Camp Day 3 from the heart of Kyle Wikstrom

Wow! What an amazing day at English Camp!

Today was the first full day of camp activities. Here are some of the highlights!

We began with the Camp Dance, and the campers are getting really good at it. I’ve even spotted some of them doing the moves in the hallways! English lessons are going exceptionally well in the classroom I share with Mac. Today, our students learned about how English is often used in the Twitter app, and they even came up with their own hash tags for themselves and their interests.

Our Blue Team got to play in the bubble balls today, where players wear a life size balloon and try to play soccer. The challenge is trying to stay on your feet when opposing players run into each other to steal the ball. I admit it is pretty wild getting smoked by another player and bouncing across the field. No points were awarded if you bounced into the goal. It had to be the soccer ball.

Everyone got to play American Touch Football. While explaining even the bare bones of how to play the game, Mac, Kon, and myself realized just how much we say in sports that is not easy to understand. Phrases like “In the end zone” and “You’re out” simply mean something else. Finding ways to deconstruct our own understanding of these games and putting them back together again in ways that are simpler and more intuitive is even teaching me more about how we communicate with others.

The Evening Program was great and many campers are drawn to the message and want to know what happens next! Tonight, Abby continued sharing about the events in Genesis and what it means to have relationship with God. These campers are in my prayers as we support the Polish team and their youth.

Tonight was our first Theme Night where everyone dressed up in ways to represent different countries and regions from around the world. I was particularly excited about wearing my Swedish hockey jersey even though I had to correct some of the campers’ interpretation of my costume when they started to sing ‘O Canada’. We played games such as wrapping individuals like mummies using toilet tissue, racing across the room holding candy with only chopsticks, and a costume relay race.

We continue to play games like UNO and Ligretto with the campers during free time. The youth seem to have sure taken a liking to the camp team, and we are excited and grateful to see how God is working through English camp.

It is hard to believe that we have only been here a handful of days. It is true when the Bible says God created people to be in community. We do not come from the same places. We are not all at the same place in life. We do not even come from the same language background. But God has created a community in Poland that is centered on Him, and we are incredibly blessed to be a part of that community.

Every morning, our team spends time going through devotionals in the book of Romans. Today, as we were sharing the word with each other, a maintenance worker came up to our group. He spoke very little English, but he shared with us that he spent 16 years in prison and he was released 6 years ago. He said, “Jesus is life.” This man knew that Jesus is our saving grace, and we all need Him each and every day. Please, continue to be praying for the campers, the local church in Skoczow, the Polish youth team, and our Timberwood team, and know that your prayers are bearing fruit half a world away.

Most sincerely,

Kyle