Engagement: Gayle & Joe

A Swedish Wedding (7-17-10)

Midsommar Pictures

ACTS CAMP 2010

So every year since 2008, there is a camp in Sweden called ACTS which stands for Adventure, Creativity, Teamwork, and Sports. The idea was thought up many years ago when the leader of the camp (a good friend of my family) Mrs. Pernilla Hardin, wanted a way to reach out to the youth in Sweden. She grew up there but moved to America when she was 18. The country of Sweden is about 2% Christian. The camp is a great way to just invest time in the life of the youth here in Sweden. The camp is a week long and the day consists of early morning activities which include anything from sports to photography and drama. The afternoon activities are adventures that the separate teams work together on. This is team-building time. At night after a team competition, we have a lesson/speaker in the church and then small group time, and at the end of the night we have worship. There are 4 different teams that are set apart by a color each camper is given at the beginning of camp. This year we had 4 different age groups and I helped out with the youngest group of campers which just so happened to be the BLUE CREW. This was an exciting learning experience for me, I had never really helped lead a group before. I really enjoyed just being able to talk the kids and learn about them. We had two girls in our small group who had heard about God, but never had accepted Him into their lives. The last night before camp was over we had a short small group time and both accepted Jesus into their lives! It was really exciting. The mission of camp is not to just be around the kids and try to make them christians-- the goal is to just reach out to them and show them love. People are generally not attracted to something that is thrust upon them, they enjoy when others take the time to talk and just show them love. I helped out last year 2009 for the first time, and fell in love with the Swedes and so I was beyond eager for this years camp. It was a very successful turnout with about 645 campers and we even made the newspaper! Here are just a few pictures from the camp.