Dear
Prayer Warriors,
This past week was powerful in a lot of ways,
and we were blessed to be on the “frontline”. Our time with the campers was
fun, yet compelling.
The first thing Angelo told me was that he
wasn’t “religious”. He said his sisters go to church, but that wasn’t him. He
told me he loved doing graffiti art. He also said he enjoyed doing body art,
where he would paint images on the naked bodies of girls he knew, because he
was sometimes able to get “lucky”. At the beginning of the week, he wouldn’t
participate very much during amphitheater time. At one point in the beginning
of the week, he told a staff member he was never coming back to this place. He
did, however, participate during the Bible studies; he would read out of the
Bible, answer questions, and seemed engaged much of the time. As the week
progressed, he started to participate more during amphitheater, and on one of
our last one-on-ones, he told me he was thinking about becoming a Christian. I
told him that was awesome, but also that he needed to count the cost, and
understand that though he didn’t need to clean up his act in order to come to
Christ, he could expect God to change him after surrendering to Him. He didn’t
end up praying to accept Christ before he left, but he did say he was for sure
planning on returning for winter camp.
One of the most interesting and
challenging experiences I had this entire summer at camp would have to be Lucy.
She was a beautiful girl who told me right off the bat that she was agnostic
and she didn’t want to change that. She said that she was open to hearing about
God but that she wanted her views to be respected and that she was not a
believer or a Christian. Throughout the week we kept talking and she would be
engaged in what we were talking about and she said that she liked the time that
we spent one on one together where we would talk about God. On the last night
of camp she watched a skit that we performed that really moved her and she
started to cry. She didn’t stop crying the entire night that night as we
continued on with the pine cone ceremony and other activities. That night after
it was all over she told me, “I think I’m a Christian now”. Together we were
able to pray the sinner’s prayer together and I know that she left camp a
changed woman.
A very strange experience I had this
last week was with Freddy. We began the week and he told me how he didn’t
believe in God and that he had been up here a few years now and that’s where he
stood. As the week progressed he stood his ground and continued to say that he
did not believe in God. But in the last few days his attitude changed and he
said he believes in God but not in Christianity. Which changed again to; I just
don’t want God in my life right now. At the end of camp he was standing up and
singing in all of the worship songs and even engaged in the bible studies.
Where he did not accept Christ he still told me this is the closest to God he
has ever been. When he was about to go down the mountain he told me that this
was his favorite week of camp and that of the four years he had been up here he
had never liked a counselor before me. A radical change happened in his heart
from the beginning of the week until he left Saturday afternoon.
Thank
you for your continued prayer support!
May God bless you for your faithfulness.
Jonny,
Hannah and Kris (Summer Staff)
