Praise God for week 3!

Where should I start? This week was VERY different from last week.

On Sunday, we went to church, and Pastor Steve Newman talked about Barnabas in Acts 4:32-37, 9:23-28, 11:19-24, 15:36-41. Some key things that I think God wanted me to think about were these:
1. We are called to give out our possessions, which God gave for a purpose.
2. Barnabas name means Son of Encouragement, and he lives out his spiritual gift in an impressionable way that is reflected in his character. If I were given a nickname, would it reflect my true character?
3. We can have lifestyle changes through the Holy Spirit, and when we need to be encouraged, we can turn to other Christians. Do I need to be encouraged? Who do I need to encourage?
4. Our spiritual gifts are revealed when we show maturity (through control and empowerment) in the Holy Spirit. We are commanded to develop those gifts. What are my spiritual gifts?
5. Our burdens are surfaced when time is spent with other people, which can hold us back from being good mentors to others. Nevertheless, we all have potential. Am I in a position to mentor other people, especially youth at camp?
I have not necessarily figured out the answers to all of these questions, but I think each of these things will become more clear to me as time goes on here at camp in the next 3 weeks.

On Sunday, Momentum students arrived at camp. Momentum are high school students that come for one week to serve as junior counselors. They were assigned to cabins to help the main counselors with anything with the campers, and also we are supposed to mentor them. My co-counselor April and I had 5 Momentum students helping us with cabin 2: Emily, Megan, Courtney, Cree, and Shae.

Sunday night, Meredith and Lindsey surprised all the main girl counselors by putting a tent in the prayer room, and we “camped out.” It was fun to hang out with all the girls and talk. They had a bowl full of questions, and we each took one and answered it. Some were surface level, but most were deep spiritual questions that were difficult to answer. It was an awesome time to get to know my co-counselors a little bit better.

On Monday, Doug Pollock (from Athletes in Action) came to speak about evangelism, and ways that we can make it irresistible to people who are not Christians.
- Active kindness softens the hearts of those who resist. They need to feel and see truth before they will ever believe it. Active kindness happens when we take the initiative to demonstrate God’s love in practical ways with no strings attached.
- Active friendship is demonstrated through listening and noticing things about the people around us. Once we start to notice people, we start to care about them. We should seek to understand others before seeking to be understood.
- Wondering questions help to turn curiosity into spiritual discovery because people will begin to contemplate their worldview and discover biblical truths through dialogue.
- Presentation of the gospel helps others to understand and respond. Our role is to take the initiative empowered by the Holy spirit who guides us to expose people to God’s kingdom by serving them, listening and learning from them, wondering with them, and sharing with them, all the while trusting that God will draw them one step closer to Himself.
- Talk to God about men before talking to men about God.
We are meant to plant seeds and allow God to make them grow. I think it is important for me to understand that my work here at camp is mostly just planting seeds, and leaving it up to God to continue to work in each of the campers’ lives.
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:2-6
This passage is convicting in my life because I know that only God will be able to make the campers open to the message that is presented, but I also need to be an active participant in the conversations that God has put in front of me.

On Monday afternoon, all of the staff went to work a special needs ministry to run a fun day camp. I was so excited, but then right before all the children arrived, I got really dizzy. I was not dehydrated or anything, but just couldn’t handle walking or moving really. I had to sit in the hallway and wait for my dizziness to pass, but every time I moved too much, I got more lightheaded. As a result, I was frustrated because I could not participate in working with the children. As I think back, perhaps one of the reasons that God pulled me out of working that day was so that I could have a good conversation with Lindsey, who sat with me while I was dizzy.

On Tuesday, our campers arrived. I was dressed as Esther the Jester along with the other judges up on stage, and we danced and cheered as all the kids got off of the bus and ran up to the stage through the hand tunnel of counselors and Momentum students. As I watched and danced, I got so excited (and sweaty), and I was so psyched to see the kids so happy! About 106 kids arrived for camp, the most they have had since the first week that the camp opened. It was chaotic during the first meal and organizing all the kids into cabins by age. We also had to check all the bags for things that were inappropriate for camp, which was hard with so many people running around, and also without knowing any of the kids’ names.

In Cabin 2 we had eleven 9-year-old girls: Ajanae, De’Janay, Corray, Rickia, Jasmine, Stacy, NaJae, Brianna, Talia, and the twins, Korshae and Kornae. (Just as a side note, 6 of those names rhyme, so it was REALLY hard to remember their names at first, and also the twins were identical, so I constantly got them confused.) They are all so cute and had a lot of energy. It was fun to hang out with them learn about their likes and dislikes. Its no surprise that they hated bugs and had to thoroughly check cabin before going to bed. Sounds like someone else I know…

