Primary Ichthus 2018


Primary Ichthus always seems to come around too quickly each year and mentally as a camp coordinator, I consider it to be the end of my ‘camping season’ allowing me some time to regroup before kicking off again the July with Senior Ichthus, yet it is my busiest, most energetic camp and starts my year with a bang! Primary Ichthus was no exception this year with a gathering of 46 campers, a 22 strong leadership team, and me. And boy did we have some fun! Our theme for this year was the ‘Ichthus Cup’, with our campers being placed into four different houses to earn points to win the cup.

Watching the realisation on the faces of our winning team was such a great sight, and talking to one of the mothers of that team after the family service, she told me that her daughter rarely wins anything as she isn’t all that athletic. This small interaction made me realise that this cup wasn’t won based on campers being physically capable, or being especially smart; but rather it was based on their character and their ability to be a team. Points were awarded most often for when they helped others, supported one another, gave activities their best shot (particularly if it challenged them), and displayed the characteristics of our house leaders – Courage for Esther, Integrity for Daniel, Faithfulness for David, and Loyalty for Ruth.

Our Spiritual Directors duo of Rev Sarah Leisemann and Erika Williams did a fantastic job of taking us through the biblical history of these four ancestors of our faith and teaching us that God loves us just as we are, and able to use us for great things just as we are. It was great to watch our campers take this message to heart while having a blast with our usual range of great activities including water games, arcade games, our ‘missing crown’ wide game, and our second visit to the Aqua Park just next door at the Novatel Resort. There were so many campers sharing stories of overcoming fears of big jumps and slides after that fun afternoon with a couple of stories from the leaders as well!

This year was a great camp and such a joy to help the amazing leadership team headed up by the fantastic director duo of Sarah Crisp and Stephanie Tognola to bring it all together. I hope to see many of you next year and for those in grade 7 this year, to join us at Junior Ichthus in the September/October Holidays!








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