Gifts

Three days ago, the Malibu Princess took the 2nd week of campers away and dropped off another set of campers and leaders.  This is a great mix of kids from Gig Harbor, Tacoma, California, Bainbridge Island/ Bremerton and Spokane!  While the kids were getting off the boat, Janna asked, "Does the captain of the boat know Young Life?"  I did not know the answer.  She fired back, "does the captain of the boat know God? Does he know what he's bringing the kids to?"
I don't think the kids really know what they are in for when they get off the boat.  They have no idea of the fun, beauty, laughs, service and love they will learn about and experience while they are at Malibu.  Certainly, their leaders know, and that is what motivates them to get up early, get pied in the face, drenched with cold water and sometimes sleep on the floor.  The leaders know EXACTLY what they are getting into and why they are bringing their friends/campers.  For the campers, it's a surprise GIFT that they open up-- starting with day 1 of camp.  Day one is the exciting and fun bow.  As the week unfolds, they learn what the gift of life truly is that God offers them.

I'm studying James right now.  "Every good and perfect gift is from above" 1:16
All of the extras of camp, the things that make it excellent are not the real gift we are trying to give the campers, it's more the wrapping.  This week, we are on day 4 now, I'm going to focus on the real gift.  Jeff and the team are comfortable with the wrapping, their lines, costume changes, events, etc.  Now we can really focus and thank God for the GIFT... the reason the campers came that they are, at first, unaware of... and the driving motivation of the leaders, that they are completely aware of.

It is a wonderfully responsive and gracious group of campers.  They laugh at all the appropriate times and clap with appreciation!  This makes serving up this huge gift so much easier.

Prayer Requests:  It seems as though more and more kids are coming with mental illnesses.  Anxiety, Depression and maybe some boarder line personality disorders.  This really keeps our leaders distracted, and our assignment team busy helping the leaders lead kids who are not really well.  Pray that these kids would start to find healing here!  Pray that leaders would be able to work with the kids and that it wouldn't take away from other kids in the cabin.

The Father's Love

Here we are in week 2, day 3!
This week we have some familiar campers here at Malibu, students from Snohomish, Lake Stevens, Glacier Peak, Olympia, Puyallup, and the Wenatchee Valley (YIP, YIP).
It has been fun to see kids from our church and our friends kids here enjoying Malibu!  Please pray for these kids!  They have a lot going on in their lives.  They bring many hurts with them and after the first few days, they feel comfortable enough to share them with us and their leaders.

One amazing thing that happened on the last day of last camp was that our very own Lizzy Aagard, work crew girl from my JHS campaigner group, had the honor of sharing her testimony during the work crew presentation for the whole camp.  Campers and all were blessed to hear Lizzy talk about how there was NOTHING she could do to cause God to love her any less.  And NOTHING could keep her from the love of her heavenly Father.  She so freely and comfortably shared with the hundreds of people in the club room.  Jeff and I rejoiced with her and praised GOD for all he has done and brought her through.  What an honor to lead young ladies like Lizzy!

I am feeling a little disconnected from the spiritual things happening in the lives of campers because I spend so much time with the kids and Jeff is busy working on the details of the program. This is weird for us, but hopefully, we will feel a little more connected as we get the details worked out.

This is the entire work crew during the work crew presentation on the last night of camp.  Lizzy is in the very middle.

Janna puts make-up on Jeff for his club character, Kenny Winnerhart (find him on facebook).

Our kids are doing better and so I am.  Dietrich is more thankful, and acting like himself singing, and having a great time.  Thank you all for your prayers!

Day 3, Thankful ME

Deek with view of the inlet.

Janna and girls playing with berries on teeth.

It's Day 3 already!  We are expecting NOT so see Jeff much, but yesterday, on day 2, we were able to spend about 45 minutes with him at the pool and walking back to the cabin.  Of course Jeff asked if the pool counted as a shower!  We were very thankful for this time!

Jeff is working hard on details.  This is not his favorite, but there are so many here, he is pretty tired.  The campers are doing well and engaging. They laugh at Jeff and Tyler and Erin... at all the appropriate times and are saying their character lines with them already!  That is a great response.  Day 2 was a busy day with Jeff being involved in club, a mid day character appearance of the "villain" and his club rehearsals for the evening entertainment, "the Western Review". 

The Western review is a lot like He Haw.  Jeff and the speaker and program team dressed up in western attire.  Jeff and the musician, Ryan Long, played songs that everyone could sing to, and they told jokes.  Thankfully, the campers kept their impromptu jokes clean.  I kept Janna and Dietrich up for this late night event that ends in surprise ice cream sundae delivery by the summer staff.  We all had fun, but Dietrich expressed ingratitude.   

That leads to my prayer request.  Deek seems to be having a good time, but expresses his desire to go back to Everett.  Really?  It's only day 3.  He's in the most amazing place on Earth.  Swimming, playing air hockey, meeting people, talking about legos and star wars, playing with other kids, etc... is not enough.  Of course, it is difficult for me to tolerate, as I really value gratitude and thankfulness.  Pray for his little heart.  Pray for wisdom for me to know how to manage him!

Janna is doing excellent. She misses Twilight, her new little hamster, but is really enjoying playing with the other kids (there are 18 kids in all) and even forgets to have "love time" with me which leaves her kind of tearful at the end of the day!

