April | 2023 | The Campfire

The second annual SamusCon was an all-around awesome experience!

More girls came this year and even more games were played!

And yes, some of those games involved throwing a burrito at a friend.

What? Your list of “things to do today” does not include throwing a burrito at a friend?

Clearly, you’ve never been to SamusCon!

Thanks to our fearless leaders Epona, Meowth, Kanga, and Bomber it was a wonderful weekend of gaming and fellowship.

Princess Leia Freyja even attended since she is indeed a lady dog and also loves chasing burritos.

At SamusCon, all kinds of games are played, including video games.

Here, old friends and new gather together for video game battles extraordinaire.

It was great to see summer camp friends after the long months of separation.

And get in some quality time with Princess Leia Freyja, the camp dog.

Yes, she was a bit confused when this camper decided to hold her paws, but she was happy to oblige.

Some games take hours to play, but this delightful card game is timed and each round is complete in just five minutes!

Of course, that time limit adds much tension to the experience. This one is fun to listen to as well since there is a good deal of shouting and laughter going on.

Yes, we successfully battled the Baby Barbarian!

Wahoo!

Even a fire-breathing dragon couldn’t stand against our wild card-matching prowess.

The victory was sweet and the new friendships formed, even sweeter.

During one game, these girls managed to beat their final boss with a mere three seconds to spare!

Now that is a close call!

There were fun prizes to win as well.

Including, but not limited to, these sparkly and fuzzy slippers!

Here, SamusCon campers play a card game based on the cartoon Miraculous Ladybug!

Just like the rowdy program activities at summer camp, playing games together builds friendships and trust so that when it is finally time to sit down and study the Bible together, there is a firm foundation of fun shared experiences to draw upon as campers decide whether they will ask questions about the lesson, take a risk by venturing an opinion, or ask those around them for prayer.

It is also just plain fun!

It was so delightful to watch the campers laugh and talk about their favorite games, shows, and fandoms.

To see them discover new friends who loved the same things they did and were thrilled to have the chance to analyze them together over brownies and a cup of warm cocoa.

Yep, miraculous!

Epona led a devotion about hope, highlighting moments from Fire Emblem and Antman and Wasp.

“I’ll change the future into hope!” – Fire Emblem: Engage

Ant Man: “Hope? Are you real?”
The Wasp: “I’m real.”

Romans 4:17b–18 “…the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’”

5:5 “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”

Then Bomber led a devotion about finding peace through worship, which highlighted several Psalms that tell of the author’s despair and then show the peace that can be found as one turns a troubled heart to worship.

Epona ran a game of Horror Rules (the game written by our own Van Helsing) for the campers.

Boo Boo played this one with Meowth and the campers and assisted her fellow adventurers by … you guessed it, using her dog juggling skills!

A charming scarf to the rescue.

Also, this camper used her deadly hair of destruction during all-is-lost situations.

Yes, when one can juggle five angry Pomeranians and a surprisingly heavy but thankfully sweet Havanese, what could possibly stand in your way?

More acrobatic hair and climbing skills!

Epona was definitely kept hopping keeping these imaginative adventurers away from the sharks/attacking parrots and on their way to save the birthday of an innocent young lad!