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Most all of the updates are found on Facebook now :). Feel free to join me there for photos and quick updates on what's going on at the camps with the children and lessons.

SUMMER 2009 Continues

PARACHUTE FUN

They loved it - and I'm not talking about the kids : )!  We went out to spend some time with the children who were still there and we learned of those who had left.   Since the season is ending and each day things can change, we never know who will still be there.  We still had 9.   But what was so great was that in order to be able to have the bigger kids play safely, I had to ask some of the men who were sitting around to help us with the parachute.  Mercedez had already said she would, but still with just Jack and I and her it would not be so safe to play the game where we toss them up : ).  A few said yes and then before we knew it, we had all the adults helping us so that each of the children could take turns being tossed in the parachute.  EVERYONE was laughing and screaming.  It was a blast!!!!!!!  Thanks to Mr. Henry from JIPF we were able to have the parachute!!!  Thanks to the Lord we have had the opportunity once again this year to tell these little ones about the great LOVE of JESUS and how He saves us from sin.  Is there any question why we feel these are Summer Blessing?!!

Tower of Babel - God is Wisest and Strongest not us

We are not quite sure why the photos were so blurry from last night -
hoping it is not because the camera might have gotten wet in the storm : { ?

Another great night at Jenkin's camp!!!!  Tower of Babel and new songs.  They are finally learning the songs pretty well.  Since everyone was new it has taken a while to get them all singing and enjoying it : ) , but once they catch on it is super. 

Not too much that different to say than normal.  Great lesson and review time and the children were very well behaved again last night.  What I did want to do for those of you who pray is include a list of all the children who were at a lesson at one point or another.  Some were only here for two or three weeks, others maybe only a few days and some from the beginning, but they all were told about the love of Jesus and He can do what He wills with the seed planted.  So the following is a list of the children's names grouped in families:

Norma, Marcos, Alejandro, Alex, Norma, Jose, Celena, Jessica, Julissa, Cassandra, baby sister (don't remember her name?), Karen and her baby brother, Daniel, Adolfo, Genaro, Franco, Blanca, Ramon, Juan Manuel, Luis, Dianali, Marco Antonio, Angel, Horalia, Feliberto, and Jr. are those I remember from Jenkins and Fernando and 3 little ones from Hollywood.  Some of the moms or adults to pray for are Jaqui, Jimina, Janet, Mercedez, Margarita, Angel's mom : )?, and a sweet older lady who would watch the children during the day after school and was very respectful of lesson time.  If the Lord lays one/two of these on your heart to pray, I know he/she or they would be blessed.  If you would like to have a face for a name, let me know.  I just do not want to put names with faces on a public forum like this.  I can e-mail you that information if you are truly interested in praying for them.  Dios te bendiga.  

Thx for your prayers and encouragement this Summer.  It will probably be wrapping up soon.  Nothing is ever certain but a few more are supposed to leave this afternoon and then some are supposed to be staying for about two more weeks.  We will continue until they are gone.  We really appreciate your prayers.

A Lesson in the STORM

TALK ABOUT DISTRACTIONS : )
{Don't miss the SLIDESHOW AT THE BOTTOM - by the time you read the section below, it should have loaded}

And still they did a GREAT job listening to the Review Lesson and participating, even with the storm. Since we were out of town and there were new children, it was best to do a review of the stories so far. This is a great bunch of kids and it was so much fun!!! I have to get used to teaching in Spanish each Summer because I don't have too much practice during the Winter months. Though most of these speak English we didn't want to leave out the few who don't. We went back and forth last night, song in English then in Spanish, lesson in Spanish, some questions in English, etc... but it works : )!

Before leaving, it was looking like rain as it had for some time, but we kept waiting to see what it would do. Finally, because we know time is getting short and families are starting to leave, we decided to go out just to spend time with the children. But I couldn't resist a lesson once we were out there. When we arrived we went to talk with Janet who is with a totally different crew; they even have a different gate/fence area to enter. As we were talking to her it went from a drizzle to rain. So we decided we had better go to the other section and begin rounding up the children. But by the time we made it to the other set of housing, it was pouring hard, so the kids who were there with us were the kids in the lesson. Karen, Feliberto, Horalia, Daniel, and Adolfo were left out : { YIKES. But there was no leaving from under the awning then. So we began the lesson. In the middle of the lesson the thunder and lightning started to really chime in and it was quite a competition in keeping their attention. Even keeping my own attention was not always possible as I had to turn around myself and see what was going on a few times after a loud thunder sound crashed near or a light streaked too close for comfort : ). The whole time I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness these kids are sitting on a metal frame with metal springs!!!!" But the parents were totally aware and did not call them away so there was no use in ending, we might as well continue through until the end. It was really super! At the end we had a question review game for little prizes and they did very well - no crying, no saying, "AWWWH I wanted that one!!!", no pushing or hitting, etc... The group was just the right combination of personalities last night. And every night the group changes : ).

As I sit here typing this, I can't help but reminisce about the first years. I've been in contact with several of the old students from 20+ years ago who are, of course, now adults. They seem to call more often in the Summer months and they talk about their memories of the times at the camps - the Bible lessons, the "field trips", and prizes. Two of them told me just a few weeks back when I was feeling discouraged that those are their favorite memories in life. When I hear that and I see that though it has taken 20 years sometimes to see ANY fruit - it is worth it!!!!!!!!!! Only God knows all of what HE has done and how many are serving Him now, but He has given me the privilege this year to learn of two more who have begun living for HIM. Five may seem like a very small number of changed lives, but from the perspective of eternity 5 is HUGE to me. Once more thanking the Lord for these Summer Blessings.