Monday 21.6.2021
Monday started hot but windy. The final preparations with the leaders and hosts were completed in the morning, and the campsite is now in diamond shape for the 2021 Summer Tent! The campers arrived in the afternoon and got straight to work pitching the tents.
The fastest ones were even able to play, sing and play catch with the big ones. But the first day of the camp was officially kicked off at 4pm in the main hall of the Aholansaari main building, where the roll call and initial briefing took place. There, our wonderful camp leaders and awesome Isos introduced themselves to everyone, and the campers were divided into their own Isos groups. After a delicious dinner, the campers and I discussed the camp's common rules, followed by the much anticipated dip in the fresh lake Syväri.
The evening continued with an evening snack and a fun evening programme from the hosts, after which the campers were able to wrap themselves up in their sleeping bags and listen to the hosts' bedtime stories. It's been a sunny and hot day, but thankfully now the evening breeze is cooling our tents down a bit.
Teltis is winding down for the day and sends his greetings to the folks back home!
Tuesday 22.6.2021
The heat continues, but Telttis is pushing ahead! The morning started with a fun wake-up call and morning activities for the Bigs, then it was off to breakfast in Bigs groups. In the morning sermon, our leader Jemina talked about this year's camp theme "Different Together". We humans are created in the image of God, we are different and unique and we all have our own strengths. Therefore, any comparison with other people is pointless. In God's eyes, we are all valuable.
In the morning, the energies gathered during the night were released in the adjacent sports field and around the confessional in the morning, with games such as catch ball, Moomin Jaffa and Norwegian footplay. Campers, elders and leaders alike were strongly encouraged to drink plenty during the day and to take rest breaks if necessary if the sun became too tiring. All in all, there was plenty of energy well into the evening, and everyone bravely made it through the warm day.
After lunch, there was swimming and an exciting Customs game, where the campers got to show off their ingenuity and cooperation skills, as well as fool the camp parents. The task was to smuggle in large groups different goods of different sizes through "customs" without the parents, acting as customs officers, guessing who was in possession of the goods being smuggled. We witnessed the most fantastic and creative solutions and smuggling attempts, as the campers managed to fool the customs officers for real!
In the early evening, our co-leader Santeri entertained the eager children with his skilful accordion playing and singing. Among others, the legendary "I play the accordion" and of course the children's favourite "Teltis song" were played. We were entertained for another hour by the Isos' wonderful evening programme, before we were back down to earth again with evening activities and fairy tales. It's good to fall asleep to the peaceful song of the birds, hopefully everyone. 🙂
Wednesday 23.6.2021
The third day of the tent is now behind us, and a lot has happened. After the morning activities, breakfast and devotions, the fun and varied tick-tock race around Paavo's barn and the camp church began.
The campers, together with their hosts, were able to go around the track in groups, making bun sticks for the evening snack, practising solidarity in the form of a maze, and reflecting on living conditions in the poorest countries and the realisation of equality and children's rights, both here in Finland and around the world. The children explored the challenges of poverty and the scarcity of drinking water, for example, by building their own footballs from recycled materials and transferring water from one container to another with inadequate equipment. At one of the checkpoints, they even got to build a patchwork quilt of Teltis' own Tree of Life: a work of art consisting of an arm-shaped trunk and handprints in different colours made by the campers using paint to give the tree branches leaves.
After the track was finished, it was time to refresh in the lake again, as it has been a hot day. Otherwise, the afternoon was spent in leisure activities, playing games. After dinner, we were able to relax in Paavo's cottage for a bit of vespers. We had time for a sauna and a swim before the thunderstorm, which arrived to change Teltis' plans for the evening slightly. The programme for the evening would have included baking buns over a campfire with the bun sticks that had been cooked on the track during the day, but the weather conditions turned out to be such that we had to move the evening programme to the main building's ballroom indoors. There was something good about this, as a couple of hard-working bakers came up with the idea of using the bun dough reserved for us to roll the buns in a traditional oven. This meant that the whole camp finally got a freshly baked bun in the campsite just before brushing their teeth and going to bed - and that suited the campers better than ever! The campers are now tucking into their tents and sleeping bags full of buns. Good night!
Thursday 24.6.2021
This year's Telttis is coming to an end - another great camp together in Aholansaari, so dear to many of us! The highlight of the last day of the camp was the camp service, which was prepared in the morning together with the campers and the hosts. The groups of hosts were responsible for hymns, shorthand tasks, reading of biblical texts and intercession, and preparation of the sermon. During the sermon, the hosts shared the news of the camp and talked about the camp theme "Together Different". The campers were able to participate in the sermon through drama, and in keeping with the theme, a mural made together on Wednesday's treadmill was presented. Finally, the whole congregation sang the Telttis song. This song can already be considered quite traditional, as this year it was given its tenth verse, as a continuation of its predecessors, to tell of the events and special features of that year's camp. Thank you all for a great camp, see you next year!