Saturday, June 10, 2006

First Week of Camp

The real point of this post is not about books for once, but to document the first week of Camp OUTT (which stands for Opening Up to Truth) -- the day camp I am running this month out of my church. We had a really great first week! Our team of staff was really united, and I think the kids are already impacted by the love we have given them. We mostly have unsaved and/or unchurched kids (there are a few exceptions). Most of them are from broken homes, some of which are pretty terrible.

Of course, we have had a handful of discipline problems, but far less than you would imagine. Please pray for a boy who I will call Leo. He is bipolar, and from the roughest background. He is only 8, and can switch to a very violent temper pretty quickly. He prayed to be saved with one of the counselors this week, but it is hard to know how real that might have been (though he did initiate the conversation!). He has been battling with his will and anger since then, and I have been encouraged by his breakthroughs. When you are dealing with kids who have never had ANY discipline in life before, you really have to train them to think totally differently! That is a long road to haul. Hopefully, next week I will post a couple of pictures.

I am a little stiff, sunburned and sore in my muscles that I haven't used in a while, but overall filled with great peace about all of our efforts this week. It is such a blessing to pour out every minute of each day as an offering to the Lord -- so satisfying to utterly use up your resources and strength serving Him!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Gretch, it was so fun to see you this weekend!!! Thanks for driving over.
Glad your camp went well--it IS a peaceful feeling to know the Lord has blessed your efforts. Hope the rest of the weeks go well!

Anonymous said...

Gretchen,Great to see you this weekend as well! I hope Sarah posts a pic...anytime you want to come to visit would be fine by me!! Maybe we can do coffee again or go to the mall...or do a bookstore scrounge! :)

Gretchen said...

Girls,
Thanks so much for faithfully posting on my blog. It WAS so great to see you, and interesting to be with friends, who are kindred spirits and likeminded in so many ways. I'm sorry I do not post often right now -- Josh is finishing a great deal of homework, and almost always needs the computer!