Various campers

We had this big idea, the expectation, and suddenly everything started changing. We rented the same venue we did last summer, and somewhere around January we got the news that Washington School District changed the end-of-school date, which overlapped with our time of camp. We had to find a new place. When you rent something, you put down deposits, and if you don't follow up with your rental, you are supposed to pay a penalty—which was huge for us. We tried to find another place to keep this money together. The owners of the previous place had only one more house available, and that was the one. But the cost of rent for that house was twice as much as what we had anticipated for the summer camp.

For that we needed to find half more participants. Our region doesn't have this many people—our two or three states combined. So we put out flyers and were recruiting people. We needed 50 people to pay for that venue, and in the end we got 50 people on the very last day. Then we had to find a team leader for each team—that is 10 more people. Then kitchen staff: to feed that many people you need around 8 people in there. And then you have to have a core staff to run everything. We ended up with an equation of 80 people, which is a lot, and I can tell you I did not anticipate just how much of a lot it was.

On the day of departure, suddenly four people got COVID. They didn't show up, and we had to scramble. Then there were some Amazon shipments to my house—main things for cooking, a grill and food and supplies—that had disappeared. It showed as arrived but I could not find them anywhere. I ran around the neighborhood knocking on doors, and nobody was answering my calls because it was the weekend. We came here, I sent everybody out, and then drove back with Mitzi, Linako, and Alisa to my house. I knocked at my neighbor's house again, and suddenly somebody came out. Did you receive my packages? She said, oh yes. We got two out of the three packages—and we were already an hour behind, with an eight-hour drive ahead.

I just want to stop here and say that everything we planned logistically did not work for a whole week. We arrived there late—about an hour and a half—because of everything. I am a core staff member; I am the main person organizing everything with Alisa. We sat all our kids down, and everything seemed to take a deep breath. But then one kid could not get his passport, so he was delayed attending the workshop and came the next day in the evening. The team from Seattle missed their flight, so six people came a day and a half later. When you don't start at the same time together, it can be really difficult for kids to feel included or feel the spirit. But we worked hard to make it happen.

The first day, the spiritual world just decided to destroy us. We started having some very unusual spiritual issues that were just pounding on me and Reverend Thompson and my core staff. I was really, really challenged—challenged to keep my motivation, challenged to keep my vision and see everything that we had to do and not fall apart. At this point there were so many issues happening that I had never experienced the year before at all. Last year it was just smooth sailing—we were exhausted and tired, but nothing happened like this. We realized: we are being challenged. And at this point I also realized that this group of people, these children, are something so, so very special.

For us as core staff, we were challenged to the point where I had an average of two hours of sleep all week. The last two days I did not sleep at all—I was just zoning out in one corner and then another, because I could not relax until the moment your children reached your home. It was a battle for my core staff and my team. The first day of the workshop, there were so many issues in the kitchen and everywhere else. I am so grateful for my husband—he is my rock. Every time I got hit in the face, I would go to him, and he would show me: okay, let's see what is really behind all of this, because it feels very personal.

Every time he would talk to me I could unite with him, and that worked. And my team united—oh my gosh, I want you to take a look at this picture. This team, these people—I have never worked with anyone like them in my life. They are outstanding, wonderful, amazing human beings. They are so young, and many of them have been through so much. They are all second generation; they have been through so much in their lives with everything that is happening around them. But we call and they answer the call. When we came together, they came to the plate—I am just so humbled.

They never complained. They never freaked out because nothing worked the way we wanted. Some of them spent six months working with me, preparing every single step. None of them lost their humility. None of them lost their vision of what we were doing. All of them were so united—and that is why we could complete this summer camp. To parents who have never been to summer camp, or who don't have kids this age, it might just sound like a vacation place. But we go there to give our kids the chance to create connections for life.

This particular camp that Alisa and I run—our agenda is to heal our kids' pain. Whatever they deal with at school, or maybe being second generation and not understanding why they have to be there—our intent is for them to realize: this is my roots. And to make a judgment for themselves: do I belong? In the end of camp, the transformation that children go through by being together and having this chance is extraordinary. To me it is all worth it. But the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical investment of staff—at least at this camp—was inhumane.

We overestimated what we could do and underestimated how much we needed. With that number of children, we were really understaffed. I had to take care of 14 staff members plus 20 overall people, and every day you have to put your heart into it. For team members, we had five kids per each team. Alisa—I had to tackle her down to let her sleep. On the last day she basically collapsed in my arms because she could not physically continue. That is on me, because I have to be stricter about when they go to bed. But they just put their whole hearts into our kids.

