Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Camp Paradise 2011


This is way way way overdue. But I've been too busy taking showers and eating real food since I got back from camp to blog. (My schedule is very demanding... obviously)

Camp Paradise. What a week! I ate more canned fruit in 5 days than I cared to eat in an entire lifetime. I slept (or didn't sleep) on a crib mattress that they called a bed. I brushed my teeth with water from a water cooler and shaved my legs on the porch with exfoliating face scrub. I made a clutch out of duct tape! But I wouldn't have rathered be doing anything else those 5 days! More importantly than the 5000 ant bites that I came home with, I also brought back a heart totally sold-out and on fire for the Lord!

400 students, 100-something adult volunteers, and 1 awesome God showed up for an amazing week of camp in the middle of nowhere South Carolina!

I can't say enough good things about my church! I am so blessed to go to a church where the young people are loved on and prayed for like they are at Hickory Grove! God obviously heard our prayers for camp, because His presence was so apparent!!!

We spent the majority of our "family group" time in the book of Jonah. We talked about how God calls us to "ARISE" and be a leader and example of Christ to others. I definitely think that our students went home ready to share what they learned with their family and friends!

I am thankful for new friends! It is so much easier to walk in the Lord when you have Christian friends to hold you accountable and who are there to pray for you when you need it. I miss the "Dream Team"! I haven't broke out in spontaneous dance to "Party Rock" since we left! People who say Christians don't have fun, obviously haven't been to Camp Paradise.

There were so many celebrity appearances! Like Coach Snyder, Grizzly Barbasol, and the most famous of all... (wait for it) Gerald Malloy!!! Gerald and the band absolutely brought it!!! The music was on point. At the beginning of the week, very few of the kids would put their hands up during worship and by the end of the week, we had an entire room of raised hands, 200 middle school aged kids surrendering themselves to God!





I can't wait to be back! But until then, my prayer is that we are fearless in sharing our faith with others and that we are a Godly example to such a lost world! There is nothing to lose!




Until next summer :)...



PS- When they say not to eat the sausage... LISTEN! Its just as bad coming up as it was going down.

1 comment:

  1. Glad your first camp paradise experience was so great! It was my eighth and the best yet!

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