Sarah M., Age 13
Tribe of Judah
Paintball was awesome! The only downside was getting painful welts on Shabbat. But it was really, really fun being able to go paintballing. The first game we played was some people’s first time playing, but it was still incredibly intense. The second game was very much like the first one. Then we played Capture the Degel. We had to strategize and provide cover for the person trying to capture the actual degel.
Paintball is all about stealth, daring, aim and power. At the end of the activity, there was not one person who had not either shot someone or been shot.
Avi S., Age 16
Tribe of Issachar
Archery is fun but there are a few problems. There is a net at the back of the range to keep arrows from going into the woods, but it is thin so arrows pass right through it. There are a lot of arrows lost in the woods behind the range, and when we lose arrows for awhile and then find them again, they are usually either broken, bent or misshapen. The other problem is that the bows aren’t strong enough for me.
There are also good things though. You don’t rip your skin when you shoot – it’s because the bows aren’t too intense, the targets are good, and I once got to shoot three arrows in one shot from the bow. When I shot all three at once, I got them all on the target.
Daphne N., Age 12
Tribe of Judah
During camp, we do a lot of camp activities. These activities are always fun, exciting and sometimes very unique and weird. These activities always take place right after breakfast and there are always at least three of them. The choice is always yours on which activity you want to pick, but one of those three activities must be a Bible activity, and that’s also a really good choice.
Some of these awesome activities include Newcomb, How to Be a Supermodel, Kickball, and How to Be Manly (which was for girls only.) Everyone really enjoyed every activity there was, and we all had a great time participating in all of them. Doing these activities gave us campers a big opportunity to bond with other campers and tribe leaders, while having fun at the same time. I really enjoyed the choice of activities this year and I really hope to continue them next year.
Rebecca T., Age 13
Tribe of Judah
This year at teen camp we all did a Gilgal tradition. It was called the 2011 
Decathalon* and our team was called Summer Techno Jewstep. We traveled by van to each activity. One of the activities was a donut-eating contest. I ate two and a half! Another event was the one-foot contest. We each had to stand on one foot without falling or putting the second foot on the ground. After 10 minutes, whoever had the most people left on just one foot won. We lost D: One of the other activities was root beer chugging. That was the most painful/disgusting activity because we had to drink sugar-free weight watchers root beer until all 12 cans were empty. After that we had to stack them all up. We lost but there were still other events left to complete. Another activity was making a rap for our team with our team name in it. We lost that one as well. The last two events were making a sombrero out of duct tape in the van, and then catching fireflies. WE TOTALLY WON WITH OUR SOMBRERO. And then we won catching fireflies as well! Even though we lost the decathalon, we all had an awesome time!
*The decathalon actually became a septathalon.
Jacob Z., Age 15
Tribe of Issachar
A few days ago, Levi, the rest of camp and I went white water rafting. It was fun! We had to go for 15 miles, so when we got to the end it felt very nice. A lot of people on my raft went to sleep before the end. The water was cold; I found out by getting pulled in. We were going over level 4 rapids and it was scary when we had to duck down – I thought for sure I would fall out. Our tour guide 
was really cool too. His name was Marty and he had a way with his words, especially when there were a lot of bugs. It was one of my favorite parts of camp, but after the trip, my butt and feet were sore. The whole trip was fun!
White Water Rafting
Ketzia B., Age 13
Tribe of Judah
Hey! My name is Ketzia and I am going to tell you about white water rafting. Every year at teen camp, we go on the same field trip and it’s a white water rafting trip. The night before that, we camp out at a campsite about two hours away from Camp Gilgal. The next day, we drive to the rafting place.
I have to admit that at first I was really scared! I was shaking. When I got on the raft though, it was so much fun! Riding the rapids was so much fun and it was crazy! Paddling was also fun but so exhausting! In the calm water, we “fell out” and went for a swim! It was a totally awesome trip. It was awesome because our raft was great and worked together well. The rapids were so fun and crazy to ride! Swimming in the water was really fun, but the water was really gross. We did this thing called surfing in the raft and we all got so wet! I was so tired that I fell fast asleep when we came back.
Levi H., Age 15
Tribe of Issachar
This was my first year at Camp Gilgal East; usually I go to Midwest. At Midwest, we didn’t do too much pranking, but here, my cabin spent a lot of time planning pranks, preparing for pranks, or doing pranks. The first prank we did was on the night of the big campout. We were planning on dragging the tents around with the girls in them while they slept, but it ended up being impossible due to weight. Instead, I had the idea to take out the girls’ tent stakes and collapse the wet tents on them as they slept.
Dana C., Age 14
Tribe of Dan
On Shabbat, one of the available activities was High Tea. In this activity, we got dressed up in fancy clothing. We sat around a table with a dressy tablecloth and drank sweet tea with our pinkies up! We also had some cookies, biscotti and chips to nibble on. Every woman there looked dashing and glamorous. We all had a lot of fun fooling and joking around, while talking in funny accents and telling jokes. Fellow campers stopped by our activity to share some food and give their opinions on our activity.
Later in the hour, we were taking pictures and acting silly. Camp Gilgal is a time for all of the campers and staff to grow close to God and learn and grow closer to Him while having so much fun and participating in silly activities. Next time
you go to Gilgal, partake in High Tea and have a blast at all the activities!
Nastasya P., Age 15
Tribe of Manasseh
So it’s my first and last year of camp because I’m 15 years old. On the way to the campout, I picked the blue 15-passenger van because it’s a cool color and Tauros and Chickpea were in that van. Reptar’s van was the wanna-be party van. They only danced whenever they saw us.
Anyways, in the “Real” party van, we listened to Dubstep and we jammed out to other cool music. And we took like fifty million random pictures. And on the way there we played the waving game.
The REAL Party Van
Masha K., Age 14
Tribe of Dan
You probably read the article by Nastasya. Well, it’s a lie. Strings’ and Reptar’s van was the REAL party van. All the other vans just slept and listened to junk. We listened to awesome music off of Reptar’s iPod the whole way. The music was blasting and we were dancing to cool music. OUR van was the REAL party van. It was really fun.
Don’t believe Nastasya!
Tatiana P., Age 13
Tribe of Dan
This was my first year at teen camp and it was so fun! One of my favorite activities was the Decathalon. A Decathalon is when you have different activities you drive off-camp to do and you have to try to win as many activities as you can to beat the other team. My team was STB (Shakin’ Turkey Bacon.) The first competition was to find all the letters of the alphabet on the road. Then after that we had a race where we all had to eat at least one doughnut and we lost because of me. Then we had more activities to do, like making a rap with our name in it. Our rap won! We were the best and the other teams stunk! GO SHAKIN’ TURKEY BACON!
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Sarah M., Age 13
Themocracy