Christian Education News

Puerto Rico Work Camp, 2007.
The Hardest Thing to Put into 250 Words

By Emma Gregory

As we were preparing to leave the airport, we crammed ourselves into in the vans that were taking us up the mountain. Glances and smiles were exchanged amongst the youth, as we made sure to sit next to at least someone we knew from our own youth group. Then, Vilma Padilla (our wonderful helpful hand that lived in the mountains there) hopped into the bus and exclaimed to the van driver, "Ooh! Es frio!" She giggled and rubbed her hands against her arms, and wiggled in her seat. All of the youth members laughed together and once again looked around at each other with a bit of a twinkle in everyone's eye. Already, "Puerto Rico" was bringing us together. Vilma proceeded to introduce herself, waving her hands in the air with a grin so full of joy and excitement that our smiles widened along with it. Inspiration occurred at the very beginning of the very first hour of the Castaner Work camp.

No matter how hard someone could try, no one could just "go through the motions" at the Castaner Puerto Rico Work camp. No matter how you resisted, no matter how you tired to ignore it, no one could walk away without saying that they didn't learn something new, or that they didn't meet someone who inspired them to look at life in a more positive way, just like we all experienced with in the first two minutes in the van with Vilma.

At this camp, you got the whole Puerto Rican deal- from the food to the people to the love that they shared with all of us. And there was no way you could walk away without attempting to express to your family and friends that indescribable feeling you felt the whole time while you were there.

Hospitality was constantly being given to us, prayers always being said for us, many variations of the word "gracias" continuously being spoken to us, and hugs so frequently being distributed to us; I've never felt so loved by people I that hardly even knew. But it didn't matter that they didn't know us, it didn't matter that we have different cultures or different ways of spending our time. What mattered is that we were there because we're Brethren, and by knowing that little piece of information, we instantaneously formed our own brethren family.

Looking back on the camp, I realized that the work wasn't particularly difficult, because the work wasn't really the reason Puerto Rico was made a camp. It was a work camp because of the learning experience: learning to appreciate and understand each other when you don't speak the same language, when you can't share similar interests, or most importantly when you live across the ocean and over fifteen hundred miles apart! Being brethren and acquiring your own family with in the church, doesn't just limit you to your home church with the people that you've known since you were born, because as far as I know, part of my Brethren family lives across the sea, fifteen hundred miles away.

My Experience in Richmond

By Carolyn Hay

My experience in Richmond was filled with work and fun. But is was a really great experience! The first
thing that we worked on during the week was helping to build/create a community garden called Fairfield Court Community Garden. We picked up trash, fixed swings, made spaces for people to grow plants. Later that day we went into Fairfield Court School and helped the janitors out. We washed tables and walls,
sorted through clothes and cleaned the auditorium stage. We had a lot of fun cleaning the walls covered in some nasty stuff! But we didn’t mind. The next day we helped clear a boundary line for the James River. We painted posts and wire, cut down bushes and trees, and cut the grass. The men we were working with
were really happy that we helped them out! Later that day we went on a tour of The Black History
Museum and Cultural Center. We also helped there by moving some things and picking up trash outside. We
later cleaned up Citizens Against Crime (CAC) and did graffiti art on a wall that was called slam the brakes. We helped get the place cleaned up! Our graffiti wall turned out great! The last day we helped with worship service. We met new friends, hung out, went many places! Overall I had a great experience at workcamp!!!

My Work Camp Adventure

By Shannon Daniels

My work camp adventure began by sitting in a van for almost seven hours with some of my closest friends. I was so excited to be going to Virginia. I could barely sit still in the van. We began to make friends with the other work campers once we arrived, which made it a lot easier to work together. While we were working, we got to know some of the people that we were helping, like janitors, people of the community, and maintenance workers for the parks. When we were working at the school, we started by plotting a garden where the Fairfield Community would later grow vegetables and other plants and cleaning up litter on the play ground. Later we went inside to wash walls, tables, help get stuff sorted for a garage sale, and clean out some closets. The janitors were very thankful for our help. We got a lot done according to the janitors, even with all the breaks we took, because of the heat. I think that the Fairfield Community was very thankful for our help, too.

The next day when working at the park, we cleared out some weeds, trees, and other vegetation that was blocking the gorgeous view of the James River. We also painted wood posts that surrounded the entire park. Even though we only got a small portion done, some of the people that live in the area commented
how nice it looked. The maintenance workers were very thankful for our help. We did only get a small section of the view cleared out, but that gave the park employees time to work on other projects.

With all the thank you’s we received, we understood what a difference we made in the community. That made us feel great!!! Along with accomplishing a lot, I feel that I made some lasting friendships. I have kept in contact with some of the other work campers that I never knew prior to work camp.

Ten Years of Youth Travels

This year marks the tenth consecutive year that UBBC youth have gone to either work camps and/or youth conferences. Throughout the years: