by Ashley Anderson

I remember almost not going to my first ISCF camp. I also remember trying to pack all my things on the morning of departure after Uncle Paul called to say it would be financed for me. More than anything, I remember crying when I got back home because I was in no way ready to leave, and too ready to come back to another. ISCF camps have made a huge impact on my life and who I am as a Christian. I learn and grow a lot during those 3-5 days and make many lifelong friends and memories doing so. We play games, speak about sensitive topics, cry and laugh and worship God together, experience the beginning and completion of testimonies, and the list goes on.

For those few days, even if I had never spoken to those people before and would never speak to them again, they were my family. Over the years I’ve always gotten what I needed at ISCF camps, whether from the sessions or the kind and wise words of a counselor who genuinely cared. Coming back from an environment that is conducive to hearing from and being convicted by God, considering the structure and lack of distraction, I’ve returned from previous ISCF camps compelled to give up certain relationships, habits and perspectives as well as reassured of who Christ is and who I am in Christ. 

It was after an ISCF camp that I spoke for the first time at my church one year on something I learned at that same camp. I know the paradise of camps don’t last forever but once I get over the fear and sadness of losing it, I can embrace the refreshing it gives and I become more aware that I have something more to share and do when I get home.