Hello from Some Campers

LotHello. I'm Akansha from Girls 6. Swamp was lots of fun we all most lost most of the challnges the most crazy thing that I did is eating 4times the boys 6 challenges us but sadly they won so ya the thing that I learned here was to accpet ur friend as they r no matter how they r and to be real and be ur self and love one another I even met a lot of my old child hood friends that I didn't meet for ages I had a great time and more to come I'm happy that I have a family to come back to in church and help me build in Christ and just to see they r not like the world they r always there for u that's really cool thank u love all Akansha 😉

Hello friends I am Rhea , 

I am from girls 6

 I would like to share my experience in this camp .., 

In a year there are 365 days but the 5 days which I spend in the swamp camp are the best of all .., 

We as a group enjoy a lot over here but it's not only enjoying playing but enjoying God's love too ... 

Get to know how awesome God is.

It helps us to go out of my comfort zone and get to know new people to know about their life and how much struggles they face .. First I used to not like to hear or talk to any one about God but now I feel a hunger to know him more deeply .. I used to feel I am not worth to have him but now with the lessons which are on over here are helping me a lot as a person ... It made me to know that God loves me for who I am .., I got to know to be real being clear to my self and God is all that matters. 

Now as I am typing I feel short of words and some things just cannot be expressed when it's typed; this is how much the camp means to me ... 

Over here the lesson are taught really well directly helps us to connect to God; the counsellors really try their level best to get deeper into the word they don't have long lessons they just focus on very less scriptures that help us to understand really very well ... I have learned how to face challenges and how to face the consquences but never give up .. There's  a lot to learn and I am still learning we don't see any differences between any one and learned team work which helped me a lot. .. 

And I love this camp a lot and I am looking forward .., thank you Jeff uncle and the whole swamp team for this beautiful experience which you all have given me. . This is sucessful because of your hard work and gods will .. Love you ..,

Down but Not Out!

Today is the first full day of week two here in India and sadly I have felt too sick to leave the nurses cabin. I am starting to feel better, but still need a little more rest. As I was resting, I was wishing that I could actually meet the girls in my cabin. To my surprise, my whole cabin came to visit me and see how I was doing. I felt so loved and encouraged. It ment so much to me that people who never met me decided to come and encourage me. Be praying that I start feeling well enough to participate in things, so that I can get to know my girls even more. 

-Julia Buehler

Week 2 😀😀

Week 1 came to a close. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone, but we are excited for the new week. 

We're at the beginning of week 2 and everyone is extremely excited! All the of the campers are here and are ready for their week of camp. This week it is expected to be very hot. We are all trying to stay cool and drink lots of water. 

There are a lot less kids this week, so we're hoping for more time to do activities. With no rain and less kids we'll play lots of dodgeball, swamp ball, and do lots of challenges! Everyone here loves challenges.

Love the Amy, Ashley, Julia and Maryann

Lots of Challenges...

Challenges. That is by far the favorite thing to do in Swamp Camp India! There are at least 8 or so announced every time we're all together. If you don't know, challenges are when one cabin (or group as it is called here) "challenges" another group to a game and there is a consequence if you lose.

Some of the favorite consequences here are egg or mud facial, ice bucket, and dinner date. I have Girls 6 (the 14 year olds), and we have done 5 or 6 challenges in just the last day. We had a mud facial yesterday and egg facial just 10 min ago. As Mr Jeff said, it was no "yoke". Yes, even in India, he is still full of jokes.

We had the singing devo this morning, which is always so great. It's really starting to feel like camp the last two days and it has been a joy! 

Amy Raye

Swamp India 2016 Week 1 Singing Devotional

What a joy to wake up to a cool morning and start the day with a singing devotional.  It seemed all the kids dressed up for the occasion.  The audio file is uploaded to the website.  Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and find a little nook and click here to enjoy.  Much love.

Challenges Bond Us

Emma (3rd from right) with her girls

My name is Emma and I'm 18 years old and from London England. I've been put in a group of 13 year old girls, all from different walks of life and many of them don't speak the same language as one another. Even I have encountered difficulties as I only speak English.

However I've seen Swamp camp pull these girls together, pushing them to make friends with people they would never really get to talk to. I just completed a consequence of a challenge which involved eating with our hands tied together. Although EXTREMELY impractical I really felt like it bonded us together. It's a biblical principle to become all things to all people, to not just stick to people who you can immediately relate to and I feel Swamp really teaches that.

Making Friends

Cabin 3 are the bomb!!! Love the girls so much!! Especially having a meal with them where u just get to sit and talk to them about whatever comes to your mind!   Elizabeth Goodwin

We're all tired!

