Dear Prayer Coordinators,
Thank you so
much for your prayers over the past few weeks. We were genuinely unsure whether
Camp would be spared from the mountain fire, but it turned out it was in God's
plan to finish the summer. The staff returned to Camp on Tuesday July, 23rd
in order to clean up and prepare for our first high school camp of the year,
Session #7 from July 29 – August 3. Thanks for praying with us.
As a young
staff member, at first I was a little apprehensive about counseling high schoolers.
But, as is always the case with God, He did not give me more than I could
handle. My first camper, Blaine, remembered me from three years ago, making it
easy to build a relationship with him. Blaine thought he was a committed
Christian but talked about how he didn't think you needed to go to church or
read the Bible in order to maintain a close relationship with God. As Bible studies
went on throughout the week, it came to light that he suffered from a form of
Dyslexia and had difficulty reading. God found other ways to minister to Blaine
at Camp, though – one of Karen's solos about forgiveness had him breaking down
in tears. When I asked him later he said it was because the song made him
realize he needed to forgive his dad's girlfriend, who had hurt him in the
past.
My other
camper, James, was more of a challenge. James had been coming to Camp for seven
years and had yet to give his life to Christ. At our first meal I inadvertently
made myself James’ enemy when I enforced the “two cookie per meal” rule by
taking several Oreos off his plate. For the rest of the day he wouldn't even
talk to me! When it came time for our one-on-one, I had to get the Director to
talk to him before he agreed to go with me. He would provide the occasional one
word response when I asked about his interests, but every time I brought up God
he became silent. This attitude continued throughout the rest of the night and
for the next few days – James would disregard rules and choose not to
participate in most camp activities. I decided that the disciplinarian approach
wasn't working and realized that if this boy was going to change, it was going
to have to be through God's power and not my own. At dinner Wednesday night I
noticed our team Junior Counselor writing some Japanese characters – since one
of Justin's favorite things to do was watch Japanese anime. I started a
conversation between the two of them and James talked for the longest I had
seen him talk so far. Something about having a simple, civilized conversation
really impacted him. After testimony time that night, I asked him about his
testimony. For about five minutes he just sat there in silence, but then out of
the blue he just sat up and told me his story for the next twenty minutes. His
parents alternated between abusing him and leaving him on his own for days at a
time. Eventually CPS was called and Justin bounced from abusive group home to
abusive group home. He said the worst part was that wherever he went he was treated
like a little kid. He responded to this treatment by running away, shoplifting,
and smoking pot. After opening up to me, although he was not the perfect
camper, his attitude towards me and towards Camp changed. He began answering
questions in amphitheater and even asked the director to repeat a verse so he
could look it up later. Our one-on-ones became livelier, but he would still
avoid the topic of God, at least outwardly. By Saturday I had become concerned
that he had yet to tell me that he really believed the Gospel. I asked him if
he at least believed that Jesus walked the Earth. His response astounded me -
“Of course. How else would he have died for our sins?”
Often times at
Camp we are blessed in that we get to see the fruits of our labors, as I did
with Blaine. Other times, like with James, we only get to see glimpses of God's
work. Either way, we thank Him for his provision and you for your continuous
prayer.
In Christ,
Michael Bacon
and the Camp Alandale Family
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