Although it is only Wednesday, this week at Horse Camp has already been a whirlwind of activity and full of Christ-centered friendships being built. The horse camp group has already experienced everything from the joys of wilderness camping, horse rides along some exciting wooded trails, and a trip to Stonecrest!

The first evening of camp provided the group with a challenge that ended up being the first major bonding moment for them. After a significant amount of rain the previous couple of days, starting the fire to cook dinner was particularly challenging. But the group came together and managed to get a roaring fire going in order to cook! Dinner never tastes quite as good as when you’ve cooked it yourself over an open fire. The same night after our Vespers at Lone Pine a handful of camp staff and campers spontaneously came together to sing Amazing Grace. Suddenly, all the other conversations around the campfire stopped. God was present in that beautiful moment.

Our Tuesday evening worship took place at High Point, which happens to be located in one of Heartland’s horse pastures and is featured on the cover of the Heartland camp Bibles. On this particular evening the horses were out in the same pasture, heard the worship songs, and came over to investigate. The result was a scenic, fun-filled night of worship that fully epitomized horse camp at Heartland.

The campers’ adventure for today was a field trip to Stonecrest, where they got to see how thoroughbred racehorses are raised and trained and interact with some horses that have raced in the Kentucky Derby! They also got to talk to two officers from the Kansas City Mounted Patrol about how horses are used in police work and the training that is involved in that. The campers really enjoyed this time, which was evident from the seemingly endless stream of good, thoughtful questions.

The end of the week will be here before we know it, but the campers still have a ton to look forward to! One event that has gotten a lot of talk from the campers is a s’mores party that is planned for Thursday night.

I want to thank you for sharing your children with us this week. It has been a joy to see the work that God is doing in this group of campers this week and we are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of that.

God bless,

Donny Gesell

Horse Camp Director