Saturday, July 5, 2014

An Overview of Worldview Academy 2014

How to shrink it down? It is so hard, but I will do my best. (If you want more information than I put here, you can read my last few posts with detailed descriptions of each day.)

Worldview Academy has always been amazing, but this year felt different. I made new friends, but got to spend a lot of time with old friends and treasured all of the special time I got to have with them. My leaders we awesome, as usual, and I got to have the new experience of having two leaders, which I highly enjoyed. :D All of our faculty was epic and there was not one lecture I did not enjoy and learn something from. Evangelizing went really well, at least as well as you can expect when high schoolers go out and ask people what happens when they die. Not everyone walked away from us and we had several really good conversations. Overall, it was an amazing year!!!

People have asked me which year has been my favorite, and I do not think that is a fair question. Each year has been special in their own ways and have had different impacts on my life with different lessons to learn. God has used each year in a unique way that fit what was going on in my life at that time, and I could not be more amazed at how perfectly He has done this!!!

If anyone reading this is between the ages of 13 and 19 next June, I highly encourage you to go and experience this life changing camp! I love it and plan on going back every year for as long as I possibly can!!!

WVA 2014: Friday

Friday morning is always hard. It is hard to convince yourself to get out of bed and admit that the last day of camp has actually arrived. 

Rebekah and I finished up packing and then sat and talked on the couches in our room while Abby and Diane finished packing. The four of us walked together to the lobby of our floor and met up with Margaret and Seairra. Amy and leader Rebekah met up with us pretty quickly after we all sat down and we headed down to devotions. We were all being rather pathetic while we were walking down the stairs, but it is rather funny now. Leader Rebekah lead devos that morning and read a passage from Ephesians, which is where Pastor Greene has been preaching from. :D

At breakfast we all had a lot of energy and ate quite quickly. Amy and leader Rebekah had staff stuff they had to go do, so our group went into the lecture room and talked, explained some inside jokes created the night before, and signed each others notebooks, as well as took pictures with each other. (I will post those at the end of this post. :D) 

Our last lecture was "The Driven Leader" by Randy Sims and our parents were able to come and listen to this one with us. There were quite a few parents there, but mine did not come in until a little ways into the first part of the lecture. About half way, Mr. Sims let us have a ten minute break and I ran over to say hi to my parents and Caleb. Then I returned to my seat for the last half of our final lecture. Seairra and I were not paying the closest attention to the lecture, but it was still very good. 

At the end of the lecture, we had a fifteen minute break before we went and found our small groups and leaders and had our final small group time. During this time, Amy and leader Rebekah gave us our packets which have our certificates that say we lived through camp, a Worldview sticker, our tests from the night before, and a whole bunch of college stuff. We talked for quite a while, then got up to go look at the book tables. While our parents were in a meeting of some sorts, we played some games and I said hello to some people from my small group last year that did not come to camp this year. 

At some point during the parents meeting they had us all get in a group outside the doors and try to be quiet for quite some time before we all ran in screaming and cheering. We went to our seats and they let us know what was in our packets, in case we had not cared to look. Then we thanked our parents and the incredible staff and faculty. We had a worship time and got to see our camp video for this year. Then we were dismissed from camp. :'( I said good-bye to all of my friends, most of them I said good-bye to multiple times and introduced my parents to Amy and leader Rebekah. I also gave Katherine back her watch, which she so kindly let me borrow for the week, because I completely forgot mine. :) 

I had to go get my bags from my dorm, then I said good-bye to Worldview Academy for 2014. 

The end of a marvelous week at a marvelous camp!

Now, for the pictures I promised!

Seairra, Diane, Rebekah, and Margaret.

Seairra, Diane, and Rebekah

Me and the amazing, sweet, adorable Diane.

Me and the infamous Seairra. :D

Sharing inside jokes.

Whatever was said humored Diane and not Seairra. :)

Me and sweet Margaret.

The Three Musketeers. (Well...3 out of 6!)


The Three Musketeers strike again!

A picture from Thursday night. Our amazing, loving, selfless Amy.






Another picture from Thursday.
 Leader Rebekah, me, and Rebekah.

More from Thursday.
Abby and Margaret. 

