May 2014 Update 3
Wow!! I guess they call it rainy season for a reason. We got some serious rain overnight!! Usually rain makes me sleep better, but this was so much and so hard that it actually woke me up. I remembered that our tie dye shirts were all out hanging dry. Oh No!!! I hope they won’t be destroyed, they definitely won’t be ready to wear for our first round of games today. When we got moving a little before 8, it was still raining a bit, but the kids were out playing futbol anyway.
Breakfast to start the day, bread, bananas, eggs and tea. The kids are all very chatty and welcoming this morning. There doesn’t seem to be any distance with all these new kids. I love it!!! The staff guys have started an impromptu dance competition in the dining area. Fun!
While the kids are playing or finishing getting ready, the staff has a meeting. More and more, I believe that God is calling me to encourage and lift up these college aged kids that are doing camp with me and fill them up so that they overflow onto the kids. This morning I was drawn to Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul’s prayer to the church at Ephesus. I was able to share with them that I pray for them, that they would be strengthened in their inner person with the power of the Holy Spirit, that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith and know that they are rooted and established in love, that they may comprehend how great God’s love is for them, that surpasses understanding and that they would be filled to the fullness of God. Then to God be the glory for the amazing work He does in and through us!!! We spent some time praying together before we gathered the kids for worship.
Cathy lead us again in worship. She got us all moving and dancing!! Getting the blood pumping!! In our morning worship sessions, God has laid it on my heart to share more about the abundant life God has for us that we (our camp) is named for, Abundant Life Camp. God desires for us not to just survive, but to live lives overflowing with all He has for us. Today we looked at Numbers 20 where the Isrealites are complaining for water in the wilderness and after going to God, Moses hits the Rock and a fountain flows, not a trickle, but abundantly!!! We talked of how God will meet our basic needs abundantly if we come to Him. We cannot just grumble and complain to our family and friends, but we need to turn to God. I was able to share some of my personal story with the kids as well.
The rest of the morning was spent in small groups and then doing crafts. Each person received a tote bag and was able to paint their own design on it. It is truly spectacular to see what some of them do. One kid picked up a brush and painted the most impressive portrait. Others wrote important messages, others did flowers or animals. Since all teams can’t do them at once, while they were waiting or after they were done, teams began working on their presentations for the last night. We will have a huge talent competition where teams can dance, sing or do dramas, or any combination of those things. The only real rule is that everyone has to participate.
Once all our bags were painted, we settled in for lunch. It is amazing, but I am actually hungry. I eat so much while I’m here and still manage to lose weight…party bonus!!! Lunch was chapati, rice, beans and greens…so simple, but my favorite!!
This afternoon we begin our tournament. We have a packed schedule to get in four games of volleyball and four games of netball. Erin has been hugely helpful in managing the volleyball side of things and Cathy is running the netball (since I haven’t the slightest clue about that game). Orange and blue appear to be winning so far. I think Erin is baffled by some of the things the kids do on the volleyball court, but she is great about making fun of it all.
I feel like I should take a second to explain netball. This is the girl’s version of basketball in Uganda because generally girls don’t play basketball. It is played on a court on grass with baskets on the end like basketball, except there is no backboard, just a ring. The biggest difference is that they don’t dribble the ball at all, they just pass. When you have the ball you are not allowed to move. I think you get one grace step if you are running when you are trying to catch it. You can only hold the ball for 3 seconds, so it is a quick moving game. The positioning of players is similar to lacrosse where there are offensive players that con only be on the offensive end of the field and defensive likewise. Each team has I think 2 ‘centers’ that are allowed to run the whole field and each team has 7 players. I like us playing this because the boys don’t play it at all, so it makes the girls the one helping run things, a bit of a role reversal than with futbol or volleyball.
We were able to get all of the games done early, so the teams had about 45 minutes to work on their dances for the last night. It is nice to not be so rushed!!
Then we had CPR. I apparently spoke too soon yesterday with their timing. Today they reverted a bit because it took a hour and 20 minutes. We were talking about sex today though, so there were more giggles to get through. We went through the steps of affection and how hormones impact our bodies. It is fun to be a little silly, but we also get to talk about how precious sex is and how God created it to be a gift. They also do a picture of how long your life can be and how getting involved sexually too early can impact the length of your life. With Teen Esteem at home we use a tape measure to show this same thing. It is striking, the visual to see how long your life can be if you make healthy choices and how short it can be if you don’t. So good!!
Dinner was rice, potatoes and beef stew with pineapple for dessert. One girl had an entire plate of potatoes with 2 small pieces of meat. Girl after my own heart!!!
Tonight Shallom is going to be sharing with us about the sacrifice God made in sending His only Son to die so that we could have a relationship with God again. This is generally an easy one, but with the child sacrificing that happens at the hands of witch doctors here, the idea of sacrifices is tainted. He did a pretty good job trying to help the kids understand the difference. He did a wonderful job of helping the kids understand that we all sacrifice things, but how great the sacrifice was for God to send His Son because He loves us SO much!!!
We ended the evening with BINGO!!! This is a camp favorite. I bring random prizes, pencils, crayons, notebooks, cards, generally I hit up the dollar section at Target. The big winners this time were these Avengers kits I found that had a pencil, sharpener and activity book. And I was worried they may be a little too old to like them. The kids had a great time!! The staff did too!!
It has been a wonderful day at camp!! We all need to get some good sleep tonight! Thank you for your prayers!! Shivon didn’t have any issues today! Praise God. Please pray for rest and stamina for Stacey. They days are long and very active and she is generally struggling at night. It looks like we’re going to get more rain tonight.