West Junior Camp 2022

Mosaics

Ari Z.
Age: 8
Tribe of Levi

Hello , my name is Ari. I’m in the tribe of Levi. I really like this years craft. It is mosaics. Mosaics are pictures or words made from broken tile. My craft is a picture of the mountains with a beautiful sunset. The first thing we did was design out picture. Then, we grabbed our tiles to prepare for the colors. Then, or the tiles that we need to be smaller, we put them in a bag and crushed It with a hammer. For this, we needed adult supervision. Then we glued our tiles using swabs and glue. After the glue dried, we put on the grout. Grout is kinda like cement but not exactly. After the grout we were done and just had to polish. I was left with a beautiful mosaic that I will remember forever.

Water Balloon Volleyball

Olivia W.
Age: 11
Tribe of Naphtali

We were ecstatic as we arrived to our destination, “Water balloon Volleyball,” We yelled! First all the tribes came together to decide a cheer, ours was, “Nephtali can’t you see, look into our eyes see our victory!” After that, the judges explained the rules. Then we played. First it was Ephraim vs. Levi. We cheered for Ephraim throughout it all and they won. Next was our turn, we were up against Dan. Me and Aviva’s job was to hold the tarp up in front for the balloon to launch high. Snoopy and Storms job was to launch the balloon. Rina helped support the balloon when we caught it. Halfway through the game, Hershey gave us a tip to launch the balloon right when we get it so the tribe is not ready. We won that round thanks to Hershey. A round later, we were up again playing Ephraim, but we stuck with our strategy and after a long game we won, we were undefeated until our next competition. We sadly lost. The next round decided who would play us in the finale was Dan. The tribe of dan was so tired after playing three times in a row, which made it easy for us to win! We played and almost instantly won! “Naphtali can’t you see look into our eyes see our victory!” We yelled. We were victorious.

Interview with Spot

Lucas A.
Age: 9
Tribe of Levi

Hi My name is Lucas and I’m interviewing Spot. For my interview I decided on a couple questions I was curious about. First I asked what is your subject in school and his name is Spot. Spot is age 13 and his favorite candy is peanut butter cups. He is a carnivore. Spot is a counselor at Camp Gilgal because he like to blank, and he likes the night game. And his favorite night game is water balloon volleyball. Did you know Spot has been at camp for 7 years and started in 2012? Spots last name is Spottington, and Spots favorite color is red. Spots favorite band is Supreme.

Skit Night

Rina T.
Age: 12
Tribe of Naphtali

 Hi! My name is Rina and I’m going to tell you about skit night! It was so fun, funny, and weird. There were four tribes including us, the tribes were, Levi, Dan, Ephraim and us Naphtali.  In our cabin we have me, Aviva, Olivia, Storm, and Snoopy! Our skit was the book of Ruth from Bible. It was super funny! Some of my favorite parts were, “Shalom shawty”, “ I will stay with you even when you have the chicken pox” “ you may now hug the bride”. I think our skit was the funniest. But I also loved everyone else skits! The tribe of Ephraim has first and there skit was about David and Goliath. Next up Levi, and their’s was about Daniel interpreting dreams. Then Dan, there skit was about Moses getting the 10 commandments. And lastly, ours was about Ruth getting a hubby named Boaz and Naomi helping her through it. Ruth was very loyal to her mother in law and family. In between every skit there was “guess that tribe leader” and it was super funny and crazy seeing everyone as kids, and they were so cute! To sum it up skit night was funny, amazing, exciting, and crazy@ And we got second place! I love skit night!

Wells Fargo

Sofia R.
Age: 10
Tribe of Ephraim

Bags Of Gold

Hello! My name is Sofia and I will tell you about Wells Fargo! The staff are dressed up as the Loyal and Faithful agents. You will have to pick up the bag of gold and run to your home spot. But the Loyal and Faithful’s will try and tag you if you take the bag of gold. If you do get tagged by a staff then you have to go back to home spot and count to 100. Your goal is to not get tagged by staff. If campers get more than seven bags then they win. But if the staff get then seven bags they win. The campers are the outlaws. When you are the outlaws, you get to steal the bags of gold. Then take it back to your home base. Then there are ties so you play more rounds. This year I got a bag from Storm, and she started to chase me but I got the bag of gold. That’s how you play Wells Fargo.

