Hello all you Prayer Warriors,
What an amazing summer it has been. Tarrah and I have been truly blessed to become part of the year round staff here at Camp Alandale. We look forward to growing into our new roles as Camp Directors and hope that all of you will be praying for our family, Matt, Tarrah, Aiden, and Piper.
We have seen the Lord do some incredible things in the lives of so many of the campers this year, but I want to share a story of a camper who has become dear to my heart. His name is Raul, and he was so broken and angry when he got to camp. Raul had been here to Camp Alandale a couple of times and had even made a profession of faith a few years ago. Raul has been in the Foster Care System for around six years and hoped every day to be reunited with his family. He has two sisters that had returned home to live with his mother, and his mother was getting custody of him back. Raul went to his court hearing with excitement expecting to be reunited with his mom and sisters and sure enough his mother was given custody of him, JOY, JOY, JOY! Without skipping a beat his mom stood up in the hearing and said “I don’t want him back, you can keep him”. His heart broke as did mine at hearing the story from his counselor.
Raul came to camp with more sorrow and frustration than I have ever seen in a camper. His agony came out in bursts of anger. His eyes would fill with rage when asked to do simple tasks like handing a spatula back to the person cooking the evening meal around his teams table. POW – Screams of profanity came shooting out of his mouth like fire, threats of running away and assaults were regularly shouted as Raul dealt with the torment inside him. He spent the first three days at camp directing much of that rage at me. My heart broke for him. Many of the staff and counselors committed to praying for him and some even decided to fast from food and water for the first two meals of the day while lifting him to our Lord in prayer. At Camp we try to look at the outburst we see from campers as a question rather than a statement. The question is, “will you love me, will you love me unconditionally even when I am hating you; will you love me with the love of Jesus even when I reject Him and reject you”? They ask, “Will you be just like everyone else, or will you love me even though I am being bad”? It is hard to keep this outlook in the thick of the battle for the souls of these precious ones. The enemy is coming against us in every way possible. The real work is done by so many of you as you pray for the salvation of the campers, as you wage spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of these precious ones. Sometimes in life it is hard to see the spiritual battle, it is not that way here at Camp Alandale. We see the battle play out right in front of us. We see generational sin broken. We see the enemy defeated in the lives of many of the kids that come to camp each year.
Raul was not a casualty in the battle. By Thursday his thoughts of suicide had been replaced with hope in the Lord. God supernaturally broke through and Raul was a different boy. His countenance had changed from darkness to light. We talked and he thanked me for not sending him home early in the week. Raul remembered that Jesus has a plan for him. Raul is doing pretty well. He has begun attending a church near his group home and is getting involved with a youth group there. We hope that he will grow this year and maybe even become a Junior Counselor next year. Please pray for Raul, that the enemy will not be able to steal him away again. Pray the he finds a family that will love him with the agape love of Christ. Pray for us at camp that we have wisdom, patience, love and compassion on His precious children who have suffered so much abuse.
Love in Christ,
Matt Pritchett, Camp Director