Somewhere around the second day I thought: that's it, this is the last time I am doing this. We felt that because it was our second camp, our second workshop, and Satan really wanted to destroy us—I could not put it any other way. It was humbling. It was crazy. At one point I was hyperventilating because I could not even catch my breath. We had to keep all of this away from everybody else to keep things smooth. Yesterday I talked to my kids and they were just so happy—they said, wow, that was amazing. When my husband and I talked and the kids came over and asked, mom, what's this, what's that, I shared a little. That was actually true for our staff too—we only told the main staff most of it on the last day, because we could not afford them falling apart.

On the third day three kids got sick, and they left for home. On the fourth day, one kid was breaking rule after rule after rule. I kept thinking, what if somebody is going to take off and just hitchhike with someone? But because of team unity, it all worked out. Last night we had another incident that could have completely destroyed the spirit and everything. But because of the parents' unity, the kids' unity, and the team's unity, we were able to finish this camp. We could not do half of what we wanted because we had to manage the spiritual well-being of so many people. Elvis—my team member, my baby Elvis—and Yoshiro: I am so humbled by these two young men and their peers who worked with me. They came to the plate big time—so mature, so responsible.

Antonisa: And they even find time to take care of me. The second day, when everything was falling apart, there was not one team member who came to me and gave me a little shoulder-up or hug. They could sense that we were working hard, and it was amazing. Shufang, Mitzi—all the mothers in the kitchen, a stellar woman. Hiroko-san. Hiroko-san, I heard yesterday, actually forgot her luggage at home, and she had no clothes to change. And I've never heard even one word from her—like, 'Oh, can you drive me shopping? Oh, I forgot all my clothes or something like that.' Just humbly flying through and supporting the team.

I couldn't be grateful enough, driving kids there and driving kids back. Mitzi, too. And Shufang—oh, my God—the kitchen. Mommas together in a small kitchen, it can be a serious problem. I asked them: 'You guys, for us to make this happen, we have to stay united, and we all know how to make an offering to God.' And that's what they did. So smooth. I didn't need to worry even one second about anything happening in the kitchen. It was smooth. And they did this cute, cute performance in the end. I hope we have a video of it. But it was amazing.

Our youth is our everything. This is our future. Our youth is the most precious asset that we have in our hands. Let's love them together. Let's appreciate them. And if you ever meet these kids, I can give you their names—or if you want to send them cards of gratitude, Starbucks cards, whatever, please let me know. Because the future of God stands on their shoulders, and they are amazing people. That's how I experienced Kingdom of Heaven in seven days—like nothing else. It was victory, the first time in my life of this magnitude. So let's appreciate the kids. Let's love them. Let's support them.

Jeremy: Today I'm going to be talking about my experience at Camp Journey. When I first got to Camp Journey, I thought the camp wasn't even going to be fun, and I didn't even want to go. But after the second day, I started liking the camp because we started doing fun stuff. The camp also started becoming fun because the staff were letting us do activities so we could make the camp fun. Another reason it started becoming fun: my friends started enjoying it—they started making it fun. Also, I started meeting different people from different states, and they were talking about how fun the camp was last year. So I just started enjoying it. Towards the end of the camp, I didn't want to come back to Colorado because of how much fun it was. If they have Camp Journey next year, I'm going to sign up.

Yumika: When I was at Camp Journey, I was actually the youngest out of everybody, and I was one of the only third gens, too. So I was basically everybody's younger sibling. Everybody was older than me, but I liked it, actually, because everybody had to take care of me. And I also got to experience everybody's love and investment—and younger siblings too, not just me. And I feel like next year, hopefully, when there are younger people, I'll also be able to give them the same love and investment and time that they gave to me. It was a really wonderful family to experience with. Everybody has God inside them, but when everybody comes together and brings that out, it's just so wonderful—God is definitely there, in your presence. And so the family was so beautiful, and I'm so lucky to be a part of it and a part of this wonderful community.

