ACC hosting Bible camp students this week

The Anne Carlsen Center has welcomed guests from Jamestown’s Victory Lutheran Brethren Church and Eau Claire, Wis., Monday through Thursday for part of its 2009 vacation Bible school.

About 60 high school students from Eau Claire are in Jamestown for Mission Experience, a type of summer Bible camp Victory Lutheran Brethren Church offers. The camp begins each morning with theological training and transitions to community service in the afternoons.

“We thought, what could be unique to Jamestown?” said Luke Fiskness, Victory Lutheran Brenthren youth pastor. “Then we thought of the Anne Carlsen Center.”

Fiskness contacted Pastor JoAnne Moeller, the center’s chaplain, and they began crafting a four-day schedule for the Wisconsin high school students.

“Most of the high school students have never heard of the Anne Carlsen Center,” Moeller said. “That contact will be powerful — as worthwhile and as heartwarming as the content.”

Each day about 15 high school students are leading students from ACC in their VBS activities by telling Bible stories, acting out skits, singing and working on arts and crafts. One of the Wisconsin students is fluent in sign language and this aspect is also being incorporated into each day.

At the same time, about 40 of the Wisconsin teens will do a wide array of tasks throughout the center. These students will help clean the center’s nature trail, place mulch around trees, shred paper, file, perform office-related tasks, and more.

“Whatever is needed, it sounds like they are very excited to help us,” said Moeller. “This will be a wonderful connection beyond the Jamestown community for us.”

Fiskness hopes this can blossom into a long-term partnership in which the two organizations work together every year.

“We have to test the waters this year and make sure expectations are met on all sides,” Fiskness said. “It is an opportunity to get students outside of their comfort zones and into an area they probably haven’t reached before.”

Church groups who would like to volunteer with the ACC can contact Moeller at 1-800-568-5175. More information about ACC is available online at www.annecenter. org.

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