March Madness

After Camp Adventure we hit the road for March Madness. We took trips to Arlington, Childress, Tulsa, and other towns in Oklahoma. It was a time of service, fellowship, and letting people know what we're about.

In Arlington we spent time with some of the youth, put door hangers on some of the homes in nearby neighborhoods, spent time with our host families, did different volunteer work, and went to church service on Sunday morning. At the worship, one of our classmates who is from that congregation got to be interviewed and tell the church what he is doing and what AIM has done for him. We also did a flag presentation. Right after lunch we hit the road for Childress, TX.

Childress has sent students to AIM for years and really supports the work that the program does. On Sunday afternoon we did a flag presentation at church. We spent a few days there doing service projects for the church and community. One night a family had us out to their ranch for a cookout. It was so nice getting to be out in the country, eating hot dogs, and talking and singing with friends. From Childress we loaded up and headed toward Tulsa

We went to Tulsa for the Tulsa Workshop. We stayed with families in Jenks, OK and spent the days in Tulsa at the workshop going to classes and talking with people about AIM at our booth in exhibition hall. I got to hear some encouraging lessons from Christians like Trey Morgan, Josh Graves, Jeff Walling, and Chris Johnson. The AIM class also did a flag presentation and passed out prayer lists to lots of people. After the workshop was over we drove to Dewey, OK to meet with the church there and spend time with families. We let them know about all the teams during church service and had class with the youth. Then we drove to Yukon, OK for evening service and do a flag presentation. This is the congregation that Pat Shaeffer, assistant director, is originally from.

From there we split up by teams to go to our Challenge Week destinations...

Camp Adventure

March 12-18th was Camp Adventure: Overflow. During the Camp Adventure weekend my apartment didn't get any campers because there weren't enough for everyone. This time we got three girls ( 2 from Houston area and 1 from Kansas). The three of us were really excited about having campers and getting to hang out with them and hopefully have a good influence.

Friday was registration and the 2007 AIM class graduation. We met our girls, got them moved in, got ready for the banquet/graduation, and headed off to the church for the night. One of our girls had never been to camp before so I was excited for her to experience the graduation and all the week had to offer. It was cool getting to see people that I know graduate. Two of my assistants (Aaron and Jessica) graduated, along with several other assistants that came back from the field and started volunteering with AIM.

After the graduation we gathered together in the high school room for a time of singing.

Throughout the week we did different things like listen to lessons by Geoff Dunn and Eli Hooper, lots of singing, devotionals from the assistants, saw field reports from past AIMers, free time to play games and get to know each other, and community service projects.

One of our service projects was to go to a new Salvation Army thrift store and help set up shelves, move furniture, and get them organized. We took our girl and guy campers and they all did a great job. Another day we took them to the South Plains Food Bank and packed carrots into bags for distribution.

During the week one girl was baptized.

On Wednesday night we had a talent show which included campers, AIMers, and some ex-AIMers. There was definitely a lot of talent that night and the show lasted about 3 hours! My team performed that night, singing two songs. We dedicated the songs to our campers and everyone really enjoyed it because they were interactive and fun.

This camp can be a great experience for anyone who comes to it. Its a great time to get to know other christians, be encouraged and uplifted, help out others, and learn a little more about AIM.