The morning was incredibly brutal. I woke up from a really deep, intense nightmare and I was out of it all through breakfast. The fear about letting the kids at Camp 2 down, and being exactly what I'd intended NOT to be (a flake), weighed heavy on my heart.
We did get quiet time (Praise Jesus) and God just put a fire in my heart. I really fought hard in prayer for the kids at both camps. I wanted God to turn what I viewed as my failure into something better than I could have purposed. I really pleaded for us to be Christ to the kids at Camp 1 and 3 (as I said in my previous post they are essentially the same Camp. From this point I'll refer to it just as Camp 3.) I don't remember everything I prayed, but at the conclusion of it I had a very clear sense that God's heart was the same as mine for these kids and He didn't want me to fear that the mission would fall through. I had a strong sense of what needed to happen for these kids.
We had worship time, which for me and a few others turned into war time. One of our people felt sick, and I knew she could not go down and not make it to Camp 3. Not to mention I was worried about her. So I went into worship/warrior mode. Singing some, and praying really seriously. Talking to God in battle mode. If you've never done that, and haven't got a sense of what it looks like from my previous blog posts, basically it boils down to being in the mindset of a radioman in the middle of a war zone with stuff blowing up around me and bullets hitting my buddies. I felt like she was hit and needed a medic - and that God needed to provide. And that medic couldn't be me because I have no gift in healing (at that moment I was pissed I didn't.) God did answer the prayer and three of the girls from the team prayed with her and she broke through the sick feeling and warfare that was slamming her.
On a much less important level - apparently if you want to scare the ACC youth and don't have Canned Salmon around whole wheat, whole grain peanut butter sandwiches are creepy. Don't ask me why, but people were like "WHAA???"
Abbey and Sami were back on for their same message since it was a whole new camp. BJ had purchased a portable sound system that we could utilize to make the music louder, as well as help our talking.
We rolled out and as per usual my anxiety level started to rise. Would it work out? Was this the right place to be?
We arrived and there were almost no kids out, period. I was like "AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" (In my head), and after a couple minutes put a few people: Sami, Hannah and I don't remember who else on praying that kids would show up and we could minister to them.
After another minute or two we headed out to the soccer field where some older kids (probably 15-17) were playing soccer. Within minutes I was running into kids I knew. What killed me in a good way is they knew exactly who I was. They remembered my name.
I have to talk about some of them for a little bit before my narrative continues. There's Sayra, who's one of my favorite little girls. I wish I could be her older brother or uncle or something. I met her in 2009 when I first went to Camp 3. She was my buddy then. Last year I didn't see near as much of her and it made me sad. So this year I decided "I'm investing in this little girl this year come hell or high water." Both of which, in a sense, had already come and would continue to come, as is the way of missions.
Then there was her sister Jenny. She's another gem. I got to spend a lot of time with her too, and she melted my heart. I really was able to connect with her again this year as well. If I had little sisters, Jenny and Sayra would be the little sisters I'd want. They now have a baby brother I don't think I'd met before and they take such good care of him. Really tickled me how they watched out for him, tied his shoes and just took care of him.
Then there's Lucia. She's always been a bit shy of me, but man did she remember me. And she asked "When is Mara coming?" Over the course of this trip she warmed up to me, but for most of it I didn't get hugs from her. She's adorable tho. She's 4 or 5 now I think. I first met her at the same time I met Jenny and Sayra.
Anna is another one of that same group. I didn't connect as much with her this year, but she's precious too.
Moises is one that posse too, and he's awesome. I'm guessing he's about 8 now and it's always struck me how easy going and gentle he is. I pray he doesn't lose that, 'cause a lot of migrant boys do and that'd break my heart.
The rest of the kids I'll let you meet along the way. In the interest of actually keeping the blog moving forward, and not having massive posts, I'm going to break day 3 into two parts, so be on the lookout for the second part soon!
We did get quiet time (Praise Jesus) and God just put a fire in my heart. I really fought hard in prayer for the kids at both camps. I wanted God to turn what I viewed as my failure into something better than I could have purposed. I really pleaded for us to be Christ to the kids at Camp 1 and 3 (as I said in my previous post they are essentially the same Camp. From this point I'll refer to it just as Camp 3.) I don't remember everything I prayed, but at the conclusion of it I had a very clear sense that God's heart was the same as mine for these kids and He didn't want me to fear that the mission would fall through. I had a strong sense of what needed to happen for these kids.
We had worship time, which for me and a few others turned into war time. One of our people felt sick, and I knew she could not go down and not make it to Camp 3. Not to mention I was worried about her. So I went into worship/warrior mode. Singing some, and praying really seriously. Talking to God in battle mode. If you've never done that, and haven't got a sense of what it looks like from my previous blog posts, basically it boils down to being in the mindset of a radioman in the middle of a war zone with stuff blowing up around me and bullets hitting my buddies. I felt like she was hit and needed a medic - and that God needed to provide. And that medic couldn't be me because I have no gift in healing (at that moment I was pissed I didn't.) God did answer the prayer and three of the girls from the team prayed with her and she broke through the sick feeling and warfare that was slamming her.
On a much less important level - apparently if you want to scare the ACC youth and don't have Canned Salmon around whole wheat, whole grain peanut butter sandwiches are creepy. Don't ask me why, but people were like "WHAA???"
Abbey and Sami were back on for their same message since it was a whole new camp. BJ had purchased a portable sound system that we could utilize to make the music louder, as well as help our talking.
We rolled out and as per usual my anxiety level started to rise. Would it work out? Was this the right place to be?
We arrived and there were almost no kids out, period. I was like "AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" (In my head), and after a couple minutes put a few people: Sami, Hannah and I don't remember who else on praying that kids would show up and we could minister to them.
After another minute or two we headed out to the soccer field where some older kids (probably 15-17) were playing soccer. Within minutes I was running into kids I knew. What killed me in a good way is they knew exactly who I was. They remembered my name.
I have to talk about some of them for a little bit before my narrative continues. There's Sayra, who's one of my favorite little girls. I wish I could be her older brother or uncle or something. I met her in 2009 when I first went to Camp 3. She was my buddy then. Last year I didn't see near as much of her and it made me sad. So this year I decided "I'm investing in this little girl this year come hell or high water." Both of which, in a sense, had already come and would continue to come, as is the way of missions.
Then there was her sister Jenny. She's another gem. I got to spend a lot of time with her too, and she melted my heart. I really was able to connect with her again this year as well. If I had little sisters, Jenny and Sayra would be the little sisters I'd want. They now have a baby brother I don't think I'd met before and they take such good care of him. Really tickled me how they watched out for him, tied his shoes and just took care of him.Then there's Lucia. She's always been a bit shy of me, but man did she remember me. And she asked "When is Mara coming?" Over the course of this trip she warmed up to me, but for most of it I didn't get hugs from her. She's adorable tho. She's 4 or 5 now I think. I first met her at the same time I met Jenny and Sayra.
Anna is another one of that same group. I didn't connect as much with her this year, but she's precious too.
Moises is one that posse too, and he's awesome. I'm guessing he's about 8 now and it's always struck me how easy going and gentle he is. I pray he doesn't lose that, 'cause a lot of migrant boys do and that'd break my heart.
The rest of the kids I'll let you meet along the way. In the interest of actually keeping the blog moving forward, and not having massive posts, I'm going to break day 3 into two parts, so be on the lookout for the second part soon!
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