Scripture Memory Fellowship at Southland Christian Camp

Scripture Memory Fellowship held its camp this year in June, at Southland Christian Camp and Conference Center in Ringgold, Louisiana. This facility was actually built by Bible Memory Association for its Miracle Camp. Anyway, Southland provided the facility, staff, and food, doing a very good job. So no Whitefeet here.

Looks a lot like Miracle Camp in Cleveland, Georgia. Or what used to be Miracle Camp. Now it's run by Woodlands Camp, also Christian. Maybe one day SMF will hold a camp there for 
those of us who live so far from Louisiana.
 

Staff hillbilly skit. Caught them at a moment when they weren't saluting the memory of General Lee.

A serious class of scholars and their teachers.

A happy camper on the zipline. I was going to try it until I watched a camper land hard on his bottom. He wasn't hurt, but my coccyx already holds a grudge against me due to a skating party 37 years ago. So no go.

This picture is obviously out of order, since I took it in Alabama,  on the way home. But it's like my dog Sapphire when she is stealing food--only dynamite will move her. And it has messed up the picture below as well. This is a replica of the Statue of Liberty which I discovered during my night driving on the way to camp, off the Interstate, with her torch blazing. A startling sight.

Ah, Morning Watch, reminiscent of  the good old days. The kids sat on plastic sheeting to prevent bugs breakfasting on them, but we adults got cushy chairs. The perks of growing up!

Ice cream after the first evening service (I think). It being night, Grace and I virtuously passed on the dessert and headed for our cabin. To the right is the Southland director, Mike Herbster, and to his left is Joe Whitaker, who, with his wife, brought a busload of kids to camp; she (Linda W.) is active on BMA's Facebook page.

Canoeing all over the lake.

As you see, our accommodations were cushier than we ever had at BMA camp. And AIR CONDITIONING.

Paintball warfare! Not my dealie. Why should I pay to have someone shoot me and possibly hurt me?  (It does hurt sometimes.)      

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The one time Grace and I take a voyage on the lake--on our last full day--we get called back in because of a lake wind advisory. But we'd had a while, even enough time to discover that you could actually steer the paddle boat. Nobody bothered to instruct us when they sent us out.

Susan Woychuk and little Mary. Isn't she a cutie? Her dad had talked about her in Morning Watch, how she's at the stage where her communications consist entirely of "No!" So her brother asked her if she wanted candy. "No!" And as her dad was telling this, she was sitting back there laughing again, catching the drift. Her mom's a sweet lady. I made her acquaintance in the pool. Oh, I could tell a parallel story about one of my nieces at the same stage, and how the students in our school would ask her leading questions, like "Is Aunt Joy ugly?" An obliging nod. But she'll probably read this, so I dassn't name her.

Grace and one of the little campers, who was apparently feeling a little homesick.

One of the adult teachers, Dr. Austen Tucker. Eighteen years ago last month, he returned home from jogging, and went outside to trim a tree. He climbed up and began to feel heat exhaustion, but was too out of it to ask for help from a man nearby. He passed out and fell to the ground, breaking his neck and back in several places. The doctors marveled that he was even alive. He and his wife had no insurance, but the hospital forgave all but the doctors' bills, if I recall correctly--God provided for him! He teaches college online.

The staff choir--they had a professional sound to them. Sixty-something in the choir.

At the back of the chapel. The building looked similar to Georgia's BMA camp, from the outside, but different, sort of, on the inside. We provided Grace's and Paul's booklets on a table in the back, along with Paul's chalk talk DVD's and the 180 DVD's.

Grace giving the Gift Box object lesson. Some people wanted details on it afterward.

Jim Woychuk with Tic Tac Know, in Morning Rally. There was an embarrassingly low level of Bible Knowledge among the kids that volunteered for the questions, indicative of our churches today. But some of the families did well, including the Woychuk kids.

Resting at the Mississippi welcome station. Please ignore the casino behind me, as I did.