In the last month leading up to camp, we literally felt that we were receiving emotional and spiritual punches right and left. We now know why the enemy was so determined to put obstacles in our way: God showed Himself so faithful and did so much more than we even imagined or hoped for in the lives of the kids we took to camp this past week, that every minute of the frustrations and doubting was worth it!
Here’s a sample of the frustrations and conflicts leading up to camp:
· serious interpersonal conflict on the team that just about kept several leaders from going to camp at all,
· difficulties in getting camp invitations out to many of the boys and worries that we’d have a low number of boys able to go to camp,
· working straight through the holidays to resolve said problems, and
· a last minute car problem that left Andrea and our kids + Michelle (our fourth child right now) plus all their luggage stranded on the side of the road on the way in to La Carpio to board the camp buses. Instead of making it in time to help check in kids and organize the departure, they arrived barely in time to hop the buses after waiting for a tow and a ride to La Carpio!
After loading 135 kids and 24 leaders on the 3 buses, we got on frazzled and tired and wondering what the next disaster would be (one of the three buses almost didn’t even make it over the hill to get out of La Carpio, it was so ancient!), but prayed to God that He would complete His purposes in this camp and move us and all of these logistical problems out of the way.
And BOY DID HE! We arrived at the camp safe and sound, checked in smoothly, and saw the kids begin to let down their guard and open up during the first recreation time of roller-blading, which many of them had never done before. Next followed a time of rockin’ worship and excellent teaching in chapel on moving from the darkness into light (the theme of the camp this year—Ephesians 5:8) and what it means to be a light in the world. We were overwhelmed when the preacher made a call to come forward at the end of the evening and 35 KIDS AND 20 TEENAGERS CAME FORWARD TO ACCEPT CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOR OR REDEDICATE THEIR LIVES TO CHRIST. We prayed over them, and many were weeping and repentant, clinging to their leaders for support and encouragement.
We were left without words to describe how the Spirit of God moved in those moments. Even now it’s difficult to summon adequate words. Let me say that these are not typical church-youth-group kids from suburbia. These are kids who live in utter and desolate darkness, in families where abuse of every type is the norm, who steal, cuss, lie, threaten, push and take what they want because they’ve learned that they’ll get nothing if they don’t. They’re kids who’ve been on drugs, having sex, in gangs, and living every other type of nightmare you can imagine. We had what we thought were “reasonably” low expectations for the kind of change that would come about in their lives during camp, until God blew us away and showed us that He can do ANYTHING in ANYONE at ANY TIME!
After that first night, kids began to let their burdens go and confide in their leaders as they did things they’d never done before and never thought they could, including obstacle courses, jungle challenges, high ropes courses, a rock-climbing wall, and lake fun that included the most intimidating water slide ever created and a “blob,” as well as several other challenges. They studied the Bible in small groups and learned how to move from darkness to light, what our identity is according to God, and how to stay on the path that God has for us when we go back into our daily lives. Stories like these came out:
· “I was raped by my cousin when I was 9.”
· “I need to move from the darkness into light, but I don’t know how to take the first steps.”
· “My dad held a knife to my mom’s throat when he was drunk and asked me if he should kill her.”
· "My parents say that I'm worthless."
· “I’ve stolen since I was 7 and been taking drugs, but I’m tired of who I am and want to change.”
· “I’ve known Christ and have all the right information, but have wandered in my heart and sought fulfillment elsewhere, but I want to come back.”
· “My mom wanted to sell me into the sex trade, but now I’ve seen a different way to live and want something more for my life.”
Imagine the misconceptions that these kids have about God living in this community! We had opportunities to identify fallacies about who God is and what He wants from us at every turn, and it was a healing balm for these kids that are so deeply wounded. About 15 more kids went forward on the third night to make a commitment to return to La Carpio as a light in that community and be set apart as an agent of change.
The last day, one of the female leaders indicated that Jessica, one of the gals in Andrea’s weekly bible study, indicated a desire to be baptized during a discussion about how we can identify with Christ. This was not a part of the agenda, but after the teens went through the jungle challenge (a completely nasty, wet, and muddy obstacle course) and were washing off in the lake, we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do the baptism right then. It was a precious moment to symbolize to the kids that washing off the filth of our sin and being washed clean in Christ is what faith and the act of baptism is about. We had only a fraction of the teens with us in that moment (probably 25), and 4 others came forward after Jessica to make their declaration public and be baptized as well! Lesson learned: ALWAYS finish camp with a baptism celebration for those who have made decisions to follow Christ and are ready to take that step!!
The crazy thing about that special time was that Jessica nearly didn’t make it to camp because she didn’t have anyone to watch her 3 year-old daughter and her husband had to work. Until the night before, she was lamenting that she couldn’t go. When I showed up to get on the bus, there she was! When I asked how she had worked it out, she said her husband got time off work at the last minute and told her to go ahead and go. So we saw once again that God ordained every detail of the camp and what He wanted to accomplish there: if Jessica hadn’t taken the initiative to be baptized, the others wouldn’t have had the chance either and we wouldn’t have learned what a beautiful end to the camp it could be. Even the camp staff was surprised and excited at this new idea and may begin to mention it as an idea for the other groups that come through their camp all year.
To wrap up this post, we are praising God for His surpassing grace and ability to move any obstacle (including us!) out of His way when He has something to accomplish. He filled us with energy and positivity during the camp that we simply didn’t have going into it and we know didn’t come from inside of us! We saw specific growth in Jessica, Yendry, Michelle, Wilbert and Cristian, who participate in our weekly discipleship groups and for whom we have been praying and into whom we have been investing for months and months. We saw very high walls of rebellion, pride and isolation come down. Now we pray that God will give us the wisdom and resources to shepherd these kids all year long and help them to grow and not lose the momentum that they found during camp.
P.S. An encouraging exchange and a confirmation from the Lord that yes, these kids CAN hold on to what they learned at camp once they’re back at home:
Yendry texts Andrea today: "Oh, it’s so hard for me to stay quiet when they yell at me." (referring to her parents - this was not a thing she would have been trying before camp)
Andrea: "Pray to God to ask for patience, humility and an attitude of obedience and respect toward them. Remember that God has changed YOU, but not them yet, and He wants to reflect His light to them through you. God justifies you and sees every injustice and you don’t have to defend yourself, just trust in Him to do it. I am praying for you, too – you don’t know how proud I am of you seeing the steps that you are taking toward the light and your hard work! Keep at it and God will produce fruit in your life and in your relationship with them. And keep confiding in me and relying on your other Christian friends for support! You don’t know how much I have begged God on your behalf this year and how much joy it gives me to see you receiving so much blessing and comfort from Him."
Yendry: "Thanks. I know it’s hard but I am not alone. I know that God is with me and I will push forward whatever it costs, because I am not darkness but light. How beautiful are your words that give me encouragement to keep fighting. I never imagined knowing a person like you. May God bless you because you are of great blessing to me and you don’t know how much I love you."
(Honestly, out of a desire to not boast or be self-aggrandizing, we debated whether to include Yendry's last statements about Andrea, but decided not to edit her sentiments. We remember Paul's words in 2 Corinthians about not boasting about ourselves, but boasting about Christ. We know that what kids like Yendry see is Christ living in us, and HE is who they are falling in love with when He works through us and gives us the privilege of being His instruments.)
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