...But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:23
24 kids, 7 leaders and 2 weeks of planting good seeds deep into the hearts of kids who have had many challenges in their short lives. Imagine to take 24 members of your family on a vacation and the preparation it takes to accomplish this. The kids show up on camp day with the clothes on their back. So our team prepared 24 sacks of clothes, 3 pants, 3 shirts, 3 underwear, 3 socks, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, snacks, meds...well you get the idea. If you add it all up, multiply it by 24 and you can somewhat imagine what was it was like for our team. That does not include the hours spent sifting through mounds of hair to remove thousands of lice and eggs, haircuts for all the boys. And all that was before the kids left.
The anticipation of the camp for the kids is uncontainable! The excitement, the joy, the smiling faces is enough to make you want to take 50 more kids! (it is only a passing thought) It is the only day of the year they actually show up on time and clean! We picked them up at 8 am and off we went to the Community Center for one last shower, check for lice and to change the clothes. Each kid is given a bag of clothes, a toothbrush and a pair of shoes with their name on it! Makes me smile, as I reflect back and remember the faces as they pull out each item and hold up and show to the others! Such immediate ownership and value they take in one simple bag of things.
Car sickness meds are given, a verification to make sure we have plenty of plastic vomit bags and bottled water are essentials as riding in a car for 2 hours is not very normal, in fact unusual for most, and off we went. I answered a thousand times in 2 hours the question, how much longer? And like most of you I answered the same every time, "30 minutes." The girls did not stop speaking the entire 2 hours, some slept, some sang and all was so surreal and normal.
When I was driving I think about how much they have grown up in the last 4 years I have know them. I think about the circumstances in each of their families. I think about how much they have learned in the programs, how the advancements at the time seemed so challenging and now seemed so simple. Most can write their names, recognize most letters, they know the colors, numbers, simple addition and even some can read simple words.
The most amazing thing is that our team also taught them Bible stories, how to pray, how to ask and believe that their is a God and He has a son and His name is Jesus. God sent us here to tell them this, to tell them that He loves them and He cares for them. Most did not have a concept of God, who He is, but now they know! They know that He is the Creator of all things, especially them and us! Over the last 4 years this, to me, is the most valuable, simple thing we could teach them and it is bearing good fruit! We have a foundation to build on now, a relationship, an opportunity to build on this foundation, the possibilities from here are endless!
In these 2 weeks, the girls learned about Esther and how she prayed and God used her to save an entire Nation, that they are queens, special and they to have the same opportunity as Esther! They learned to pray out loud and on their own for the first time in their lives. The boys learned about David, and with God they can be fearless, warriors! They understand that they are simple kids, just like David and they too are Kings and can love, worship and be men who love God.
Thank you to everyone who invested, partnered, prayed, volunteered and worked! Your investment is changing generations!
Together we are making a difference, one camp at a time, one sandwich at a time, one bag of clothes at a time, one prayer at a time, one letter at a time, one number at a time...
