Family Camp - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

One of the ministries we got to work with in Ireland was the Dublin
Christian Mission. During the school year it is an after-school program
where kids can come for help with homework and tutoring, and during the
summer they have various camps and clubs that the kids and their
families can be involved in. The first day we sat down with our contact
and she basically just explained the heart of DCM as a home away from
home. DCM is located in several rough cities around Dublin, and it
becomes a haven for the kids and their families throughout the year. So
while we were there, we got to work at the last camp of the summer–
Family Camp!

The campsite is about an hour and a half outside
Dublin, in the beautiful hill country of Ireland. There’s a football
pitch, trampolines, bounce houses, an AMAZING playground, a shed filled
with bikes and go-carts, and a fantastic kitchen staff who kept us
stuffed to the gills all week. And our job for the week was basically
just to hang out with the families. There were around 45 campers total,
including kids and parents, and this is there one week a year when they
can get away from the darkness and stress surrounding their cities, and
just relax and be loved on for a while. We had sessions in the morning
and evening, where everyone was split up by age group and given stories
and lessons about Jesus, and we got to help plan and run the sessions
with the kids.

That week was amazing because we got to see
walls being broken down all over the place. We were warned that because
they come from such tough situations, a lot of them would be very wary
of us at first. So throughout the week as we continued pursuing them
and hanging out with them, we got to see those walls relax and then
crumble as the kids just started letting go and having a good time.
This week was absolutely a haven for most of them; it was heartbreaking
for us to leave, knowing the difficulties and darkness they would face
as soon as they returned home.

BUT the Lord was so good in
letting us see some of the fruits of our efforts! When we got back to
Dublin, a lot of the kids and families connected with us through
facebook and email, and then when we went to our church on Sunday,
several of the families were there visiting! Some of these kids had
never stepped foot in church, and now they were finally getting
connected with this amazing fellowship in Dublin. We were just
overwhelmed to get to see them there, and so incredibly thankful for
lives that were changing right in front of our eyes.