On Sunday, July 22^nd, the Zone descended on Camp Carter in Fort Worth, TX for the second year as 34 staff members warmly welcomed 91 campers to their new home for a week of excitement and fun. After camp ended, fourteen campers joined four staff members for the first Camp Carter Extended Session—a three-day excursion to the San Antonio area for some historical touring and a visit to a unique water park.

At orientation the opening night, the campers learned that while a little over half of the campers came from Texas, they also came from 17 other states ranging from Alaska to Florida, and from California and Arizona to West Virginia and Connecticut and many points in between. There were also campers from two other countries—Mexico and the Bahamas. Campers were given an overview of the week, including a number of new activities that were introduced this year, and were encouraged to meet, appreciate, and build relationships with as many campers and staff as possible. Comments such as "awesome" and "this was the best camp ever" were common from the campers.

The concept of relationships was the focus of the week’s Christian Living—with Compass Checks (10 to 15-minute messages right after breakfast) and longer discussions at night after Open Activities and a chance to visit the Camp Store for snacks. On Monday morning Mr. Ken Giese (Head Counselor) discussed our relationship with God stressing the point that God has His hand out to all of us asking us to respond. Tuesday morning, Mr. Ken Treybig (Camp Director) discussed relationships with parents and siblings pointing out that those have the potential for being the longest relationships of our lives and stressing the point of putting yourself in the other person’s shoes as a key to building relationships. Mr. Doug Horchak (Lakefront Supervisor) spoke on our relationship with the Church on Wednesday, pointing out that the human body has "forced unity" but we must make a choice to get along with each other. Thursday Mr. Eric Evans (Music Activity Head) explored relationships with friends, using his team’s gold medal from hockey to point out that we need each other because "Together Everyone Accomplishes More". Friday’s Christian Living was by Mr. Gary Petty (Christian Living Coordinator) on our relationship with society, pointing out that as ambassadors for Christ we are to strive to take the Zone with us everywhere to be an "embassy" representing the Kingdom of God. The longer evening discussions and question-answer sessions went more deeply into the subject of the day.

Campers and staff had plenty of opportunities to practice the points described in Christian Living as they enjoyed the wide variety of activities offered this year. Activities that were also done last year included basketball, crafts, dance, football, horseback riding, ropes, softball, strength training, swimming and volleyball.

There were also several new activities offered this year. Each dorm shared a half-day with another dorm at the new lakefront activity. Campers were able to do two activities of their choice from water skiing, tubing, and Jet Ski rides behind a staff member. Since we reserved a city park, our staff was able to cook a hamburger/hot dog lunch that was served in the covered pavilion.

Other new classes included a lifeskills class, which focused on non-verbal communication this year, pointing out that much of what we say to others comes from our dress and body language. In the new music class a discussion about music led to each dorm being challenged to create their own dorm song which was then performed during the intermission at the Saturday night dance. This year each dorm was assigned a page to create in the newspaper during the new newsletter/web page class.

One unusual aspect of camp this year was building a new sand volleyball court for the YMCA while we were there. Ken Danapas ran volleyball this year and arranged for the donation of all the materials, then directed all the volunteer labor he and other staff members contributed. The total cost of all the donated materials is around $4,600. The staff put in many long hours Saturday night, Sunday afternoon and night as well as on Monday to install treated 6 x 6 posts and prepare the court. That included digging out the old mixture of grass, dirt, and packed sand, laying down a barrier to prevent future grass growth, and then spreading the new sand and installing the new net and lines. Laurie Johnston of the YMCA said they are thrilled with the new court. They were impressed with the hard work, diligence and resourcefulness shown in securing all the donations in such quick order since they have another group who has been promising for two years to build another court in a different location.