But after a long and frustrating two years, this last Spring they were finally given the green light to be back at the facility. Annie and her team were able to start going to lunch and spending time with the girls. They started by just showing up—talking with the girls, having lunch, and getting to know them a little better than zoom had allowed.

After establishing their regular presence on campus, Annie revisited the conversation about putting on a two day camp at the facility; they were given an excited YES.

After a lot of planning and scheduling out every last detail, they were ready. On September 24th and 25th the Young Life ONE team In Sheridan Wyoming put on their first camp ever in an incarceration facility.

They tried not to miss a single element that kids get at a traditional camp. They had a special place setting (pictured above), an obstacle course, they played games, ate good food, did crafts, had downtime where they could simply hang out, and had Club.

Because this is a residential facility, the girls had the option to come and go from activities, and while the team felt pretty confident all of them would participate in the games and activities part, they were a bit unsure about Club. They knew that this was the time the gospel would be outright shared—which can turn some kids off. But in the end, 14 out of 19 girls showed up to both Clubs and heard how wildly loved they are by Jesus.

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From Annie:

Seeing the girls experience camp "firsts," even some of the simplest activities: eating Qdoba bowls, going through the blow up obstacle course, playing human hungry hungry hippo—all of it—was just so special. Over and over we kept hearing girls tell us, “No one has ever done anything like this for me before."

After all the ups and downs and obstacles our team went through, it was surreal that we were finally able to pull this off, but the work is not done. Camp follow-up is key in any form of ministry, but for our Young Life ONE kids, it’s exceptionally important.

Our kids who have been ushered in and out of facilities and programs have experienced all sorts of grand gestures from well-meaning people who they never saw again. Life has told them over and over that eventually people leave, they get bored, or worse; once they get to know you they won't like you.

But we get to dispel that lie. We have started a Bible study post-camp. We get to show up every week, talk about Jesus, model for them healthy boundaries, and encourage them to live into who they were made to be.

My hope is that as we continue to share with them about Jesus, both in word and in action, that they can be restored from who the world has made them out to be—that instead they would walk through life with confidence, knowing that the God of the universe calls them daughter.