The past two weeks we have been working as camp counselors and it had been a blast! The first camp was grades 3-6 and I had a group of Africaan girls that were so sweet. They loved Jesus and one of the young ladies led us in a devotion the last morning of camp. After meeting them I was sure that the Lord had placed me with them to pour into them and I did to a certain extent, but the Lord had a different plan for the weekend. I also was paired with a 17 year old young lady as my co-leader. She was Gods plan for me that weekend. We got to spend a lot of time together and she poured her heart out to me about all the struggles she is facing from grief to being hurt and abused, boyfriend problems, and with self worth issues. I got the chance to pray for her and share scripture with her throughout the weekend. It was the highlight of my week. She is working through forgiveness and trauma that had happened to her in her short 17 years. I am so glad I got to show her Gods love and pour into her. I love when God interrupts your plans and shows up and shows out!
We had a few days rest from camp working around the facility and then another camp of 6th graders came bouncing through the doors! By bouncing I literally mean bouncing! They were such a lively group, but also a group full of emotion and heavy hearts. The teachers informed us that one of the boys mothers had died a few days before camp and another student who had lost one of his parents one year ago that day. There was a lot of hurt and unrest. Also the students were dealing with a lot of bullying and hurting one another. The three day camp was so good though. The students really opened up to us and a few of my teammates got to share personal testimonies of grief and bullying and how the Lord helped them through these difficult times. I got to share with my students about my dad and they shared many personal struggles during our small group time. We got to pray together and all the kids committed to surrendering their burdens to the Lord and following him even when it’s tough. The students did an exercise where they physically carried each other’s burdens and we ended the camp with praise and worship led by one of the teachers. It was beautiful to see how involved the teachers were in the spiritual and emotional lives of their students. The Lord defiantly moved this weekend and I pray that these students are healing and know how much they are loved and cherished. Take a look at some snapshots of my #camplife this past couple of weeks!
My group from the first camp! My co-leader, Annelize is in the far bottom right. This picture was taken a two the top of the mountain they climbed on the last day.
My group of 6th graders working together to make a south African dish called Potjie! They built a fire, added all the ingredients and successfully made our dinner! It tasted great!
The students participated in “Carry each other’s burdens”, where they had to work as a team to move logs, tires, and large trash cans frome one spot in camp to another.
