Maggie Nieberger is a Young Adult in Global Mission (YAGM) from the Rocky Mountain Synod currently serving in Argentina. In her recent newsletter, she shared about her experience helping lead summer camp in the community she serves.
Campamento de Verano
If you know anything about me, you know that I absolutely love summer camp and spent the last five summers working at Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp in Colorado. When I heard we had the chance to attend and help out at the IELU Campamento de Verano, I was thrilled. The camp was held in Oberá, Misiones, which is where our first retreat was back in November and included Middle and High school youth from across the IELU. With my background in camp, I thought I knew what I was getting into, but in so many ways
I was challenged to reframe and embrace a new way to do camp! One morning we visited “Parque de las Naciones” (Park of Nations) that had buildings dedicated to different immigrant groups. It was super interesting to hear about the diversity within Argentina and the ways in which that is celebrated every year during the Immigrant National Festival. I also learned how to play some new songs on guitar with Pastor Claudio. The majority of the week, apart from the educational morning sessions, was spent in small groups
playing games and competing against the other groups. The week ended with a pageant show where each group elected two people to be dressed up and give a speech about why they should be elected the king or queen of camp. My group chose me and we laughed so hard as we made a costume from random materials, including a skirt made out of my towel. After I strutted my stuff during the fashion show and gave a short speech emphasizing the camp’s theme of diversity and inclusion (done in a mix of Spanish and English to further the theme and win extra points with the judges), I was elected La Reina (the Queen). I was in complete shock and my group went wild with applause when it was announced. That was a night I will never forget.