A Pastoral Letter By Bishop Galeone A Pastoral Letter By Bishop ...

teen voices
If you had the first-day camp jitters , they may have
turned into the first-day camp giggles after a session
of the Wacky Olympics at Camp Risk
this summer.
Teens had fun
competing to
see who could
blow the largest
bubble gum
bubble, drag an
old tire the
fastest, and lots of
other wacky stuff.
Then there was the
balloon hunt, when
teams went out in
the evening to find
Mission
Fort
Apache
It was a western
adventure for 18 students
from Bishop John J.
Snyder High School in
Jacksonville. They
traveled to Arizona to
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SUSIE NGUYEN
Challenges of
Camp Risk
the hundreds of water-filled balloons that had been
hidden in the woods — and bring them back to home
base without breaking them.
The fun at Camp Risk brings campers, as
well as counselors, back,
year after year.
Counselor
Tim Frank, 19,
who is a
sophomore at
DePaul University,
attended
when he was
in high school. “It
made a big
impact on me,” he
said.
Another camper
turned counselor is
Ryan Beall, 18.
“After camp I
always find myself singing
a lot more; and during the year you find yourself missing
camp.
“Underneath it all is the theme of prayer and living as
Jesus would,” Beall said.
Camper Trey Henehan, 14, agreed. Henehan said he
enjoyed the games and sports. “And at night and in the
morning we get together for prayer. It’s pretty cool.”
That’s Camp Risk.
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work at the Fort Apache
Indian Reservation. Led by
Joy Pichardo, campus
minister, they met up with
other teen groups
participating in the
YouthWorks program.
Volunteers were divided
into two groups. While one
was painting houses, the
other played with children
living in the reservation.
After two days, the groups
switched.
How was the experience?
Here are some reflections of
the mission-goers.
Nick Biggs, a freshman,
says, “Going on this year’s
mission trip was a lot of
fun, I learned a lot about the
people's culture, myself and
my friends. Being able to
help people is awesome, it
brought all of us a lot closer
to each other because we
were all going through the
same things.
Reva Wood, a junior says,
“My faith in God has grown
110 percent. I was pushed
outside of my comfort zone
and that was something I
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just wasn't used to. I
had never climbed a
mountain, cooked
dinner for crowds of
people, painted an
entire house, or felt so
loved by kids I hardly
knew.
Another junior, Keara
Ellis, says, “A simple smile
from the children makes
you realize that all the little
things like the tape, the
paint, and the water don't
really matter, and they love
you for loving and
accepting them.”
And Jessica Biggs, also a
junior, says, “The
homeowners of the house
we painted gave more love
and appreciation than I
could ever think possible!
“All in all, it does not
seem like two days of
painting in the Arizona heat
and two days without a
bathroom could be so
rewarding ... I didn't want
to leave!”
24 St. Augustine Catholic September/October 2004