Article submitted by Sallie Roth & Lynn Dery.
Challenge Camp 2015 was one that 48 New England girls will never forget. The New England Challenge Camp Inspire was held at the Incarnation Center in Ivoryton CT from July 25-31st, 2015. Camp directors, Lynn Dery and Sallie Roth were accompanied on this journey by two very holy people: Cassandra Wolfe and Father Gregory Usselmann, LC.
The camp began with an introduction to our Inspire theme and campaign. Soon, the girls were off on a Quest for the Key, where they found that the key to their hearts and fruitfulness in the camp was found in the chapel at the foot of the tabernacle.
On Day 2 of Camp, they searched for beauty in creation. Despite the rain that day, a favorite activity was the Safari adventure where the girls earned coins through Safari challenges and then creatively turned one of their team members into an animal from USA, Canada, Africa and Brazil!!
Th
e highlight from Day 3 was the Hoe Down sing along and campfire along with the night activity where they learned how to save the “life of grace” by conquering Dr. McDarkdark’s 7 cronies, the capital sins. When the lights went out and Grace was captured, there was no shortage of screams. Conquering the cronies and restoring the life of grace was quite a lot of fun!!
Day4 was centered around finding the beauty in holiness and Christ. The activity that highlighted this day was the saint masquerade ball. In the morning the girls were invited to the ball by the court jester, Mia. As the day progressed, masks were created and designed, information about their saints was memorized, dances were choreographed, and the moms helped turn our meeting room into heaven!! The evening was a huge success as the girls learned about heaven, the saints and had an absolute “ball” dancing for hours.
On the 5th day of camp, the theme centered on the beauty of Jesus in the Eucharist. There were two memorable moments that day. The first was an opportunity to work as a team during the low ropes course. The second was working as teams to decorate various altars. We had Mass, a Eucharistic candlelit procession from altar to altar as the girls pledged their friendship with Christ. Father Gregory made this event so meaningful for these girls and we felt blessed that he was sent to us to be our chaplain. Day 6 was sheer fun. The girls participated in Messy Olympics and had a talent show later that night.
Each day, the girls learned about Our Lady with a formation talk before heading to morning prayers and Mass. They decorated Mary’s mural beautifully each day by completing various prayers and acts of piety. In addition to all the spiritual opportunities for growth, the girls were able to visit a farm, swim daily, and go down water slides. Each adult and girl went home truly exhausted physically from a full week of activities but one that filled their souls with so much grace that I think they were all ready to go be a true inspiration to others!!
Lynn Dery and Sallie Roth shared their gratitude for having Cassie Wolfe, consecrated woman as a support in their camp. “Cassie was quite an inspiration with her ability to give talks, teach about art, pray, and just through her testimony of joy. The girls we were so grateful that God sent her to the camp to help out.”