Asian Camp

The United Methodist Church Asian American Summer Camp, in its 45 year history of empowering and inspirational ministry, has developed a reputation amongst its participants as a family-like community, yielding lifelong relationships and faithful servants of God.

Our Mission Statement

Asian American Summer Camp (AC) is a Christian youth camp sponsored by the National Japanese American United Methodist Caucus (NJAUMC) for all youth entering 10th grade to sophomores in college in the Fall of 2019. In its 45 year history of empowering and inspirational ministry, Asian Camp has developed a reputation amongst it’s participants as a family-like community, yielding lifelong relationships and faithful servants of God.

The mission of “Asian Camp” is to reach out to youth and young adults in our Asian American churches and communities, in effort to lead them toward a closer relationship with Christ. Through worship, fellowship, prayer, growth groups, community builders, and other outdoor activities, Asian Camp encourages campers, as well as staff, to explore their faiths, reflect on their personal identities, and use their spiritual gifts for God’s glory. With special focus on equipping for the future, Asian Camp seeks to instill pride in each camper’s spiritual, cultural, and ethnic identity.

A hallmark of Asian Camp that sets it apart from other Christian summer camps is a tradition of creating its own programming, with inclusion of activities that focus on our Asian heritages and social justice issues relevant to today’s youth. With every aspect of programming, Asian Camp aims to foster an atmosphere of love and acceptance, where youth feel secure in their personal identities, but are still challenged to be all that God has created them to be. Within this context, our intent is to create life-affirming experiences that will root Asian Camp participants in understanding of their relationships with God and their identity.

Meet The Directors

Camille Obata

Camille Obata hails from Buena Vista United Methodist Church, and this is her second year directing Asian Camp. Outside of camp, Camille attends Boston University School of Theology and enjoys experiencing the seasonal weather changes. Camp has been such an important place for her development as a person. AC gave an instantly warm welcome when she was a nervous first time camper. She loves telling the story of how Kelli generously offered to roll Camille’s heavy suitcase to the cabin when they first met. Camille is humbled to serve Camp and aims to create an environment where the community built through God’s love can cultivate spiritual growth.

If Camille were a color she would be CLOUDBURST CAM. Cloudburst is a vibrant, muted white that shines through the sun’s rays. Clouds take on many forms and shapes (cirus, cumulus, stratus, etc.) just like cam can, and they will fill the sky with their beauty and wonder.

“Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and go do it because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman

Kelli Yamaguma

Kelli Yamaguma origins from Aldersgate United Methodist Church and has been fortunate enough to have attended NJAUMC camps as a camper, counselor, and director. This is her second year as part of the Asian Camp Design Team. Kelli is the Program Director for Sunday School and Youth Ministry at her home church, Aldersgate UMC, and an after-school care teacher at a local Palo Alto elementary school. Camp has been a constant in her life for the past 10+ years. It is where she discovered and explored her relationship with God and where she was challenged to grow as a Christian and as a spiritual leader. Camp has been a source of so much happiness and love in her life and she is very grateful and feels blessed to be part of the DT of 2020; she is ready to see our hands come together to do God’s work and spread His love!

If Kelli were a color she would be KINDLING KELLI. It is a glowy orange ember color that illuminates the darkest of spaces. The light is coming to give back everything the darkness stole.

"Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” -Walt Disney