Get in Gear for Summer at SpringHill!

It's here! The aqua-trampoline, the flying squirrel, horses, zipline, gusher...the most incredible, out-of-this-world fun you can imagine! S'mores at the campfire, six-square tournaments, lunch time skits, awesome times with cabin mates and counselors and a chance to get to know the God who made and loves you like crazy. And that's just all in one week. If this was the week you experienced a SpringHill summer, congratulations! We hope it was your absolute best week of 2006. And if you're still waiting for your week to arrive, we can't wait to meet you! In the meantime, get a little taste of a SpringHill summer in this issue of The Hopper...and tell a friend. They'll thank you.

What's Happening at SpringHill Michigan

Experience the best week of summer twice! When you sign up for a second week at SpringHill this summer, you'll get $100 off! Tell your mom or dad to go to the SpringHill registration page to check for availability and to register. Be sure to use promotional code SS06 to receive your discount. For more information, call 231-734-2616.

Bring your whole family to SpringHill for an awesome weekend of Family Camp. Finish out the summer by flying down the zipline with your mom or hitting the horseback trails with your dad or following your big sister down the gusher. Have out-of-this-world fun and experience God in a real way with your whole family. It all happens here September 1-4! Check out all the details on our website. (Then, say to your parents, "Let's go to SpringHill!")

4th, 5th and 6th graders - tell your church youth leader about SpringHill's fall retreats! In Michigan we'll be meeting at the Hill for two Juniors retreats: November 17-19 and December 1-3. A live band, out-of-this-world activities, time to grow with God and as a group - it'll be your group's greatest event of the year.

What Does God Call You?

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!" -1 John 3:1

Imagine if God thought of you as a slave or a student or a pet. You would always be trying to please him. You'd have to work so hard to be loved and you'd probably never be good enough.

Instead, God calls you his child! This means you are related - you belong to God. If you ever feel like you don't fit in or aren't good enough, this is the very best news you can get. God, the creator of the universe, calls himself your Father. He takes care of you and loves you no matter what!

Share some questions and answers with your parents: What does God call you? What does it mean to be God's child? How does this make you special?

Do-It-Yourself SpringHill Adventures - Seeing Summer in Technicolor

Waiting for your week at SpringHill? Turn off the TV and spend a little time outside getting to know the natural world, like trees, puddles and the amazing critters God put right in your own neighborhood. Here's a fun way to take a closer look:

1. Go to a home improvement store like Home Depot or any store that sells paint and collect a bunch of the free paint color chips.

2. Take the chips with you on an investigation of your yard or neighborhood, matching each natural item (leaf, weed, tree bark, beetle) to a color chip.

3. Record your discoveries in a notebook. If it's possible, paste a sample of the item from nature next to the paint chip it ressembles.

When you get to SpringHill, you can impress your friends and counselor with your amazing observations, like "That pine needle is a perfect shade of Clearspring Green," or "Doesn't that horse's mane look just like Myan Gold?" Truthfully, though, you'll probably be having way too much fun at SpringHill to be thinking about the color palette, but it's still a fun thing to try at home. It's also a good reminder of how creative our Creator is. Try it out and then consider telling God thanks for creating such a colorful world!

Red Brush and Copper Country Campers Get in High Gear

Hey, Sprocket here. At SpringHill this summer you're going to meet some robots who think that being mean is the way to be cool. You'll also meet my friend Nebulon who more than anything wants other robots to like him. This doesn't always go so well for poor Nebulon. If you've ever been bullied or made fun of, or if you've gotten caught up in the mean side of things, you won't want to miss out on seeing what our robots go through and what they learn in the end. It's part of what makes a SpringHill summer out of this world!

Storybrook Campers Meet Monsters in Training

Hi, I'm Ned. If you're in 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade and coming to SpringHill this summer you'll meet me and my monster friends, Buff, Lollie and Girdy (and her heads, Verdy, Lurdy and Surdy). Buff thinks he's pretty special because he knows all these kung fu moves. Lollie thinks she's so pretty and Girdy, well, she's super smart (must be all those heads). But I don't really have anything very special about me. Or at least that's what I thought. But during my monster training at SpringHill I learned something so incredible, it changed my whole monster existence. I sure hope you're coming to SpringHill so you can find out what it is!