Sunday goodbye and hello!

Today, I (Tanya) packed my bags to return to Everett. I have the awesome privilege of taking teen moms to camp with Young lives (young life ministry to teenage mothers).

So, I made it home safely in just under 6 hours and am buzzing around the house packing to prepare for a week of mentoring/leading teen moms while snagging random things I think I'll need back at Wildhorse. When I'm finished with my week at camp, I'll drive straight to Wildhorse for the remaining days (around 9) of camp.

I know you might be wondering, "who is taking care of Jeff while Tanya is away?" Well, I left behind Janna (she's a huge help with her questions and reminders) and Deek who will help Jeff to enjoy life (Deek always stops to smell the roses, grass, bushes, rocks, statues and fence posts while walking in camp.) Actually, Jeff is doing a great job taking care of himself. As much as we are a team, he is fantastic by himself too. But to help Jeff take care of the kids is our good friend, Tyler Marcus. Tyler is fluent in Young Life and Children, so I'm confident he'll care for the 3 them very well while I'm gone.

We are taking 6 girls from the Everett Area to Young Lives camp.

They bring their babies, and at the camp are volunteers who care for their babies while the girls enjoy camp.

Please pray for our girls: J, Br, Sa, E, M and K.

2 of them have known God before and the rest of them could be close to deciding to follow Christ.

Pray that I have patience and compassion for the girls as well as boldness to ask them the questions that need to be asked. Last year, I went and took J. She wasn't sure that she believed what she was hearing to be true. I think this year, she is a little more trusting of Christians. And, she sees a little more need in her own life. Woooo who! That excites me. I hope I sleep tonight! (attached is a picture).

Another girl has parents who are involved in a local church, but she needs God to be her own. I think she could be a valuable asset to our younglives club, should she fully jump on board. Pray for her too, K.

M and E might not go according to our Young lives coordinator. (I just talked to her on the phone) They NEED to go. Please pray that they do!!

I'll keep you posted as I can!

Super Soaked

Last night, after talk #3, Jeff was asked to sit in on a cabin time for a group who had a young leader (11th grader) because he struggled to keep the 7th grade boys in his cabin on task for discussion (cabin time).

Jeff grabbed the sound guy out of the sound booth and said, "you are coming with me to help them with their cabin time." The sound guy is on Summer Staff. Each summer staff was given a different cabin to pray for each week. The sound guy was shocked as they entered the very cabin he had been praying for! He was randomly assigned this cabin to pray for, and now he has the opportunity to participate in their cabin time.

Jeff always wondered exactly how the kids were tracking with his messages and if they understood and could apply what he said to their lives. As Jeff and Gero (hero), the sound guy, listened to these 7th grade boys talk about their lives they were shocked.

One boy named Levi (another Levi!) talked about how his father died 4 months ago. He didn't get to say goodbye and he felt like the relationship remained broken as he didn't have any closure. He also responded to a later question about Jesus being concerned with the paralytic's sin more than his legs (Mark 2), that it doesn't make sense. And that often, that is the way God works, in ways that don't make sense to us and that we have to trust that he is working for our best.

Jeff was relieved. What a great opportunity to interact with these 7th grade campers.

Gero will be working with their cabin for cabin time for the rest of the week.

It will be neat to see how their week ends.

Weather wise, we woke up to a very normal tank top day. Sun was shinning, pool was open, kids were zipping! We used free time to have a family swim. We got out of the pool to get some lunch as it started to thunder. Lightening flashed across the sky and they emptied the pool again. Just then, it started to rain. I gathered our things and the children and we waited for Jeff to return with lunch under a shaded area by the pool. It wasn't waterproof, but I thought it would be a quick one. It poured. Jeff returned with our hot dogs and brownies and they were soon soaked. We saw campers running in the field dancing and doing cartwheels and realized it was our very own Everett leader, Brittany Franke and her girls making the most of the bad weather. It make us think about Brittany's life. She has really danced through some rough storms. What a valuable lesson to share with them. Their glee turned into shrieks as the drops turned to dime sized balls of hail. We were wet under the net, but were protected from the hail. Our kids were good sports. Deek ate his brownie dripping from the rain while his sweatshirt hood filled with water. Janna was protected under an umbrella Jeff fashioned with an extra pair of shorts on top of a water floaty. It stopped and we made it back to our cabin super soaked!

The rain must have been good for something, stopping fires, fun and excitement, or just slowing kids down. By the time we got back to our cabin, the lightening had stopped and all of the rides were open again for the campers to enjoy.

What a crazy day!

'

The Storm Pics

Jeff and kids in pool on day off.






No nap= crash at dinner

The Storm!

We woke up this morning to thunder and lightening storms! What an amazing sight! We had to keep the kids and campers indoors and and away from high places like the zip line and Communication Hill.

Also, during the Pool Olympics, lightening flashed again and we had to get all 600 kids out of the pool and onto other activities. The power was out for several hours!

No Family pool time for us! (I have a picture from last week).

There is also a fire a little over a mile away from camp. (see pic)

It's up on the hill above the quads. A bunch of trained property staff are up fighting it. It really doesn't effect us other than the nice camp fire smell!

Also, the kids didn't take a nap. I've found that this means that the kids will literally fall asleep during dinner. (see Janna sleeping) Last camp Deek was actually stuffing pizza in his face while dozing off.

