‘Looking for God's still voice’: Indian Creek Camp ignite spiritual growth among staff, counselors

Indian Creek Camp (ICC) has been running their summer programs for more than 60 years, with well over 1,000 campers joining the sessions throughout a period of seven weeks. While the camp is geared to serve the family and children through a spiritual environment, camp staff and counselors are also blessed during their time at ICC.

This was the case for Eustace Eusebio, ICC’s Super Science instructor and a co-counselor.

“In the beginning of the summer, we had these interviews and one of the questions asked was ‘why are you here at camp?” Eusebio said. “In my mind, I knew the main reason I came here was because my friends had been bugging me for a couple years to join them.”

Eustace Eusebio is a computer science and engineer senior at Louisville University, Kentucky. Though he grew up in an Adventist home, he says it was difficult adapting to a secular setting.

“Growing up in an Adventist community, you'd expect [your faith] would carry on to any environment that you go into,” Eusebio said “…But when I went to college, I could feel myself drift away from God.”

Marian Prieto-Perez, ICC camp counselor, went through a similar experience. She is also a student at Louisville University finishing her B.A. in History. Prieto-Perez has been working at ICC for four years and says coming back helps her reflect on her spiritual journey.

“[At school], I’ve had a lot of uncertainty about my faith,” Prieto-Perez said. “[ICC] has just been a really good place to reevaluate my beliefs and see where I am with God.”

ICC is divided in three different sessions spread throughout the summer: juniors, teens, and family camp. The day consists of worship and activities such as horseback riding, archery and wall climbing. At the of the day, camp counselors put on a play following a story of the Bible.

This summer, the theme was “The Ultimate Promise,” which portrays the story of Moses and Joshua reminiscing on their journey on earth and looking forward to heaven. After the play, camp counselors get to discuss lessons with their campers. Prieto-Perez says this is one of her favorite parts of the day.

“You’re teaching the kids a about Christ, but in a lot of ways they are the ones teaching you,” Prieto-Perez said. “The children remind me about the faith that I used to have as a child. It's not necessarily liked a blind faith because they still have a lot of questions, but it’s a curious faith that is expanding.”

Eusebio feels the same way. After being in camp for several weeks, he thinks about his response to that initial interview question. Now, he wants to change his answer.

“My new answer would be ‘I came here to camp looking for God's still voice,’” Eusebio said. “I feel like I completely lost that over the past three years of college. I'm still looking, for sure, but it's a lot clearer now than it was at the beginning of summer.”