Camp Victory Day 5

It doesn’t seem possible that camp came to a close today. We were just starting to personally connect with so many of the kids. It’s amazing how quickly you can become attached to people you’ve only known for a few days. Perhaps it’s the way they look at you with eyes that are searching for love; perhaps it’s the way they cuddle against you and hold onto your hand as you walk; perhaps it’s the sincerity with which they ask for prayer; perhaps it’s the smile they give you just because you sang a song with them or you played a game; perhaps it’s a combination of all of things. But to be sure, the attachment comes because we have had the opportunity to see them as God seems them. When that happens, the love that springs up within in you is fierce. To leave this place will be hard for each of us.

Before we came, we would have measured the success of this camp on how well we executed our plan. Now that it has come to a close, we have realized that success has come in ways that has nothing to do with our plan.

• We had close to 300 kids on our final day of camp – 25 of which were first time attenders (keep in mind we originally wanted to limit the camp to 180 registrants and planned for such…. apparently God had other ideas!)
• We had about 40 kids come forward for the altar call and prayer – half of whom we believe were first time conversions
• The majority of our campers were able to recite the life verse and complete the corresponding hand gestures by the camp’s end
• After camp today, we walked to the top of a nearby mountain where we held devotions. Along the way, we passed many kids from camp. During devotions, Pastor Augustine talked to us about the parable of the seed sower. He told us that this was a week of planting seeds in the hearts of children throughout the Hawane region. He reminded us that our work was now through and we needed to trust God and Hawane CLC to begin to nurture and grow those seeds. As we stood in a prayer circle, interceding for the community we realized we have visitors. About 10 kids had followed us to the top of the mountain (no small task in bare feet) and joined in our prayer circle. It was in that moment that God showed us that the seeds we sowed, were already taking root.

Tomorrow is the Hawane CLC Soccer tournament. It is expected that we will have between 700 and 1,000 people on hand to play and watch the matches. The day will culminate with championship matches, followed by a message from Pastor Augustine, an altar call and then the awards ceremony. It is sure to be a full day, but we look forward to what God will accomplish. It has been amazing to see what has been accomplished thus far and it has been an honor to be a part of it.

Thanks for your continued prayers on behalf of our team. God has been faithful in giving us more than we could ask!

PS…… we’re sorry to hear about the several inches of snow and sub-zero temperatures. It was sunny, breezy and warm (mid-eighties and low humidity) here today. We’ll do our best to suffer through it again for the next three days.