Camp - Day 2

Yesterday was the second day of camp. It was a great day.

Tuesday’s theme was – What do you do, when you get a storm in your life?  Stephen had the opportunity to share with the kids why we have sin in the world.  He talked a little about Adam and Eve and their decision to disobey God, which allowed sin to enter into the world. He said all of us are born with sin. We all have this nature to go against God and to sin.  But the good news is that God had a plan to redeem us by sending Jesus to die for us, so that we can have the opportunity to have a relationship with Him.  Psalm 31:14-15 says, "But I trust in you, Lord; I say 'You are my God.'  The course of my life is in your power; rescue me from the power of my enemies and from my persecutors."  Stephen shared how important it is to have a relationship with God and to trust Him.  We go through life and experience challenges and difficulties and these can be storms in our life. Stephen shared about his father passing away and how this was a storm for him. However, because of his relationship with God, God helped me to get through this storm by the being there for me during this time in my life.

Elizabeth told the story: "Jesus calms the storm" during English class.  This story was a great way to illustrate that when we have storms in our life, we don't have be afraid because we can trust that God will be with us.

Thoughts from the team on Tuesday

Mickey Ann says,
"Again, I enjoyed time with the students.  The littles in the morning are so fun and the older boys are a challenge.  The discussion with the team tonight was helpful to keep me grounded that my role here is to plant seeds. It’s not about me. It’s not about performance on my part, but being the hands and feet of Jesus. I want to do it well, but I know I can’t, but He can. I’m praying tonight that the pride in me, that The Lord hates, be obliterated. That I wake up tomorrow broken and contrite in my heart, needing Jesus more tomorrow than today!"

Elizabeth says, 
"The Bible story I shared really stretched me because I'm used to telling it to American kids who don't care but it's almost like, even if the Czech kids zone out, they want to listen because we speak English and even the ones who were challenging I felt actually grasped what I was saying. Sometimes I feel like no one is listening so I have talk louder, but these kids even when they are not paying attention are treating the story with respect."

Lorraine says, 
"It was a fun day with the kids in class. Our advanced class in the afternoon made a long story with their verbs.  Elizabeth did a great job telling the story of Jesus and the storm to both classes. She got all the kids to share something we didn’t know about them and explained that Jesus friends didn’t really know about Him until the storm. Then they were amazed at who He really was and His power when they asked for his help. In the younger group they acted out this astonishment.

Selah says,
"I was reminded that young kids often are very spiritually mature. The youngest girl there (age 7- she is the daughter of one of camp leaders) loves nature!!  And she is fascinated by God's amazing creations especially the ant.  It was so beautiful to see her delight in the complexity of life and it reminded me of God's power and ingenuity is beyond anything we can imagine.  Yet we get to experience it every day if we remember to look."

Dontralisa says, 
"The thing that really touched me was how one student Martin, (who I had previously had a a conversation and he shared with me that he had an anger issue), was willing to listen and try a suggestion that I had made to him when faced with a challenge. Another was with the morning students how excited they were about vocabulary learning. Unlike the previous day the students were more eager and seemed excited while enjoying themselves."

Noah says,
"The thing that stood out to me the most today was our little debrief in the evening. Hearing Dontralisa’s story about how she talked to that kid with anger issues about how to calm down really encouraged me. But that he said that he was gonna try to calm down in school was so amazing and uplifting. It just reminds me that even the little things that we do can and will affect the lives of the people around us, whether we realize it or not. Because these kids are watching and are wanting to be like us. Oh and I really liked squirting the kids with the water guns, it was very satisfying and I really needed that."

In the evening, we had a grill party for people, who have connected to Runway. We had a fun time hanging out together. It was a lot of fun enjoying each other's company and continuing to build relationships with them.