Target Arrival Date  – Friday, May 23 (Please contact us if you are in need of a different arrival date.)

International Staff Orientation –  Saturday, May 24 | Time TBD

Mark your calendar (whether that’s online or on paper), these dates are VERY IMPORTANT to remember for this summer!

Arrival Dates (for out of town staff)
Saturday, May 23 – Sunday, May 24

Orientation
Sunday, May 24 at 5 PM at Solaris
2349 State Hwy Spur 34b, Firth, NE
Please bring what you need for a two night stay at Solaris!

Training Week
Monday, May 25 – Saturday, May 30
You’ll need closed toed shoes, comfy clothes, a water bottle, a backpack, notebook, pen & Bible each day for training!

Tentative Staff Training Schedule
Sunday | 5 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. (staying overnight at Solaris)
Monday | 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (staying overnight at Solaris)
Tuesday | 8 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday | 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Thursday | 8 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Friday | 7 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday | 9 a.m. – Noon

Saturday
Morning: Pre-Session Meeting & Team Preparation
Morning: Previous session wraps up with our Session Debrief & Celebration
Evening: Staff Social 🎉

Sunday
Overnight campers arrive (depending on your program)
Prepare for an incredible week!

Monday–Friday
Camp is in full swing!
Day Camp: Monday–Friday (with Saturday morning wrap-up)
Overnight Camp: Depending on the program, campers attend either:
Sunday–Friday, or Monday–Thursday

Saturday Morning
Session Debrief
Celebrate what God did during the week
Reset and prepare for the next session

Each session runs Saturday through Saturday, with a consistent rhythm each week.

Session 1 –
Session 2 –

End of Summer

Saturday, August 9
🎉 End of Summer Staff Celebration (You won’t want to miss it!)

Sunday, August 10
🏠 Departure Day

• Please read your staff handbook before you arrive to staff training.
• A hard copy will be sent to you before summer. Be sure to bring this one with you
• CLICK HERE TO READ STAFF HANDBOOK! 

Build a Support Team Invite Others Into Your Mission

Serving at Camp Sonshine is more than traveling to the United States for a summer job. It is an opportunity to invest in kids, share the love of Jesus, grow as a leader, and take part in mission work far from home.

We believe ministry is not something we are meant to do alone.

Throughout Scripture, people who served in ministry were often surrounded by others who encouraged them, prayed for them, and helped provide for the work God called them to do. Your support team is a group of people who are saying:

“We believe in what God is doing through you, and we want to be part of it!”

We encourage every international staff member to build a support team of family members, friends, church leaders, pastors, teachers, or others who want to support you during your journey.

Your support team members can:

• Pray for you as you prepare, travel, serve, and adjust to life in the United States

• Encourage you throughout the summer

• Receive updates and stories about what God is doing at camp

• Follow your journey and celebrate how you are growing

• Help you share the mission of Camp Sonshine in your home country

• Financially support your travel, visa, program, or other trip-related expenses

Traveling internationally to serve requires sacrifice, preparation, prayer, and financial investment. You may choose to invite people to help with expenses such as your visa, sponsor fees, flights, transportation, or other travel costs.

Even when someone cannot give financially, their prayers and encouragement are valuable. Building a support team allows others to participate in the mission God has invited you into—and reminds you that you are not serving alone.

1. In what ways do you want to live out the love of God this summer?
2. Is there one of Camp Sonshine’s core values that you are excited to live out this summer?
3. Is there one of Camp Sonshine’s core values that might be more challenging for you? How can your team support you in this?
4. What are some fears you might have coming into a summer at camp? There is power in naming those fears! Pray for God to meet you in those fears. 
5. What were some of the milestones of you coming to trust and believe in the gospel? How can you share your journey of faith with your campers?

Don’t forget to PRAY! There is power in prayer so here’s a list of things you can pray over before you come to Camp Sonshine!

1. Pray that your heart and mind would be opened to new experiences and challenges.
2. Pray for the team you will be a part of – that everyone would come together and be unified!
3. Pray that the Lord would use you to build his Kingdom!

COMING SOON!

We’d love to spend some time before summer with you meditating on Camp Sonshine’s core values and what scripture has to say about some of the ideas presented below. We’d love to hear from you as you read and ponder these things!

Buying into and living out the core values of Camp Sonshine is not something that we hope our staff members will just accidently fall into. While certain values may manifest themselves more naturally in different people at different times, we recognize that adhering to these values and allowing them to formulate a grid by which to filter all actions and decisions is a choice that each person has to make on a daily basis. Therefore, at Camp Sonshine, we choose to: Belong, Become, Believe, & Go Beyond!

We strive to create and maintain a community where the love of God is experienced by all.

Although our programs are designed for the children and teens who attend camp, our desire is to minister to the entire family as well as to the various individuals who comprise the greater camp community. Each person has value because they are created and loved by God and as such will always find a place where they are accepted and belong. Everything we do is designed to create or maintain a community where the love of God is experienced by all.

• Romans 15:5-7 – May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
• Matthew 18:20 – For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.
• Romans 12:4-5 – For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another

We work to see each camper and staff member grow more into who God created them to be.

We want to see each camper and staff member become more of who God created them to be and to promote positive growth in all arenas of life: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual. In order for those who are connected with camp to leave more in line with God’s plan for their life than when they arrived, it is imperative for all to live with a heart of teachability and openness to the lessons and challenges presented to us.

• Hebrews 10:24-25 – And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
• Proverbs 27:17 – Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
• Colossians 1:9-10 – And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
• Galatians – 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
• Other passages: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 , Psalm 1:1-3, Philippians 1:6 

We infuse a positive and uplifting perspective into every relationship, circumstance and situation we experience. 

God is always up to something good regardless of the circumstances we face. We believe the best about others and what God is up to all around us. This belief provides the foundation for the positivity that permeates our community through our attitudes and actions.

• John 16:33 – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
• Romans 15:13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
• Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
• Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others”

We initiate exceptional customer service and will not settle for the minimum standard or effort.

We seek to offer unbelievably amazing customer service. We believe that through exceeding expectations our ministry to staff and families will be enhanced. We do not settle for the minimum standard but with hearts of selflessness and servant leadership pursue the flourishing of our community and the benefits of its members regardless of the cost.

• 1 Peter 4:10 – Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
• Ephesians 6:7-8 – Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
• Mark 10:45 – For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
• Ephesians 3:20 – 21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.