September 24, 2020: Alissa Tribble, Florida Region

Love letter to camp...
Week One: Longing to Be Invited

This year many of our summer camping programs faced creative, spiritual and financial challenges. For many young people, camp is a significant part of their faith journey and relationships. Ministries Across Generations wanted to share importance of camp and support (financially and spiritually) the places where many people feel God's presence most.

To donate to today's camp: The Retreat at Silver Springs, Florida

Hello, My name is Alissa Tribble and I have been attending camp at The Retreat since going into 4th grade (I am now finishing 11th grade). I am a member of First Christian Church of Disciples in Jacksonville/Mandarin, of where I first became aware of The

Retreat. 

I don’t remember much from my first years at camp besides my counselor Lexi, Sydney Hoopaugh as my cabin mate, my fear of the monkeys, and the creation of my belief in the blue fire. I have always wanted to be able to immortalize each and every memory created at camp, but I have found I am only able to do so with the pictures we are given at closing worship and the ones we are solely left to remember. 

Every summer, I am able to come to a place where I have fallen drastically in-love with and spend a week with beautiful people I have yet to know and others I’ll never forget. This year, I would be attending CYF Conference for my Junior year (3rd year). Overall, my time at The Retreat has been unforgettable, but my last two years at CYF has been at an all-time high. I have learned so much more about our Father, in heaven and how to maintain my hope and faith within him. Now, everything is growing complicated and is leaving me and many people in my life unsure about what’s to come, regarding COVID-19. 

Recently, I have been immensely struggling with my faith and my overall well-being. Many people in my family have fallen sick and a few that I have held closely to my heart have recently died (none of which impacted by from COVID). Normally, at the end of every school year when we come to camp and begin the week, I and along with everybody else am able to bring ourselves back together and prepare for the rest of our year, and everything to come afterwards; knowing the following year, we can spend another wonderful week at camp. I know you all may not have much control over if camp can still physically go on, but if it is at all possible, we are all desperately pulling for this summer. Almost everybody from this previous summer at CYF has stayed in contact in an ongoing group chat and we talk weekly, if not every day. We have been nonstop talking about all of our memories and our favorite times at camp. For a few people in the group, it is supposed to be their last year at camp as they have graduated high school, others have already had their last. Me and about seven people from said group chat got together last September in Orlando and reminisced as it would more than likely be our last time seeing one another. 

For me, this camp is a place where i feel secure and safer than i have felt anywhere else. In more ways than one, I have fallen in-love with The Retreat and I’ll continue to pray my heart out that it can and will still go on in July. I know you all will have your decision made in a week from today, but I pray if all circumstances fall in place, we can still commemorate this year and come together for a week of worship and gratitude with amazing, beautiful people. I love all of you for creating and maintaining such a magical and peaceful sanctuary for all of us to come to and share. We are all a family. 

Thank you all for what you do. Sincerely, Alissa Tribble, fellow loving camper:)

Scripture Week One: (From InsideOut, This is Our Prayer)
Luke 6:12–16 
About that time Jesus went off to a mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night there. The next morning he called his disciples together and chose twelve of them to be his apostles. One was Simon, and Jesus named him Peter. Another was Andrew, Peter’s brother. There were also James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus. The rest of the apostles were Simon, known as the Eager One, Jude, who was the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus.


At Home Activities

Weekly Scriptures
Read the weekly scripture each day. Find a phrase or word that speaks to you. Share your reflections with others over dinner, social media, and in prayer. Share the scripture with a child you know in the car, through a text, or in a children's Bible.