Micha Nolan Micha Nolan

For many years now, Camp Savio has been an important part of not only my life, but of my family’s as well.

Everyone — from my mom, a frequent parent chaperone, to my siblings — looks forward to camp time each summer. As I have grown, my roles at camp have switched from attending as a camper to being a staff member for the past three years. This year, the location of camp changed, but the prayerful and joyful environment has remained the same.

My faith has changed and developed so much since I started attending camp as a middle schooler. Prior to my camp experience, I had always attended Mass on Sundays with my family and was involved at church. However, my time at Savio was when it first became “my faith.”

Each year, in the middle of the week at camp, we attend a big adoration night with worship music and Jesus in the monstrance right in front of us. I will never forget the first time I got to experience that night. All around me, campers and staff members alike were joyfully praising the Lord, fulfilled in his presence. Seeing everyone else have that interaction with Jesus made me realize that I wanted to form a true, personal relationship with Jesus too. After that, my faith grew stronger every year.

Now, as a staff member, I continue to reap the benefits of camp. As I work, my relationship with Christ continues to flourish, strengthening my faith life through staff formation such as daily Scripture verses and reflections to take us deeper into the daily theme.

Every day, staff attend morning prayer, then have time in silent adoration before heading out to interact with the campers and perform our daily tasks. We end each day with night prayer. That time together as a team, in front of our Lord, is always a peaceful way to end a stressful day. This is something that I hope to carry over into my everyday life. In the future, camp is something that I hope my family and children get to experience.

This year’s camp theme is “ONE.” Each day throughout the week we open up different aspects of “oneness” in our faith (One you, One Father, One Baptism, One Family and One Mission). Our keynote speaker has presented on each of these themes throughout the week. The topic that resonated most with me is “One You.”

Our speaker explained that out of everything God created in the whole world, he needed one of me. Thus, we have a purpose, even if we do not yet know that purpose. Currently I am in the pursuit of fulfilling that purpose by serving here at camp. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.