Well.... howdy doody!! Its been a little while. I hope all ya'all have been doing just fine!
This last week we have certainly been challenged with all kinds of situations. From a fender bender, to Strombo chewing up my phone, to unexpected bills! It can get a little overwhelming when 'things' of these nature pile up so quickly on each other, BUT... what a good reminder that God's plans are so good, even when we don't see them clearly in the moment! Going through minor trials has once again highlighted to me the priceless value of people who pray for me, pray for our family, and pray for our ministry at Gimli Bible Camp. Praying is not the least you can do for us; it is the most! It is such a boost when people come and say we are praying for you. We do our best to be used by God throughout the year to snatch kids from the clutches of the world, and we know Satan is not impressed with our work. We know that prayer has power to unleash God's good in this world!
For example.... this past weeked some campers came over with their cabin leaders for a sleepover at Rise Again Ranch. It was fun to see them roaming the yard, playing with the animals, catching frogs, enjoying the safe space! Later in the evening they were sitting around a fire devouring some schmores. They were excited to see the stars coming out, when i noticed some northern lights were out, I pointed this out to them and promtly took my tired bones to bed! Jael told me the next morning that the Northern lights got so much brighter as the night went on and it was the campers idea to praise God and pray around the fire thanking him for His creation. This turned into singing worship songs followed by a God talk by a cabin leader. I believe these are moments in a young man's life that can change their trajectory when they encounter God in real and tangible ways.
The camp fire is lighting up the tree to the left, and the camper lights are on where they slep in the bottom of the picture. You can see the dipper through the northern lights at the top! The next picture is of the campers enjoying the fire!
I want to give some summer recaps in these blogs to help catch you up from our busy summer! The first 3 weeks of summer I led our Leadership Development Program, which is aimed at any youth who wants to grow in their faith, be super challenged, and serve at Gimli Bible Camp. We had 6 boys and 1 girl sign up, which is usually the opposite. 5 out of the 7 have been campers of Gimli for a number of years and 6 out of the 7 came from broken homes.
The first week of camp we went out on a canoe trip with these 6 boys from the city. Only 1 of them had been in a tent before, and they had very little canoe experience! I was super grateful my friend Brayden could join us because its always nice to have an outdoorsy paramedic with you on these types of adventures! Needless to say, the young men were stretched and much character was built on our trip! We started in Caddy Lake, then to South Cross Lake, then to North Cross Lake, then finally made it to our little island in Sailing lake! I think in total we paddled 21 miles. The mosquitoes were not as bad as i knew they could be, and the food was better then I had hoped for. The boys were were difficult to engage in spiritual conversations, so I did not push too hard, my aim was to show them who Jesus is through what I taught and how I acted! The highlight for the trip was one night, (When they thought I was asleep) the guys had a deep heart to heart. In a very unpolished type of way they confessed their sins to one another and encouraged each other in their faith journeys! It was a beautiful thing to hear.
And thats how the camp season began......!
Prayer Requests!
For Amanda's physical and emotional energy to return after a busy summer
For meaningful family times this fall
Wisdom and insight as I step into co-directing next summer
Prayer supporters
Finicial supporters
Good news for our truck and van....!
For more people to be inspired in using their gifts and talents to serve at GBC!
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