Kids camp outreach

so at the dts. weve been doing our lecture phase, and quite a few day out reaches, at parks, meeting people, in the city.. whatever. day long type of things. but this past week we traveled to portland victoria. for a week of helping out at a christian kids camp. this was it, the beginning of the outreach phase, the rubber hits the road.

i can honestly say the week was amazing. but hectic all the while. it was a camp for kids between 13 - 17. and our role was camp counselor type, and activity leaders. as well raf was in charge of tribe time and i oversaw activities.

most of the boys were younger. so like 13. which ment - they were 13 year old boys. together in a room. with no parent. oh Glory.

Raf, matty, jordo and I volunteered to sleep in the room with the boys. which only ment we had some insane hilarious talks at night times and dumps loads of knowledge and wisdom into their heads. also it it shocking how your forget what it was like to have the brain of a pre puberty teenager. you remember... when it made more sense to tell austin to tell mary ella to tell nadia that you like her. things of that nature was a interesting reminder.

another interesting fact about the kids was they like to ask questions. wait. lemme correct myself they feel as if they need to ask questions. wait. lemme correct myself. they ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS HAVE A QUESTION TO ASK REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES. now let me elaborate on that, all the kids were great. some actually amazing. but there was one, well call him he Izzy. literally asked me 90 questions a day. i was his group leader so i would frequently get questions of this nature...

"Izzy: Oi, James (cause they all called me james), what are we doing right now?

Jamie: check your schedule buddy.

Izzy: it says lunch, whats after that?

Jamie: check the schedule man

Izzy: it says free time, can i shower?

Jamie: yep if you want izz.

Izzy: whats after free time?

Jamie: check your schedule...."

one other interaction that stands out in my mind was..

ok this is at 6:30 in the morning when i was waking up.

"Izzy: Oi, James?

Me: yes izzy?

Izzy: Why are you awake, and mattys still asleep, and raf woke up 5 minutes ago?"

seriously. this was common.

but kids will be kids and there was so much awesome that came from the week.

ive never had such consistently awesome worship times for a week straight. which is leading me to believe if i want to feel gods presence vividly. and fun way would be to find 50 or so younger teenagers and get the preforming musical group from the YWAM ship tour and set up in a chapel with a huge view of the ocean out the second story window.

seriously the week was amazing. so much more to say about it than i can add to a single blog post. but ill finish with one last memory.

the guy who was organizing the camp was a rather large Aussie man named Carl. and on the last night, once all the campers were already gone, he was talking to us all in the kitchen. he was semi giving a speech. and it was incredibly touching. in his words, working with us was one of the most rewarding experiences hes ever had, and we were amazing, and they will be talking about the week in heaven. and he would do that for the rest of his life if he could. and his eyes were honestly tearing. im not trying to brag now about my ywam team. but i was just super moved by how emotional this guys was about how proud he was of us. and hence why im sharing it with yall :)

all in all. haveing camp 90 seconds from the ocean was rad. the campers were amazing. and we could honestly see the change in them from just one week. some especially much! and i was quite and exceptional kick off to outreach. approx 1 months till africa.

cheers.

ps. this is the ship.