Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Get Excited!!
So we finished our first week of camp on Friday at about 8:30! The last van rolled away and Madisynne and I headed back in for a 4 hour nap, which was well deserved and WONDERFUL! We were so blessed by having some amazing youth leaders who we will miss so so much, and by the end of the week we both felt that we had truly been called to this work with each other this summer. Yes, there were tear fests and midnight walmart runs and times where we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off, but in the end, we know that God's work was done, and that is our ultimate goal.
One amazing story that I witnessed was of one boy who had led worship for alot of the nights, but I found he had trouble taking the spiritual side of things seriously. Many times the worship felt more like a performance and we had trouble with some issues throughout the week. However, when I asked him to pray after the last time that he led worship, he bowed his head and prayed that God would allow them to take all that they had learned this week and apply it to their lives back at home. To not leave the unity and servanthood here, but to take it back with them. That is EXACTLY what that evening program was about and I hadn't gotten into the message of the night yet, but he basically took the words out of my mouth. It was amazing to see God truly work through anyone, even when sometimes we're not sure He's going to :)
So today we started our PreTeen week, thus the title - "Get Excited!!" Preteens are a blessing to work with. They require more energy and more excitement, but they're more than willing to give it back THREEfold! The singing and videos and games went so well tonight because all the kids want to do whatever it is we have planned, with very little complaint. We had a great start with lots of cheers and prayers, and we are looking forward to quite the week. We have 73 total this week so be praying that we DO have energy and patience with things that will go wrong, and that God will continue to show Himself to us through these kids and through the adult leaders as well. He is always faithful, that's one lesson I'll have down by the end of this summer! :)
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and GLORIFY your FATHER in heaven. :)
-Kristaw/Hope
One amazing story that I witnessed was of one boy who had led worship for alot of the nights, but I found he had trouble taking the spiritual side of things seriously. Many times the worship felt more like a performance and we had trouble with some issues throughout the week. However, when I asked him to pray after the last time that he led worship, he bowed his head and prayed that God would allow them to take all that they had learned this week and apply it to their lives back at home. To not leave the unity and servanthood here, but to take it back with them. That is EXACTLY what that evening program was about and I hadn't gotten into the message of the night yet, but he basically took the words out of my mouth. It was amazing to see God truly work through anyone, even when sometimes we're not sure He's going to :)
So today we started our PreTeen week, thus the title - "Get Excited!!" Preteens are a blessing to work with. They require more energy and more excitement, but they're more than willing to give it back THREEfold! The singing and videos and games went so well tonight because all the kids want to do whatever it is we have planned, with very little complaint. We had a great start with lots of cheers and prayers, and we are looking forward to quite the week. We have 73 total this week so be praying that we DO have energy and patience with things that will go wrong, and that God will continue to show Himself to us through these kids and through the adult leaders as well. He is always faithful, that's one lesson I'll have down by the end of this summer! :)
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and GLORIFY your FATHER in heaven. :)
-Kristaw/Hope
Monday, June 15, 2009
God is good, all the time. :)
As I sit to write this I am taking my first personal break besides sleep in about 50 hours :) This job is no joke, we serve from 6am to...whenever we're done, every day. Haha, I know it has only technically been a day and a half of my first camp, but it feels like I should have just finished Wednesday, not Monday.
God has been revealing to my partner and I both that He is going to challenge us enough so that we know we can not do it alone, and yet He will give us enough help so that we are never doubting that He is there. We walked into this camp with confidence and energy, and we have both been pushed to our limits time and time again, and the summer has only just begun :)
We were both feeling extremely discouraged around 2 in the afternoon, when we heard that Loveland, CO had a Tornado Watch. After the adrenaline boost that gave us, we quickly organized a team of staff to make sure all crews headed back to our facility and were in a safe place. At about 3pm it was escalated to a Tornado Warning and we had to relocate to the church basement, where we worked on keeping people calm and again contacting crews that were still on the road. Once that ended, and the adrenaline wore off, we were again feeling slightly frantic and defeated. However, God was there once again to show us His power. The evening program went smoothly, but in my opinion did not seem to have much of a spiritual impact. I was frustrated with my "performance" and felt as if I had failed to get across what needed to get across this evening. Well, I learned that I am NOT performing or orchestrating the spiritual impact of these programs. I am simply the instrument. A willing instrument in the hands of a skilled master will always succeed. Tonight, I have become a willing instrument. I have THE skilled master, and He continues to bless me with encouragement from stories of campers responding to the words which God has provided for me and encouraging words from adult leaders as well...
