Faith in the trees

Over the years as a Kanakuk Kamper and staff person there were many things that challenged & strenthened my faith. As an 8-year-old at K-7 I put my faith in Christ as I accepted Him as my Savior. When I was 10, I learned about faith as I built up the courage to go off of the K-7 trapeze into the pool for the first time. When I was 13, my faith was strengthened as I was went to K-West for 2 weeks instead of my regular 1 week term. As a staff my faith was strengthened in learning how to find energy from the Lord morning after morning.

Kamp’s structure increases confidence, maturity and most of all strengthens faith. High-ropes elements are a key part to all of this. The first time I can remember having to put faith in something other than myself was when I was faced with the treetops course at K-7.

I was in teepee 9, and I had waited for such a long time to be old enough to do treetops. With confidence I put on my harness, grabbed my partner, said my commands and began my assent into the trees. Having never been scared of heights before I began the first challenge and encouraged my hesitant partner out onto the swinging log. We made it through and were off to the polls that were shaped like a diamond. This was said to be the hardest element in treetops and it didn’t take my partner and I long to realize we needed each other to make it through this one. As we got to the hardest part, bothwith tears in our eyes and fear covering our faces we froze. The view to the ground was terrifying and the fact that we were harnessed in completely left us. We were scared, and we didn’t know what to do.

It was at that point that a kind familiar voice from below called out to us. “Girls, you can do this, I have faith in you,” our counselor was below cheering us on. As we began to take another step, my partner Sarah’s foot slipped and we both went tumbling. Our harnesses caught us and we both began to laugh. We had forgotten the most important part was that no matter what we did we weren’t going to fall too far because we were harnessed.

It was that day that faith became real for Sarah and I. It was the first time either of us had experienced an illustration of faith. After we were off of treetops our counselor came and talked to us about it. She helped us process how our faith is similar to treetops. There will be times when we are terrified and don’t know what to do and that is when we remember God is in control.

It is moments and memories like this that impact kids every day at Kanakuk. And for these moments I am eternally grateful.

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Closing out the first few terms at Kamp

Well it is that time of the summer. The time when a third of the way through we have a huge exchange of people at Kamp. One week, two week and month long terms all will be drawing to a close this Friday.

During the few days leading up to the close of a term it always seems to be jam-packed with everything Kampers and counselors want to make sure and do before they head back to their homes. During the past week I have spent a large amount of my time out at Kamp capturing these last few memories and moments that make Kanakuk the indescribable place that it is! Praise the Lord for an awesome first few terms! So excited to see what He has planned for the rest of the summer!

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More than a summer camp

Well Kanakuk has officially been in session for 17 days! It’s amazing to think about all that has already occurred in the first two and a half weeks. By the sounds of the laughter around Kamp, I would say there is a lot of fun going on around here!

As a former Kamper myself, I remember the anticipation of counting down the days, packing up my trunk, driving in the Kamp gates as excitement grew and anxiously awaiting Kounselors dressed in crazy clothes to grab me out of my parents car and take me to my new home for the next two weeks. Kamp was a thrill disguised as one of the many things that shaped me into who I am today and I am so thankful for the memories.

Over the past few weeks I have been contacted by a few people who had amazing memories of Kamp and the impact it has had on their lives. In celebration of Kamp’s 85^th anniversary they wanted to share and thank Kamp for all it has done in them.

I would love to hear from you too! If you are a past Kamper, staff or even a parent of a current Kamper who has a fun story to tell about the impact Kamp has had please email it to us at Stocker@KLife.com or message Kanakuk Kamps on Facebook.

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Kanakuk Kamp K-Kountry arrival of Term 2 (7day)

Kanakuk has already welcomed their second term of Kampers this summer!! Here is their arrival at K-Kountry yesterday!

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Humility through Serving

When it comes to summer break, most high school students think about sleeping in late, laying by the pool and just being lazy. This summer is different for many small groups of students who are coming to volunteer a week of their vacation to serve others.

Kanakuk’s family Kamp K-Kauai, offers a program where students who are juniors or seniors in high school can come and see what Kamp is like.

First term this summer, a group of 11 high schoolers from Highland Park, Texas accepted the challenge of serving others for their summer break and came to K-Kauai. They were assigned to the kitchen where they set up for meals, served families and cleaned. Spending 2-3 hours each meal in the kitchen everyday these kids were given an amazing opportunity to learn humility through serving.

Led by their K-Life directors from Highland Park, Ryan Nixon and McKenzie Griffin, these kids learned some big lessons while they were here. “For me, the best part was learning to humble myself while serving others,” Hailey Moore age 16 explained to me. “We need Christ to be able to serve and love others well, and learning that was great.”

This was the third summer Jackson Morgan age 17 spent serving at K-Kauai. “I keep coming back because I really enjoy getting to serve,” he said about his many years as a volunteer.

It’s not just hard work. When the kids do get time off in the afternoons they are able to spend time at the pool or in Bible study with their leaders. “My favorite part of the week was getting up early and spending time with the Lord daily,” Taylor Adams age 16 said.

All of the kids appeared to have a good time and as I talked to them on their last day it seemed unanimous that if they were given the opportunity, they would be back again next year.

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Kanakuk Summer Camp Memories

Some of the best summer camp memories are made blobbing your friends. This is the blob at K-1.

Share Your Kanakuk Memories With Us!

Kamp is underway and it's our 85th birthday! Each summer our Video Director Tim Oliphant creates a movie to share throughout the winter months. This summer the movie's working title is "Memories and Moments." I don't want to spoil it for you, but God is doing some amazing things to bring people to us from as far back as 1948 to share their Kanakuk memories. And, just two days into the summer the heart touching moments of this summer are already spilling over!

As we celebrate on this our 85th summer we would love to hear about your favorite memories from summers past. Comment here on this blog or send me an email at jay@kanakuk.com.

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