CEF Camp

Camp is over, Yay! This camp was hard. It's not to say I hated it, it's just that it was one of the more difficult camps I've done. Actually this camp went really well. It was full on, went really fast and completely wore everyone out, but it was fantastic.
On Sunday all the leaders arrived and we had leader training and games and stuff. I met the girl who was going to be my co-leader for the week, and we got along well, which was great! We also realized we live just down the road from each other - how cool is that!? She even baby sits my next door neighbours children :).
Monday morning all the children arrive- I'm not sure how many this camp, but probably 65-70. 6 little girls ages 8-10 in my team. Getting the hang of all their names was hard. They had such weird names!
For the next few days we did heaps of games and activities - got covered in mud, got majorly sunburnt, and we even got to light our own little team camp fires and cook sausages and marshmallows.
The reason this camp was hard was because the girls I had were not the most well behaved girls that ever walked the planet. They got very tiring very fast, which was not a very good thing. They almost constantly fought with each other, or wouldn’t do what they were told. At times it was hard to keep my cool. There was a couple times when I felt like dragging those little darlings to where they were supposed to go - not a very good feeling, but it was all worth it in the end. There is something amazing about knowing that all those children heard the gospel, and that even if most didn't get saved, they have in their hearts and minds the Truth. We can only pray that someday, perhaps when they are older, they will remember the bible stories and memory verses they learned and it will somehow bring them on their knees before their Maker. And that is a thrilling thought. To give hope to children in a desperate world. Where their families are in pieces and many have "issues", behavioural, emotional; etc, and then they come to camp and find that Someone truly cares. When I think of it like that, it makes all that stress and tiredness and plain hard work all worth it. And I can't wait for next camp :)

Here is a poem I wrote, which says a little about CEF camps :)

The Camp week

Day 1 is so scary

Where icebreakers abound

Old friends are still there

And new ones are found

Day 2 is the day
That camp really starts

70 children arrive

With wide open hearts

Day 3 the children

Are all settling in

We remember their names

Now let the fun begin

Day 4 it’s getting tiring

Late nights and early mornings

The children know us better now

And that should give us warnings

Day 5 is the long haul

And you very soon find

That patience is a virtue

 Everyone should mind

Day 6 camp is almost over

Hugs and lots of goodbyes

The last songs we sing together

As we leave to our separate lives

And though it has been hard

And went in such a whirl

The gospel has been told

To every boy and girl

That makes it all worth it

It’s why we put up with the slack

And the next time camp is on

We leaders will be back

~Rachel

Big Families and Birthdays

Our "birthday month" this year has begun! When you have a large family, and a lot of the children are born about 2 years apart, you often get a cluster of birthdays all at once...Hence, Birthday Month!

We started of with a roar - little Jacob had his 4th birthday on the 1st, yesterday. He was spoiled with presents and had a great time. You should have seen his grin! Jacob has such a cute smile, it just lights up his whole face into one huge sunbeam :)

My sister and I also went birthday shopping together yesterday. I was quite impressed with how much we got done. Presents for 7 people in just a few hours! We went home with sore feet and depleted purses, haha! But I had a great time and got to give my sister's baby, my nephew, heaps of cuddles too. He's just the cutest :) I'm trying to be his favourite aunty =D

Anyway, this year, instead of having a party for each child, we thought we would try having a massive Birthday Bash in the middle of the month to celebrate them all together. So, giant party planning has begun!

To give you an idea of how it goes, this month Jacob turns 4, Leah 6, Timothy 8, Isaiah 13, Jonathan 15, my older sister 20, and Mum - well yeah, she turns a year older too :p. Also Dad and Mums wedding anniversary is this month, along with Grandma and Granddads! No, that's not all of us, the rest of us have our birthdays elsewhere in the year :)


In other happenings... tomorrow I'm going on a CEF camp. It's lots of fun, challenging and can put you way out of your comfort zone (especially if you're shy like me!) Pray for me if you have time, cos I need it, and for the girls that will be in my team too :)

Hope y'all have a great week, and I’ll try to tell how camp went in my next post :)



~Rachel