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Wild Wild West Camp Update ~
Howdy Friends and Family,
Summer is here and the Catskill Mountains are full of beautiful flowers and ferns. Perfect for a morning hike. It is
amazing what the Lord teaches through the wonder of His creation. From the smallest little orange salamander hiding under
a cool rock to the sweetest child full of questions about how God could love us when we are unlovable. This summer has been
rich with blessings.
The first joy in our lives is you! Each one of you has made this experience possible for our family, but especially for
the inner-city children of NYC. We could not do our jobs without your support. We have felt your prayers, received your
gifts, and been strengthened by all of your words of encouragement. There hasn't been a week without a call or visit from
our church work teams, friends and family. We honestly can't thank you enough!
We began the camp season with 2 weeks of staff orientation. Ten amazing counselors (4 guys, 6 girls) and 2 teen volunteers
came to NY from all over the U.S. and one from England. They arrived bright and eager to work on Sunday June 11th. In order
to foster group unity, we involved them in a group challenge. On the first morning of training they awoke and arrived at
the café expecting breakfast, only to find a note that read:
"Good morning staff. If you aren't wearing proper hiking gear, please go get it on and than follow the path behind
the teepees. You must work together to get to the top of the mountain in order to receive breakfast. Happy trails! The
hike takes 30 minutes. If we don't see your shining faces within that time we will sound a loud horn so you can find us."
Needless to say, many had not hiked before and the true leaders kicked in their skills of motivation right away and they
made it up within the 30 minutes. That event is one that stands out in our staff's minds as a groundbreaking success in
their unity.
Since that first day we have seen NOTHING but great success in our group. As different as they all are;they are the GREATEST
picture of what the body of Christ should look like. They are as energetic and loving today as they were on June 12th. All
we hear from the Citivision staff is how well Wild Wild West staff is working together and accomplishing dynamic things.
We wish each one of you could make a trip and see your prayers in full action. God is at work!
We have completed 3 weeks of camp. Praise the Lord the campers are getting the message and enjoying every minute ...
rain or shine (and we've had the extremes of both). The campers arrive on a bus from NYC every Sunday at 3 p.m. (many of
whom would NOT be able to be here with out some of you paying to sponsor a child). They register at the main campus and then
grab their bags and jump on our horse drawn wagon, which takes them down the mountain to Wild Wild West. As they round the
corner to the stockade, they hear country music playing and then we open the stockade doors for them to enter into our Wild
Wild Welcome comprised of a carnival of western games, face painting, candy and lots of fun. Each staff takes his/her campers
to their teepees (boys) or cabins (girls). We have had so many little campers who have returned for a second or third time
because they just love the program!
Speaking of our program ... We wrote our curriculum based on a theme for each day. The following themes go with the 5
days of our camp week, given in the following order: knowing, believing, trusting, walking, and sharing. The major goal is
to begin with each child making his/her own discovery of God. Is God real? Where is He? How can He be known? By the middle
of the week the campers are given an opportunity to decide whether to trust God with their lives; and then on Friday they
are encouraged to share this Good News with their friends and family when they return home.
The WWW Staff meet with Dan daily at 6:30 a.m. for devotions. By 7 a.m. they are waking up their campers for breakfast
at 8 a.m. Morning teaching/worship begins at 9 a.m. From 10 a.m.-12 p.m. each Staff person works with his/her campers on
trust and team-building activities. Each of these activities complements Dan's teaching for the day.
The hungry campers eat lunch at noon. From 1-2 p.m. they participate in instructional sessions such as: how to build a
camp fire and wilderness shelter, group hike and nature lesson, archery, canoeing, ropes course, and fishing. Quiet time
begins at 2 p.m. where the campers spend an hour resting, reading a book or visiting quietly with other campers. From 3 p.m.
- 5 p.m. it's "free time" ... the campers are able to swim in the pool, go fishing or canoeing in the pond, play
volleyball, do crafts, and play basketball.
Dinner is followed by playing a camp-wide game such as dodge ball for about an hour. Then, it's time for the evening
message and worship time at 7:45 p.m.
We end each day with a gigantic campfire in the center of the teepee area (s'mores included) where we sing fun campfire
songs and just generally have a blast. It would blow your minds to experience the powerful way the campfire atmosphere along
with the Holy Spirit's influence impacts the hearts of these wonderful young people. They pour out their questions and stories
until we have to say, "Just one more guys, ok? The rest of you keep up the sharing time with your cabin or teepee during
your evening devotions."
Then it's lights out at 10 p.m. Each day is jam-packed with fun activities and spiritual lessons that will last these
kids a lifetime. I Corinthians 2:9 reminds us that "... eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither entered into the
heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him."
Before we know it, Friday has arrived and the campers prepare to leave. Just before they pile into the bus that will
take them back to the city, we all form a circle and pray together, asking God to protect and bless the campers as they use
their new bibles to learn about Him everyday.
Friday is always a very sad time for the entire Wild Wild West staff. We've given lots of time, energy, love and care
to these little ones for 6 days, and we don't know if we'll ever be together again.
But the work isn't done yet ... we meet for an hour or more for staff debriefing where we usually end up shedding a few
tears of joy for God's goodness to us and the campers. After a couple hours of cleaning the campgrounds, the staff are 'off
duty' until Sunday morning.
The 2006 season is coming to a quick close. The last day of camp is August 4th. Time has flown by, but HUGE things have
happened in our lives as we have completed this part of God's journey. One of the biggest lessons we have learned is that
we thought we had given up a lot leaving Michigan, but realized we had more to give.
On May 5th we discovered that our cabin in the stockade was infested with bed bugs. This caused a lot of extra work, as
we had to move out of our cabin 3 different times for extermination. Kyrstin, Garrett, and Elise experienced great discomfort
from the bed bugs since they prefer to bite children. Their little bodies were covered with painful bites, which took weeks
to heal. After several failed attempts at terminating the infestation, we've finally settled into a another home in the CitiVision
Retreat Center for the duration of the Wild Wild West season.
God kept saying to us "Am I really enough to get you through?" We would meditate on Paul's words in II Cor.
12:9,10 where God said to Paul "MY grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness ... Therefore
I will take pleasure in infirmities (bugs), in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake;
for when I am WEAK, then am I STRONG!"
God has been so faithful to us and He promises to do the same for you. What is your struggle today? Know that HE IS
ENOUGH! He is all you will ever need. The world will NEVER bring you what you need. Only the God of the universe, the
God that directs our life can offer the peace and the answers. Please be encouraged that He is very near and waits for us
to ask for His strength to be made perfect in our weakness.
We hope you will enjoy them and know that you were with us in spirit. The campers were aware that many of you have been
praying for them. God bless you and your family this summer. Enjoy every minute of your time together.
From our hearts to yours and for His glory alone,
The George Family: Dan, Mindy, Kyrstin, Garrett, and Elise
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Dan & Mindy George
PO BOX 96
Ulster Park, NY 12487
Dan: (269)-806-5567 dan@citivision.org
Mindy: (269)-806-5568 mindy@citivision.org
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