And another one from Thursday. :D
Sweet Diane and her grown of flowers from the frisbee
game. 





































































































































































Amy, me, Rebekah, and leader Rebekah. 
THE END

WVA 2014: Thursday

Our last full day of camp started off rather bumpy for me, but soon picked up. I woke up not feeling too great and had to go get Amy and leader Rebekah. They had me not go to quiet times or breakfast so I could rest. I spent most of that time doing my quiet time, but I also watched the wind blow the rain off of the trees in sheets, which was really cool!!!

After breakfast, Amy and Hannah (the female staff director) camp up and walked with me over to lectures. Our first lecture of the morning was "Word (part 2)" by Andy Frye. This was the second part of our lecture Wednesday on evidence for God's Word. He mainly focused on the New Testament this time.

In our break, Robert, the camera guy, had us walk into the room, going straight to our seats, and sitting down so he could tape it. Then we went into our next lecture. "What's the Matter with Matter?" by Andy Frye on modernism.

Next we headed to lunch, which felt like it came really quickly that day. I had my one-on-one with Amy during lunch, which I enjoyed thoroughly!!! One-on-ones are very special parts of camp, because we get an hour alone with our leaders and get to know them better.

Once lunch was over, Amy and I went and joined the rest of our small group in front of the fireplace outside of the cafeteria. We played a game called "Who would be more likely to...". Someone would come up with a question like "Who would be more likely to kiss a frog?" or "Who would be more likely to eat a whole pizza by themselves?" and everyone puts their finger on their chin when they know who they think would be more likely to do that thing. Once everyone has their finger on their chin, someone counts to three and everyone points at the person they are thinking of. It is a hysterically funny game! Seairra asked "Who would be more likely to (purposely or accidentally) set a house on fire?" and everyone pointed at her. :D Then we all started laughing and decided she would do it by accident dancing with a candle and doing her candle dance, which made us all laugh harder. Robert was videotaping us playing this game, but he did not stay very long. :D I think we scared him off! Eventually it got too hot to sit over by the fireplace, so we moved to the couches and continued our game. After a while, Amy and leader Rebekah talked with us for a little bit about our lectures and the rest of the plans for the day.

We left as our group to go to the dorms and get ready for the relay and color team challenges, as well as the Staff vs. Student Ultimate Frisbee game. All of us ran around getting into our shirts and doing our hair (for some of us, this included putting our color team's color chalk in our hair) and then we met outside the dorms to go to the lecture hall where everyone was assembling.

They gave us some rules, then released us by color team to run down to the football/soccer fields for the cheers and relay. Everyone started off running, but slowed down about half way there. At the field, everyone started running again and getting re-organized in our color team again. Blue worked on our cheer and then all of the teams performed them.

Next was the relay. We had a lot more activities than last year, but it was still really fun! This is easier to show through pictures. :D

Our first task was to drag someone on a disc sled around cones and back to the group.
We had to do so many girls and so many boys before we could move on.

The next objective was to kick a soccer ball around cones and back.
Two guys and two girls had to do this. I was one of the girls.
It was fun, but very challenging!
After the soccer we had to carry an empty can of spam between two people's hips around the cones and back. Again, there was a set number of girls and boys that had to do this, but I don't remember what that was.

Next was one round of charades. Someone was given a card and had to act out what was on it. After that we had a blue balloon we had to pass through a girls line, while the boys were passing theirs through a line. We had a set distance to go, so we had to run to the end of the line to actually make it the whole distance. Then we played the longest ever game of leap frog, still in our girls and boys lines, all the way back down the football field. This took what felt like forever!!!

Ultimately, red team won the relay, but it was highly enjoyable and no one got hurt, which is an improvement from last year!

We got a short break before the Ultimate Frisbee game started, then we split into teams. The staff was already in their teams before we could figure out how to get split up. Thankfully, we figured something out and were ready to play.

This was my team at first. We got switched around quite a bit before the end.

The girls! (L to R: Rebekah, me, Angie, and Sarah)
The staff won the frisbee game 11-7, which is actually pretty decent. Then we all got into a circle and dabbed up (Worldview's way of holding hands) to pray. I love looking around the circle and seeing the pure amount of kids and leaders all there for the same purpose. To glorify God and grow closer to Him.

