Getting in the car on that hot, sunny day was the best decision we had made all summer.  The anticipation had been growing inside us—practically eating us alive.  We knew that the next week would supply us with memories that would last us a lifetime.  The time came.  Greta, Madelyn, and I loaded our luggage into our youth director’s car.  We said goodbye to our teary-eyed parents with glee and made ourselves comfortable for the four-hour car ride ahead of us
            
We were on our way to Luther Dell Bible Camp.  Going into our journey, we jammed out to fun songs and played car games.  Of course, we each had a stash of food that we were sharing amongst ourselves.  It seemed as if there was a can of Pringles or a bag of Cornnuts coming out of every crevice of the car.
            
Holly—our youth director—was just as excited as we were.  We had all been to Luther Dell before but, this time was different.  Since we were in 8th grade the previous year, we didn’t get the same opportunities that the kids in high school got.  This year, we were in high school.  We got the chance to do so many more amazing things.  So now you can probably understand why we were so excited.
            
As the hours flew by, the anticipation overwhelmed us.  We knew we were close when we approached the long, narrow dirt road.  The road was around ten miles long.  Along the road, there were occasional side roads branching off into unknown locations.  Eventually, we reached an open field that all the counselors and campers of Luther Dell refer to as the Serengeti.  The Serengeti seemed to be the most peaceful and serene places to exist in a world full of absolute chaos.
           
 As we reached the end of the dirt road, a sign that said, “Luther Dell Bible Camp: A Place to Grow” greeted us, along with a crowd of people that were our counselors.  First, we unloaded the cars and met our assigned counselor.  This year, our counselor was a cheery girl named Rachel.  She was super nice and always had a huge smile on her face.  She led us to our cabin so we could get settled in.  Waiting in our cabin for us was our other cabin mates and soon to be great friends.  Their names are Brooke, Casey, Hope, and Ella.  We knew all of them from the year before but again, they already started high school—unlike us.
            
Once we organized our belongings, we checked in.  We had to fill out forms saying all of our medical information.  Then, started the week full of games, delicious meals, worship, new friendships, and growing faith.
            
The first activity we did was going to worship.  Everybody met in the outdoor chapel.  It was around six o’clock at night and the sun was setting.  The outdoor chapel looked over a huge lake.  Our surroundings as we did our worship made it easy to really connect with God and feel his presence with us.  We prayed.  We sang.  We danced.  It was beautiful.
            
Next, we went to free time.  We could play many games such as Gaga, basketball, beach volleyball, nine square, and ping-pong.  We could also go to the camp store and buy snacks or camp merchandise.  This was one of the main times to build friendships with all of the people.
            
After free time was dinner.  The camp always made something delightful for us to eat.  Even at dinner we played games.  We had songs that we could sing to make people or even and entire cabin stand up in front of everyone and sing or dance.
           
 Following dinner, we played the support staff game.  This was when where the counselors would have their break and all of the support staff would host a game for us.  There were so many choices such as mighty-mighty, hula launchers, and more.  This was the time of day dedicated to practicing teamwork as well as to fuel our competitive side.
            
Then, we went to bible study.  This was when we, as a cabin, would read a story out of the bible follow with a devotion that corresponded with it.  We would discuss the story as a group and share what it meant to us.  We would then close in prayer and proceed to go to church time.

For church time, we would go to our assigned area of the camp and meet with the other cabins that were also a part of our church and discuss our day.  Our area was called couchy.  It earned this name because the room contained upwards of fifteen couches filling the room.  We would say our highs and lows of the day and why we labeled them as that.
            
Our last activity of the day would always be rendezvous.  We utilized this time as personal time to connect with God.  There was no assigned task, as long as we were focusing solely on God.  We could pray, write, think, read, color, honestly anything.  This was a time of peace.
            
There were two parts of the whole week that stood out to me the most.  Those consisted of stargazing at the Serengeti, and going to Longville.  As I said before, the Serengeti is very peaceful.  One of the nights out of the week, our cabin walks in complete silence to the Serengeti.  We had nothing to light the road, but we still found our way through the darkness.  We laid down on the dirt road, completely ignoring how dirty we are about to get.  As we look up to the sky, it seems as if we could see every star in existence.  Since we were so far out in the middle of nowhere, there was no city lights to conceal the stars.  Other than the moon and stars, it was pitch black.
           
 Surrounded by darkness, we felt connected to God.  Something about the stars that night made it different than any other night.  After gazing at the stars for about twenty minutes, Rachel read us some bible verses that connected with the stars.  The verses were Psalm 147:3-5.  It read, “He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  He counts the stars and calls them all by name.  How great is our Lord!  His power is absolute!  His understanding is beyond comprehension!”
            
Rachel then asked us to get up and to think about what the Psalm meant to us as we walked back.  Again, we walked in silence.  This time, with purpose.  To me, the verses meant that God has the power to understand everyone’s struggles and that he can heal our wounds without us having to ask him to.  We are all the stars that he calls individually by name.  We arrived at our cabin and went to bed without saying a word.
           
 The next morning, we awoke refreshed and ready for the day.  We ate breakfast—it was delectable as usual.  Then, all of the high school kids loaded on the bus and headed to Longville.  Longville is a cute, little town that has a miniature festival once a week.  Our job was to work at the stations to help out the local church that runs it.  It was a blast.  We got to meet many new and amazing people.  We would work a station for fifteen minutes and then we would be done for the day.
            
Once we finished our shifts, we received the opportunity to enjoy Longville for ourselves.  There were hula-hooping contests, ice-cream shops, dancing contests, and even Turtle Races!  The Turtle Races was Longville’s main attraction.  You could cheer them on, bet on them, and even win prizes!  Once the day was over we went back to Luther Dell
            
The next day, we had to leave.  We said goodbye to all of our new friends.  We all exchanged numbers so we could all keep in touch, and then we embarked on our long journey back to Amery, Wisconsin.
           
 Sure, the trip was over.  Sure, we all resumed our normal lives after a short break.  We all had a refreshed sense of faith in God going back into the real world.  We all were changed by the amazingly faithful week at camp.  The sign was right.  Luther Dell: A Place to Grow.