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The kids have been done with school here for several weeks now. The temperature has been in the high 90s for most of the last couple of weeks and the buses and trams are crowded and smelly. Summer visitors from the US have all arrived and are settled in. And I bought something resembling a cantaloupe at the store this week. But for me, summer will officially start next week. Why? We begin our first week of camp on Tuesday!!
Camp seemed like such a long way away when I first arrived (almost five months ago...wow!) and now it is HERE! I'm really excited and am looking forward to it, but I'm also a little apprehensive since this is something I've never done before. My main job will be supporting/praying for/coordinating the support staff, as well as helping with detail work.
Our first week of camp is for kids! The theme is "Discover the Treasure", and we'll be talking all week about the TRUE treasure...God's Word...and how it applies to our lives and daily walk. These aren't necessarily easy things for children to understand, but I think sometimes we don't give kids enough credit. They really ARE capable of not only understanding spiritual things, but applying them as well. Please PRAY that this happens next week and that lives are changed for eternity, for the glory of God.
As we've finalized plans this week, we've emotionally been up, down and everywhere in between. Early in the week we learned that an organization was going to help sponsor some of our kids! We entered the week PRAYING that God would send us just the right amount of campers. This has been a hard year financially for people here, and so the number of kids registered was much less than what we had been anticipating. This was such an answer to prayer! Later that same day, one of our counselors/worship leader informed us that he wouldn't be able to be at camp next week. Mid-week, we heard that another church was considering sponsoring MORE of our campers! You can imagine our excitement...only to find out yesterday that they decided to use the money for other purposes. Additionally, after five days of phone calls and prayers we are STILL without a guy counselor or worship leader to fill the hole. We're looking at the calendar and wondering how God is going to answer this...as we trust that HE knows what we need.
So that's where we are! I look forward to coming back next week (I'll be home for a week before heading out for three more weeks of camp), and telling you the ways that God worked and how everything was EXACTLY the way He wanted it to be...even if it wasn't according to OUR plans.
I'll leave you with a few specific prayer requests and ask that you PLEASE intercede on our behalf. We have an enemy who would love nothing more than to distract our campers and discourage our staff. Pray for God's protection. Please. The battle is real, and "our struggle is not against flesh and blood..." (Eph. 6:12).
*PRAY for a worship leader/guy counselor. Not just someone to fill the hole, but exactly the RIGHT person/people for the campers they will be working with.
*PRAY for the right amount of campers.
*PRAY for the illumination of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the campers so that they will understand God's Word and make changes for eternity.
*PRAY for wisdom/strength/enthusiasm/refreshment for our counseling staff:Ana, Miriam, Cristiana, Ionut, Radu and ???
*PRAY for our camp core team who at camp this week: Andrew and Leah, Dave and Kathy, Kristie, Anca, Felix
*PRAY for unity among staff and like mindedness.
*PRAY for our campers to be prepared, focused, and ready to learn.
*PRAY for safety for all, especially in the heat.
