Winter Camp just finished up on Dec. 31, and what a great week it was!

Winter Camp is located at the Camp Timber-lee facility in East Troy, Wisconsin: a beautiful facility located in the kettle moraines of south-central Wisconsin. This year we had 55 campers and 27 staff at Winter Camp, and it couldn’t have been a better example of God’s way of life in action!

Our activity schedule included an all-camp Amazing Race on the first day of camp, as well as activities like team building, animal encounter, dance class (with two camp dances), winter field sports, game room, open science center, flag football, capture-the-flag, and leather craft. This year we added snowboarding with beautiful equipment purchased through the generosity of many supporters of winter camp! A winter camp tradition is an overnight campout for those brave enough to face the weather, and this year we had a dozen or so campers and staff participate in this arctic survival overnight campout with temperatures in the single digits.

The UYC theme this year was “Leaders: People of Character” and it was a focus of the morning Compass Checks, the Christian living and other biblical instruction. Aspects of this theme were also reinforced at many of the activities and other conversations throughout the day. It is always encouraging to see the minds of our youth engaged in God’s Word.

Held concurrently this year with winter camp was our second Winter Leadership Camp. This year we had seven young adults participating in this camp, serving alongside activity staff and counselors. They also enjoyed activities as a group and attended additional Bible classes, seminars and Q&A’s, which focused on leading—in the camp setting, in their local congregations and in life in general. They had many opportunities to lead and serve, including giving speeches and sermonettes, planning and hosting the camp dance, serving snacks daily to the campers, and being dining hall monitors. They also were able to have extended conversation with the ministry about many different aspects of life. What an amazing group of young adults who participated in this camp-within-a-camp.

Winter camp offers a unique camp experience unlike any of our summer camps. Come be with us in 2015 and see for yourself!

Dan Dowd