Pranks at the camp were mostly sneaking out. It wasn't to meet girls. We never even thought of that possibility. We were all pretty innocent. Sneaking out was going to somewhere else where we could spend the night rather than in our assigned room. Nate and I were assigned to a room underneath the old tabernacle. He and I decided to take the adventure one dark night about midnight. We had the perfect place in mind. It was the attic of the new bathroom building where they stored all the extra mattresses. Not only would we have the thrill of sneaking  out but we would also have a very comfortable night in store. We were surprised there were still some people up that time of night so we very carefully picked our way down to the building. There was a ladder outside which went up to a door which opened up into the attic. We crawled in and congratulated ourselves because we thought we were safe. But perhaps we were talking a little too loud and laughing too much because suddenly the door burst open again. We quickly tried to hide underneath some of the mattresses but it was too late. Pastor Ben was the first one through the door followed closely by Pastor Don. These were young pastors and were usually a lot of fun but tonight they had on their stern face. They took us downstairs into the shower and said your punishment is going to be to take a shower but the last five minutes has to be ice cold.
 I learned a lot from this incident, more than they intended to teach probably. Fast forward 10 or 12 years to when I was the director of a camp up at big Sandy Lake. Now I was in the pastor role and the young people were still trying to sneak out. Knowing that the bathrooms were a favorite first stop off because nobody can blame you if you gotta go, I stationed myself there just outside behind a bush. The culprits came. Since the walls were paper thin I could hear every word they said inside and they were planning what they would say about why they were out of their rooms. They had several scenarios ready. After the planning was finished I walked in the door looking stern and said what are you guys doing out of your rooms. Before they could respond I said, I suppose you're going to tell me that blah blah blah including every one of the plans that they had discussed. Chalk another one up for the pastor's side. "OK boys, there's your punishment. You're going to take a shower and you can take as long as you want but the last five minutes has to be ice cold."
 I shouldn't leave an impression that the Wesleyan pastors were overly serious or stern. I was a lifeguard at a junior camp up at Stone Lake Wisconsin. And of course the pastors were there. Pastor Don and I decided to sneak out one dark night. We were counsellors in one of the cabins. Old habits are hard to break. The woods around were fairly thick so we were hiding behind trees watching and commenting on the goings on of the adults in camp. Suddenly we heard one of the older pastors calling out our names. Our sneak out had been discovered. We went deeper into the woods and apparently made enough noise so that the pastor walked into the woods right where we were. We lay down behind a big log that was flat on the ground and he came within 6 feet of us calling our names. After he left we wormed our way around and got back to our cabin. Chalk one up for the "kids ".
 And oh just one more story while were on the subject of pranks. Nate and I had a plan that we talked about and which was ruined when they built the new block building for the bathrooms. The old bathrooms were in outhouse style with the women's on one side and the men's on the other side but of course everything went down into the same pit underneath. Our plan was to mount a speaker connected to a microphone down in the pit somewhere and have one of us watch when a girl went into the bathroom to signal the other one of us to say through the speaker "Excuse me ma'am could give us a minute. We're workin down here." Of course our pre-adolescent voices would have given us away so we never put the plan into action. Where's pastor Don when you need him? Truth is we weren't brave enough to do something that naughty. And know, my dear children and grandchildren that I have repented long and hard for having such thoughts but I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.
The pic is the old chapel.