A portion of the prayer circle.
We did not all have time to shower before our next lecture, so some of us just rubbed on lotion and tried to wash some of the chalk out of our hair and changed our clothes. Then we met back up with our small group to walk over to the lecture hall for another lecture. "Imago Dei" by Andy Frye (we heard a lot from him!). It was about man being made in the image of God and ethics.

Next we got dinner! YAY! After running around outside, we were really hungry! Dinner went very quickly, then we headed into worship and our next lecture. "Branding" by Randy Sims. It was a really good lecture and referred back to our first lecture. It was quite bittersweet because it was our last lecture as just us students. The next lecture we would have would include our parents.

After our lecture, we had to take a test, which is actually really easy because it is open book and if you took good notes, everything will be in your notebook. When we finished our tests, if time was not up, we wrote poems to our leaders. When time was up, they went over all of the answers then we had the Spamley Cup.

The Spamley Cup is whoever got the most color team points, but they always do a huge theatrical things to announce who won. The theme this year was Frozen and Amy was Elsa, which was really fun. Red won, which was Amy's team, but no one else in my small group was on red.

After the Spamley Cup, we went into campfire where students gets to share their favorite memories from the week and what they learned and really stood out. We sang some songs and students talked for a while, then we went into our last t-time. It was marvelous and sad at the same time. We had our own little small group campfire with snacks and lots of laughter.

Then we were off to our rooms to finish packing and attempt to get some sleep.

:D Cue the hysterical laughter. Abby, Diane, Rebekah, and I did not go to sleep. We all sat in mine and Rebekah's room and talked about all sorts of things and laughed until everything hurt. I was the watch and would go check outside every once in a while to make sure our leaders did not hear us awake because they were having a staff meeting down the hall. At one point Amy was standing outside our door listening, but thankfully we were being really quiet at that time, so she did not hear us.

Eventually we did get into bed, and after Rebekah and I talked a little longer, we went to sleep.

Friday, July 4, 2014

WVA 2014: Wednesday

There is a lot of anticipation in camp Wednesday morning. It is evangelizing day. We all got ready for the day pretty quickly, then headed to devos and quiet times followed by breakfast. I was pretty nervous and so was the rest of my group.

After breakfast, we went into our first lecture which was called "Deconstructing the Matrix" by Andy Frye. It was about postmodernism. We got a five minute break then went into evangelism training. 

Evangelism training is usually just a quick meeting telling us where we are allowed to go and generally walking us through the tract we were given, but this time they did a short bible study on evangelizing, which was very encouraging! After our bible study, they went through the usual things, but there was something very shocking they told us. We would be evangelizing in Millennium Park. Even the alumni was shocked by this fact. Usually we go evangelizing in very small areas, so we were not expecting such a huge location! 

We were dismissed from training and sent into our small groups to be put into evangelism teams. My group had two girls and a guy, which included Abby, myself, and Daniel (who is leader Rebekah's younger brother). Once we met up with our groups, we were sent to lunch. Daniel, Abby, and I were going to awkwardly sit at a table with just the three of us for the hour of lunch, but then we noticed that our small groups were sitting together at one of the big tables and decided to join them. Abby and I sat together at one end of the table and Daniel ended up sitting at the other end, so we really did not get to talk much, but that is okay. Abby and I were at the same end of the table as Andrew (Daniel's leader), Amy, and leader Rebekah, so we got to ask a lot of questions about where we were going, how long it would take to get there, and all of the other logistics, before hand.

After what felt like a very short hour, Amy and Andrew told us it was time to go to our dorms and put all of our bags in our rooms so we did not have to bring them with us. Abby and I made fools of ourselves all the way to our room and while we were in the room because we were so terribly nervous for the evangilism practicum.

We met back up with our small group and Andrew's small group and then loaded up on the buses. Half of my small group was on the other bus, while the other half was at the very back of my bus. Abby and I sat together with Daniel and Abby's older brother Jacob in about the middle of the bus. Talk about a loud bus ride! I never knew an hour ride in a bus could take so miserably long!!! Once we got closer to Chicago, Abby and I started talking about Divergent and got very distracted by this thought for quite a while.

