Camp Prophetology 2011 was a great success! We had a total of 9 campers and two teen helpers over the course of 3 weeks at the Interfaith Community Church in Ballard. Many thanks to our generous donors for the scholarships that made the camp possible.

We visited 8 houses of worship and received visits from 9 groups of people to teach us about their traditions. The generosity and open-heartedness of our field trip hosts and presenters made this possible in ways beyond our imagining.

The camp's influence extends beyond the 11 youth who participated directly. We were filmed by Alhurra Television, a satellite station showing in 23 Arabic-speaking countries across the Middle East and North Africa. Parents told us how much they were learning from their children. Presenters and field-trip hosts were inspired by seeing kids engaged and learning about many religions.

In addition to slideshows, presenters, rituals and field trip visits, we had all the ordinary fun of camp - singing & dancing, story time, games, running around in the park, craft projects, snack, parent visit parties, much of it themed around learning about religions and expressing what we were discovering. View our photo album and our Facebook daily digest of camp experiences below to get a taste.

People have already asked us if we will do this again next year. So far, the answer is "God willing and the creek don't rise." We're very excited about the possibility of having another year of Camp Prophetology, and now you can subscribe to our email list to get information about future developments.

-Tsukina & Michael

Daily Digest 2011

WEEK 1 "ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN" (Aug. 1-5, 2011)

DAY 1 -- Monday August 1st:

Blessings of the beautiful month of Ramadan to all! An awesome first day of camp - the kids made beautiful scrapbook pages of different aspects of religion, and they were very patient for slideshows of the Abrahamic religions (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, a little Baha'i and one slide each for the Samaritans, Muwahhidun (known in the west as the Druze), and Moorish Science Temple).

DAY 2 - Tuesday August 2nd:

Today's adventures - a visit to the Islamic Community of Bosniaks in Washington Mosque in Shoreline with Imam Abdulah Polovina, and an afternoon visit to St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ballard with Tim Simunds, the faith formation director. We learned how to do rakats of prayer and genuflection, and everyone in camp got interviewed for Alhurra satellite television to appear in 23 Middle Eastern countries.

DAY 3 - Wednesday August 3rd:

We constructed a labyrinth on the floor of the sanctuary with string and tape. The kids made up games for it. Pastor Ken Riemann of Olympic View Community Church of the Brethren came to talk about religion, specifically Christianity, as a way of working toward a win-win situation for everyone, and we played a game that demonstrated that, and he sang a great song about Jesus serving.

DAY 4 - Thursday August 4th:

Another gorgeous day at camp. The kids played in the labyrinth they built yesterday, Michael gave a slideshow on the history of sacred spaces from 30,000 years ago to the middle ages and we drew our own sacred spaces. And then Rabbi Olivier BenHaim came from Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue with a 300-year-old Torah scroll and its equally old jewelry!

DAY 5 - Friday August 5th

The end of an awesome week! Hui-jung Campbell and her daughters came to talk about the Baha'i faith, we said goodbye to the labyrinth in the sanctuary and unmade it. We drew pictures of the Torah we'd seen yesterday and looked up everybody's Bar or Bat Mitzvah torah portion and listened to cantors singing. Then we had a party with festival foods of the 4 religions we studied and a short dervish turning ceremony.

WEEK 2 "WORLD of DHARMA" (Aug. 8-12, 2011)

DAY 1 -- Monday August 8th:

We had a short history of Hinduism slideshow with sacred readings, a Krishna dance and Salute to the Sun yoga, we read How Ganesh Got His Elephant Head and discussed how to avoid jumping to conclusions, and then a field trip to Traveler's Tea Company for ladoos, followed by a short puja for the Durga altar.

DAY 2 - Tuesday August 9th:

Awesome field-trip day - great stories at the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center with a sweet lady whose name I missed, and lunch (prasadem) and teachings from Babaji Khalsawant Singh and other folks at the Sikh Center of Seattle Gurudwara. We listened to Hindu devotional music on the way out to Bothell, and Sikh chants on the way back to the church, and then we drew big yantras in sidewalk chalk out front!

DAY 3 - Wednesday August 10th:

Today, we had an awesome mental visit to the zoo doing yoga with Angelika, and then a slideshow on Buddhism. After lunch, we worked on scrapbooks, looked at the giant picture book of Buddhist thangkas, played the reincarnation game of the 6 realms, and looked at a picture book of the Dalai Lama giving the Kalachakra initiation with the beautiful sand painting.

DAY 4 - Thursday August 11th:

Great fieldtrip day - Vietnamese Buddhist Association temple for questions with Rev. Thich Minh Chieu, Loving Hut for lunch (founded by a former Buddhist nun now spiritual master Ching Hai), the Buddhist Dharma Supplies & Repair store, and then Choeizan Enkyoji Nichiren Buddhist Temple for a great service with Rev. Kanjin Cedarman and family, followed by tea and sweets and a discussion on how Buddhism will integrate into America.

DAY 5 - Friday August 12th:

A day of "rest" from camp, since half the kids are out of town - 40 books back to King County library & 15 back to Seattle, boxed up the new set out of the living room floor, return the Hindu & Buddhist altar stuff to its home, and out come the Shinto, NW Native and Goddess altar things. Uploading photos, printing out pictures for scrapbooks, reviewing movie clips. Phone calls to set up visits.

WEEK 3 "ROOTS & BRANCHES" NATURE RELIGIONS TODAY Aug. 15-19, 2011

DAY 1 -- Monday, August 15th:

Morning slideshows on Goddess worship/Neopagan/Wicca and Shinto. Then we made mojo bags and studied Wicca with Rev. Lila Reyes Rapcewicz, followed by a ritual to bless them and amulets. Afterwards we had a short film on Vodou in Haiti, and a slideshow on Ifa, Santeria/Lucumi & Candomble.

DAY 2 -- Tuesday, August 16th:

Today: watching the Shinto rituals before sumo, learning how to go to a Shinto shrine, then field trip - Grand Tsubaki Shinto Shrine for a service with Rev. Koichi Barrish, lunch at the Nishiyama Japanese garden in Everett, and scrapbooking. Plus, we listened to Dreams of Rio in the car & learned about Candomble.

DAY 3 -- Wednesday, August 17th:

What a lovely day - stories, songs, dances, slideshow & quiz game from the Ifa and Santeria/Lucumi traditions with Iya Falana as priestess, Ricardo Guity on drums, and Patti Cage dancing. Then, a procession to Ballard Corners park to make an offering to Eshu/Ellegua, and afterwards crafts to get in touch with the orishas.

DAY 4 - Thursday, August 18th:

Watched the film Shadow of the Salmon & a Coast Salish slideshow, had a meditation with cedar branches, listened to stories with Johnny Moses and went to visit the Duwamish Longhouse with medicine woman Laurel Boucher of the Red Cedar Circle. We were recommended to write to Congress to help get their federal tribal recognition.

DAY 5 - Friday, August 19th:

The last day of camp - The kids created a ritual to banish bad feelings, vibes, and entities and to invite good energies. Rev. Karen Lindquist talked to us about the spirit of interfaith and Interfaith Community Church. Scrapbooks, park time, and holy cooking with Qi Gong. And a party with parent visits.

"It is the sacred duty of every individual to have an appreciative understanding of other faiths." - Mohandas Gandhi