Week 4

Our last week was the grandest.  We had WestSnoCo our home area, along with Snohomish County Capernaum (Kids with special needs.)  Also, the always loveable Lakewood/Steilacoom kids came along with Bellingham, Anderson Island, Lewis/McChord Air Force Base kids, Kids from France and Tacoma kids too.  Felt like we had the 'home field advantage' in the playoffs for kids' souls this last week.  We swung for the fences in prayer.  Why not pray huge, right? 

Jeff, Alex and the students from Mariner!

Vic Alinen, Kamiak YL leader, prayed that every kid in his cabin with have a direct touch from God to their hearts. If you know Vic, that's no surprise.  Boy did God come through.  We also had three boys from Mariner HS in the Kamiak cabin, along with their leader Alex Napelenok.  This is the first time Mariner students have been to Malibu in 12 years.  Two of the three did not know Jesus.  One of the boys, who is from Casino Road, is from a Buddhist household and he doesn't deeply understand it.  He realized during the previous week that his mom is a Christian and he finally decided to open up to Jesus as the message hit his heart. The other is a studly kid.  A sports star, and has had some hard bumps in the road of life, losing his father.  We prayed hard for God to help him to find God.  The last two days proved pivotal for him.  And, Vic Alinen's cabin time question of 'if a you had a 44 Magnum pistol pointed to your head, would you say you loved Jesus?  If you say no, they'd let you go.'  The guys laughed, but it did made them think (we do NOT train our leaders to pull these kinds of bizarre stunts.)  The Mariner jock said "'Hell No!  I don't even know Jesus", but he shared to the whole camp on the mic at the 'Say So' on the last night, that he opened his heart to Jesus and changed his answer to the gun question: "Fire away, I know where I'm going now."   The entire camp erupted in laughter, applause, and tears for such a beautiful response to such a quirky question.

Now for some miraculous moments.  Jeff invited campers were invited to step out of their comfort zone, because that is where the 'magic happens'.  We began to add, 'that is where the miraculous happens.'  Night 5, Jeff showed the campers his two black journals where he keeps track of all the times God shows up huge & answers prayer that he's seen.  One girl realized in her cabin time that she needs to journal what God has done in her life.  She shared that with her friends during cabin time.  Then during late night free time, she went to the Totem Inn and ordered a Jones Soda.  She opened the pop to drink and there was a typed message in the cap of the bottle. It read 'Start your journal.'  Friends, we can't make this stuff up.

Janna helped Jeff show what a relationship with God looks like.

Okay another.  A student from Everett HS (EHS has a massive group again this year) who did not believe in God.  During his 15 min quiet time, seated by the pool, he decided to pray, "Okay God, if you are there. I want to hear you speak to me." Then, without even a pause, there was a deep, growly and owl-y sound that came from within the woods across the Malibu rapids that lasted 5 seconds.   He immediately got the chills but was still doubting.  He prayed again, 'If that was from you God, make that happen again.'  A few seconds later, the same sound came.  He threw his hands up and said 'Okay God, I believe, I am 1000% in!'  Amazing.  Side commentary, at that same moment, I was sitting on the Big Squawka deck praying and I heard that exact sound (it was a sound I had never heard before but could only guess it was a Great Horned Owl, not any kind of common Barred owl I'd heard before) and felt led to pray.  I sensed in that moment that God was using that sound to speak to someone(s.)  I prayed that whoever it was would be open and know that it was God calling him in a way he/she could understand.  So, on Day 6 when the Everett student told me about what happened, he was overcome with tears telling me about this experience, and then I was crying my eyes out too because I knew God led me to pray for this specifc kid!  It was a WOW! Holy Spirit movement.  Amazing how creative and in sync with us that God is.  Reminds me of Psalm 139, how intimately God knows us.

Field games... see cascade students in orange.

Cascade HS brought loads of kids eager to dive in, experience healing from the loss of their Sophomore classmate 'Michael' who passed away in June to a battle with Leukemia.  They wore the color orange all week, the color that represents Leukemia.  Some may have thought it was a Netherlands soccer festival, but the sea of orange commemorated Michael.  They asked hard questions, wanted to figure out how to connect with God in the midst of such a loss.  Like healing often is, it was challenging, painful, tearful, beautiful and so needed.  One student was SO ready to start a relationship with God, he prayed with his leader Anthony on Day 2 to open his heart to Jesus.  Yep, Day 2.  RIGHT?

When Jeff shared on night 2 about finding out he has a grandfather (93 years old) two campers asked their leaders, 'Did you tell Jeff about my story? How did he have the same exact story as me?'  Crazy!  Also, cool thing happened with a girl camper.  She prayed during her 10 minute quiet time that she would see a seal, and that it would boost her already established faith.  She did not see one.  She was bummed about that, but in cabin time, another girl who had no faith in God shared that SHE was praying that God would show her a seal if He's really there and a seal popped right up next to where she was sitting.  She was so thrilled.  The first girl told her leader later, 'you know, God answered my prayer, but for this other girl. I am happy that he answered the seal prayer by showing someone who really needed a sign. I just need to trust and not rely on signs.'  Cool to hear a kid willing to trust deeper!!  And the other to have her eyes opened for the first time!

Whole camp from Jeff's view on the last day of camp.

Another camper sat through the message on sin, our broken relationship with God, and told his leader he wanted to figure out how to fix his broken relationship with God.  The leader said, 'you can't fix it, only God can.'  He was annoyed, but the next morning, when Jeff shared about how Jesus dies on the cross to forgive our sin, take the penalty we deserve, and offered us a fresh start, he ran out of club when it was done and prayed to start his relationship with God, overjoyed of what Jesus has made available for him.  Simple, sweet, & solid! 

So many more stories, we will stop there.  Thank you for all the prayers!  It was a wild ride these past 4 weeks!  We are inspired to continue trusting, praying and being responsive to God back at home.