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Latest News
My Dream Summer
My kids and I have been going to the Breakfast Club for years and this summer I was invited to Frontier Camp with Hull YFC. It was a brilliant experience and I met some lovely people. I spent a lot of my time in the kitchen helping to prepare the meals. I found it very rewarding and enjoyed working with the kitchen staff and getting to know them all. I also spent a fair bit of time helping with the kids, which for me was the best bit.
The days at camp were long with never a dull moment. We started really early in the morning with leaders' prayers and mostly got to bed quite late - some nights the adults and crew played late night volleyball, a great way to end the day! In the mornings after breakfast everyone got together in the main tent for quiet time where I got to help teach a memory verse in sign language, which was an amazing experience. I also enjoyed acting as score keeper for the competitions throughout the week and watching the kids have fun while competing against each other for the trophies. I got to join in with a lot of the activities on and off site which helped me get to know the other people on camp - baiting the line (for fishing) and kayaking were two new personally challenging experiences! I really loved the evening meetings: the whole camp got together in the main tent for a sing song, a story and dvd.
As it was my first camp I was asked to introduce myself to the rest of the group on the first night, which I found really uncomfortable and was glad when it was over. Later in the week I was subjected to a question and answer session (thanks Anna, I owe you one!) - it was so nerve-racking but afterwards I was glad I had done it. I was quite upset when camp was over because to me it was one of the scariest but most enjoyable, rewarding and fulfilling experiences I had ever had and there was nothing that I would change. Being at camp showed me that there are a lot of wonderful people in the world and I had the privilege of meeting and working with just a few of them.
Later on in the summer I went to Greenbelt with some of the older kids. The festival was fantastic, there was something for everyone. My favourite bits of Greenbelt were the night we went to the Messy Space where a few of us did barn dancing - it was the best fun I'd had in ages. I loved all the musicians and comedians we saw, but my favourite was definitely Folk On. There was a great tea tent at Greenbelt called Chai Chapel, which was a real experience, very relaxing just sitting drinking tea listening to people playing the bongos. Apparently it's a tradition that you don't have a shower while you're at Greenbelt, especially as a first-timer - I think that was the only part I didn't really enjoy!
Being at Greenbelt and camp made me feel like I was part of a large extended family, one that makes you feel special and as important as everyone else, one that doesn't judge or criticise you and accepts you for what and who you really are. That is very rare nowadays. Being involved over the summer with Hull YFC has made me want to get more involved and help out a bit more with clubs and stuff they do for the local community. This was the best summer of my life; now I feel it's time for me to give something back.
Donna
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