Harvester Camp

The Harvester Camp is the most recent event we had and is also the last big event before I return to Switzerland. After this, I will share some other highlights and more everyday occurrences. The Harvester Camp was a long weekend event for the main members of the church. Usually, the camp was in Miyazaki, but this time, it was in Tokyo. It started on the evening of Friday, May 3rd, and ended on Monday, May 8th.

I spent Friday morning with my parents, eating breakfast and helping them make plans for the upcoming weekend while I was in camp. Around lunchtime, I met up with Yukie, and we went to the place where we would stay for the weekend. There, we met some other members who arrived early, and we went shopping for food for the weekend. We also all grabbed something to eat for lunch and then went into a park to have lunch together. We couldn’t go to the hostel yet, as the check-in time was later, so we enjoyed the warm sun and discussed our expectations for the camp. When check-in time finally came, we went to the hostel to relieve ourselves of our luggage and to store the food we had just bought. Soon, more and more members started to arrive, and we all greeted each other excitedly. At 18:00, the camp officially started with a grand welcome dinner.

An hour later, we started worshipping, played an icebreaker game and then Christian shared the first teaching about this year’s church topic: enlarge your tent. All in all, it was a great start to the camp.

The next day, we Tokyo members got up early to prepare breakfast before we all met outdoors to do the Morning STAR together.

After the STAR, we went inside again to eat breakfast. After breakfast, we gathered in the meeting room again for the second session of worship and to hear the second message about being freed from barrenness. Around noon, we went into a nearby Park to have lunch, and we spent the afternoon in this park playing games and enjoying the nice weather.

For dinner, we were split into small groups, and each group had to choose a place to eat together. We had the task of talking a lot and getting to know each other better. In this group, we returned to our campsite to join the 3rd worship and massage session. This time Christian talked about giving birth to spiritual children.

The next day, Sunday, started like the previous one. Preparing breakfast, morning Star, breakfast. However, on Sunday, the 4th message started a bit later because Tokyo church members who weren’t in the camp also joined us, and I also picked up my parents so they could join us on that day.

Like every Sunday, we started at 11:00 with worship, and then Christian talked about why people believe in Christ.

After the message, we gathered to walk to a nearby beach. We ate lunch together, worshipped, and celebrated Christian and Naomi’s wedding anniversary there. Finally, we were split into groups. The main event on Sunday was beach volleyball. In these groups, we played, and the winners moved on to the next round until, at last, only one team was left.

In the evening, it was time to say goodbye to the members who weren’t in the camp, and we returned to our hostel. There, we ate dinner before going to the 5th session. This time the topic was the covenant prayer.

The following day was the same again. Breakfast preparation, Morning Star, breakfast, Session 6 with the topic being royal priests. After the message, we all got our luggage and were split again into small groups.

In these groups, we went to Odaiba, had lunch, and spent some free time together.

Later in the afternoon, we all met again, sat in a big circle on the ground, and everyone shared their highlight and what touched them the most. Then we started saying our goodbyes and disbanded, and everyone went their way. I went to meet my parents, who also came to Odaiba that day, and we ate dinner together before returning home.