Camp Day 1

Oh my word! Can we please just talk about the FIRST DAY OF CAMP for a moment! We started the day out with breakfast and a morning devotional as a team to prepare our hearts and minds for the day. We then walked to school and started getting the space set up and put together.

The campers started arriving, registering, and jumped right into games of four square and introductory conversations. At 10:30 am Domi gathered everyone into the main room to do our first ice breaker game while the students finished getting tested to determine their English class placement. After the ice breaker game we taught them the camp dance!! The campers learned the dance quickly and fun was had by all! The student I was paired up with was just so incredibly happy about everything, and little did I know at the time what was causing such joy.....this portion is to be continued.

After learning the camp dance it was time to hold our first English class. It was a great joy to jump in and see what this was really going to be like. I was excited to meet the students, and even more excited to see the start of what wild things God has in store for our time with our students. My partners and I are teaching the beginner class and I was SO proud of all of them! After everyone introduced themselves to the class, we jumped right into the lesson activities for day one. The lesson focus for today included the concepts of time and exercise; there was a point in the class when the students were given an opportunity to develop an exercise routine for us teachers in order to practice giving directions in English.....let's just say I was most certainly thankful my Polish student I paired up with didn't pick push-ups for my routine! The students were rockstars in their participation all the way around and thoroughly enjoyed the prizes that were handed out!

Then it was lunch time! Everyone split up and sat and enjoyed a meal with fellow Polish friends, which was so great! I sat with two students from our class, along with the gal from the Polish team that is the translator in our class. God blessed our time together with an incredible conversation, many smiles, and the start of new friendships.

Remember the girl I mentioned was my camp dance partner? She was one of the girls I sat with at lunch and I came to find out the cause of her joy. This young gal is 20 years old and speaks little English, but that did not stop her from sharing her story. With the help and gifts of the translator, our table was blessed with a beautiful story of God at work.

This young gal was talking about her family and mentioned she had two siblings and just recently a father. Her mother passed away about a year ago. I was a little confused about the situation with her father. When she was only 11 months old her father left her mother and their family and she hasn't been in contact with him since then. She tried to find him and contact him a year ago, but unfortunately wasn't able to.

Just two weeks ago, she accepted Jesus and began a relationship with Him! This young gal then proceeded to tell me that it was just yesterday that she was able to locate and connect with her father for the first time in 20 years!!! God is so good.....so, so good!!! Her joy.....came from God. The entire day the joy was beaming and radiating from her and she simply could not hold in her excitement of the changes in her life.....she hasn't even been able to sleep well because of her excitement! Before lunch was over, she looked at me with a big smile on her face and said, "I now have two fathers....my dad and my Heavenly Father."

The remainder of the day was spent making color team banners, cheers, and participating in sports in our color teams. Today's game was volleyball! The green team took first, red team took second, and yellow team took third. These things combined with four square, Uno, and conversations continually blessed our afternoon with our Polish friends.

We finished our day of camp with our evening program where Abby shared a message on God's grace for us and talking about His kingdom being one that is upside down compared to the world's views and standards. She closed the message with a question for everyone.....which kingdom are you living in....the world's or God's?

After camp was over we shared a great meal with the Polish team and debriefed and prepared for tomorrow. Today was a very busy day but not one that went without God's presence fully encompassing every minute. God was so clearly intertwined in every part of today. It was a beautiful sight to see two groups of people from two different parts of the world interacting with each other, learning from each other, and praising the same God regardless of where we come from or what language we speak. It has only been one day of camp and already God is moving in mighty ways. Today was truly something special.

God's blessings to you,
Kate Rennicke