First Visit to the United States

I had landed! After many months of planning, thinking of what it would be like, and waiting, I was in Cleveland. That meant I was soon going to visit Headquarters and then attend Ambassador Youth Camp.

While at the airport, my fellow camper and I picked up our bags and made our way to the waiting lounge. We sat for some time, and when I glanced at my watch, I saw it was almost midnight. Since this was my first time in the United States, I was afraid because no one was at the airport to pick us up. I became worried and my heartbeat started to quicken. Suddenly, a man approached us. I was relieved to find out it was a smiling staff member from Headquarters.

We left the airport terminal and loaded our belongings into the man’s car. To my surprise, it had a steering wheel on the left hand side. I was used to it being on the right hand side, as that is how it is in Zimbabwe, my home country. I jumped into the vehicle and we headed to the house of the family with whom I was staying.

As I rode along, I was surprised because I was used to bumpy roads with many potholes. American roads are smooth and wide, with hardly any potholes. The vehicles in America are also much bigger.

Traveling along, I noticed buildings in the United States were made of wood and were very beautiful. Many of the houses were large and not surrounded by three-or-four-meter-tall security fences made from concrete and barbwire as they are in Zimbabwe. This is done to reduce the number of break-ins. In addition, there were many more bridges in America (which we call “flyovers” in Zimbabwe).

On Sunday morning, we left for camp. While there, I ate many different types of food I had never tried before, such as beef stroganoff. I had never heard of this delicious meal before. It was creamy with pasta and ground beef. We do not eat pasta at home or cook our beef this way. The French toast dish was also delicious. I really liked the way it looked, being golden brown, and that it tasted sweet with maple syrup poured on it. This was different from the usual breakfast of bread and eggs I eat at home. Each balanced meal was prepared by the kitchen staff. They did an amazing job!

Then there were raccoons. We do not have this creature in Zimbabwe. I saw raccoons scampering around the dining hall and near cabins. One even tried to live on our bus! It almost seemed that any way you turned, you found a raccoon. But what can you expect when staying in a place called Raccoon Creek State Park? Mostly, they came out when the sun was setting, but sometimes one would surprise us during the day. At first I was afraid of them, but as time went on, I grew accustomed to seeing them occasionally.

During camp, we did many activities. One day, we canoed about 13 miles. I kept getting confused because in Zimbabwe, we use kilometers.

At AYC, we played many sports. I had never played volleyball before. On the first day, I felt a little nervous. It took me a while to understand some of the drills, but the staff taught me how to play properly. I really enjoyed it. The next week, we moved on to a game that I knew well—soccer. I play a lot of soccer at home, so I felt pretty confident as we did the drills. During games, my team even went to the finals and became the tournament champions!

Other sports we played included softball and American football.

We also went whitewater rafting on the last Thursday of camp. It was a lot of fun! I was afraid at the beginning of the trip. I do not swim very well, and I really did not want to fall out. We went through several rapids before reaching the hardest rapid of them all. By this time, however, I had really relaxed and felt that I could plow through it. And we did—without any problems! Whitewater rafting was a really great experience!

At camp, I enjoyed fellowshipping with other youth in God’s Church. This made a big difference to me because my sister and I are the only two teenagers in my congregation at home. To get to Sabbath services, we have to take a bus for about half an hour; then another member picks us up and drives us about another hour to services. We meet in the home of one of the brethren. I loved having services in America because I could fellowship with so many other young people and learn from the experiences of staff members. This is something I will definitely miss.

My experience coming to the U.S. for the first time was amazing! I had lots of fun, met new people, and saw many new things. As I left camp, I had tons of stories and memories to bring home.

I will never forget my two weeks in America at AYC. Even though I was thousands of miles from my family, I still felt comfortable because I was around others of like mind who believe as I do that God’s Way works!