On the 26th of June 2009, Bethel’s youth group attended a camp down in Llanmadoc, Gower as part of a joint union between 2 churches.

The History of this camp trip came to our attention when Cliff Watkins, a deacon of Bethel mentioned that his son, Paul Watkins of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Swansea was holding a summer camp and was interested in merging the two churches together.

The youth leaders had weeks to decide on the matter and then bring it to the groups attention, to which it was warmly received by all. Although this meant that the weekend was conflicting with some important exam revision for some, the weekend’s structure meant they could be integrated into the activities just for the day.

Paul Watkins visited us during a Thursday youth meeting to explain the exact plans for the camp as most of our youth never actually attended a camp before. There was a camp organised in Bala by the AECW organisation but because of quick bookings and lack of cancellations, some couldn’t attend that camp so this one provided an excellent one to start off.

The camp also provided our youth leaders with a perfect opportunity to treat our youth for a successful and enjoyable half year of youth since its re-structure back in late 2008.

Bethel youth attendance was 100% and our numbers meant a near full capacity at the camp. Although Bethel youth made up a small number of the overall crowd, the perfect tasks that Paul and the YPF team set up, made sure of some real team spirit with all members involved.

The weather leading up to the camp week looked promising but with far off forecasts looking stormy, I feared the worst. Paul assured that whatever the weather, a good time would be had by all.

Fridays departure from Bethel was a mixture of excitement and nervousness at our first visit to a camp with another church youth we had never met before. But the weather held off and assured us to look forward to a good weekend, with Gospel teachings along the way.

As we arrived, we realised that the camp was really set back and out-of-the-way from other attractions and meant we really had our own area for the weekend.

Paul brought us into the lounge for a quick ice-breaker to introduce names and some laughter to get the mood set. He then presented the theme for the weekend being applied to the TV programme ‘The Apprentice’, quickly announcing the 3 teams we were part of and our team names, Stealth, Ignite and Empire.

Meal times were provided by the Ebenezer members to an extremely high standard and Paul regularly kept us informed of our upcoming plans for the evening.

That evening, John started off his word, spread across the 3 services of the weekend, bringing us 2 Timothy 3. He went on to describe how a christian’s life has different parts that we could divide, where some are easier to recognise but others needed more prayer and work to effectively complete. His first three main points were: Way In Life, Way Of Life and Our Aim In Life.

That evening, a short walk from the camp was St Madoc’s private beach and gave an opportunity for the youth to work up some tiredness and experience what the Gower can provide at sunset, which was breathtaking.

Next morning meant a early rise for some, breakfast and then a 9:30am meeting in the lounge for a testimony, together with some pictures, from Rhys Davies, a member from Bethel.

Seeing as the glorious weather continued, Paul had prepared some team games led by Ebenezer & Bethel youth leaders, who were viewing and marking on team communication, participation, variety of ideas and general team performance. Later that afternoon, he continued with some exhausting team games up on the upper field. This really brought us together as teams and the competitiveness really flourished for the better! It ended with a game of rounders which really worked up some thirst.

John continued his ministry in the evening with 2 Timothy, this time supporting his talk with some really helpful powerpoint presentations, which helped the youth understand this challenging verse. He described that the christian as summed up as a picture could be completed in sections, but also some parts were more difficult than others. He added the points of: Faith, Patience and Love.

Saturday evening ended up being the pinnacle of the weekend’s activities with the teams getting back together in the canteen for a variety of physical and mental tasks. Some team vs team challenges, which went from singing anthems we wrote, to eating races of rocket ice lollies (which are still bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about it). Paul also decided to form all the adults into their own team and made them a part of each task, which went down well for all the youth! And if Alan asks for another sock, I’m gonna scream (camp joke).

Paul made sure that the day visitors were quickly introduced into every team and all members made use of their added expertise and really made some strong bonds by the end of the night, where Paul organised a breath-taking fireworks display in the upper field area. I’m sure this made the day visitors feel ready for a full weekend next year when the revision was long gone!

Sunday morning really brought the talk that John prepared for the weekend to a enjoyable conclusion, and finally explained the harder sections of the christian life: Endurance, Persecution and Suffering. With a quick summary of the other points, the after talk really showed that the youth enjoyed the weekend’s word that was given perfectly for their understanding and this period in their christian lives.

Paul led us for a walk up through the surrounding forest and presented us with a final cliff-top view of the Gower that we were spending the weekend in. Really breathtaking, not only because it was also extremely windy but gave a 360′ view of Llanmadoc’s marvellous surroundings.

That afternoon, Paul announced the team winner of the weekend as Stealth, which happened to be my team. and after the group photo of the weekend was taken, the feeling really sank amongst the group.

And it was then that the reason hit me why these youth camps are so popular and why we agreed the camp being an annual event. We all came with some nervousness, who was where, what was it going to be like and whether our weekend was going to be as good as other camps we had heard of. But as the cars left with the youth, I suppose the look on everyone’s faces answered the questions we all asked, and although not one word was shared about the general weekends thoughts, being the last to leave, I could see that not one would turn down repeating this weekend again next year.
A weekend spent with friends and gaining some more, some brilliant weather and activities and food, a bit of bonding through teams and competitiveness to spur you on, all wrapped up with an enjoyable word to teach us some of life’s lessons and more importantly our relationship with God, which couldn’t have been done any better.

Many thanks to each youth member for attending and bringing us all at Bethel an enjoyable weekend we can all look back on until next year!
And many many thanks to Paul and the Ebenezer folk for an unforgetable weekend.

Hope you enjoy the photos and if you have any that you would like to add to this album then please contact me on webmaster@bethel-gorseinon.org.uk

Here are some pictures captured during the weekend below:
(Click on each photo to show a bigger version)

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