This is just to remind you all to check Facebook and Flickr for pictures! Tell you what: we’ll continue to update you if you continue to pray for us. Deal? (:
-aimee
He is Here.
Yesterday was awesome, as usual. The morning started out with a great breakfast again (the Camp Gilead staff is crazy good at cooking!) and then we separated girls and boys for devos. Belkis shared with the girls and Pastor Pedro shared with the boys. Soon after, the morning session began. We opened up with worship and prayer, and Nate started teaching.
He started talking about times when we feel forsaken by God (isn’t it crazy how it ties in perfectly with Pastor Pedro’s Desert series?) and how He uses those times to reveal things to us, and they are for a purpose. He also shared how God never leaves us, and even if it feels like we’re alone, God is working and causing the circumstances to change for our benefit (Romans 8:28). He explained the impossibility of fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 22 without Jesus actually being who He said He was. Nate has an incredible gift for making complex and difficult to understand passages simple and comprehensible without diminishing the importance of the concept. Everyone was so blessed by his teachings. Thanks Nate! (:
The games started soon after the teaching finished. The same games as yesterday were played, but different teams played each one. There are 12 teams that are on rotation for 4 games every day. It’s been different than past camps because of the amount of kids that came this year, but praise God, everything is going so smoothly. Thank you for your prayers.
We went to lunch after that, and free time was awesome. Once again, the lake was packed with kids in line for the tube, hanging out on the dock, and jumping around on the water trampoline. It’s always a really fun time to get to know one another. We’re starting to see friendships being built, and the kids are having a great time.
Nate’s teaching later on that night was on evangelism and how we are commanded and called to share the gospel with everyone. He challenged us and asked us what is holding us back from sharing like we’re supposed to. We also had a time of Q&A with Nate and his friend Matt, who came with him. Great questions were asked, and many kids are starting to get a much clearer view of who God is and how personal He is to them, that He can relate to them. They see all the devos and teachings connect, and they’re piecing together the faith that they weren’t all sure of when they walked in. Kids rededicated their lives to God today, and some even got saved for the first time. Keep praying for us, God is moving.
Cabin time was amazing too. All the kids are opening up and they’re even starting to minister to each other. It is so incredible to see how God has placed these kids in each others’ lives perfectly. Many of the kids are able to minister to each other in a way that some of us leaders can’t because we haven’t been through the same things they have. Praise God that He is one that can sympathize with everything that we go through, and that He understands all the situations that each individual here is going through (Hebrews 4:15).
God is moving, He is working, He is here with us. Pray against any attacks of the enemy that would hinder these kids from seeking Him wholeheartedly. Pray that they would seek Him and find Him when they search for Him with all their hearts (Jeremiah 29:13). Pray that God would continue to fill them with His Spirit and reveal Himself to them. Pray that He would comfort them and embrace them and show them His specific will for their lives. Pray that they would have the boldness to approach His throne of grace and that they would let go of anything that is keeping them from running full force towards God.
We thank you so much for your prayers. They are being felt here, and we promise that your kids are doing great (:
-aimee
Pictures, Photos, Snapshots and the Like.
We heard that many parents were checking this blog for pictures and stuff, so due to popular demand, we’ve uploaded them onto Flickr! Yay for you! Enjoy (;
What You’ve All Been Waiting For
So we finally got the blog up and running, hence why we’re writing this in the first place. We’re going to try and get all of you up to speed on the last two days of camp, which have been AWESOME, by the way.
Sunday was great. We arrived around 8pm and checked in everyone and handed out luggage. The campers got to eat pizza for dinner and then they gathered in the sanctuary for a briefing on rules and the schedule and they also found out what team they were a part of. Like every year, the campers were so psyched to be there that it was hard to get them to go to sleep. They were pumped, they were excited, and then Monday came..
Monday was a bright and early wake up call at 7am. Everyone’s excitement from the night before carried over, and they were up really fast. We had breakfast at 8am, and then the girls and boys separated for devos. Michelle shared with the girls while Thomas shared with the boys. Each of the devos really spoke to the groups and everyone was excited for the service to start. At 9am, worship started, and then Pastor Scott shared with the group. It always amazes me how the teachings and devos always line up so well. It’s evidence that the Lord is in this camp, and He is planning on doing an amazing work, just as He promised us (Habakkuk 1:5).
After the teaching, the teams separated and started playing all the crazy games that Jose and some of the leaders came up with. It was a fun time, involving toothpicks, cotton balls, beads, toilet paper and trash cans filled with water (pictures can be found on the UthNation facebook). Then we had lunch and free time, and since it’s so hot, everyone was in the lake. There’s this really cool spherical see-saw type thing that everyone can get on top of and then you rock it back and forth to try and knock people off. There’s also a water trampoline, a floating dock and, the always favorite, tube. There was a huge line for the tube yesterday and we expect that the same will happen for the rest of the week.
Once 4pm rolled around, everyone had to shower and get to dinner. Then the evening session started with worship, a skit, a video and a teaching by Nate Heitzig. He spoke on the last seven statements of Christ, their importance and the power of the cross. It became clear to many kids that God’s sacrifice of His Son was not an easy thing, and God’s love became so evident to them.
Night games followed the teaching, taking on Minute to Win It type challenges including trying to move a cookie from your forehead to your mouth using only your face muscles, unraveling party streamers in under a minute, being wrapped in toilet paper and having to unwrap yourself just by spinning, and a blindfolded walk across the gym.
Everyone was allowed to just hang out after that, and we saw many kids start to come together and bond. From carpetball to basketball, they spent time getting to know each other. At 10pm, everyone had to be in the cabins, and it was a time of reflection on all of the teachings that had gone on that day. As a cabin, the kids discussed what had affected them in the teachings, and how God has begun to reveal Himself to them and how He is speaking to them and asking them to change their lives so that He can finish the work that He started in them (Philippians 1:6).
In all, these last two days have been amazing. The kids are opening up, making new friends, working together, and communing with the Lord, and it’s an amazing thing to watch. Continue to pray for us throughout the week, that God would continue to show Himself to these kids and that He would reveal His will in the lives of each of these individuals. As we tell the kids, and it’s so true, each and every one of them isn’t here by accident. God wanted them here in this specific time, for this specific moment, to reveal to them specific parts of His will to them that they might be used for His glory and to spread the gospel through their testimonies and examples. Pray that they would truly see the power of the cross and not take it lightly. That it would radically change their lives, as it has already begun to do so, and that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit, that they would feel God’s presence surrounding them and protecting them always.
Thank you so much for praying for us. This is only the beginning.
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in HIs holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face.” -Psalm 24:3-6
UthCamp X on the road
Well the CCk youth are on their way to camp. Stay tuned here as we post the latest news. Don’t forget to comment as we go along.
