Interesting Creatures at AYC

While I love animals, I never really took the time to see what was crawling in front of me or flying in the air above me before I attended AYC. I was always busy paying attention to people or I was just not interested.

Camp was the perfect place to discover a variety of outdoor creatures because of the amount of time we were outside.

On one of the hiking trips, we approached a pool of water and saw a turtle floating on top. Almost everyone stopped to look at it, thinking it was not alive. I was worried because I do not like seeing dead animals. Then it slowly started to move. I felt relieved. Some stayed for a short while to continue watching because it was a unique sight.

Throughout camp, it was frightening to see the kinds of spiders in the wild. Many girl campers were also afraid of them.

During a tour of a wooded area on the Headquarters campus, we noticed a lot of spiders. Many girls intently watched the ground and their arms and legs for bugs, specifically spiders, which they saw crawling around. They did not want any bugs to land on them.

One girl camper stomped and tried to get rid of any spider that came by. Most were small with long legs and bodies, but the amount of fear they spread made up for their size.

Back at camp, I saw creatures I had never seen before. One time I saw a humming bird flying around flowers in front of one of the cabins. I never realized how small they were and how fast they could move their wings. It was great to see something new.

Near the girls’ cabin I also noticed a bat flying close to a lamppost. I had never seen a bat before, and seeing this new animal added more excitement to my camp experience.

I think it is important to pay attention to animals and insects to better appreciate what God created. Everyone should take the opportunity to study their surroundings and the creatures in them.

AYC gave me a chance to take time to do this. From now on, I will pay better attention to my surroundings because you never know what you will find.