"I wish the week would never end" - SoCal Camp Testimonials
Passage Camps are amazing, but don’t take it from us. Listen to the students who attend them!
Here are twenty-three testimonials from students who attended the 2019 Camp at Biola University. Read them and see how God used CAI to change students’ lives for good.
DESIREE
“This sounds weird, but genuinely, I loved how painful this week was. All of the events allowed me to confront a different part of my pain. Now, after enduring, I have a new sense of what joy, truth, and love are all about. Now I know that God is here to carry us through, all the way to eternity. Now I can see goodness, truth, and beauty in a new light, and I'm ready to delve deeper into prayer, and to lean on my friends… all because of this crazy, wonderful, and lovely camp community. I'm dumbfounded with gratitude.”
BRIANNA
“Before camp I was broken, lost, confused, distant, and scared. Even though I still feel those things, camp fashioned a community and a safe place for me. This was the first place where I was able to be vulnerable in front of my peers. Here, I experienced happiness and a sense of acceptance from my group and my mentor, and they helped me grow spiritually.
Future students, you HAVE to come to camp! This is a place where you can feel at home even when things are going absolutely terribly for you. You experience friendship, spiritual growth, and a sense of maturity. It’s is by far the best camp you could attend.”
JOSHUA
“Lots of camps make the claim of being the best camp ever. But [Passage Camp] holds true. It thrusts you into hardship, then gifts you with a mentor and a cohort who can truly help you start to change. Camp is tough, but those who take up the challenge will get more than a standard "camp high.” You’ll truly grow in your faith.”
AUGIE
“If you feel alone, camp is the place for you. You will have a space to freely admit loneliness and a place to actually get to know people (including yourself). It gave me a vision of Christian community.”
ALLYANAH
“This week has been incredible. I was drifting away from God and I had so many hard questions, but now I finally feel complete again. I saw that God never left my side, even at the worst times of my life, and I’m leaving with a stronger faith and a stronger version of myself.
It's okay to be scared. It's okay to ask questions. And it's okay to feel pain. In God's hands, you are safe. Trust Him, and everything will be okay.”
ANNA
“Before camp, I would always paste on a Christian face. I WAS a Christian, but I felt separated from God. Now I feel at peace, since I have come back to Him. I finally realized that I couldn't fix my sin before coming to God; I had to come back to God so he could fix my sin. As I prayed, I felt He was right there with me, with me in a way that I'd never felt before. Now I feel confident about going back into the world.
Wherever you are in your relationship with God, this is a week of growth for your soul. Adapting, learning, being treated like a valuable human being - that’s what the camp magic consists of.”
MAE
“When I arrived at camp, I honestly had a hard heart. I knew I had a burden but I refused to let it go. I was tired of being numb and unemotional. But through camp, God showed me himself, and I learned that it's ok to lament to him. He's intimate, and He works in amazing ways. It might not be insane and spiritual; he works in both grand and mundane things. He is so good, and when you realize the full extent of that, it’s just insane.
You should come to camp, because it’ll help you change your perspective. Plus, it's a litty time.”
KIRVEY
“After camp, I feel closer to God. It taught me so much: How to draw close, how to communicate with Him, how to listen to Him.
Even when I wanted to be sad, alone, and depressed, I would still catch myself smiling here, because I knew that I was surrounded by people who were really there for me. More especially, I knew that God is there for me too.
You should go to this camp. When I showed up, I was shy, quiet, nervous. I wished that it would go by fast. But now I'm talking more, I gained confidence, and I wish the week would never end.”
HANNAH
“Before I came, I was complacent, controlling, afraid, and was basically disconnected from God. But here I learned to listen to him. I learned what my spiritual gifts are. I learned that I need to let people love me. I learned how to pray and cry out to God.
I had never known and felt God truly until I came to camp. This week was everything I wanted, and everything I didn't even know I needed. It was the most incredible experience in my life. If you feel God prompting you to attend... DO IT! It just might be the best thing you ever do.”
JONATHAN
“I was lost but now I am found.
At the beginning of the week, I was napping during prayer time. By the end of the week, I was seeing God face to face and bawling. At the beginning of the week, I was frustrated at God for not answering me. But then He showed Himself so plainly.
The community here provided a space to let God perfectly reveal Himself to me, even when I was stubborn and choosing to ignore Him. Now I feel God's comfort around me. The love, support, and honesty with serious topics gave me a new vision of God.”
MACKENZIE
“At this camp, I was forced to be silent and listen to God, and he spoke to me in a way I didn't expect. He caught me off-guard. I experienced a physical reaction to his voice, as he told me that I needed to pray with specific people who were heavily burdened. He gave me a job to do, and I did it. Now I feel like I have a new vision of eternal life, and a desire to practice living as an eternal being now. I want to keep obeying his call.
I came here unsure of who I was, but I’m leaving with a sense of purpose.”
