"De Fiesta" -- Campamento de Joven

Last weekend I attended Asociacion Joven de Iglesia Evangelica Dominicana 's summer camp. While I was a day late to the "fiesta" due to the first week(s) of school in Boca Chica... and I have to admit I was dreading a weekend out of town and the bus ride to Bani. Despite my reservations I was amazed at how a couple days making new friends, reflection, and worshiping with some amazing young musicians. 

Worship team preparing for Saturday morning's worship.

Friday afternoon started with group games in our 4 designated groups, I was on the "Azul" team. We played trivia with questions about the previous day's charlas and bible studies as well as sillier questions about team member and council members names, years involved in the program, and churches. We took second at the game but were apparently still in last place for the weekend thus far. After some free time and dinner the group headed into the "temple" for a 3 hour worship service. Despite the length, the speaker offered a great message about the importance of the youth and God's plan for us. She spoke of how she was a Doctor of Pharmacy when God called her to ministry, but that she has been able to continue in ministry because God gave her many talents, the hospital that she used to work at continues to use her expertise often and pays her for her training thus financially supporting her ministries. Her point was that if God calls us to serve in a unique way, God will help us complete the task. My favorite parts of all the worships throughout the weekend was the music. There was a mix of traditional and contemporary music and each service the music worship leaders changed. There was always a full band and several singers to lead the group. The pastor who spoke also invited anyone who needed or wanted special prayers to come to the front. She along with the other pastors and leaders prayed over the youth. This element of worship is totally out of my comfort zone but it was actually a really beautiful element of the service and it was obvious that some of the youth were waiting on this moment and many people were very emotionally touched. The music continued to pray and while I didn't go up to the front, I felt a release after an extremely busy and draining summer. Even though it is not in my traditional church background, something about praying hard and singing/listening to the music for 30+ minutes was relaxing and energizing. Strangely it seemed to be just what I needed to dive into the camp experience. 

Blue team having a small group discussion

Youth receiving special prayers from pastors.

Saturday started with more worshiping (although much shorter) and a charla on relationships. Now, the evangelical sense of dating is not what I, the UCC, or Caminante would prefer... the speaker made some good points. He started by saying that there are 3 main points to a Christian relationship: Love, Care, and Respect. This, I don't think any of us can argue with. He found these 3 steps from Paul's writings to the church, Paul states that the church is like Jesus' wife and from that men (and woman) can learn how to treat one's wife or husband. He also made a well argued point about the seriousness of dating and the importance of remembering that the "point" of dating is to build a (possibly) long term relationship that may or may not end in a marriage. He also reminded them to remember that one day each of them will probably be a spouse to you should always treat your boyfriend or girlfriend as though he or she may be your husband or wife one day. Now, he did go on to make a very brief statement about homosexuality but he didn't go on nor was it unexpected so I let it slide without too much grief. Although I did make the observation that there were at least 2 young people at the camp who I thought may be struggling with their sexuality. 

Worship Band

The afternoon went on with more games, a dinner of "sombreros y corbatas," and another worship service. The service also included another personal prayer session but this one was to ask anyone ready for the "metamorphosis" to come forward. Again about half of the group came forward although this Pastor prayed with much more force. As the time went along she called on people to come forward for special prayers such as low self-esteem, going away to college, being a leader of Christ, etc. As the closing worship I think many of the youth were appreciative of the special attention. I liked how she called attention to the issues that many young adults deal with in daily life and prayed for strength, self confidence, and gave praise to youth as a whole. 

Putting back together Plantains with tape and glue!

Some of the Villa Duarte Youth!

Villa Duarte Youth!

Following the worship was the best part of the weekend, an amazing talent show. Each church prepared a skit to present... including black lights, slide shows of their years activities, dancing, singing, and presentation. IT WAS AWESOME. As the last act, two youth presented their new CD by performing their songs... while they have work to do, it was a perfect place for their first performance. We finished up about 2am and moved into the award ceremony of the weekend. Unfortunately the blue team ended up in 4th place, but I still had fun playing and discussing with my team. 

Villa Duarte Youth singing.

A youth group performing a skit!

A youth group performing a black light dance!

Sunday morning came early and the Villa Duarte crew loaded into our hired van and headed back to the church... a few students stayed for worship but most of us headed to our homes to catch up on sleep! I was exhausted but the good kind... and I felt filled, refreshed, and ready to take on the new school year.