Hey, Its Derek. Again. This summer is just chaotic. I have had barely anytime at home to just relax. Around a week after my High Adventure trip, I headed off to FSY (For the Strength of Youth) Camp. I just got back a few days ago, and so I need to write about the craziness that went down during this past week. 

I was really excited for FSY because I would be roommates with my friend Paul. My mom drove us to Trinity University, where this session of FSY was being held.

It actually was only around 20 minutes away from my house. So not as far away as EFY. When we got there, we got all checked in and headed off to the dorms we would be staying in.

My mom helped make sure we got settled and made up our beds before she left. After I had said goodbye to my mom, and we had gotten unpacked, we went to meet up with the other members of our company and our counselors, Joe and Melissa. The evening went almost the same way the first night at EFY went. We played some games, went to a devotional, and had dinner. The other people in our company were pretty nice and it was really fun getting to know them.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we were given a list of all the different classes there would be and where they would be held. I mainly stuck with Paul when it came to classes. The classes were very fun and pretty informative. One of them taught about the gospel by comparing it to an escape room. It felt so much different from how EFY went.

On Wednesday we had Games Night and Pizza night and It was a blast. There were a lot of fun games that the companies participated in. We also had a cheer off, where every company prepared a skit and performed it. In my companies skit, I played the role of “The Dark Prince of Temptations”. It was a blast.

And during pizza night, me and some of the other boys played a friendly game of poker. You can see from the picture I totally won it all.

Thursday was devoted to the gospel, and just like at EFY we split up into young men and young women to participate in a devotional and an activity. Then it was time for the variety show, which just like before I didn’t make it in. However, some people in my company got in. One of them solved a Rubik’s cube blindfolded, and two others played and sang “Upside Down” from Curious George. I also loved the musical program, which I almost fell asleep in due to how peaceful the music was.

My company made this experience pretty enjoyable. All of the boys had been referring to me as the Dark Prince since we came up with our skit. It always felt good to end each evening reflecting with all of these young men, who like me, had chosen to come here to come closer to Christ.

And the leaders and teachers were also great. A lot of them actually had complimented me on how I did in the dance competition. In fact, almost every one there was talking about it. Crazy, right? I would think they would more talk about how during the session showcase on Friday morning, I was on stage 3 times – ha ha! Once during a line dance before it started, once when I went up to represent our company and wave our company banner, and once when they asked the 3 people who did the best at the dance competition to come up one last time to dance again.  And I won again!

Friday came around and it was once again hard to say goodbye to all of these awesome people (except for Paul, since I didn’t have to say goodbye to him). They all really helped me out a lot. I had brought up the first day about my struggles with technology, and all of them pitched in to help me with it. They were all amazing and made this so awesome. This week was a blast, and I can’t wait to see what adventure awaits me next.