On Wednesday, we really started our first activities with Slab and workshops, and then the pool and slip-n-slide in the afternoon, which is where my story takes a turn for the worse. I was standing at the bottom of the slip-n-slide catching kids (which I was told was necessary) so that they didn’t tumble into the grass and hurt themselves. One girl was going so fast that she knocked my legs out from under me, and I flipped forward, hitting my face/head on the ground in front of me. At first, I thought I really hurt my teeth, but as I stood up, I realized that I couldn’t move my head as a result of intense pain in my neck. I immediately laid down on the grass, making sure that I could still move my legs, toes, hands, and fingers. I was so afraid of the damage that could have been done, and so frustrated that yet another bad thing had happened to me. The camp leadership called out to Doctor Thomas Krueger, a sport and spine chiropractor nearby that many of the main staff have visited this summer. He saw me right away, taking x-rays and making an adjustment, along with doing a few other things. Apparently I hurt some of the bones in the top of my neck (he didn’t tell me exactly which ones), and I also shifted my third thoracic vertebrae a bit, which was resulting in a lot of pain at the base of my neck and shoulders. I have been wearing a neck brace and going to the chiropractor every day since then, and I will be going Wednesday, and Friday of this week as well. It is feeling better already, and I have been able to move it more (Praise God!), but there is not full range of motion yet and pain is frequent.

As a result of this injury, I could not participate in many of the activities through the rest of the week, which I am definitely disappointed about. (This includes Esther the Jester, which had to be re-cast by a momentum student, Carrie, who did a phenomenal job, and she and I looked pretty much exactly alike except for our hair. This really threw off the girls who were convinced that I was Esther, which was awesome.) I felt like I could not be used to my full potential as a counselor because I could not engage in everything that my campers were doing.

But even so, I have learned a lot this weekend about what God’s purpose in my injury may be. I am beginning to feel like maybe God allowed me to fall so that I will slow down and be more of an observer. One of the reasons I decided to do Summer Project is that I felt that I should be more active in my faith, but I feel like God is revealing that He doesn’t want me to be in the middle of everything. Maybe if I am sitting back and watching, I will be able to see more of how He works, which will make me believe in His power even more. Maybe He wants me to be a part of the conversations on the side, where people sometimes are not quite as noticed because they are not in the thick of everything. I think God wants me to be more humble because of my observations, and to learn to take things slow and truly notice and listen to the things around me. After all, isn’t that is a part of active friendship in evangelism?

By the end of this week, I was exhausted physically, mentally, and spiritually. But some really great things happened towards the end. On Thursday night, the conclusion of the Gospel skit is presented during Domainia. This week, there happened to be a concert fundraiser for CityCure and Kings Domain just before Domainia, and many of the people that run these organizations were there, including Barry Baker, who is one of the leaders of CityCure. He spoke at the end, inviting each of the campers to make a decision to choose life and follow Christ, and pray for Him to come into their lives. It was awesome to see how many campers raised their hands, and all of the girls in my cabin rang the camp bell that night, as a celebration of their decision. It was awesome to hear the bell ring out in the night, and I couldn’t help but be so excited for what God had done in each of the campers lives there. I know that our work here as counselors is simply planting seeds and having faith that God will continue to do great works in each person’s life, and I sincerely hope that the campers’ lives are changed in awesome ways by choosing life. I know that God taught me a lot about having faith this week, and the things that I need to question in my life in order to allow God to really use me here.

On Saturday night, our staff went to go see the Cincinnati Reds play the Colorado Rockies. This was such a blast! Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 607th home run, but the Reds lost. On Sunday we went to Antioch church and Pastor Dave Newman talked about Caleb and how he constantly followed the Lord wholeheartedly. When I think about my life, I notice that a lot of times I feel only halfhearted in faith, and I think God has really been testing me so that I will learn to follow him wholeheartedly as well.

Today, Monday, was such an amazing day. This morning we had bible study, and one of the leaders, Erin, talked about resting in God and being instead of doing. This is a concept that I think God has made significant in my life right now through my injury and my time here at camp. I then went to the chiropractor and had a great talk with Erin on the way there and back about my fears and things that I have been struggling with the past few weeks. God revealed a lot of really important truths in this conversation, and I was able to better identify the lies of the Enemy that I seem to fall into frequently. We had quiet time, which was great for me to process a lot of these lies and truths. After lunch, we split into guy/girl time with the main counselors. At first, we a game called Hotseat, where each counselor was in the “hotseat” for 2.5 minutes, and everyone else could ask them any question, and they had to answer. Some of the questions were lighthearted, and some were pretty deep spiritual questions. It was an awesome icebreaker, and it got us ready for the next activity. We took an anonymous survey of things that we struggle with (Yes or No answer), and then got someone else’s paper. One of the leaders then read off each statement, and if our paper said yes, we raised our hand. It was such an awesome and humbling experience to see that we weren’t the only ones struggling with certain sins. We then had a great time of confessing and sharing our experiences in life, and it was amazing to see that at least one other person in the room had a similar story. I am so blessed by the relationships that God is building here. God really worked to allow each of us to be vulnerable and grow and be encouraged by one another. He revealed so much of his character to me today, and I am beginning to understand so much more of his love, especially when we are tested in faith. I feel so energized for the week, especially after this week.

I know this time on Project is changing me for the better and I have learned so much about God’s character and how he wants me to be. I am so thankful and still looking forward to all the things that I am going to learn here. Please pray that God would reveal more of himself to me, and that I would have a deeper faith in him. Please also pray for my neck, that I would be able to do more this week with my campers, but also remembering to be observant, as God has called me to be. Thanks for your support, and I hope you have a blessed week!