Winter Camp 2013 - Session 5. Feb. 22-24 - 7-9th Grade

Dear Prayer Warriors,

You can’t begin to know how much we appreciate your labor of love by praying for these children. When we see the exciting things God unfolds, we often attribute the breakthrough to your prayers.

One example is Maria who returned with such beauty in her smile. Last summer she arrived for her first camp in a state of wanting to commit suicide. Long talks with her were heavy and she couldn’t believe the truth she saw clearly before her. She wanted it but couldn’t take the leap. Gang connections and deep suspicions of God hating her and not being fair plagued her anguished ramblings. The anguished ramblings were gone this last weekend but her questioning and fears of leaving her gang involvement remained. The good news is that there was a big change in her. It really was amazing for her to even want to come back to camp. Please continue to pray for her salvation and for light to enter her. She had an awesome counselor who walked her through a lot of questions and planted more seeds. One step at a time!

Most of the other campers had accepted Jesus at camp in the past. Alex, who had also tried to commit suicide last year, was a bit testy at first but we could see him give in to God and just join in on the program, answering questions and filling up on God’s truths. Ricardo, shy as ever and releasing some more of his pain, just smiled with joy over the teaching and thoroughly enjoyed camp. Hope has gone through the worse kind of abuse but she is a light at every camp with her Bible knowledge from personal study. She helped inspire the other campers with her heart as she drank deeply from the love and teaching from her counselor.

The highlight of the weekend was the burning of special papers on which campers wrote down their pain and made decisions to forgive others or to forgive themselves and confess to God. With the flash of the flames, the sound of awe signaled an important thing had happened. The special paper burns completely away. As the notes that were all nailed to a wooden cross burned in an instant and did not leave a single ash, campers understood the point of how complete God’s forgiveness is.

We had lots of snow the week previous and the camper had a blast sledding and playing in it.

Thank you so much for your devoted prayers. We can imagine at times it gets hard to pray, like walking through deep snow, when the enemy tries to stop you with distractions or heaviness. Please keep pushing through for the children. You are their lifeline to God and healing!

Much Love,

Robin and Karen Wood and the Camp Alandale Team!

Winter Camp 2013 - Session 4. Feb. 15-17 - 7-9th Grade

Dear Prayer Warriors,

We feel so blessed to have your continuous devoted prayer to the ministry of serving and caring for abused children. God is doing some exciting things this Winter Camp season that we have been so blessed to witness. We hope that you are also blessed to hear of God’s goodness in the lives of these children and how your very prayers are a part of that.

This past weekend, only Jeremy and I’s second weekend of directing camps, was much fuller than the last. We had a total of 10 campers and again they were mostly boys. They were full of energy and were hard to keep up with, so for all of you who prayed for our physical and emotional energy to be raised, thank you, we needed it! Although rambunctious, they were a blessing. One of the boys in particular, Daniel, was a camper who we knew from the past summer. He had confessed his desire to exit the gang life and to begin living for the Lord after he had suffered the loss of his mother last year. His brave commitment to change was an unsure one as we saw it, knowing that leaving the gang life can prove more than difficult and possibly life threatening. He reported back to us this last weekend that he had indeed been able to cut off old relationships, to the point where he was no longer even spending much time outside of the house for fear of violence. And instead he was spending lots of time with his family and attending the boys and girls club a few blocks from their house. Daniel has the gift of leadership if I’ve ever seen it. I even told him people would follow him straight off a cliff because of his charming and brave attitude. Continue praying for his perseverance through this difficult time, grieving the loss of his mother, as well submitting his gifts to the Lord’s will.

Another beautiful camper that stood out this weekend was Maria. This was only her second time at camp. A shy and quiet girl, it seemed that she would stay wrapped in her own fears undoubtedly. But through talks about forgiveness and intimate one-on-one talks with her loving counselor, she slowly began to open up. By Sunday she had her long dark hair pulled back out of her face, was no longer wearing her black hooded sweatshirt, and was a wearing smile. She shared with me through tears several times how she knew God was telling her that she was so loved and special. At victory circle time she shared Luke 5 with the group, spurring them on to know that God loved them even more than all of creation because we were made in his image and he died for us! To see her stand in front of the whole group and share was so inspiring, as we remembered the shy girl that got off the bus only two days before! Continue praying for Maria as she faces her fears about not being taken back by her mother.

Thank you so much for your loving prayers, as you can see they really do matter, and we can’t imagine what camp would be like without them! 

Much Love,
The Allen’s and the Camp Alandale Team!

