Youth Camp 2006 (Round Rock Chapel at New Breed Network)

Breaking Free

Free Time

Del Lago has a pool and a swimming area in the lake. The beach at the lake is fairly nice, but the bottom feels too mucky for some people. We had a great mud and lakeweed fight Tuesday afternoon. There was also a volleyball tournament, but for the first time ever, RRC didn't have a volleyball team. So some of us went swimming. Others met in the hall to play guitars, sing, play Farkle (a card game) or just hang out.

Wednesday we also had a basketball tournament. We fielded a guys team but no gals team. We made it over half way, but not into the top few. The funniest game I saw was our guys all big guys) against three rather small young ladies from the only other church there from the Austin area (New Life in Christ from Cedar Creek). Our guys didn;t want to just paste them, and they certainly didn't want to hurt them. But given the size disparity and our guys' experience, they were bound to win; they just weren't sure how to play the game! The best player that I saw was a guy named Miles (I forget his last name). He's going to be a senior this year, and expects to get a full ride to college via basketball. Great player, great guy.

Thursday we had the Crazy Olympics. I missed the first couple of games doing counselor stuff, but was there for the egg toss (I think we came in fifth, the lowest position where you still got points) and the tug of war (5 guys and 5 gals per team), which we dominated. The last round was against the hardest team, which included two human mountains. But we won! One young man from another group wrapped the rope around his arm in the first contest. When the whole team ended up flying forward, he ended up with two spiral fractures in his forearm. Ouch. The final round was a math relay. The top scoring teams (including us!) each fielded 4 people who each had to handle a fairly complicated math problem. When the winner emerged, I don;t think anyone else had gotten past the second problem, and some were still on the first! One church won ever contest- volleyball, guys' basketball, gals' basketball and the Crazy Olympics. I think it was Bethesda, but don't quote me on that.

A serious thunderstorm hit right as we wrapped up the tug of war, so we all went inside for a while. Some of us were sitting in the hall talking about various things such as what we wanted our funerals to be like, when a young lady (let's call her B) decided she wanted to paint someone's toenails. When none of the gals volunteered, I mentioned that I had let my daughter paint mine before.

``Ooh! I don't want to touch a boy's feet! Nasty!''

``Hey, they're clean!''

At that point another young lady (J) chimed in. ``I want to! I will! I will!''

At which point B decided she would as well. But since it was ``too weird'' to her that a guy would have painted nails, B used the girliest polish she could find, and my right toenails became (and still are, as of 4 days later) glittery hot pink. J painted the toes on my left foot different colors, with the big toe becoming a die face, white with five black spots. By now a couple of guys from another youth group (R and M) who'd been hanging around our group showed up, and one of them wanted his toes done. I don't recall if J did them all, or B helped, but they took my suggestion and made one foot white dice with black spots and the other foot black dice with white spots. It was very cool looking!

A few people (mostly counselors 8^) slept during free time. Freaks. At least when M and D (two of our guys) napped, they did so out in the hallway with the rest of us, which is either very brave or very dumb, but nothing really bad happened, so I guess it was the brave thing.

Copyright 2006 Miles O'Neal, Austin, TX. All rights reserved.
NOTE: The opinions and beliefs, along with everything else, expressed here are those of the author, and may or may not reflect those of Round Rock Chapel, New Breed Network, Del Lago Conference Center, and their attendant staff, members, or anyone else on the planet.