Maya: When I went to Camp Journey, I definitely felt a lot closer to God because I had so much fun there, and it was even hard for me to get mad. I remember sometimes I would feel bad about something, but I just felt so good there that it was impossible for me to get mad and hold grudges for a long time. So I was basically happy the entire time. But it's never happened to me before—usually I'm really moody and not feeling the best. But I definitely felt so happy during that camp, and it was a really nice experience for me. It was much more comfortable for me than last year because I knew people. I really loved my team because I felt like I could share stuff with them, and I felt like I could really be myself.

The view was so beautiful. In the morning, the sun would be rising a little bit, and there would be a beautiful sunset, and the lake was right outside. So when you stepped on the balcony, you could see the lake, and sometimes it'd be different shades of blue, or it'd be shimmering a bit—there was like glitter on it. And it just looked so beautiful. I remember sometimes when we'd be going out, I'd just be breathtaking by the view, and I just wanted to stare at the lake the entire time. But I couldn't because we had other stuff to do. I couldn't just sit there.

We did eventually go to the lake, and it was fun, but it was cold. That wasn't as great as I imagined. I had imagined the water being so warm because that's what the brothers said. But it was not warm. They lied. It was cold. But there were so many fun activities, and I feel like it really made me feel closer to everyone—because even though there were some people I hadn't seen in over a year, or completely new people, I felt like I was able to bond with them so much so quickly. And it was a really nice experience for me.

While the activities were both fun and joking, there were also some really serious activities that I felt really helped me in getting closer to God. It was shown in a slideshow, but there was this activity where basically we thought about our self-limiting thoughts—something that was holding us back—and they had these boards. You had to push your hand through it and break it. Everyone was able to do it, and that made me feel really happy. And when someone was struggling but they eventually did it, everyone would cheer for them and hug them, which was really nice.

There were so many activities that let me express my true thoughts. At other camps, I've never really been able to express myself that thoroughly before. And I hate crying, but I was able to cry at the camp. I mean, I regretted it because my eyes hurt so much after. But it was still really, really freeing to get some of these weights off my chest. The camp was definitely a really fun experience, and if they have it again next year, I would definitely go. When they said 'Rate your experience out of 10,' I wrote 20. So I really enjoyed the camp.

Elvis: I'm actually so grateful that the kids had so much fun. Because, like Antonisa was saying, her staff was so stressful—looking back and thinking, wow, these kids not just had fun, but also grew. It makes me really happy and really joyful. I'm going to go into my testimony now. It's a little bit about the GPA and this Camp Journey. If you guys didn't know, I'm going to be doing a second year of GPA. I'm going into captain's training, which is training to lead my own team on the front line when they're fundraising.

Honestly, when I first went to GPA, my concept of a captain was: oh, wow, I have to go out and struggle in this difficulty with all these people. But my captain just sits in the van—they're just chilling in there, watching Netflix. I'm out here fundraising, making money. I thought captaining was very easy, probably the easiest thing you can do as a captain. And I'm so grateful I went to Camp J, actually, because I found out that is not true at all.

My team was so amazing. At first they were very quiet, and I was thinking, oh, wow, this is going to be very difficult. But towards the end they really bonded together, and I'm so grateful. One thing they taught me is that captaining is very difficult—it's not just saying, "Go out there and do good, guys." They're your children. You worry about them so much. I'm watching them watch lectures, and they're falling asleep, and I'm like, no, don't fall asleep—you're going to learn something.

I told my mom about this, but it was very stressful—thinking, how are these kids growing? Are they having a good time? Will they come back next year? All these different things. But this experience made me realize, first off, how hard captaining is. I'm so glad I didn't just go into captain's training thinking this is going to be the easiest time of my life. But also that the most important thing, when you're leading a team, is to just try and love them as much as you can. That's the most important thing.

It's very easy to say that you love somebody. But through this experience, I realized it's very hard to actually act that way. One thing I learned on GPA is that love is not just a feeling—it's an action too. And I want to start acting like it. Going into my first year, GPA was more about learning: learning about True Parents, learning about God, getting into this mindset of, oh, I need to pray now, I need to reflect now, let's do Hoon Dok Hae now. But going into my second year, especially with this experience, I realized I want to start actually acting—not just saying I want to pray, but actually praying; not just saying I want to reflect, but actually reflecting.

I'm so grateful for this experience because it really put things into perspective. These are just middle school and high school kids I was leading—and I'm imagining what it will be like leading graduated high school kids, and I think it's going to be so much more stressful. But I'm just so grateful I was able to go through this experience. I'm so grateful for all the kids for coming, and so grateful that they had a good time, because that's what I was most worried about.