My partner and I need prayer for TIME. The past two nights we have gotten 3 hours of sleep and during the day while hoping for naps, it just has not been a possibility. Tonight we are heading to sleep as soon as we finish updates, so we'll get about 5 hours which is a great blessing. However, there is no way to run camps like this on that much sleep, so we need prayer for efficiency, assistance, and quick problem solving so we can head to bed earlier :)
We also need prayer for FOCUS. There are about 20 things to to at the same time, all the time, so sometimes it gets a little jumbled and we forget to prioritize and straighten things out and just try to take everything head on. Just pray that we will stick to our checklists, pray alot, and rely on God alone. :)
God has been revealing to my partner and I both that He is going to challenge us enough so that we know we can not do it alone, and yet He will give us enough help so that we are never doubting that He is there. We walked into this camp with confidence and energy, and we have both been pushed to our limits time and time again, and the summer has only just begun :)
We were both feeling extremely discouraged around 2 in the afternoon, when we heard that Loveland, CO had a Tornado Watch. After the adrenaline boost that gave us, we quickly organized a team of staff to make sure all crews headed back to our facility and were in a safe place. At about 3pm it was escalated to a Tornado Warning and we had to relocate to the church basement, where we worked on keeping people calm and again contacting crews that were still on the road. Once that ended, and the adrenaline wore off, we were again feeling slightly frantic and defeated. However, God was there once again to show us His power. The evening program went smoothly, but in my opinion did not seem to have much of a spiritual impact. I was frustrated with my "performance" and felt as if I had failed to get across what needed to get across this evening. Well, I learned that I am NOT performing or orchestrating the spiritual impact of these programs. I am simply the instrument. A willing instrument in the hands of a skilled master will always succeed. Tonight, I have become a willing instrument. I have THE skilled master, and He continues to bless me with encouragement from stories of campers responding to the words which God has provided for me and encouraging words from adult leaders as well...
My partner and I need prayer for TIME. The past two nights we have gotten 3 hours of sleep and during the day while hoping for naps, it just has not been a possibility. Tonight we are heading to sleep as soon as we finish updates, so we'll get about 5 hours which is a great blessing. However, there is no way to run camps like this on that much sleep, so we need prayer for efficiency, assistance, and quick problem solving so we can head to bed earlier :)
We also need prayer for FOCUS. There are about 20 things to to at the same time, all the time, so sometimes it gets a little jumbled and we forget to prioritize and straighten things out and just try to take everything head on. Just pray that we will stick to our checklists, pray alot, and rely on God alone. :)
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Sometimes Life's So Bittersweet
Well today was the day that we officially headed off to our various sites to begin setting up and preparing for camps. This week is called "travel week" and most of the crews get to their locations about Wednesday and begin setting up in order to be fully prepared for starting the first camp on Sunday afternoon. However, since my location is 40 minutes from the training site, my partner and I get to hang at a friend's house with one other crew for the week - how fun!
Some of the going-on's from the rest of training:
1. We learned some AMAZING things about the theme for Workcamps this year: Reveal. Each day there is a daily theme and the 4 themes they've chosen to focus on are Release for the Captives, Sight for the Blind, Freedom from Oppression, and Revealing the Lord's Favor. We have one night where we have the kids ziptie their wrists together and go look at different prayer stations (Money, Technology, Relationships, Self-Image, Sports, Food) and reflect on what of those things might be holding them captive and then they come to a cross on stage to pray and have their ziptie cut, an amazing and tangible picture of how Christ sets us free!
2. I have made some wonderful friendships here (including my partner Madisynne on the L) and it's hard to want to set out on my own when I've built up such a great support group here :) This week the program coordinators had a lot of position specific training and during one day of training we found these 3 boxes o
f suction blow dart guns...well we couldn't let those go to waste could we? So we launched an attack on other groups working on training and had quite the focus during the times we weren't playing around!
f suction blow dart guns...well we couldn't let those go to waste could we? So we launched an attack on other groups working on training and had quite the focus during the times we weren't playing around!3. I got our crew minivan which is beautiful and has been named "The Tub." It's practically brand new and boy have I learned how to pack one of those things up like a jig saw puzzle.
God has definitely set me up for a challenge this summer. Between being with one person all summer, dealing with little sleep and crazy days, and finding a balance of it all, the end of training has left me with a mixture of readiness and yet hesitance, but I know that this is where He wants me and I'm excited to start writing about experiences at camps - keep reading :) I'll try to update as regularly as possible - prayers are appreciated!
-kristawithHOPE
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