Camp Ray Bird

 

Up Belize Bolivia Camp Ray Bird Eastern Europe England Ghana Haiti 2007 Interior Of Venezeula Mexico Mongolia Mongolia II Namibia Nepal 1997 Nepal 1999 North Slope Trip 2002 Poland Redemption Church South Africa 2002 South Africa 2003 Thailand

Camp Ray Bird

 

 

As a disclaimer, I should say that my son and his wife and two children live and work at Camp Ray Bird. Therefore I am biased in my view. The mission of Ray Bird Ministries, Inc. is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the "at-risk" children and teens of the Michigan area, nurture those believers through memorable camping experiences and prepare them for participation in local churches.

At the camp, they have a Bible lesson each day and do a string figure each day to go along with the lesson. Each child and counselor gets a string to keep with them. Kids who come back each year have learned a number of figures.

They also have a snail mail club and when the campers finish so many lessons and send them in they are eligible to come to Spring, Fall and/or Winter Weekend Camp. Susan, my daughter-in-law also visits each of the 1,100 campers at their homes each year and gets to know their situation. She says that often they show her that they remember the string figures they learned at the camps.

My Grandchildren Jake and Rachel have really gotten into strings and have taught some things also. Rachel, especially, likes to teach the spider and cross. I have also visited at times and taught some of the counselors some additional figures.

Last year while I was at the camp a reporter from a newspaper in Japan came out with two photographers to catch me working with kids. That impressed the counselors with the importance of this activity and they saw how I worked with kids. That gave them impetus to work in new ways with them.

The kids do strings when they are waiting for an activity, when they have quiet time, when they are walking from activity to activity and just about all the time. It is a great way for them to share with each other. We especially do a number of the figures that take two or more people. These are kids that need to share.

 

Photos by Susan Titus