Life has beautiful, four- to five-star quality lodges, and would love to host you for a day, couple of days, or even for a whole week of summer camp or during fall camp. If you’d like to receive more information about Young Life’s adult guest program, please contact the Young Life office. We have several spots available for only $89.50 for the weekend of November 19-21. Your fee includes meals and a fantastic room in Castaway’s beautiful lodge. We hope you might consider joining us!

Robby Kiley
PSYL Head Leader