Ryan O’Sullivan

This year’s LifeTeen Summer Camp was held in January at Forrest Lakes, Otaki. The camp encourages teenagers them to be free and confident in themselves, develop new friendships, and encounter God working in their lives.

Teenagers go together in their parishes, and so while they are growing in faith with God, and developing new friendships, they are growing closer to others in their parishes. I was a chaperone with the Palmerston North group, along with five other wonderful people. It was great to see the campers grow confident in themselves throughout the week – it was easy to see the Lord working in them every day.

The challenges and activities run by the camp allowed myself and the campers to work together and were a great way of team building and growing our faith in God. One of the most popular and memorable activities at camp was the trust fall. This was where you had to get on a wooden plank that was placed between two ladders and fall backwards, trusting your group to catch you. I found it scary beforehand – I was quite worried that my group would let me fall! – but my fears vanished instantly when I was caught and it showed that I could trust them. It also showed that we can always trust God when we fall back in life, because he will catch us and put us safely back on the right path.

Campers enjoyed two international speakers from the United States, Steven Estes and Jimmy Mitchell, who had been on many LifeTeen Camps prior to this camp. It was good to hear them break open certain passages from the Bible, particularly around the camp theme, which was UNFINISHED. They spoke about how everyone’s faith journey is unfinished; God always has something more planned for us. We can always grow closer to God through prayer which is a great way to communicate to God and is also a way of helping others.

For more information and details about the LifeTeen Camp visit the website at wellington.lifeteen.org.nz, or check out their page at facebook.com/summercampaotearoa.