Inside This Issue: 

                 Junior Camp West

                Teen Camp West

                Junior Camp East

                Teen Camp East

Choose the Way of Life

(Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

“Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him.”

The Gilgal Gazette is published by Camp Gilgal campers for Camp Gilgal campers and their families and friends!

Tribes:

Tribe of Benjamin: Carrie-Fu M., Claire C., Elizabeth R., Erica B., Persaeus B., Sophia M., Waffles, Galaxy

Tribe of Judah: Maddie H., Noa B., Shannon O., Zemeira W., Zoe N., Acorn, Whimzy

Tribe of Zebulun: Elizabeth K., Lizzy N., Monique L., Sarai M., Taliah S., Nike, Vintage

Tribe of Manasseh: Dinah N., Emmalee S., Haneen R., LaTanya H., Mia C., Yamen L., Sauté, Hershey

Tribe of Simeon: Boaz B., David R., Isaiah L., Nathan B., Sasha S., J-Box, Ewok

Tribe of Ephraim: Corey W., Danny G., Elijah Y., Josiah C., Michael K., Maverick, Yamaha

Tribe of Dan: Daniel P., Emmanuel R., Isaac H., Josh L., Reuven R., Sam F., Simba, Professor

Tribe of Gad: Elliot K., Isaac J., Jacob S., Jaden W., Jeremiah H., Nathan P., Nacho, Java

Out-of-cabin staff: Mr. Tumnus, Snapple, Bazooka, Sherbert, Sonic, Onyx, Poppins, Streetlight, Moose

Guests: Swedey, Hoops, Esquire, Sparkler

When you decorate the flag you put paint and glitter and you get a cool tribe name. And you get to help pick the flag color and flag name. It is fun. You can have the bull, snakes, grapes, wolves. Then you let it dry. The next day they give it to you. You take it to the cabin. You take it with you to every meal. Everyone writes their name and tribe name in Hebrew. You take the flags to Tabernacle, too! We also march in the Fourth of July Parade with our degelim. Everyone in Columbia sees our beautiful flags. The tribe of Ephraim has a bull with fire in its eyes on a white background. It has a golden ring in its nose and red horns. Every tribe writes “Camp Gilgal 2012” on their flag. At the end of the year the camper of the year gets to take their degel home. Everyone always wants to carry their tribe’s degel around to meals and Tabernacle.

If you are looking for a camp that is the most fun, the best, or the most awesome camp ever, come to Camp Gilgal! We have everything from campfire, to games, to craft. I don’t think I have ever met anyone or ever will meet anyone who hates or does not like camp.

Not only do we have crazy activities at this camp, we also have Hebrew, devotions, and Tabernacle. This camp is sponsored by Jews for Jesus, so we also want to focus on learning more about God, and what it means to be believers in Y’shua. In Tabernacle we sing and worship, then one of the out-of-cabin staff will give a short message. For devotions, every night we have a short talk and pray together as a tribe. Every year at camp we also have Hebrew class and learn how to say, write and chant things in Hebrew.

We also have awesome games at camp. The best one (I think) is M.I. or Mission Impossible. This is a night game, and you have to try to find all the clues, and if you get spotted by the staff you are out. Everybody loves this game because right when you are about to go to bed, a van with Mission Impossible music drives through camp, and nobody knows when it is going to be.

As you can see, everything here is awesome, and if you are looking for an amazing camp, Camp Gilgal is the way to go!

Shabbat was really cool. Me, Nathan, Noa, and Mia read Bible verses and did blessings. First we worshiped and said the Sh’ma afterwards. Before we worshiped we ate dinner, but it wasn’t an ordinary dinner. We dress up for Shabbat and are more orderly about what we do. Onyx spoke and sang the Aaronic benediction. Sherbert shared her testimony. Moose read Colossians 3:12-14: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

This year in the Oylimpics, Maverick dressed up as Moses and he said, “Let my people go.” We teamed up with a men’s tribe and competed in the Oylimpics, which involved obstacles based off the ten plagues. My team paired up with Simeon and our team’s name was Simenasseh. We won because we were the only tribe that did the leap frog right. Some of the obstacles were shaking tic tacs out of the container, throwing cheese balls on a shaving cream head, eating a bucket of popcorn, and milking a plastic glove like an udder. Also there was the sit-on-the-balloon relay race, filling half a cup with red water with straws, swatting fake bugs with a fly swatter, blindfolding a tribe leader and screaming directions until they got to Moses, and sliding on the slip’n’slide. It is super messy but really fun. My favorite part was when I went on the slip’n’slide because there were bubbles that make you go fast. The Oylimpics was really fun and I fully enjoyed it.

Just as I am in the middle of prayer, Dr. Root Canal knocks on the door then comes in. He checks our teeth, but before that we say, “Once again you interrupted Elliot.” Then he says, “Sorry,” or, “Wow, again.” We think he’s doing it on purpose. While he is checking our teeth, Jacob hides his gum in his mouth. Before he checks Isaac’s mouth, Isaac literally drinks Scope mouthwash. At one time, I lost my toothbrush and used mouthwash. One day, Jaden had his jawbreaker out. Another day he did not even brush his teeth. Once Nathan walked out the door saying, “I need to brush my teeth.” Dr. Root Canal has really awesome and huge glasses and a toothbrush. He has a coat and this untied tie that he always wears. You have to brush your teeth and then make it really white with nothing in your mouth. It has to be pearly white and minty fresh. If it is not any of those then you lose points. You can get a maximum of 100 points. It is kinda easy to get the maximum points because all you have to do is brush your teeth every day and then it will be as easy as pie, if you have a toothbrush. We always say our tribe leaders have bad teeth. No matter what you should brush your teeth.

Did you ever want to learn a different language? Camp Gilgal has Hebrew class. You can learn the alphabet and vowels, or if you are more advanced you can learn phrases. There are two groups: Team Alef which is for beginners, and Team Bet which is for more advanced. If you are in Team Alef and if it is too easy, you could switch classes to Team Bet. The teacher is Mr. Tumnus. He grew up in Israel so he knows how to speak and write in Hebrew. In the class you can write in your own ABC Hebrew book. You can write the alphabet or phrases in the book. So when you go home you can show your family what you learned. Then maybe you can go to Israel. Mr. Tumnus teaches the alphabet song and how to greet people and have conversations. You also learn how to write in Hebrew. Hebrew is after Tabernacle or arts and crafts, depending on which class you are in. It takes place in the Tabernacle area. It is every day except on Saturday, which is the Sabbath. Sometimes we might go horseback riding so we can’t do Hebrew. In Hebrew Mr. Tumnus sometimes gives out snacks like sunflower seeds. It’s really fun.

After lunch comes nap time (FOB which means Flat On Bunk), unless it is Lady’s Day. On Lady’s Day FOB is more like fun on bunk. On that day most of the girls did each other’s hair, make up, nails, and designed each other’s outfits for the rest of the day. Sadly, there is only one Lady’s Day. So on most days it is regular FOB. FOB is one hour of nap time. In my cabin we made up six rules about FOB:

#1 No camper may ever look forward to FOB
#2 No camper may sleep during FOB
#3 No camper may speak during FOB
#4 You may never wake up counselors during FOB
#5 You must be flat on your bunk during FOB
#6 If it is fun, it is not FOB.

So these are our six rules of FOB in which we try our best to follow.