Hello Camp Zion Families,
It is hard to believe we passed the half way mark of our camp season this past week. Our time together is flying by way to fast.

This week during lesson time we talked about two different pieces of the Armor of God. The Breastplate of Righteousness & the Shoes of Peace.

• The breastplate of a soldier is what protects his heart from being hurt in battle. Our physical hearts are a great reminder of how wise and wonderful God is in creating our bodies. But we also have a different kind of heart – it’s the combination of our personality, our feelings, thoughts, hopes, and dreams that make us the special & unique people we are. Our hearts are very special to God because he thinks we are amazing. He doesn’t like our hearts to feel hurt or broken so he has given us the Breastplate of Righteousness to protect our hearts. You see God knows we are in a battle. A battle against Satan. Satan is the one who loves to cause trouble, spread lies and make us doubt Gods love. When we believe in Jesus, we can know we are right with God and that he does love us. This knowledge is the breastplate that protects our hearts. Just like a soldier will still feel the hurt of battle his heart is protected from fatal wounds so can the knowledge of Gods love protects us from Satan’s lies.
• Shoes help us to be ready for different situations in our every day life. Are we really ready for school or work if we don’t have our shoes on? There are even special shoes for playing sports, for swimming, fishing, hiking, rain, snow, parties, the beach and so on. We are excited and motivated and prepared to do the thing our feet are ready for. God has a special pair of shoes for us to put on called the Shoes of Peace (also called the Shoes of Readiness). When we have faith in God we are ready to show & tell Gods peace and love to other people.

Here is what is coming up next week.

July 16-19 – Carnival Week.
Monday: Magic Bob & Suzie.
Tuesday: CZ Carnival.
Wednesday: Learning Lab. (Lunch served at Zion. Menu includes: Hotdogs, chips, watermelon & lemonade.)
Thursday: 1st-4th graders = Play World. bring socks.   5th-6th graders = Mystery trip. Bring swim suits & towels

Reminder about the Soccer Zone waiver that needs to be completed for our upcoming fieldtrip. Thank you to those who have already gotten this completed. For those of you who haven’t yet follow this link https://letsplaysportsinc.waiverapps.com/locations/grandrapidssoccerzone When you have completed your waiver for your child please shoot me an email and let me know it has been submitted.

Other stuff:
Please be praying for our CZ staff members Jeremy, Brad and Kim as they are leaving Sat morning on a week long mission trip with the Zion HS youth group to Philadelphia, PA. We hope they have an amazing time serving in the community there, that they have safe travels both there and back, and that they are inspired and brought closer to God through the experience.

See you all on Monday,
~ Rachel

Hello Camp Zion families,
We had a wonderful week 2 at camp. It is nice to see the campers trying new things and making new friends.

This week during lesson time we talked about the strength of God. For one of our lessons I asked all the kids how strong they were. Two of our kid-o’s and one of our staff members thought they might be the strongest in all of camp so I asked them to prove it. I placed a ping pong ball inside a paper funnel. I asked the three of them to blow the ball out of the funnel. Despite their best efforts none of them could blow the ball out.

Just like the ping pong ball was too heavy for us to blow away, our problems can be too big to be solved without Gods strength. We can (and should) always ask God to give us strength to help us through difficult times. Sometimes He will give us physical strength, sometimes He will give us mental strength and sometimes He sends other people to help us.

Here is what’s coming next week.

July 2-5 Super Hero Week.
Monday: Gymnastics Unlimited. Dress cool – it gets super hot. Signed waiver required.
Tuesday: CZ Field Day: Bring Swimsuit & Towel.
Wednesday: CAMP CLOSED – HOLIDAY
Thursday: Tarry Hall Roller-skating. Wear socks. You are allowed to bring your own skates/blades if you would like.

I just finished putting the last load of tie-dye T-shirts in the dryer. They turned out cute. I will put everyone’s shirts in their cubby’s on Monday. I recommend washing them separately from your others clothes for the first couple of washes just incase they release more dye.

Don’t forget to check out all our photos on our Facebook page and Instagram to see what we’ve been up to at camp.

Hope you all find ways to keep cool this weekend.
Looking forward to week 3.
~Rachel

Hello Camp Zion Families,

It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Camp Zion open house this week. All of our staff members are excited to spend the next 7 weeks with your kids. I can tell we are going to have an amazing summer together.

Camp Zion begins Monday, June 18th. Door A will open at 9:30am. Parents please come in with your child to sign them in.

On Monday during circle time we will be reviewing the camp rules and code of conduct with your kids. We’ll also explain any changes we’ve made here at camp and we will answer any questions that they might have about our summer together.  The rest of the week during circle time we will introduce them to our theme Bible verses, Ephesians 6:10-11, and begin to explain what the Armor of God is.

Here is whats coming up week 1.

June 18-21 – Pioneer Days

Monday: Putt Putt Golf
Tuesday: Heritage Park
Wednesday: Learning Lab @ Zion
Thursday: Georgetown Ice Center. Bring: socks, sweatshirts, long pants and gloves.

I also recommend that your child bring along a water bottle each day. This will cut down on our paper cup usage and also gives your child water to bring along on our fieldtrips. Please label the bottle clearly with their name. We’ll send bottles home on Thursdays to be washed.

Is it Monday yet? I can’t wait for the fun to begin.
~Rachel