Week two was cool because Russ came to volunteer in the big CO! It was sooo cool having him here! He was a huge help with the kids. It is definitely something God has gifted him in. He just has a way with people and connecting and building a relationship with them. He was also a humongous help with a group of guys from Minnesota who thought they were God's gift to the earth. He reminded them why they were on the trip and how their attitudes should be and didn't kill them. God definitely stretched him in patience and love.
Week two brought in 80 campers, so a bit of a change from week one. These kids were from Minnesota and California. The kids were really cool and Russ really made a great friend in Raymond, one of the kids from California. We had an awesome new project with Mile High Ministries for this week. We worked with two of their partner organizations, Joshua's Station and Isachaar's Community. Isachaar's Community is a program that takes young adults with leadership abilities and builds into those abilities, training them in how to use them and grow them. The purpose of the program is to get these young adults to establish a life outside of the projects and get a secure job in a position using their leadership skills. So we were able to clean their facility, fix it up and the campers even got a tour around Denver to learn about the community they were serving. The other branch is Joshua's Station. This is an old motel that has been renovated to make small apartments. These apartments house homeless families, they are given the place to live, food to eat, chapel services to attend and they only have to pay $25 a month. They help set up savings for them and help them to secure stable jobs. It is basically a way to help them start fresh. The back wall surrounding the building is covered in art graffiti which looks awesome. Each apartment is painted and furnished for the family moving in. When the family is ready to move out, they are allowed to take the belongings with them into their new home. So our volunteers help to restore the rooms for the next family by cleaning up and painting.
Week two was definitely a spiritually and emotionally discouraging week. I was glad to have Russ there as a support to talk to and confide in. We got to go to Boulder the weekend he was there and we also got to go to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes. this was cool because when we made it to the top, we climbed over the wall and hiked down the mountain, chasing these mountain chipmunks. When we got to a larger rock, russ saw a larger animal farther down and got pretty close to it! It turned out to be a marmot and we got pictures but i think the best part was russ getting ready to come back up the mountain and telling me to let him know if the thing was chasing him. i told him it was and he sprinted up the mountain...which at 12,000ft is bound to take your breath away. We were out of breath walking briskly. It was awesome having him here encouraging me and serving along side me, we had a great time visiting all of the sites and making everyone do boy band poses for their pictures.
Monday, July 13, 2009
week one
So camp has been extremely busy! (if you couldn't tell by "week one" being posted during week five.) Week one was AWESOME! We only had 37 campers and so I was able to really connect with them. For the most part everything ran smoothly, project sites really pulled through for us and program went well..technology (and God) were on our side. Wednesday night is a very serious program night and I think it really hit the youth. They also made some really great connections at their sites. At one in particular, the crew really extended themselves. They were at the Habitat Outlet Store in Denver. this outlet store houses everything you could possibly buy for a home. All of the profits go directly to Habitat for Humanity. (To give you a picture of the impact they make, they brought in over 1.3 million dollars for Habitat in the Greater Denver Area last year.) Since the store gives all of its profit to Habitat for Humanity, they can not afford to pay a large staff. Therefore, they rely heavily on volunteers. Our volunteers did an awesome job of not only serving the facility, but the other volunteers as well. Everyday they were there, they invited a new friend to join them in their devotions. Alot of these were men that were doing community service hours after they had spent time in jail. They had come out of hard times and were welcomed in by high schoolers. They really opened up and God really seemed to be moving.
Wednesday night's service was a great time for me. Alot of the kids had filed out for youth group devotions after program, we had left the lights low and the music playing and I just sat in my chair soaking in what God had done that week. But then God moved me further. That was not enough. Too comfortable and safe. I stood and raised my arms up to the ceiling, singing along with the praise music, truly worshipping Him. This probably sounds silly and still safe, especially to regular church goers reading this who see this every sunday. But this was a stretch for me. I don't do the arm raising thing. But i let myself be vulnerable and I felt the Holy Spirit moving in the room. And I prayed that He would shine His light out of the room and out of the school and that Denver would completely know that He is God and that He is in Denver. That they could hear the music and the words singing of His love. I was really touched by one song that had lyrics speaking of his love being enough. how I could think there was not enough for me? I heard God speak and say that he is all mine. It brought me to tears. He is all mine. There is enough love to be all mine to everyone. Enough to be all mine to everyone in Denver. The song "In this City" came into my head and I stretched my arms wide and turned my face to the sky crying out the chorus, "greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city" and i continued to repeat it and repeat it and i really felt like God was ready to move through the city and that the community surrounding our school was ready to see God.