John’s Incredible Pizza

Rhyder G.
Age: 9
Tribe of Levi

My Perspective of John’s Incredible Pizza

Why we were here in the first place was because it was Ladies Day, so all the men had to leave. When we got there I thought I was in heaven. We walked into a room and they gave us a card with 3 free rides, unlimited buffet, and 80 credits. All of my favorite games were there! There were 3 rides, twister, bumper cars, and frogger jumper. When we were leaving our counselor Spot, threw up. In conclusion, I had a great time!

Water Slide

Hannah W.
Age: 12
Tribe of Ephraim

At the beginning, the counselors asked us to put on a swimsuit and sunscreen and to bring a towel. We all thought it was the pool at first then when we passed the pool, we knew it was the water slide! When we got there, we all lined up. And when I got to the front of the line, I got on the tube and when I went down the slide I screamed, “Shrekalicious!”, and spun around like a billion times. Then went halfway up the hill then down into the water. I ran back up the hill and past the tube up. I waited in line for a bit. One it was my turn, I got on the tube I screamed, “Shrekalicious!”, again while going down. Water got all over me after I was done. I went to the Snack Shack with Snoopy.

Lonestar

Micah H.
Age: 13
Tribe of Dan

Today I interviewed Lonestar. It was an 8 question interview of many types of questions. I will sum it up. Lonestar first came to camp in 2019 at a winter camp, he heard about it from Blueish. He is one of the 3 camp directors. Lonestar mostly reads the gospels of the Bible. His favorite Bible story is when Jesus healed Lazarus. Lonestar’s favorite things to do outside of camp is go on hikes, exercise, read and study the bible. And finally, his favorite meal at Oakhurst is breakfast.

First Day of Camp with Tribe of Dan

Micah H.
Age: 13
Tribe of Dan

 Yesterday was the first day of camp. The day started out ordinary with a ride to camp. About half of the tribe members of Dan were part of the Socal can ride. Gabriel, Micah and Judah. The other members were Aaron, Lyrit, and Mateus. The can ride was six hours but many campers had fun socializing and playing games. The van stopped halfway to camp at In-n-Out and Panda Express where campers got to eat. Campers filled out slimy madlibs and drew pictures until they finally got from Los Angeles to Camp Oakhurst. Campers were welcomed to the camps. They were all divided into four tribes, with many counselors. The day started with lots of cabin time for the campers to meet one another. After that they served dinner. The camp had spaghetti with garlic bread and salad. “It was pretty delicious, not gonna lie, “ said Gabe Tribe of Dan. But just as everyone was feeling safe, everything changed- Stop N’ Go Night. If you don’t know what that is, it’s simple. You may eat and socialize normally, until- the counselor blows their whistle. If that happens, you have to freeze or else you could be at risk of losing your fork. ( So make sure you’re comfortable with eating without utensils) After that happened and the tribes luckily survived, everyone got to choose tribe names. We decided on Tribe of Dan. “Because snakes are really cool” said the tribe leader, Mufasa. Our other pick was Judah, but we decided to switch it up, since a lot of us already had that name last year. After that, everyone made their degals, or flags. The tribe of Dan’s featured a fire breathing snake. After that everybody settled down and had fun in the cabin, while getting ready for bed. That was our first day of Camp Gilgal 2022. I hope more good days will come.

NoNo Night

Lyrit M.
Age: 12
Tribe of Dan

Hello, I am Lyrit, and I am writing about NoNo Night. NoNo Night is a theme night at Camp Gilgal. First, I will write the rules. The rules are straight forward. You can’t say Ho know in any language. If you say no and someone hears you say nono and they get your clothes pins. If you get your clothes pin taken away you are out until you get someone to say no and then you get their clothes pin you are back in the game. The goal of the game is to get the most clothes pins. This year I lost my clothes pins so fast to Mateus because I said nono night and the word nono night has the word no in it. The somehow, I got a clothes pin so I was back in the game then I lost it to Matzah. At the end of the night, Mateas won.

