Camp Recap

There is no way I can recount everything that happened during our 10 days at camp. However, I will do my very best to give you some highlights and fill you in on how God answered your prayers for the specific requests given to you in our last post.

1. Jonathan did an excellent job with each of his seven sessions. It was no coincidence that the subject matter and study points were issues that many kids were dealing with prior to camp. Each morning the counselors got together for a meeting to discuss the campers reactions to the previous day, questions that arose and then of course to have a time of prayer. These meetings were so beneficial for Jonathan as he was then able to adapt and emphasize certain points in his next study based on questions and thought processes that were being communicated by the campers. More often than not his response was I will be covering those exact questions in the studies. As the director saw how inquisitive the campers were and the questions they were asking he decided to make our Sunday morning worship time a Q&A by Jonathan. He received the questions on Saturday at 11pm and then was up to 1am trying to write out his thoughts and provide scripture to answer some good/tough questions. For example: predestination, end times, the trinity, what does it mean to be in God's will and how do you know, why God does not perform miracles like the parting of the Red Sea anymore etc. It was an unexpected additional hour of teaching he was not planning on. The director, Marco, also said this was the first year he really saw so many kids take a serious interest in the studies. Linguistically Jonathan did a phenomenal job although his brain was extremely shot afterward.
2. We were encouraged as well to see many believers challenged spiritually. There were many who came away doing some deep evaluations of their lives. Some expressed this was the first time they really understood some "basic" concepts regarding the Gospel and Jesus Christ. There were other professing believers who had a pharisee attitude thinking that their lives were fine and that they had it all together.
3. There were a number of unsaved kids there as well. One that we know of trusted in Christ at the end of camp. Ricardo came to camp very much angered and embittered towards God, but through the course of the camp we saw God working in his heart. The final full day he said “For the first time I understand what the gospel means.” Despite his own family difficulties and sufferings he saw that Jesus Christ suffered far greater than he and that Christ died to save him. It was such a blessing to see this young man trust in Christ! Pray for Ricardo, his growth in Christ and for his unsaved family. Another young boy, Davide, also comes from a horrible family situation and is in desperate need of Christ. His heart was very open and tender towards the gospel but did not come to a point of trusting in Christ. We ask you to pray for him and that he would continue to meditate on the things he heard this past week.
4. Luca, Luca, Luca...what to do with Luca? He did not touch one thing that was served the entire time, apart from bread. He even turned his nose up at the desserts. He ate very little and managed to get by with his yogurt, PB&J, raisins and fruit. He won't even try things, just automatically refuses just about everything. We have stopped making meal time a battle over food and figure he won't starve himself and will eat or try something if he is hungry enough. Still waiting to add new foods (or old foods that he once ate) to his list of "likes." As a side note: the camp food was Incredible! No cutting corners working with pre-made sauces or food. Everything was prepared from scratch. We ate like kings!
   
5. I survived with my part in caring for the kids in a camp environment. It was a bit lonely at times having the campers gone all day and the kitchen staff busy with their responsibilities, not allowing much interaction with people apart from the kids. I was happy to have my husband back when we were done and the kids were happy to spend more time with their dad. All three kids slept together in one room so that always is a most challenging experience in trying to get them to settle down and sleep. I started to keep them up later at night but that really didn't help too much and their usual falling asleep time was between 10:30-11pm. I was exhausted but am thankful we went as a family.
6. The weather was amazing with one or two days of light rain. It was awesome to have such a lengthy break from the heat and yet still get plenty of intense sun. There was a 10 degree difference between the city and the mountains. The kids came home with countless bruises and scrapes. Thankfully, there were no major injuries. Although, Luca gave us plenty of scares and is now starting to chip is other front tooth.

Okay, so here is our time at camp in pictures with captions if you click to view it in a larger format.