Iowa, June 5-6

My travels during the summer take me to Bible Camps. I have visited camps in North Dakota and Montana and now Iowa: EWALU Bible Camp, to be exact, in Strawberry Point, IA.

EWALU. Now, your thinking, "That's a unique name." And it is. And no, it is not Greek or Hebrew, thus referring to something Biblical. It is purely Iowaneeze. It stands for Eastern ioWA LUtheran bible camp. Now you know.

It is a 600 acre camp (huge!), completely wooded (unlike most of Iowa), and provides a variety of outdoor experiences for campers. There are different villages spread throughout the camp that allow campers to sleep in wagons (see photo), teepees, army-like tents, and cabins. This kind of set-up certainly allows camps to be a part of God’s creation in an intimate way. My thanks to associate director Paul Little for giving me a tour of the camp and its facilities.

My thanks also to program director Jesse Klosterboer for inviting me to speak to the staff regarding the topics of vocation, call, discernment, and seminary study; it was my pleasure to do so (see photo). I appreciated the staff's interest in these topics and the interaction that took place during my presentation.

One special note about the staff is that they have an international presence this year. Two staff members were from Namibia and one is from Tanzania. These individuals are part of a program through Church-wide. So not only is the name of the camp unique, but this staff is, as well, and they are richer for it.