Prayer Letter - February 2013

Prayer Requests

As a volunteer counselor to the children at camp, you get to hear the hearts of wounded children. All during our 4-6th grade weekend, I prayed for what God would have me share with my camper. Feeling His Spirit but not direction, I just enjoyed our Bible Studies and One-on-ones as we got to know each other. Abe* had been a very broken child but had accepted Jesus’ love and salvation two years earlier at camp. He now has a vibrant faith and knowledge gained through asking soul longing questions. At our last One-on-one, God gave me the clear message to discuss this boy’s charismatic charm that had been noticed by each girl camper during our weekend. He said he enjoyed girl’s company and having lots of girl “friends.” God needed to let him know why He had given him such friend producing gifts and how to use them to encourage girls in the Lord and not use them for bolstering his ego. I showed him scriptures on encouraging others and how God wants men to treat women as sisters before marriage. The shocked look on his face but questioning spirit to understand what was meant was endearing. Please pray for Abe to continue to grow and to find the proper balance with girls as he enters adolescence.

 Two siblings, who are past campers and are in training to be Jr. Counselors (JC’s) at camp, are having issues in their foster home of 6 years. Few foster youth stay at one placement for that long. The climate in the home changed as the foster parents decided to take in more needy foster youth which has changed their home to a war scene daily. They are made for such a time as this but don’t seem to know it. Please that they can be used by God in their home to serve these others boys now that they have grown in the Lord after accepting Jesus as Savior at camp years ago.

A past camper, Yvette, is married to an awesome Christian and has a beautiful baby girl. She has been attacked heavily since she has stepped up to share her dramatic testimony for camp events. A poorly insured girl ran into her at a signal which has caused intense back pain for her that has kept her from her job for many days and she has not been able to get the medical care needed. Please pray for her that things would get settled with her insurance company so she can get therapy treatments or for the back to just be healed! She is one of God’s jewels that we consider a hero!

Here at camp we need to ask for prayer for our staff. Various sicknesses the last 6 months has been taking a toll with frequent days in bed. Matt & Tarrah have been fighting different illnesses all winter. Rey has had a cold for months and last week was told he may be losing his hearing from an infection. Praise God that his hearing has returned and the severe ringing in his ears stopped after a pouring out of prayers for him by our staff. Please also pray for no further thwarting caused by equipment issues that have also plagued us. Praise God, He is faithful and when we need to be up and running to make camp happen, we have all been able to work it.

We want to invite you to come to and also pray for our Crevier Event. We want this to be a God touched event for all who attend as you cover it in prayer. Please pray that everyone will bring lots of new friends for camp who will want to help abused children in all areas of need like prayer, counseling and giving of time and treasure. Save the date- April 13^th, 6:30PM, for a banquet dinner, inspirational camper testimonies, all free to you and all the guests you bring. Go to our website for free tickets at www.CampAlandale.org

Remaining Winter Camp dates to pray for:

                        Feb 22-24        7-9^th Grade                  Mar 1-3      10-12^th Grade

                        Mar 15-17  10-12^th Grade                   Mar 22-24  10-12^th Grade 

Please pray that our theme of “Being Rooted” will impact the campers to grow in the Lord and for adequate numbers of counselors at each session.

Winter Camp 2013 - Session 3. Feb. 8-10 - 7-9th Grade

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Well it was another great Winter Camp weekend at Camp Alandale. We had a fantastic weekend full of snow. We had so much snow this weekend that it was snowing in Redlands, Yucaipa, and Banning as we were driving on the 10 freeway. Many of the campers and one of our Junior Counselors had never seen snow falling before, so it was an exciting bus ride. As we turned up the mountain we drove through Gods beautiful winter wonderland and I could not help but be excited for what God had in store for us this weekend.

As we began the weekend we saw the Lord tugging on the heart strings of the campers calling them into real relationship with Himself. One camper named Joe, who had made a commitment to Christ, last year was struggling in his faith. Joe is a quiet young man, the type of young man that when he speaks says deep things. We see this with many of your campers in Junior High; there is so much going on in their minds, but they are so quiet because of pain they have suffered. As Christ heals them, they begin to come out of their shells and we have the privilege to see and hear what the Lord has been doing in their lives over the last few years that they have been coming to Camp. Well Joe who had been wavering in his faith made a full on commitment to Christ.

Another camper, Breanna, came to camp looking like she did not want to be here at all. God placed her with the perfect counselor. Through patience and prayer we saw her come out of her shell as well.

I spoke with a camper named Jamie about her family situation knowing she was no longer in foster care but back at home. She told me she was one of 13 children living at home with her mom and dad. She talked about how they all live in a small three bedroom house and that she rarely if ever has time to spend with the Lord in a quiet place. I was able to meet her parents and briefly talk with her father when I dropped her off at the Block after camp.

It always strikes me how the ministry here at Camp Alandale does not stop when the campers go down the hill. We get to see the Lord working in the families of the kids that come to camp. Many times we are the first contact with Christians a family may have. Thank you for your prayers. The work that you are doing is proving to make the ministry of Camp Alandale effective.

God bless you all,

Matt, Tarrah, Aiden, and Piper Pritchett