At the beginning of the camp, I was feeling rather down as I received last minute instructions that I had to leave the camp for Band Practices and that really bothered me a lot. Also, the unfamiliarity of the assistant counselors to me added on to the question whether this year’s camp is gonna be successful for the children under me. Lets just say that I began the camp with this sense of doubt in my heart, whether I’ll be able to make an impact in the lives of the children.
When the children arrived on Sunday, I was rather happy to see that the kids in my group were rather enthusiastic and really obedient. I really thanked and praise God for that! During the night games, I started being really upset about some things and what made it worse was the fact that the next day is gonna be an important bonding day with the children, and I will not be there.
On Monday, I sent the children off and went for my Band Practice. When I came back, what really made me happy was that the children all started telling me about the fun things they did, and what they did during the day. After the night experience, during the counselors meeting, God really did a work in my heart. He really answered my prayer of having a heart for the kids. That night I felt this sense of brokenness in my heart for the children and it really pushed me to love them even more so, though insignificant to the things of this world. The doubt of not being able to be there for my kids was taken away by Jesus and I really felt that if I do my best, God will do the rest.
Tuesday was a fun day and even though my group was caught in the middle of nowhere thanks to the heavy downpour, my kids really had fun and it allowed me time to talk to a few of them. That night was the campfire. The children from my clan ( AZTECS!) were all hyped up and I too was rather energetic which can only be the strength of God cause I was really tired out. The campfire ended off with thanksgiving and the song Forever Friends. At this point in time, I felt God saying to me that he was pleased with me. I was affirmed when I saw some of my children crying and when I went up to them to hug them, I realized, that even with the little time I spent with them, the impact I had on them was great. And it was all God’s work. What made me even more touched at God’s work was when I saw some of the guy assistant counselors crying at the end of the campfire. I felt indeed, God has done a work in the lives of the people in this camp.
This year’s YA Camp has really been one full of impact on my life. It was amazing to see that even though many things were not carried out as planned due to interference from rain and other obstacles, the impact that we had on the children and even the counselors was great. I have come out of the camp with a heart that has been changed and with God’s Compassion for the children, and I believe that many people in this camp, whether main counselors, kids, assistant counselors, program coordinators, have been greatly impacted by God’s work!! ((:
-Delphne.
No comments:
Post a Comment