PABLO
“This camp was real. No B.S. (That stands for "Baloney Sandwiches.") They presented the hard truths as they were, and enticed us with the glorious, painful life that Christ prepared for us, both on Earth and in the glory of Heaven. I received a vision of diversity and maturity in God's followers. I saw that I have so much more to learn, and that a relationship with God makes you more yourself than you could ever become on your own.
I’m leaving with a desire to know myself, and to let God work to make me who He wants me to be.”
MIKAYLA
“This was the most spiritually intense week of my life. I was afraid and alone in my struggles, but God brought together an incredible army of weak people, and he made us strong in Him. I’ll never forget how God met me and my friends with deafening silence in the prayer chapel, or how he delivered me from a demon I didn’t even know was there. God is incredible and Jesus cares so deeply for me. He shows me joy despite my pain and fear.
Camp is a place where God gathers broken people to grow. I have been so blessed here. God moved and worked through the people at camp in ways so apparent that I will never forget. I’ve been changed for His good.”
CHARLYSE
“I've been a pastor's kid all my life, and always in church. Eventually I just became numb to it and sort of tired of all of it, and I didn't know how to get out of that by myself. This week, I felt like the people at camp came and yanked me out of fast-sinking quicksand. I found a personal way to pray. I learned how to worship with my heart, not just my voice. I learned that adults can play and still be mature and thoughtful. I got back on fire for God.
Camp is a place that words cannot describe. It's something that you have to experience. Come to camp and prepare to not only have fun and meet new people, but to grow in your faith too.”
JOHANNA
“It is hard to find someone who will truly listen, but at camp, they’re everywhere. Sometimes that’s all we need: someone who will really listen to us.
At camp, you can build a safe and fruitful community in which you are truly known.”
ANONYMOUS
“This week really changed my life.
Through the challenges camp gave me, I got to know more about myself and discover abilities I never thought I had. I grew spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. I learned to never stop growing up. Staying in my comfort zone will not help me grow, so I want to do new things. Challenges are great! I want to become a stronger and better person, not stay stuck. I'll never forget this week and the great friendships I've made. Best experience ever!”
STEPHANIE
“Before I came to camp, I was seeking for Christ but still grasping tightly onto my sin. Christ loosened my hands and I was freed to surrender myself fully to Him. In Him, I have found an unfathomable joy and fulfillment. I know that He has called me to be a channel for others. Praise the Lord, God Almighty!
Please come to camp. Be transformed and exposed. Be awakened out of yourself and the sin that has become a habit. Camp is a glorious shadow of our future in Heaven. Come and enjoy. It’s worth it.”
SHAO-WEI
“At the beginning of the week, I was very closed. I thought that I was not capable of being loved. This week changed all of that, and gave me so much more. I accepted the fact that it's okay to feel and to be in pain. I felt so loved by everyone. My mentor gave me advice that I will carry for the rest of my life, and each talk was filled with the fire of God. They helped me see beauty in almost everything around me. And I just had so much fun. I now know that I am so, so loved!
This is not the place for a “camp high” that you forget in a month. It's the place where you grow, have fun, and make timeless connections with people who love and serve the Lord.”
EZEKIEL
“This week, I learned and saw firsthand the body of Christ in ACTION. I learned how to make my walk more PERSONAL with our loving God.
When I came to camp, my prayers were bland and not heartfelt. Here, I learned how to change that. I learned how to pray to a personal God - I need to pray to Him as ME. This camp gave me an opportunity to be honest with Him and to let his PEACE fall upon me. I know now that it won't be an immediate change once I get home, because it is a PROCESS (full of ups and downs), but I am committed to growing in prayer.”
ISABELA
“I have never felt so strong a connection to God or a community.
I have been ignoring God for the last two years and pushing Him away. But here at camp, I recognized God answering my prayers, and I felt a burning of the Holy Spirit twice! Prayer became a way to get close to God and others. Now I have welcomed Him into my heart and will actively try to make His stay comfortable.
Camp explained God, fear, grief, courage, prayer, beauty, and friendship in ways that made sense and were within reach. I'm leaving with maturity, thought, and new friends, finally knowing what good community looks like.”
KATE
“I arrived at camp stressed out and busy. Camp was just another thing I could check off of my list, something good on a college application. But camp taught me to slow down for a little while and really listen to what God was saying. I was able to think of so many things that I could lift up to God when I wasn't being hit with all these irrelevant thoughts.
It has changed my life for the better. I have grown close to so many people and I’ve grown in my faith for good.”
DEVIN
“Before camp, I didn't take risks and I accepted whatever anyone told me was right. After camp, I have confidence to step out there and take risks, as well as to take what others say more critically.
All of the events were well-done and thought-provoking, but the prayer activities may have been my favorite part of the week. I had the opportunity to pray in so many different ways: kneeling in silence before the Lord, staring up at the beautiful heavens, etc. This time set aside for prayer helped stretch and grow my understanding of God.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
MARIE
