Lessons from a Camporee

 

From Levi Snoeyink

— a Cadet at the 2008 Cadet International Camporee

 

After hearing about the International Camporee from my Cadet Counselor and watching the 08X3 videos, I was excited to go to my first Cadet Camporee. I love outdoor adventure and I looked forward to rappelling, mountain biking, and meeting new people.

My favorite part of the Camporee was building our own shelter. It was lots of fun trying to make a giant shelter to fit our entire cadre and their stuff. Our shelter was an A-frame with a loft. We used the loft to store all of our equipment and clothes. All the extra wood was used for a table and benches for our cooking area.

My worst part of the Camporee was the mud! It was everywhere and got worse every day. Even though I was in Yellow Cadre #15, and our site was the highest and driest, the mud changed everything we did and planned to do.

During my week at the Camporee, I learned to trust God that He still had a plan through the rain and mud. Even though many of the events were cancelled because of the weather, I got to meet some cool guys from Canada and the US in my cadre. I had a great counselor. Every day I had a choice: I could complain about what wasn't happening, or make the best of what we could do.

 

Mud is Nothing

 

From Jeremy Brander

— a Cadet at the 2008 Cadet International Camporee

 

"Hi, I'm Jeremy and I went to the Camporee of Camp Northern Lights (aka Camp Mud!!!). I had a 17 hour trip to Ontario, Canada from Hudsonville, Michigan. I was in Cadre White 10. When I first got there, I got to meet the funniest person in our cadre. That was good because we had to wait for our Counselor to show up so we could set up camp. It was hard work making our shelter. At the Camporee, I got to do camp craft, canoeing, riflery and ultimate sports. My favorite though was MUD SURFING. In case you don't know what that is, you get pulled along behind an ATV in the mud, and it is so much fun!!! Even though it rained a lot, when it came time to leave, I didn't want to. But the good thing was that I got to change my clothes. Let's put it this way—by the third day of the Camporee all my clothes were soaked, so I couldn't change for the rest of the week. So it felt good to wear clean clothes again. The best part of the Camporee was getting to know the new people in my cadre and see the beautiful (and muddy) country of Canada. I'm hoping to go to the next one as a Junior Counselor. I hope to see you there, after all, mud is nothing when you are having fun!"

 

Making it Four

 

From Matthew Vander Ploeg

— a Junior Counselor at the 2008 Cadet International Camporee

 

This was my 3rd Camporee so I knew I was going to have a good time. It was my first as a Junior counselor however. The first thing I noticed was the mud (who didn't). I knew that even with the mud it was going to be a great time. When I got to my site some members of my cadre were already hard at work making our home for the week. After we had camp set up we met our group. I knew that I had a great group to spend time with. Wednesday night we ate at the food tent and the evening program was canceled because of rain.

Thursday we got up and after devotions were off to the excursion. We had great weather mountain biking the sun was out with just a sprinkle of rain. After the ride it started to pour. We got back on the bus and headed to an amphitheater for lunch and a program about bears (it was sunny there). Next we went to a hiking trail to help put gravel on it and it started to pour again. We just kept on working for a couple hours in the pouring rain. The final stop of the excursion was at a beach where we were going to have burgers and go swimming. Once again it poured and we ate the food to keep us warm. When we got back it was raining again but nobody cared because everybody was still soaked. Friday we started the day with devotions and headed off to archery and marksmanship. After lunch we went to camp souvenir craft where we made an imprint of the logo on a piece of copper. But before we left, our color adjutants asked for some help making a path out of logs from our camp to the stage area (this was the path that everyone took to get almost everywhere.) I went ahead with the craft because I only had tennis shoes on and did not want to lose them. When we came back they had a path that went from the stage area to the back of camp. This path was over the mud and cut our travel time in half. Friday ended with a concert. Saturday morning was filled with many rumors about evacuating camp. The rumors were confirmed around noon when we started to move groups out. Saturday for dinner we were going to go to the bigtop tent to eat but instead were told that my color area was making hotdogs for the remaining colors still at camp. That was a lot of hotdogs to cook! Sunday we had a worship service at camp then got the other color areas out by hauling stuff to a bulldozer to carry it out of camp. Blue was the last color to leave which was fine because I did not mind helping the others move out. We arrived at the arena and had lots to eat. After we ate I left with my parents who were staying at the family camp. In conclusion, even through the mud and the rain I had a great time. I think that because of the rain we were able to learn more about the people in our cadre. I do plan on making it 4 in a row by attending the next Camporee in northern Michigan. See you there!