Camp Day 5- From the voice and heart of Rachal Wolthuizen

As anticipated . . . I’ve fallen in the love with our new friends in Poland!  I am fully impressed by and quite honestly over the moon for the Polish Youth Group we have the privilege of working alongside.  The strength of their faith and individual characters blows me away in the most positive fashion possible. A close second to their bold faith, also worth mentioning is their phenomenal hospitality.  Late night dinners, snacks appearing at just the right moment, and ice cream treats that leave me without words are just the tip of the iceberg in this regard.  It saddens me to even begin thinking of saying “see you later” (NOT goodbye!) in just a few short days, but we cannot focus on that now – we have more work to do!  We will continue on with our quest to make more disciples for Christ and teach a little English along the way.

I think I speak for every member of our team when I report that we are not only tuckered out and physically sore from yesterday’s field trip and the team competitions that Chuck has put us through, but the rest of the gang was in an equal position.  Thankfully today it didn’t take too long for our spirits to be lifted and the fun times to resume!  And thanks to Chuck we can safely say we have put in a full body workout, triceps and all.

Tonight was theme night again with the Jungle being our chosen topic for the evening.  In all fairness, our T-wood team looked like quite the motley crew.  I think its fair to say that we looked like we had recently broken out of the closest psych ward rather than the jungle, but with a quick run of Just Dance we were back on our way to having fun with the Jungle theme.  Watching Angela, Hannah, Josh, Mac and Tori bob for apples was great, but we also learned some great new games to take back to the States with us.  It was a fun time all around!

Now to meat and potatoes of it all . . . presenting the Gospel to the campers.  Abby nailed it again tonight with her message to the campers.  She threw several weighty questions their direction including but definitely not limited to, “Where do you want to be in life?  What do you want your life to look like?  What is the state of your heart? Could someone look at your life and see by the way you live that you are a Christian?”  The students have been pushed hard, in the best way possible, to think deeply about what role they want Jesus to play in their lives.  Not only have the campers been positioned with a time of reflection, but it’s safe to say that our team has enjoyed this opportunity to look inside our lives as well.  Tonight’s message also included a powerful depiction of what a potential conversation between Paul and the prison guard in Acts 16.  The students were fully engaged while their peers acted out the roles of the guard and Paul.  Big strides are being made on the spiritual front but again, God’s work is not done and we are here to make Him Shine! 

Three more days of camp to go and I can’t wait to see what God has in store!