Tribe of Dan

Gabriel V.
Age: 10
Tribe of Dan

 Our tribe is crazy. Our tribe name is Dan and we love to have fun. We have Gabe, Judah, Micah, Aaron, Mateus and Lyrit for our campers. And Mufasa and White Socks as our Counselors. We are very, very, very, very, loud especially when something fun is going to happen. Our tribe is really good at the games we do here, especially water balloon volleyball. Mateus like making people laugh and the other just like to laugh to his jokes. Aaron is one of the good kids who likes to follow directions. I/ Gabe likes to mess around a lot and eat lots of candy, also get really hyped for gaga ball which is another game we like to play. Judah likes to eat healthy food and likes to play with his toys and sticker notebook. Micah Is very quiet, he is really good at writing and learning. And finally Lyrit is just like Mateus and very funny.

Mateus’s Gaga Ball Experience

Mateus A.
Age: 11
Tribe of Dan

 Have you ever played Gaga ball? Well I have I think Gaga ball is really fun. You can play so many ways my favorite way to play is knees and below and cut out. Which is a way to play, cutthroat means the winner gets 7 lives. The fame is played by using your hand to block the ball or hit the ball because “ga” mean hit in Hebrew. I have won a lot of games at camp. When I went to camp last year I got my hand hurt really hurt bad, my knuckles scraped the ground and were bleeding. But I still love playing Gaga Ball.

Water Balloon Volleyball

Rafael T.
Age: 9
Tribe of Levi

One late evening I was so excited and pumped because I thought we were going to do, “Capture the Degal.” But then all of a sudden we where gonna play water balloon volleyball!!! Well, first of all you play the game with a volley ball net, and a water balloon. Then you use a tarp with a balloon. You put it in the tarp. Then you fling the tarp and the balloon goes over the net. And after time passed, out tribe had fun but lost!!! The Naphtali Tribe won the tournament, and it was fun. Also, one thing I enjoy about the game is that there is water balloons. THE END!

Ladies Day

Norah B.
Age: 10
Tribe of Ephraim

Hello! My name is Norah and I’m here to tell you all about Ladies Day at Camp Gilgal! At first, we all lined up for lunch. Then, Snapple played, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and that’s when Lady’s Day began! The men went somewhere else for lunch. So we had the whole place to ourselves. Well besides the other camp. For lunch we had turkey sandwiches and brownies. They were so good. I also learned to only take one of the middle pieces of a brownie. The ones on the edges are rock hard. After that we played mafia on the grass. Mafia is a super fun game. Then, we went to the pool! It was really quiet for a while when we got there. That was super nice! After that we got tribe time in our cabins. Just chillin’! Then we went to the other cabin, because we found that we were doing our very own Ladies Day escape room! An escape room is where there is a mystery, and you have clues to help you solve it. The theme was that someone stole Matzah’s hairbrush, and she only has an hour to get ready for shabbat! So we had to help her. There were so many hard clues you had to solve! All of our camp counselors were standing around the room .They were doing hand motions, and we had to figure out what they were doing. Then, we had to say it to them and they would give us a clue. For example, S’mores would say, “ where is the best place to curl your hair?” then once you figured it our, they would give you an envelope with something inside. But the rule is, your not allowed to open it until you have all of the envelopes. Turns out, every envelope had puzzle pieces inside. Once we completed the puzzle, it was a song! “Oh, where is my hair brush?!”  The final task was teamwork! We all sang the song together. It was super fun! Finally, they revealed where the hairbrush was! We all had so much fun! It was really hard work though. But the best part was, at the end, we got to have popcorn, jellybeans, and otterpops! It was a super fun Ladies Day. I had an awesome time without the boys!

Interview with Snapple

Rina T.
Age: 12
Tribe of Naphtali

Hi! My name is Rina. I’m in the Tribe of Naphtali and I’m going to be interviewing the one and only Snapple! So here I go!“Can I interview you?”, I asked.Snapple said, “Of course!”I said, “Okay, first question. What is your favorite Camp Gilgal memory?”Snapple said, “It was pouring rain one year and we got taco bell room service.”I said, “Oh nice! What is your favorite quote of at camp? “Campers! Campers! Campers!”, Snapple exclaimed.I said, “Nice Haha.”“What year was your first at camp?” I asked.Snapple said, “Since 1999.”“Wow, cool.” , I said.I asked, “When did Camp Gilgal start?”“1991.” Snapple said. “Dang…Wow.” I said. “What is your favorite color?” I said.“Green!” said Snapple.I said, “Pretty! I love green!”.I said, “If you had to choose only one, which would you choose? M.I., Wells Fargo, or Capture The Degal?” “M.I.”, Snapple replied. “Why?” I said? Snapple said, “Because everyone is so hyped up and it’s so fun and dramatic.”I said, “Oh nice! I love M.I. Well bye now! And that concludes the interview.

