Climbers

In each of the activity areas around camp we had the same group of kids for a week, which meant on the challenge course could see them progress through the elements, get to know each of them and encourage them to go further and higher as we went through the week.

In the first week, we had 7-11 year olds so a few of them were pretty small which made it trickier for them to reach some of the rocks on the wall to climb to the top. That first week was also suuuuuper hot out so climbing with sweaty hands and burning them on the rocks was also a challenge to deal with! What I loved about the younger kids is that they were so much more excited and proud of themselves when they did manage to climb to the top. One of my campers who managed to get up there told me after that she was so tired and wanted to give up but then heard God's voice saying "you can do it" and so she did! One of the best things I heard all summer.

Another camper that week, determined to make it to the top on the hard side of the wall, spent over ten minutes reaching, grabbing, falling off and swinging back on again attempting to overcome a tricky part of the wall. Telling her she could come down and try again after a rest didn't make a difference "but if I come down now, I might never make it this far again!" Eventually she made it but not without injury, her hands were covered in blisters which made me feel awful, but she didn't care at all and was just happy she made it to the top on the hard side!

And then throughout the sessions, there would be campers who didn't want to do much at all which was fine, but I was pretty proud when their fellow campers encouraged them to try more and they did, it was great (or maybe they just got sick of me saying "Are you sure you don't want to go up a little? Just climb the ladder? 100% sure? For definite?" "..Are you still sure?")

Bethan