Jeff and I had a fun time today listening to last weeks talk and revising it. Night 3 talk is one of his favorites. It's message is that we all have a broken relationship with God. Getting campers to see this is always difficult as some kids think they don't need anything.

What a nutty day! What will happen next? Pray that God will move and things will happen in the lives of kids.

San Francisco Giants Win after a tough Week!

Day 5, week 2: This morning, Jeff invited all kids who made a first time commitment to follow Jesus to meet him at the blob tower at 7:3o for the New Believers walk. He was overwhelmed at the 135 kids waiting there, ready to hear more of God's word, throw a rock in the water to symbolize their old life and put a rock in the pile as a monument of their new life.

What an honor to be with these kids and leaders as they begin a new journey with God.

Some highlights:

Seeing the San Francisco kids there--7 boys and their leader. 1/2 of the boys recieved Bibles in English and 1/2 in Spanish! They really liked Jeff and connected to him. Jeff lived life with these guys and I could tell that the leaders and the boys really appreciated it after all they went through this week. (see picture of Jeff and boys)

The Mukilteo crew had some life changing stories. We sat by the pool with Bruce K, their leader and he told us about getting some of these kids to camp. They really have some tough lives, stories that would just tare your heart out. Absent parents who still live in the home, drug use to escape it all, poverty, dysfunctional parents, no phones in the family, no cars, wow! (Not your typical Mukilteo story). Many of the Mukilteo kids came to decisions to start relationships with Jesus Christ too. (see photo of kids circled up praying)

The kids and adults have really been impressed with Jeff's ability to be real about his own life as well as sharing what life with Jesus is like. It's a miracle really, that he's able to capture their attention (544 middle school kids + about 100 (high school/adult leaders) for 20+ or - minutes!

It must be God using him! Thanks for your prayers.

Tomorrow, Aug 5th, our kids & Leaders from Everett/Mill Creek come! As a bonus, we have some Adult Guest coming as part of the Adult Guest program.

We enjoyed our 'inbetween camp time' with some free babysitting from Summer Staff girls and a lonnnnnnnnnng walk for Jeff and I!

'Hilltop' experience of the week...

Jeff says:
Update on the S.F. kid whose mom called the camp to tell him that his brother just got stabbed to death. ...the group, all poor, urban hispanic kids were devastated. The brother was supposed to come here to camp this week. They all skipped club last night to just be together, talk, mourn, cry, and their leader pleaded with them it's time to stop violence, quit their involvement in gangs, and begin to follow Jesus.

This morning, they asked me to lead them on a hike to the top of the giant hill here at wildhorse at 6:30am and gave my 'talk' to them that they missed the night before. I customized it to them and the situation they are in. The leader translated it into Spanish. We finished by all circling up and praying together. it was unbelievable and I felt honored to be able to share this moment with all the guys, especially Enrique, who flew out a few hours later to re-join his mother during the tragedy. Pray for these guys! (Pictured above Enrique and his leader, Jay; Jeff and the group from SF on top of the hill.)

(Tanya speaking now) The talk that Jeff was gave them on the hill was the one about Levi and how he was an unlikey type of person Jesus would invite to follow him. I wonder how many of the boys feel like that? Maybe it's something they've done, or something they've thought, or maybe just that they come from a long line of poverty. What an honor to be part of these kids lives and to help give answers at a time when they have so many questions!

Thanks for praying for these kids.

Working on a fresh routine

Well, we've been here for a calendar week. We have 1.5 camps beneath our belt! We can predict every meal and know exactly where the umbrella stroller gets stuck in the gravel walkway. Now we just need to work on keeping it fresh.
Jeff works on keeping it fresh by listening to the recordings of his talks and adjusting them to make them more effective.
The kids find new treasures in the dollar store bin of toys. We go to the pool almost everyday, we watch the campers,hang out with other families. We play a lot. Today we played hide and seek in the dining area and bathroom of the Sarspirilla (icecream/snack shack). It took this adorable picture while Janna and Deek were hiding in the shower.
Tanya is noticing that her clothes are fitting a little tigher than they were a week ago. YIKES. Time to make sure I get the exercise I need, and not the extra calories!
What happened to her goal of staying spiritually and physically fit? Better freshen those up too.
The different groups of kids keep it very fresh. This week we have kids from Sitka, Alaska, Othello/Basin City, Connell, Gig Harbor, Pullman, Edmonds/Meadowdale, Mukilteo, North Whatcom County, Bellingham,Centralia in WA and Corvallis and Willamette Areas in Oregon as well as Paradise and San Francisco-greater Mission district, CA.
Quite a mix of kids. Some kids come from Mukilteo, while others have migrant farm workers for parents, while another kid from the Mission district found out that his brother (who was supposed to come to camp too) was just stabbed (and died). My stereotypical guess would be that it's gang related by looking at the close knit group of Latino boys who are here in his cabin. Please pray for the rest of his cabin. The brother who was here at camp is going home while his friends stay behind. His leaders need your prayers to know what to say to these young boys. I am so very glad they are here in this safe place. God can do something amazing in their lives and change them forever!
The amount of time we spend with Jeff could be better. We were able to walk to breakfast with him and he walked us back to the cabin one time. We were hoping to hang out with him during free time, but he was dealing with the tragedy from California and preparing for his talks. We won't pull him away from that! Maybe tomorrow we'll get some QT! It's hard to share your Dad/husband with 600+ kids/leaders/assignment team.