Get Outdoors @ Mt. Lou San
From Director Philip Drake
Camp News #005
“It’s really not that hard to impress students when the classroom in which you are working is God’s creation itself. There is some pretty amazing stuff out there! ”
A few months ago we were approached by a local Christian school to program an Outdoor Education Retreat here at Mt. Lou San. Even though we’ve never done this type of school retreat before, the idea lined up perfectly with what God had impressed on my heart a couple years before – to make an extensive effort to use God’s great creation to teach young people about Him. So we put forth the effort to create a program for this school (and hopefully many more schools to come).
Over the course of 3 days, our staff had the opportunity to pour into the lives of sixth graders, teaching them about the moon and the stars, about the principles of science that God set in motion at creation. We even went a bit “techy” and taught a class on how GPS works and how it affects our everyday lives. The classes were all very “hands on” and the students really enjoyed being outside in nature. It’s really not that hard to impress students when the classroom in which you are working is God’s creation itself. There is some pretty amazing stuff out there! We even got the chance to see Saturn’s rings and Jupiter’s moons through a telescope. Talk about an “out of this world” experience!
Of course, a large part of our purpose of a retreat like this is spiritual in nature. Students were in God’s Word each morning and evening, being challenged by it and encouraged about how God made their own body so intricately. Just a couple of days is all it takes – a couple days away from the distractions of a phone and other digital devices is enough to allow students to hear God a little bit easier. We praise God that almost half the kids asked for a devotional book to take home so they could have their quiet time on a regular basis. And a couple students accepted Christ as their personal Savior. Praise God!