The buses dropped us off in Millennium Park and the group gathered around the leader who was facilitating our practicum. He prayed with us and told us what time to meet back at the buses and then released us for our practicum.

Abby, Daniel, and I walked around for a second trying to find someone to talk to, then approached a man who was very cautious of us at first. After a few moments in conversation, he started to warm up to us and then told us about where he went to church and how amazing the Gospel is. We highly enjoyed talking with him and were very encouraged, but we knew we had to move on.

The next people we talked to blew us off pretty quickly. Daniel asked him "What happens when you die?" and his response was brief, "I don't want to die, so it doesn't matter." I cannot help but feel bad for this man and his family if that is truly what they believe. There is no hope in that. None at all.

Abby and I started the next conversation with two women who were talking on the sidewalk. One of the women very adamantly did not want to talk to us, but the other seemed willing. Sadly, the woman who did not want to talk to us dragged her away before we were able to have much of a conversation.

We talked to a black couple who was very open. I was not too sure what they believed at first, but soon realized they were both Christians. Sometimes it is rather encouraging to talk to someone who believes the same thing, especially after being rejected back to back several times.

Our next conversation was by far the longest. There was a couple sitting on a bench and Daniel started talking to them and the conversation lasted almost 15 minutes, which is a pretty decent amount of time. The one man claimed to be an atheist and the woman did not know what she ultimately believed, though she did know that she believed nothing happens when we die. At one point the man started to get very loud and pushy and a leader started circling around us to make sure we were okay, then the conversation settled back down and we continued through without any problems.

After we talked to them, it was time to head back to the buses. Abby handed her pamphlet out on our way back, then we met up with our small group outside the buses and talked for a little bit before it was time to load up.

On the way back, Abby, leader Rebekah, and I sat together and we had a lovely talk all the way back. It kept me distracted from the noise and the motion sickness that was starting to overwhelm me. We talked about all sorts of stuff and were all laughing and having fun on the way back with the pressure of evangelizing off our shoulders.

When we got back, we had evangelism debriefing where students get to share their stories. This is one of my favorite parts of camp, because it makes us feel like we are not alone and others were rejected. Also, some people talk to individuals who are willing to have a decent conversation and are open to hearing the Gospel.

After our debriefing, we had two minutes to go back to our dorms and grab our bags. It is a five minute walk one way, so we all took off running back to the dorms full-speed. On the way back, Abby, Diane, and I got stuck in a downpour and were quite wet when we got back to the lecture hall. Amy met us before we made it in the room and then we headed in for our lecture.

We were all so hungry during our lecture, I don't think many of us were paying too much attention. I honestly don't even remember what the lecture was really about. It was called "Word (part 1)" and Andy Frye gave it. The lecture was something along the lines of proof that the Old Testament is real.

Dinner was next. Heavenly food!!! My whole small group ate way too much and all had pretty bad stomach aches afterwards. In the time between our next lecture and dinner, leader Rebekah taught us a silly game with sound effects and motions. We all were laughing hysterically and it was nice to play a game that required us sitting down and not moving around too much. :D

Our next lecture is a lecture that all of the alumni look forward to. It is called "A Night at the Movies." The marvelous Chris Sharp presented the lecture and did a fabulous job. It is a lecture talking about the worldview in popular movies and how to decipher the main questions each movies asks.

After our lecture, we got to go to t-time. We played "Never Have I Ever..." combined with musical chairs and had a blast!!! It was so much fun to play and get to move around a little bit after sitting so much (and after our stomachs had the chance to settle a little!). We had our own small group evangelism debriefing for the rest of small group time. Then we walked back together in the rain to our dorms.

Naturally, we had another after t-time small group party. This time we finished off the oreos and spent most of the time laughing and enjoying the freedom of being done with evangelizing. Leader Rebekah came to give us our five minute lights out warning and ended up hanging out for those last five minutes. We also experimented with eating oreos and bananas which is rather good together!

Amy told us lights out and none of us fought to hard before going to bed.

My amazing evangelizing group! (Daniel looks like
David Tennant from Doctor Who in this picture!)


My evangelism group talking to the couple.