About a week ago, Sarah and I went to Camp Kid's Quest with
our Church! There were about 27
counselors and 120 kids at camp. A
couple of days before camp, the Kids Quest staff held a meeting for the
counselors that were going. We learned each counselor was in charge of around 4 to 6 kids. I was picked to have a special group of boys
for the week; whose names are Kevin, JJ, Javier, and Diego. I was introduced to Tim Gardiner, the one who
invited these boys from his public school.
It was truly a God thing that they were able to come. Tim told me that these boys had a rough
childhood and they didn't attend church on a regular basis. He told me about their different
personalities. I was getting more and
more excited to meet these boys and share the love of Christ with them! We prayed that the Lord would rock their
worlds!
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| Large group time! |
The
first day of camp arrived! It was a busy
day of figuring out what was going on and meeting our campers! My boys arrived and you could tell that this
week was going to be fun! They were full
of energy, ready to do things! While they
went and put their bags down, I introduced myself to Diego's family, they brought all four of my boys. The parents didn't speak much English, but I let them know
that I was going to take care of her boys and that they didn't have to worry
about a thing. Later that day, after
setting up our cabin and eating dinner, we went to "Club"! The message, funny skits, and worshiping
took place here. It was interesting to
see how the boys reacted to worship. At
first, they were very timid and shy, not wanting to stand up and sing with everyone or do
any of the motions. During the second
song, I encouraged them to stand up and
sing so they stood up and tried to learn the motions. By the end of the week, they were jumping up
and down
singing
all the words and doing all the motions!
The theme of the week was on how
God has had a plan from the very beginning.
The first night we talked about the magnificent garden and how sin entered
the world. After every club, we had small group time. We each led our groups
in a discussion about the club's message, how the kids were doing and what they
thought. My group talked about the relationship Adam and Eve had with God and that sin broke that relationship. I was blown away by how fast these boys absorbed and understood the message. The following messages
were about Abraham and Isaac, the Israelites being saved from slavery, and the
lost tribes. Each message emphasized
that God keeps His promises and that He was the only way the world could be
saved. I could see that the Lord was
working on the hearts of my boys by their answers to the small group discussion
questions, especially Javier.
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| Me and my boys! |
On the
last night, the message was about Jesus and how God's plan has come together to
save the world from their sin. It was a
powerful presentation of the gospel and made my kids start thinking and asking
really good questions. They asked how to get into heaven giving me "what if" scenarios such as, "what if a man pushes a lady out of the way from getting hit by a train, would the man go to heaven?" We went through about 10 different
scenarios before it clicked that Jesus is the only way for to get into heaven. They understood
that by admitting you are a sinner, believing in Jesus Christ, and choosing to
receive Jesus meant that your relationship with God is restored and you have
eternal life. Javier was excited to
share that he had done this and that Jesus Christ was his Savior! I was super
excited for him; we celebrated by doing a dance! Diego and JJ were still taken back that the
people in the scenarios didn't go to heaven and started to become
distracted. Kevin became quiet as he started
to think about it really hard. Later
that night, we had a bonfire where kids could share their experiences of being
at camp. At the end, the host gave an
invitation to all the kids to accept Jesus into their hearts by saying a simple
prayer. with everyone's eyes still close
he asked everyone to raise their hands if they prayed that prayer. At this moment, I had to see if any of my
boys did; so I peeked and saw Diego's and Kevin's hands were up! PRIASE THE
LORD, I thought to myself! What an
exciting way to end camp!