Mission Impossible

Olivia W.
Age: 11
Tribe of Naphtali

Mission Impossible

We were listening to “Frozen” music when M.I. started playing. Everyone was screaming with excitement. They told us to get black clothes on and bug spray on. We were ready and the whistle blew. We got our first clue which lead us to the camp fire. Once we got there, Lonestar was guarding our next clue. A while later while we were so close to getting our clue, a camp worker said we had to leave. After Lonestar talked to her we asked for our clue but instead we had to go back and touch our door. Luckily we got our clue in the end. Which lead us to volleyball. We were headed to the volleyball area and van into Snapple on the way hut weren’t caught. At volleyball we found our clue, it lead us to basketball. Lonestar was guarding our clue. We were very careful and made it out with our clue. Our next destination was the dining hall. We were met with Hershey and didn’t freeze in time, so we got caught. On our way back, Aviva felon the rocks and got hurt but she still shook it off and still went on. After having to go back we finally got our which lead us to the waterslide. Once we got to the waterslide we had to go all the way to archery. We were met with S’mores. We barely got past her and got our clue which sent us the snack shack which was were we got out last clue, we ran back to the tabernacle and won second place! We told war stories, showered and went to bed.

Shabbat

Aaron G.
Age:12
Tribe of Dan

Hi, my name is Aaron. I am a Jew. Jewish people celebrate this holiday called Shabbot. On Shabbot we light two candles to start the holiday. Oh Shabbot, last week we prayed, drank grape juice, ate bread, and ate dinner. To end the holiday, we light one candle that has three wicks, we pray, and sing. Then we all went to sleep.

The Snack Shack

Azriel S.
Age: 10
Tribe of Levi

 My name is Azriel, and I am in the Tribe of Lev. The best place to get junk food is the snack-shack. Hershey’s favorite thing to get is the cold brew. Most of their items are rather cheap. For instance, the smarties are only $0.50. My favorite thing to get is skittles. I also like to get sprite. I am happy to have the snack shack.

Snag A Staff

Micah H.
Age: 13
Tribe of Dan

 Snag a staff is a camp original game. If you’ve never played before, then the premise of the fame is to get as many staff to home base as possible. The staff usually pretend to be a person or character. The first one I went to was White Socks, who was pretending to be a plant. He would need sunlight and water. Aaron and I had a flashlight and water bottle. He would need sunlight and water because he was a plant. Whenever he got tired he would give him light and water. So then we finally got him to the end. There was also one I did where we had to say rhymes in order for S’mores and Snoopy to move. In the end we managed to snag all the staff and I did 4 staff. It was an epic night.

Stop and Go Night

Judah Z.
Age: 10
Tribe of Dan

 Freeze

 Stop and Go Night is a game we play at dinner during Camp. You have to freeze or Stop, when the camp leaders blow the whistle. If you don’t freeze you could get your silverware taken away. And if you get your silverware taken away, you would have to eat with your hands. I really like Stop and Go Night, because it’s fund to try to stop and not get your silverware taken away. One time, we were playing and I was talking to my friend Rafi, when S’mores, one of the camp leaders here at Camp Gilgal, blew the whistle. I was caught. She took away my fork. And the worst part was that we were having spaghetti. I was so messy by the time I was done. But that’s the fun part of Stop and Go night.

The Rock (Men’s Campfire)

Judah Z.
Age: 10
Tribe of Dan

Hi my name is Judah and I would like to tell you about Men’s Camp fire. Men’s Camp Fire was last night. Mufasa, one of the leaders here at camp, spoke about being brothers in Jesus. He also talked about how camp helped him feel that he was not alone. And one other camp leader, White Socks, talked about the rock of the Lord, and the clay statue and how a rock/builder smashed the statue into pieces. White Socks also talked about the water of life and the story in the Bible in Exodus 17 where Moses struck a rock and water came out. The Israelites, God’s chosen people, drank the water. After White Socks spoke we had smores around the fire. After smores we went back to our cabin. The End.