Day 5

FYI- With tomorrow being our final travel day, this will be our last post. Let me know if this blog has been helpful, so we will know to do it again on our other trips.

Today was our final morning at camp. We wrapped up with breakfast and a final large group gathering, then we got on the road to Kansas City. After sharing a cramped Wendy's for lunch with a tour bus of senior citizens, we drove a few more hours to Worlds of Fun, Kansas City's amusement park. It was a great way to celebrate a wonderful week of work, service, and growing in God. I think the students rode every ride at the park at least twice. It was so much fun but also got us all very tired and ready for our hotel stay for the night. We will be leaving KC tomorrow around 9am and should be back at Berean between 5:30 and 6pm. Please pray for safe travel. Thank you!

Day 4

Today was our last full day at camp, and God certainly had big plans. We had great weather and were at all four work sites today.
At our kid's club site, every day we had more and more kids show up. Today was no different. After the lesson, craft, and activity, our students were able to sit in small groups with the kids and pray for them before they left. Relationships were made at all our sites and saying goodbyes were hard.
Each night, back at camp, we have ended with a church group time for us to get together and debrief. During this debrief time, one of our students that worked at the food bank site,  told a story to the rest of our group of how she was working by stocking the shelves. She saw a mom and a small girl shopping the free food. The small girl looked up at her mom and said: "Mom, are you sure we can afford this food?"  Our student was tearing up as she told us that it was so cool to see the mom reassure the child that it was ok.
Our students got a lesson in serving, being used by God, and the power of the Gospel this week.
We challenged them to try and think of some ways they can continue to serve when they get home. So pray God shows them how to continue their willingness to be used.

Day 3

 Despite some off and on rain, our students were able to serve with a smile today. With the rain, we sent the boys group to a local thrift store to help sort and price donations. It's amazing to me to see how our students can find the joy of the lord in doing work projects for people they have just met and have started relationships with. God is opening the eyes of our students, without their normal distractions, to the fact that they can be used and loved by God in new ways. Our students worked so hard today, we decided to treat them to ice cream after our mission time. Pray for our worship time tonight. Pray our students can worship freely and open themselves to God's Word.

Day 2

Today was our first day on site for our mission projects. If today is any indication, God is going to use our students to do mighty things! One of our groups went to a site where they worked at a food bank that is desperately needed in the community for use by families in poverty. Food is both grown by the food bank as well as donated. Today, our students help box over 7500 eggs that were donated by a local farmer. Another group of students worked at a local kids club running a VBS. They lead them through a Bible story time, crafts, and activities. I've heard it was such a hit, they are expecting even more kids tomorrow. Our third team served at a local thrift store that uses the profits to build homes for those in need. Then, our fourth team (all boys) worked in a nearby town that was recently hit by a tornado. They helped clean up downed trees and limbs for an elderly woman and some others. They did awesome. In fact, when the boys were told it might rain tomorrow and they won't be able to come back until Thursday, they decided to give up their free time in order to clean up as much as possible.
Please continue to pray for safety and for our students to be used tomorrow as we move our boy's crew to the thrift store site because of rain. Also, please pray for our students to have their hearts spoken to during our worship time. Thanks!

Day 1 - Mission Camp

 Day one has come to a close. What a great day! All five vans made it driving 10 hours through 3 states with lots of conversation, laughter and tons of songs sang as loudly as possible. After dinner, we had our first worship gathering. The speaker for the week, Sam Lopez, challenged our students with this week's theme, "Access", taken from Romans 5:2- "Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
Included below is a picture of our schedule for the week so you can pray for us. Tomorrow is our first day at our work sites. Pray God uses our students greatly and the experience true servanthood.