Today was the day that the campers arrived at camp. They were greeted with statues, sleeping people and tons of cheers! Everyone was extremely excited to placed into their cabins and begin the week. After everyone had been sorted we went and situated ourselves in the dorms. The girls dorm was so over crowded that they had to open another dorm just to fit everyone. The day then commenced as any normal day of camp. Basketball and frisbee games were almost immediately started, friendship bracelets were made, and board games played. Through all of this it rained in a slow constant stream, but this didn't stop anyone's desire to play. Although everyone was filled with energy, the American counselors struggled with their desire to sleep. We are all extremely tired and cannot wait for bed. Tonight Jeff opened camp with a lesson on running out race. He talked about everyone having a spiritual race that they will be apart of. It is up to everyone to persevere through the race so that we can win. Currently we are ending dinner and preparing to take our cabins back to the dorm. I am ready for our first full day of camp and I cannot wait to see how God moves through this week.

Ashley Bowman

Off to a Great Start!

Parents/Family:  I am writing to you at the days-end to give you a recap of a busy day.  We woke and met for breakfast at 7:30am after going to bed around 1ish.  Ate breakfast and then hit the road for our 4 hour trip to the camp.  The clouds began to roll in and gave some relief to the hot Chennai weather.  We stopped around 11am for some coffee and snacks and bathrooms.  yes!  At 1pm we arrived at the camp and got our luggage off the bus and met some of the Indian counselors, then off to lunch.  We came back around 3ish and rested until 5pm at which time we started our counselor training.

There were over 50 counselors present about 1/4 who are new counselors.  We had a fantastic time training then dinner at 8pm.  After dinner the found out which team and age group they are counseling and who their co-counselors will be...always fun.  The broke up around 9pm at which time I told the Americans to go to sleep...they were more than ready and willing.  ha ha

I can't tell you how proud I am this group.  They are excited to be here and of such amazing character.  hats off to you for your influential molding of their hearts and mind.  I am constantly inspired by them.  I tell them often that they teach me more than I will ever teach them.  Jennifer and I are deeply moved by entrusting them to us.  Much love, Jeff  ps. my typing is getting very wonky so am going to seepl now.  until tomorrow.

We're finally here!!

Good morning from Chennai!!

Right now we're all sitting around a table in the hotel, talking and eating breakfast before getting on the bus to go and starting to head to camp. 

It's so exciting to be back here, and to get too see some familiar faces!

Later, when we get to Yelagiri Hills we'll be doing counselor training before camp starts tomorrow. 

I've been really excited for this trip, but also pretty nervous. But it was really cool while we were flying yesterday, it was dark, and the whole plane was sleeping. I  was sitting near the window, so I decided to open it and....STARS.  It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The stars were so bright and there were so many scattered in clusters across the sky.  The clouds were just a grey mist above the ocean below, and we were so high up that the stars looked so close. I could see the Milky Way.  It was so incredible I wanted to cry.  And I just sat there thinking for awhile. It was comforting, and a really awesome reminder of just how incredible and big God is, and how small I am.  And that God was going to take care of everything--that I literally had nothing to worry about. 

I am so excited to see what God does with camp these two weeks! 

--Maryann

PS. Mom and Dad, don't be too worried, I'm in good hands! Love you guys.

We made it!

I am happy to say that we have finally made it to India! Naturally it is very hot and we are all sweating but we are all excited to be here! We were greeted with lots of hugs and hand-made jasmine flower necklaces. I am so excited to be in India for a third year and I cannot wait to see what God does while we are here. I am waiting in so much anticipation for camp to begin. We are currently on our way to the hotel that we will stay in for the night before we head to camp.

Much love from India ❤️

Ashley 

Landed in Frankfort Germany.

Long flight!!!!!!!!! Yet still one more to go! We can do it😬😄can't wait to arrive in India and join with the other people like us (Bella and Elizabeth)😂🙃 love ya!!

Seeing but not believing

We have officially made it to the gate and our flight takes off in less than an hour. It hard to believe that the time has actually come. I'm so close to being in India, but yet I still don't believe it. Less than a month ago, I was not even planning on going to India and now I am sitting in the airport waiting to board a plane. God consistently blows my mind with the ways He blesses me and the different opportunities He presents me with. I am nervous and excited to see what is to come. 

-Julia Buehler

Seeing but not believing

We have officially made it to the gate and our flight takes off in less than an hour. It hard to believe that the time has actually come. I'm so close to being in India, but yet I still don't believe it. Less than a month ago, I was not even planning on going to India and now I am sitting in the airport waiting to board a plane. God consistently blows my mind with the ways He blesses me and the different opportunities He presents me with. I am nervous and excited to see what is to come. 

-Julia Buehler