Upcoming Youth Activities

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Group WORKCAMP ~ Canonsburg, PA

29 Youth & 6 chaperons from elc! 

ELC youth & adults enjoyed another week at Group Workcamp this summer!  Each day they spent working on homes in need of repair in the Canonsburg, PA area either painting, scrapping, building wheelchair ramps but most importantly sharing God’s love to many people.  Thank you to ALL the youth & adult leaders for giving a week of your summer & a special word of thanks to the ELC Congregation for supporting our Youth Ministry! 

What workcamp meant to me…(words from the youth who attended) 

I had a lot of fun at workcamp. I made several new friends from my crew and had an excellent resident who was so kind to us. I had no idea that workcamp would be this fun, that I would make such good friends or that I would grow that much closer to God. I think the best thing was that our resident, who was an amputee, reaffirmed her faith after she admitted that she had blamed God for what happened to her leg. It was a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I went ~ Mara Stutzman
The workcamp was a lot of fun. I got to meet new people and have new experiences. I had a good relationship with my resident too. Some residents are shy and don't like to talk to the campers, sometimes they feel embarrassed about needing help. My resident was quite the opposite, she loved talking with us and repeatedly called us a blessing. I thank the Lord that she was my resident. ~ Liz Dawson 

 This year was my favorite of all four years at work camp. I made some really great friends that I think will last a very long time, and I feel like I made a big difference to my resident. The people I met shared a lot of the same values and beliefs as I do, and I feel like I've known them forever. Also, my resident, an 89 year old widow, probably gave more to me and my crew than we gave to her. She showed us the value of everything we do to help others. One thing she said to me when I was getting to know her was that just having us there was one of the greatest experiences of her life, and that when she got to heaven she hoped it was just like that. It meant a lot to me to see how much of an impact I can have on someone. ~ Katie Gibbons

In all honesty, I was not enthusiastic about the approaching time that lead to Group Workcamp. However, I walked away with the feeling that I had been provided a wonderful gift. Group Workcamp provided me with two wonderful gifts: the gift of friendship and self realization in the face of God. I am in awe of the friendships I made with both adults and youth, from both ELC and elsewhere. I feel so blessed to have been provided the opportunity to become closer with my sisters and brothers in Christ and I can only see it as an awesome gift.  The greatest gift however was the gift of self realization. I have always been a perfectionist and so determined to provide only the best that in my life of family and work I have never been one to delegate for fear that my standards would not be met. So as a result, I have spent my life with the belief that I must always do what is necessary to make myself better. With the help of God and the youth I worked along side of at Group Workcamp, I learned that it is not about me making "myself" look good, it is about me "helping others" realize the awesome goodness they have within. I had a lot of awesome goodness around me all week and I felt tuly blessed! ~ Sherry Beach 

This was my first work camp ever and I thought it was a great experience.  I enjoyed helping others this past week instead of helping myself to whatever I wanted.  Our resident Martha, was so nice and generous.  She didn't want us to leave and neither did I.  I will always remember this trip and all the memories that come with it. ~ Debi Sequerios. 

Coming on all of these trips make me worried, especially my first. But in both years, I was working with some really amazing people. And this year I was with twice the number of people and they still turned out really nice. You know it is a blessing from God when you get grouped, out of 400 people, with some of the nicest kids at the camp. ~ Nate Gibbons