and I owe it all to You!
Imagine walking…no not walking, more like diving… into an environment completely different than your own. Different people with different backgrounds but all seeking the same thing…God.
This past week, we were in Wicklow, Ireland for Dublin Christian Mission’s Annual Family Camp.
I’ve never worked at a camp before. I’ve never spent any huge amount of time working with kids. I was never really around younger kids growing up, so I when I’ve been around them (besides my nephews of course J), I’ve never really known how to play with them…especially those around 5-10 yrs old for some reason. I went into the week without knowing any kids songs. To be completely honest, I barely know any bible stories off the top of my head. Coming into the week at camp, I felt very unprepared, yet extremely excited about what God was going to do.
I wanted to go into this camp just like I’ve gone into everything these past few months, with an open mind and heart that allowed God to do whatever He wanted with me.
Quite a few of the families that came to camp had been coming for 10-20 years, so they knew the volunteers really well… as for us, we were newbies. As you would expect, some of the kids were a bit slower to open up to us since they didn’t know us at all, but I found the more challenging they were, the more I wanted to connect with them.
Prior to coming into camp, I had to remind myself a few times that although this is another week of our mission year…this was their ONE week at camp. This was something they looked forward to ALL YEAR. This was their holiday vacation. It’s not about me. It’s not about my comfort. It’s not about what anyone can do for me. It’s about God. It’s about serving and giving Him glory. It’s about sharing the love and joy that the Lord first shared with us.
From day one at camp, I absolutely loved it. I fell in love with those kids. I realized how much I was going through nephew withdrawals while I was spending time with the boys and girls at camp. I found myself wanting to know each child in a very personal way. I didn’t want to spend the whole week skimming the surface. I wanted to dive deep. I wanted to build relationships. I wanted to get to know them, to learn about their likes/dislikes, what makes them laugh, what makes them smile.
We were told that we would see a huge difference from the beginning of camp to the end. It’s one thing to hear it, it’s a completely different thing to see it and experience it firsthand. I wish I could put into words how I feel about this past week. God blessed us in so many ways. Besides having tons of laughs, making tons of memories, having fun and seeing God move in the kids, He blessed us with great weather. It rains just about everyday here, but when it did rain at camp, the mood never changed. Everyone stayed excited, positive and happy as if it was a warm, sunny day. Praise God.
To give you an idea of what an average day looked like for us, I’ve included a bit of an itinerary. In Ireland, they set times to meet but they typically don’t worry about being late (Dad, are you sure you’re not Irish?? 😉
7:45 am : Wake up, wash up
8:30-ish am : Prayer time for what’s going on at camp (campers, leaders, weather, sessions, etc)
9:30-ish am : Breakfast (cereal, toast, poridge— our world race group was actually nicknamed the toasties because we ate tons of toast with every meal haha)
10:30-ish am : Morning Session (All ages – songs, games, bible story/message)
11-ish am: Activity time (go carts, trampolines, crafts, etc)
1-ish pm : Dinner (aka lunch – chicken, pork, rice, mashed potatoes, veggies, always dessert)
1:30-ish pm: Activity out and about (swimming, fun at the park, play place like Castaway Café, bowling)
6-ish pm : Evening activity (break up into small groups for more bible stories, songs and crafts – I worked with the kids under 10yrs old)
9-ish pm: Tea (aka dinner)
9:30ish till 1am: everyone (including kids as young as 6 yrs old) stayed up , hung out, played cards, listened to music, etc.
It was an AMAZING week. I absolutely fell in love with those kids.
I honestly have a hard time putting it into words. It’s hard to believe that after only one week, I could feel so much for the families we were with.
I already miss them so much <3 <3 BUT! It’s good. I love that I was able to build such strong relationships with kids I’ve only known for a week. I much rather have a really hard time saying goodbye, than have it be easy. I want to continue to put my all into everything we do out here. This is too good of an opportunity not to put everything I have into it. God has been so ridiculously good.
Thank you so much for your prayers! Thanks to those of you who have so kindly reminded me to blog since it’s been a while. I’ll have some more comin for ya soon. I love and miss you all!
