Team Builders

Team Builders have been one of the best parts of our time here at camp!!  Not only are they fun, but they allow us to grow as a team and learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of our team and of one another.  Over the past couple of days Joshua and I have seen the team grow in an incredible way.

On Day 2 (Thursday) we had our first team builder: The Obstacle Course.  It went VERY well!! The team worked together and accomplished their goals:
1. Team Goals: Team unity and cohesiveness
2. Time Goal: 1 hour 30 min
3. Attitude goal: Positivity and encouragement

In this activity the team had 7 stations to complete within the time limit.  They had to complete each station under certain rules that were given by the activity leader.  Some of the stations included:
–The Climbing Wall: The team had to get everyone over the wall safely and climb down the other side with only 5 out of the 12 people using the ladder (very challenging, but done with success!)
–The Balance Beam: The team had to lead each other across it blind folded and sometimes unable to talk.
–The Tire: Each person had to be passed through the tire without touching any of the sides or ropes.  We were only allowed 3 touches so we had to negotiate for more by reciting 15 bible verses from memory (which they did without struggle, which was awesome!) and pushups!  <– very difficult, but the girls pulled through!! Woot Woot!! 🙂 
–The MUD PIT:  I bet your wondering what this could possibly be! So I'll just show you instead.  Check out the awesome Scotish Penguins mascott in the center! YES, it IS a penguin and we DID mold it out of Georgia-red clay!  Your kids are so much fun. Seriously!

We finished in 1 hour 15 minutes and concluded the course with very few (if any) complaints! The team was VERY confident in their cohesiveness and their ability to work together as a team.  They were encouraging and built each other up throughout the course.  Joshua and I were very proud of them as they prayed as a team before, during and after each activity.  We can see them growning closer and closer to Christ each day! ITS AWESOME!!

On Day 3 (Friday) we had our second team builder: The Giant Toothpick.  As you can imagine, the team went into this team builder VERY confident after their success the previous day.  This exercise turned out being one of the more challenging activities for them as a team. 

The objective of this team builder was to get all of the tires off of the pole and put them back on in the order that the activity leader wanted them in (without knowing the order).  The team had to work together in order to do this exercise safely and in the time allotment.  

They started out with pretty attainable goals:

1. They wanted to challenge their time goal (since they beat it the day before) with 1 hour 15 minutes
2. Same attitude goals (positivity and encouragement)
3. Team goals: accomplish Unity, listening to one another, having faith, perseverence (etc)

The team definitely met some challenges in the beginning and had a pretty rough start! We have a lot of awesome leaders on the team that all have wonderful ideas, so sometimes they all try to lead at the same time.  In our debrief, they brought this up and are starting to work through listening to one another and learning how to incorporate everyone's opinion and ideas without talking over one another.  

They ended up not completing the task in the time allotment, but they made new goals for themselves and accomplished those.  They kept their positivity throughout the team builder and grew both individually and as a team as a result.  Definitely a great exercise for them!!

We will be leaving tomorrow for Scotland, so please keep us in your prayers!! We will be letting you know through the blog when we arrive to our destination.

God Bless!!