The kids are independently moving about camp, and they don't think anything of it.  I am getting used to this independence.

We are settling in well.  I'm waiting with an heart and eyes to see what God will do in us and with the campers.  

Read, Aim...

Today is Monday! This is the first day of camp.  In 3 hours, 240 campers and leaders will arrive on the Malibu Princess, ready for the week of their lives.  Until then, an entire work crew (HS kids), summer staff (college age kids), property staff (Malibu staff who live here year round) assignment team (young life staff and key volunteers) are crazily getting ready for their arrival.  It is an incredible buzz!
Jeff is working with the other assignment team members and property staff to coordinate the details of the incredible welcome and opening festivities. He has been so busy since we arrived, he hasn't even showered.  Hopefully he will get to do that soon!  :)
The kids are busy playing with the other children of assignment team members (18 children in all).  Janna and the girls have a 'berry shop' where they pick berries, make juice or other treats and "sell" them to anyone who walks by. She is very interested in hanging out.
Deek has already cracked his plastic sword playing with other boys.
I have gotten to spend time teaching my online classes so that I can be free when the campers get here!

I think we are ready to go.

Please pray that the kids will let loose and have fun, laugh at the jokes Jeff and the program team has planned, and break down their walls to hear the incredible message!

Here we go!
Props, costumes, clothes, Toddy coffee brewing system, toys, craft supplies.... are all ready to go.  The kids are excited.
I am excited to leave because preparing is exhausting. Taking a class, teaching classes, etc., I am ready for a break! I think Jeff is also ready to get this show on the road!
It's the night before we leave for camp.  We will be attending a wedding in Bellingham tomorrow, then staying in Birch Bay for the night.  In the morning on Sunday we will head on up to Malibu!

Please pray for us as we make this transition!

Back Home

The last camp ended and we packed up our stuff to travel home. Many kids gave their life to God. There were 180 campers and leaders and about 30 kids stood up at say so to tell about their first time commitment to Jesus Christ.

We didn't feel like it was right to throw away the camper's secrets so we brought them home. Jeff and I are happy to get home, because we missed our nutty life. We are anxious to get things going again. Happy to enter into familiar life again, but sad to say goodbye to the friends we had met.

The trip home was uneventful aside from the children repeating the lines from the program, "you must be this tall to ride this ride!"

We traveled home with Mike and Sara. Getting extra time with them was a highlight, for sure.

Here are some photos we didn't get to share.

Janna, Dietrich and Jeff in the snow storm. (not really, it's basically a foam party!)

Janna and her friends would play under the securely stacked canoes . Here is Janna pretending to be a sleeping animal. Pretending?

Now at home we are ready for life. We hit the ground running. The Jeff officiated a wedding, we had a YL committee meeting and summer life all before we packed up the family for a 3 day vacation to Ocean Shores.

Our Malibu time was a little bit of EVERYTHING. We are glad it's over, but we can't wait to do it again. I'm excited to spend time with Jeff, but miss listening to him speak! We are a little confused! It is hard to act normal! These things take time.

Three Stories About Kids

Jeff and I have had little time to talk about the stories that come out of camp. Here a few stories- one from last week and the last two from this week.

Michael from Wichita, Kansas was the only boy from his group that had not opened up his heart to Jesus...but no one else knew. He said all the right things, but has never really known or opened up to Jesus. He showed up last week to the new believers' walk right after 'say-so' and at the end of the new believers' experience, he told me that he was too afraid to stand up at Say-So. I had him stand up at the last club in the morning of Day7, his peers were shocked as they learned that he faked his way through the week...and high school without them knowing he never knew God until this week!

This week, Christian came up to me after the 'sin' message with tears in his eyes and said that he was the one who wrote the post secret card that said 'I want to put a gun to my head.' He said his dad pushes him so hard he is about ready to 'break.' Day 6, he came up to our family while we were having lunch and said that he is a new man and is 'at the beginning of his rope' now and is ready to go home (he also said he was coming back to Malibu and is already planning what he can do for the open mic night...nice.)

A girl from Spokane the 2nd night of camp refused to talk during cabin time. When the cute stuffed animal was passed to her (whoever was 'sharing' got to hold the animal) she said 'get that thing AWAY from me!') At the end of cabin time, she angrily screamed "There is NO GOD! There is no hope or purpose every day. There is no heaven or hell. Life has no meaning." Later that night, she walked up to her leader and said, "thank you for bringing me to Malibu, I really need to be here and I know God wants me here." Crazy. The next night, one girl in the same cabin shared that she has a hard time feeling close to God. That same same angry girl replied during cabin time, 'God has you here for a reason, you are in the right place." Then the next night, after the 10 minute quiet time, she reverted back and snapped, 'If I knew that we were talking about God and spending quiet time thinking about my life back home, I would NOT have come here! You guys tricked me! I did not come here to think about my home life." Then, this morning, Day 6, she came to question and answer time with Jeff and she was the only camper who asked any questions...she asked over 12 questions and dominated the entire Q&A time. Turns out that her mom died a year ago and she lost all hope. She asked questions about 'why bad things happen to good people,' 'what I believe in God so much,' 'why God lets 9/11 and other awful things happen,' etc. She told her leader, "all my questions got answered." Let's see if she stands up at say-so tonight! It would be a miraculous end to a week long & lifelong roller coaster ride!