Skill Development, Fulfilling Adult Programs and Remarkable Healings at the Ranches

By Alison Peticolas
A/U Ranch Director

Living the truth that “progress is the law of God” (Science & Health, p. 233), Adventure Unlimited places a strong emphasis on continuing education. This summer at the Ranches, we continued to support that progress by hiring new trainers and running workshops for our staff to help develop their hard and soft skills.

For instance, for the first time in many years, we brought in a waterfront trainer who is also a swim coach. He was able to help the staff improve their personal skills, instruct them how to teach swimming more effectively, develop age- and skill-appropriate lesson plans, and implement a tiered swimming program for the camp session. This training brought a tremendous improvement to the waterfront program.

We also regularly address elements everyone works with, like leading Lesson Study and teaching Sunday School. To provide all staff with more resources for teaching Lesson Study with campers, this year we invited eight Sunday School teachers from Buena Vista to run age-specific workshops on reading the weekly Bible Lesson and teaching Sunday School. The training developed confidence, especially in the younger staff members, and led to improved Lesson Study experiences throughout camp.

As with the summer camp programs, we saw progress at Family Camp. Demand over the past two years has been strong, with more than 100 guests attending and several others on the waiting list. These guests included many family and friends not practicing Christian Science, and some shared during the final gratitude session how important and impactful it is to see Christian Science in action during Family Camp. In fact, one participant said that, after several years of being married to a Christian Scientist, he finally understood what it meant and was looking forward to supporting his spouse in raising their children in Christian Science.

Read about the healing of a young camper, who made the choice to turn completely to God, as told by her counselor >>

To help continue the growth of the A/U Ranches, please consider a one-time or recurring gift by selecting A/U Ranches Fund from the Designation menu in this online form. You can also email or call us at 303.779.3000 x107.