This month, we were placed with three other teams on M squad in Waikanae, New Zealand this month at a camp called El Rancho. We helped with a kid’s camp for 9-11 year olds this past week and are starting to help with a conference for 800-1,000 people this coming week. The camp is absolutely beautiful and so are all of the people working here. They have made us feel so at home and have welcomed us with open arms. We love it here.
When we were told that we would be camp leaders for a kid’s camp, I was so excited and felt like I was going to be right in my element working with kids. I felt like it was a great way to start off the year of ministry. I absolutely love kids and find any opportunity that I can to help encourage and get to know them or just play with them.
Once we got here and started training for the camp, four of us girls had to volunteer to step out of the camp leader position and into an activities leader position so, I felt like I should volunteer and did. There were people on our team that had never been a camp leader before and I had so, I wanted to give them the opportunity to experience the joy of that relations
hip you gain with the children over the week and how much a child can teach you. They trained us in the kid’s activities and told us that we would be helping out with the cleaning of the camp and things like that. I was still really excited and happy to help in any possible way that I could. As the week continued on, I was happy as could be cleaning dishes and toilets but had a longing to know the kids better and experience the week with them like everyone else. My heart started to feel a little empty just cleaning and not directly helping the kids. I started to wonder why God had placed me in this position because of the passion He has put inside of me for children. I had to tell myself that someone has to be behind the scenes doing these things and without them, the camp could not go on but I had just never been that person on the other side. God was trying to teach me humbleness from the very beginning and to appreciate those who are behind the scenes making things happen. I continued to wonder and pray about my position so that I could fulfill His purpose here for me to the best of my ability.
Two nights into the camp, all the leaders came together after the kids were in bed to pray for them. In that moment, I finally heard Him speaking to me but all He said was FAST. And I said, “really God? Fast? I do that all the time at home, why would you bring me all the way to New Zealand to fast?” And He said “Do you trust me? I need you to be obedient and fast for these children and these camp leaders and the staff here.” I kept trying to hear more from Him but all I heard over and over was to FAST and that I needed to go back to my room to write down more of what He was telling me so, I went back. He told me He had given me this ability to fast and hear His voice and that He needed me to use it here just like I do at home. I guess I was just shocked that I would be called here specifically to fast. Then, I remembered a dream I had had a while back and it was word for word the exact scene of this night and I was like wow, He obviously knows what He’s doing so, I went with it! He had shown me a few different children during that same day that I needed to be praying for and fasting for specifically and I knew that so, I cried for them, prayed for them and fasted with them on my heart all day the following day. That day, I kept hearing Him tell me to serve and that the definition of serving is not always the person dealing directly with the people or having the conversation that brings them to the Lord. There are a lot of other people behind the scenes serving that make it possible for that person to even have that conversation and it all clicked. Ok God, I get it. I might not always be the one fighting on the front line, having the conversation that helps change someone’s life for your glory and that I needed to always remember those who are not and appreciate them more. The kids He had laid upon my heart to pray for were changing that day too. Everytime I saw them, there was a little brighter smile on their face that I did not see before and they were experiencing Him more and more. He was proving to me in every way that what I heard Him saying was exactly what He needed me to do. This fasting in New Zealand thing is exactly what He needed me to do and so, I smiled, thanked Him for the lesson and started to celebrate for all of the children, teammates, leaders and people behind the scenes who were having the opportunity to experience a piece of God’s plan here. It was an honor and a joy to watch my teammates experience being a camp leader for the first time and feel love for a child like it is your own. I am so excited to watch my team and our entire squad start to grow for God’s glory. God is awesome azz (like the kiwis would say)!!!
