Misplaced and Found

We’ve had four straight days of retreats running through yesterday, with the retreat team rising to the occasion and beyond in working with a group of middle school students and a retreat of Confirmation candidates. As they take a much deserved day off, I’m going back and typing up some evaluations of retreats from the past few months, and I came across one Confirmation retreat evaluation that stopped me in my tracks:

What did you learn about yourself and/or being part of a group through this experience?

That I have a lot more to figure out about God - that the million questions I had before aren’t nearly enough, that I think I DO want to be confirmed Catholic. I think I am ready.

Wow. Praise the Lord for the good work He does through Camp Gray!

By: Sara Knutson

Howdy Camp Gray folks!

Here’s a great quote from a student at St. Luke’s in Plain, here in late September for a leadership retreat:

How did you connect with God while you were here?

• Well, He seemed very accessible here. Like I felt more open to Him here than in other places. It was pretty cool.

Hope all of your weeks are going well! God bless!  –Sara

Whew, it’s been awhile since we’ve had a chance to post on the blog! Prepare for a whole spat of posts in the next week or so… hooray!

Let’s start with some great quotes from the students at St. John Vianney school in Janesville, who have been here the past few days for environmental and leadership learning. They were fantastic, and they took equally fantastic lessons away from Camp:

How did you connect with God while you were here?

• Through my class and how we get along
• In the games we found out some people were creative and that God gave them that ability
• I connected with God when I thought I couldn’t do something, but then I tried and asked God for help and I could

What did you learn about yourself and/or being part of a group?

• That you don’t always need to go with the flow
• That I am capable of doing things I never thought I could do
• That all of the different kids in class are all really good at different things

We’ll be back with more of the camp goings-on soon!

Hi there camp friends!

This is Sara reporting, Program Director here at Camp Gray. This means that I focus on the year-round programs at camp, although I have worked the past few summers as well. This year on Misplaced & Found, we’ll again be running a sampling of the evaluations we receive from kids and adults who come here for retreats of all kinds — environmental, leadership, Confirmation, teambuilding, family camp, and much more. It’s a cool way to learn about some of the cool, funny, or meaningful lessons and impressions people have taken from camp. With that said, here are a couple of notable quotables from our most recent retreat.

From St. Bernadette (a school in Milwaukee) 7th graders, here for a leadership retreat:

What did you learn about yourself and being part of a group through your experiences?

That I have leaderistic skills.

What was your impression of the Camp Gray staff?

They were awesome. They acted just like us but more mature.

Til next time!

St. Francis Xavier (Cross Plains) ESP Retreat, May 15-16
What would you like to see change about the program?
Import dumber fish.

From a San Miguel 6th grader on an ESP Retreat (May 19-21)
What were your five favorite things?
Free time
Food
Breakfast
Also everything

From the St. Francis Xavier 7th grade ESP Retreat:
What did you learn about nature (God’s creation) during this retreat?
·         We are studards [sic] of the earth.

Prince of Peace, April 25, 2008, 6th grade Environmental Stewardship Retreat:
What did you learn about nature (God’s creation) during this retreat?
·         Learning about what He created is cooler than technology