I still miss the kids from week one, they were awesome and served hard and really had hearts for God.
Definitely experienced what they meant in training by leaders being more trouble than the kids. We had an incident where I was walking towards our camp office and one of the students said"they're having a private meeting in the office without you". So i turned the corner and my office door was cracked but the lights were still off. So I opened the door and found most of the adult leaders standning in the dark whispering and one was on the company lap top. So i flicked the lights on and asked what was going on. Some were extremely embarrassed and began mumbling excuses for breaking into the office, ran out and left. Others tried to play it off. So I got the great chance to have a meeting where I reprimanded my elders...o joy! What a weird feeling to sit 40 and 50 year olds down and tell them why it is not ok to break into the office and use things that aren't theirs without asking, especially when it has been pre established that it is against the rules to use our lap top or be in the room when we are not.
I also got to have another chat with a leader to try to explain that the adults need to set the example for the kids and not be another kid.
Not all youth leaders know how to be Tom Kay. I may have to start a conference on how to lead a youth group trip well and use Tom as the prototype.
week one got me pumped and i was really sad to see the kids go, but thankfully still keep in touch with them..o the wonders of facebook!
after thought...
o and a youth leader also decided to show our kids how to rock climb the side of the building...i'll admit it looked fun, but it would not look so fun with 37 kids doing it falling and cracking their skulls!
Wednesday night's service was a great time for me. Alot of the kids had filed out for youth group devotions after program, we had left the lights low and the music playing and I just sat in my chair soaking in what God had done that week. But then God moved me further. That was not enough. Too comfortable and safe. I stood and raised my arms up to the ceiling, singing along with the praise music, truly worshipping Him. This probably sounds silly and still safe, especially to regular church goers reading this who see this every sunday. But this was a stretch for me. I don't do the arm raising thing. But i let myself be vulnerable and I felt the Holy Spirit moving in the room. And I prayed that He would shine His light out of the room and out of the school and that Denver would completely know that He is God and that He is in Denver. That they could hear the music and the words singing of His love. I was really touched by one song that had lyrics speaking of his love being enough. how I could think there was not enough for me? I heard God speak and say that he is all mine. It brought me to tears. He is all mine. There is enough love to be all mine to everyone. Enough to be all mine to everyone in Denver. The song "In this City" came into my head and I stretched my arms wide and turned my face to the sky crying out the chorus, "greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city" and i continued to repeat it and repeat it and i really felt like God was ready to move through the city and that the community surrounding our school was ready to see God.
I still miss the kids from week one, they were awesome and served hard and really had hearts for God.
Definitely experienced what they meant in training by leaders being more trouble than the kids. We had an incident where I was walking towards our camp office and one of the students said"they're having a private meeting in the office without you". So i turned the corner and my office door was cracked but the lights were still off. So I opened the door and found most of the adult leaders standning in the dark whispering and one was on the company lap top. So i flicked the lights on and asked what was going on. Some were extremely embarrassed and began mumbling excuses for breaking into the office, ran out and left. Others tried to play it off. So I got the great chance to have a meeting where I reprimanded my elders...o joy! What a weird feeling to sit 40 and 50 year olds down and tell them why it is not ok to break into the office and use things that aren't theirs without asking, especially when it has been pre established that it is against the rules to use our lap top or be in the room when we are not.
I also got to have another chat with a leader to try to explain that the adults need to set the example for the kids and not be another kid.
Not all youth leaders know how to be Tom Kay. I may have to start a conference on how to lead a youth group trip well and use Tom as the prototype.
week one got me pumped and i was really sad to see the kids go, but thankfully still keep in touch with them..o the wonders of facebook!
after thought...
o and a youth leader also decided to show our kids how to rock climb the side of the building...i'll admit it looked fun, but it would not look so fun with 37 kids doing it falling and cracking their skulls!
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