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!
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