Here’s a copy of the parent email we sent out this morning coming home from summer camp. If it would help you, rip it off and use it this summer, too!

Hi parents!

I’m soooo tired this morning – I’m sure your kids are exhausted, too! What an amazing and packed week, filled with friendships, spiritual challenges, games, music and food. Last night was the big finish with a great message on love and a hilarious late-night talent show and dance party — the finale of a truly great week!

I wanted to share some highlights with you before we make it back into town later today. We’ve been up at Camp Ojai (www.foresthome.org/ojaivalley) all week centering on the theme Restoration. Our speaker was Josh Riebock (http://www.joshriebock.com), who shared stories from his life and the life of Christ to talk about us being restored to the heart of God, listening to His leading and loving others. The music leader was Travis Ryan (http://www.travisryanmusic.com) from Saddleback’s San Clemente campus. He’s done an amazing job helping us respond to the message with his great heart and voice.

I’ve encouraged your student to spend time with you on Friday night before they jump back into their world. I asked them to escape with you for the evening to talk about their experience at camp — the Angels are in town so maybe some cheap seats at a slow-moving game of baseball would give you a chance to catch up. Or grab dinner and just talk about camp together — either way, I can’t wait for you to hear their stories and share their decisions with you.

Here are a few things you could talk about, a few questions to get you started:

• What struck you about Josh’s messages?
• Which Bible story Josh taught from what your favorite? (Peter walking on the water, the Prodigal Son, Jesus turning water into wine, The Good Samaritan)
• Who was your counselor? What did you learn from him/her?
• How was the day at the beach?
• Did you make any spiritual decisions this week?
• What song was the most meaningful to you? Why?
• What did you do during the free time?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how good was the food at camp?
• Did you miss me?

And just so you know, every student received a free T-shirt, a highlight video and a personal card/letter from their counselor. They probably got an extra sock or two in their suitcase, too, because it is camp and that stuff just happens.

Well, the buses will pull out soon and we’re just about on our way home. Camp is silent for now… but we’re trusting God the decisions made here will last for a lifetime. Thanks for sending your student to HSM Summer Camp at Ojai — it is such a worthy investment — you’ll see it in their exhausted eyes when they get off the bus. See you soon!

JG