Youth Camp...Hot, Dusty, Ordained

Easter week, middle of April, the time that El Faro church has a 4 day youth camp, and my first time assigned to lead part of a group effort. I was the sports/games leader, and I was excited and apprehensive at the same time. What made it a double challenge was that I still struggle to make myself understood clearly in Spanish, as well as not really having a grasp of the youth culture. To crank up the heat and pressure more, I was to keep the youth entertained and happy for 3 hours at a time.
Time to fall on my knees and ask God to help me in my weakness. He promises to do so 2 Cor. 12:19 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. NIV. So I knew I could count on God, my fortress, shield and high tower!
The first day was slow for me, getting a tent set up, looking around the camp for places to play the different games, and meeting people. I managed to put my tent under a tree, that happened to be flowering so I could wake up to the sound of a thousand buzzing bees, and within a few meters of all the tents belonging to the boys from our church. We had 17 youth come!!
The next day, after breakfast, it was time to start. I wanted to start with something easy to organise and a favourite for Mexicans - soccer. Because we had 5 teams formed from all of the youth from the many churches attending, from ages 12-18, I also had ultimate frisbee, which I had heard they had enjoyed in previous years. I left the soccer for them to organise, which they did without a problem.
I took the frisbee group a ways from the centre of the camp to find some open flat dirt/dust. After 20 minutes, we rotated through the teams. One team got to rest, which turned out to be very important. It wasn't long before we were glad for water and shade, as it reached about 30 degrees C. Overall the youth participated well, we improvised when the frisbee broke and used a football instead, and the soccer ran itself with the team leaders doing a great job.
The next day was much more work, as we had what they call a rally. I wanted a variety of stations or a circuit that would make them work as a team, use different talents and skills, and keep them from collapsing in another +30 degree day. We had exercise competitions, crawling through obstacle course, running over obstacles and climbing, solving puzzles, walking through a land mine course, pyramid building, smoosh boarding, piggy backing and wheelbarrows.
In the end, I think it was a hit, though the exercise station will need to be removed next time. We had a few youth collapse, and even had a hospital run (praise the Lord, everything turned out fine!) But the kids were sure wiped by the end.
The last day, we had a gladiator type of event. Each team chose participants to challenge other teams in events like egg toss, balloon toss, walking on your hands the farthest, sumo wrestling, and tug of war (several variations). This event was less time, and you could see that the youth were running short on energy towards the end. They had a great time cheering and participating where they were needed.
My one sadness is that I didn't get to use all of my ideas for games (Candy Man for sure next year, as well as some more water events!) One more day would have been great!
We trust that God was glorified at camp, through the many different things that happened, from preaching, prayer, devotions, and games. Thanks to all you who prayed me through this all.