Letters from Camp Aspire Youth Leaders

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for supporting Camp Aspire this past summer! Everyone learned a lot (myself included) and we had a lot of fun! Some highlights include: telling the kids the story about Daniel and the Lion’s Den, seeing the leaders preparing for and leading activities, and having fun playing with the kids during free play and at Lonsdale Quay at the water parks. 

Reverend Helen and I wanted to make sure that the leaders got more learning out of this camp than last year, so we included a morning devotional, which reverend Helen led, a morning meeting and evening mandatory reflective journals each day. We also wanted to help them to realize that the money that they earned did not come from a for profit organization, but rather your pockets because you believe in them and their futures. With this being said, we assigned each of them to write to one of your churches why this experience was good for them and how they would improve the communities around them because of what they learned. While these letters are not first drafts, they are written by young teenagers (and some with learning disabilities), so please look at them with grace and compassion. 

Please feel free to share them with everyone. 

Together with God, 

Beth Bailey

Children’s Ministry Worker

St Clement’s Anglican Church 

Dear St Clements Church, 

I would like to thank you for the opportunity for me to work with such wonderful people. While working there, I realized that I learned how to be a better leader, by communicating more. From my time working at the camp a new skill that I learned was to communicate more with the kids, I learned to understand them more. Working at the camp grew my Christian faith by beautiful art work showing what Jesus would have looked like and all of the people and leaders who trusted in him around the church. I’m going to help my church by staying after Sunday service to help clean up. This camp made an impact on me, I got to meet new people and help others. I also I learned to care for others more. To conclude I really enjoyed my time and I really hope we can do it again next year.

Sincerely 

Max

Dear congregation of St. Clements, 

My name is Erika, and I am a member of the St. Agnes church community. I am writing to you because I am lucky enough to have been a youth leader at the Aspire camp for the past two years and wanted to share my experiences in the hope of showing everyone how important this camp is to me, the other leaders and the community. This camp is a great opportunity for kids to make new friends and learn about the love of God. This camp has not just helped these kids but also has given multiple people, like me, an opportunity to build connections and learn new skills. Through the Aspire camp, I have met more people my age that share my beliefs of God, which is not something I usually find in kids my age. I have also learned valuable skills like teamwork, leadership and patience. Showing up everyday and seeing young kids find faith in God and show interest in his teachings reminds me of my own childhood when I first learned about him. This camp teaches kids, as much as it reminds the rest of us, of our faith. Through this next year, I will continue to be a part of my church community by volunteering at upcoming events and helping improve the lives of the people around me by always trying to be the best version of myself, being helpful and being kind. This camp is really important to me personally because I get to watch these kids excited to come to camp every day to learn about God, to play games and to build new connections. That is exactly what this camp is about, making new friendships with each other and God. 

Sincerely,

Erika Kyle