A New Creation - Session #9, August 10-15

Letter to Prayer Coordinators for Session #9, August 10-15, 10th-12th Grade

Dear Prayer Coordinators,

Oh my goodness! Session #9 from August 10-15 was a heavy session. When the campers got off of the bus on Monday morning, a certain heaviness came with them. We could tell they were dealing with big issues and could see it was going to be a rough week. A rough week it was, probably the most tiring week we’ve had all summer. Still, God sustained each staff, counselor, and junior counselor to be able to minister to the campers as needed. Plus, we got to see God move mightily in the hearts of so many campers. Thank you for praying for us.

One of these campers was Yanni. She actually came up late to camp on Monday as a replacement for another camper from Orangewood who decided not to come to camp. Yanni comes from an Arab background with an abusive, loveless father. She had only recently been placed in foster care through a series of events in which she left Seattle, her home town, and came to Los Angeles with a group of friends. Because of a dispute between her and her friends, Yanni found herself alone, broken, empty-handed, and afraid. She was too stubborn to call anyone in her family for help and quickly found herself selling her body in order to survive.

After two months of working the streets of Los Angeles and failing to save any money because of her pimps, Yanni was picked up by the police and arrested for prostitution. Because she was underage the charges were dropped and she was placed in foster care at Orangewood. There she heard about a camp up in the mountains and decided she would like to go if possible. She was dropped off late, but joined the Blue Team and was greeted with a hug by her counselor. She seemed to fit right in. On Tuesday though, her counselor Laura came to us and said that Yanni wanted to go home because she didn’t feel like she fit in. We encouraged her to tell her to wait a day, hoping her perspective might change after hearing some of the testimonies at night and spending some more time with her counselor. Tuesday night, I asked Yanni where she was on a scale from 1-10 and she responded with an eight. I was surprised, but glad to hear she was enjoying herself.

On Friday night Yanni sat down in front of everyone during campfire time and told us her story—how God had taken her from Seattle to Los Angeles to Orangewood and then to Camp Alandale, all to show her that she was loved and cared for. She spoke bravely and calmly as she shared and we could see how God was working in her heart to bring her to Himself. During her Friday night one-on-one, Yanni was made a new creation as she put her faith in Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. Let’s continue to pray for Yanni as she continues in her new faith. May she grow in her knowledge and understanding of the salvation that she now has.

Much Love,

Jeremy Allen

Assistant Camp Director

A Day Much, Much Sooner - Session #8, August 3-8

Letter to Prayer Coordinators for Session #8, August 3-8, 10th-12th Grade

Dear Prayer Coordinators,

"It's been a long 15 years," Jenn told me as we began our one-on-one, then for the next 30 minutes she shared her story with me. Jenn grew up in a home with a father who was highly physically abusive. Jenn told me how as a little girl she had seen her father holding her mother up against a wall, choking her to near death. Jenn, who is a petite confident spit-fire, stood up to her father and fought him in her mother's defense. Sadly, this was not the only time when Jenn was in a physical fight with her father. As a result of his abusive actions, Jenn's father was in and out of jail for most of her life. During the times when he was out of jail, Jenn's father tried to control her; he would lock her inside the house and screwdriver her windows shut to prevent her from leaving. Jenn would escape by hiding screwdrivers in her pillow and other inconspicuous areas and sneak out when her father was not home. 

She would stay away from home for months at a time telling her mother, "If he's there, I'm not coming back." Jenn found ways of living on her own, and made friends with people of whom even her abusive father was afraid. She became so accustomed to being on her own that by the time the police attempted to get involved and remove her from her living situations, Jenn ran away and hid out in another county of CA for 3 months. When she finally came home to see her mother whom she loves dearly, the police found her and placed her in the foster care system.

Jenn now lives in a foster home with five other teen girls. While she is no longer in an abusive home, her situation is far from ideal, but her fear of being placed in a worse situation prevents her from asking to be moved to another home. My heart ached for Jenn. I longed so badly for her to know Jesus, and throughout the week continually sought ways to point her to Christ. Jenn's attitude throughout the week was indifferent and on multiple occasions she told me things like, "I don't need God; I'll just do me." 

During out last one-on-one, over a game of ping-pong, I laid the whole gospel out before her, telling her that I didn't want to keep nagging her but that I knew how important it is to know Jesus and receive His salvation, and I urged her to seriously think about it. In an attempt to help her understand the gift that Christ offered her on the cross, I placed my wristwatch on the ping-pong table and told her that it was now hers. She picked it up with an uncertain look on her face and lightly held it in her hand as I explained to her how similar receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross is to receiving her new watch - if she hadn't picked it up, the watch would have laid on the table - a wasted gifted, just as to not receive Christ's salvation is to waste the greatest gift ever offered to her.  When she realized that I wasn't just making an example but truly gave my watch to her, she placed it on her wrist with a smile and I could tell that she really appreciated it, and I saw her using it throughout the rest of the day.

At the end of camp, Jenn wrote me a letter which said, "I'll take everything you taught me and use it later in life...thanks for all the talks and helping me understand Jesus, I'll look into it. I wanna know more about him." And I trust that as we pray for her, that God will turn Jenn's someday "later in life" into a day much, much sooner and that by His grace, she will come to know Him and receive His great gift. Thank you for your prayers for Jenn and for all of your faithful prayers throughout the summer, they've been an invaluable gift to us!

Blessings and Love,Jessica NathanSummer Staff 2015

He Received Jesus - Session #6, July 20-14

Letter to Prayer Coordinators for Session #6, July 20-24, 7th-9th Grade

Greetings Dear Prayer Family,

Mary and Joshua came to camp for the third time this summer. They are the two youngest of five siblings and have some of the hardest stories I have ever heard. Their life was filled with violence on every level. Mother and father were drug addicts which would sell their children for money and drugs. After years of abuse their father went to prison and the children thought they were finally free. With few options for housing they went to live with a close family friend they called Auntie. Things were not good there either. For entertainment Auntie would make the children fight. They called it fight club, and if you did not win you did not eat. Joshua is very small and was always matched up against a girl. He sobbed at the guilt of having to bloody the little girls he fought as he tried to survive in his family.

The first time Joshua came to camp he had so much pent up anger he could not handle participating in almost anything at camp. Joshua continually ran away from his counselor, only feeling safe when he closed his world off to everyone around him. When he came to camp this year he felt safe; he was able to receive the love we offered him. He laughed and played and was so happy to receive hugs from Tarrah and me. Only once did he shut down during the entire week. Because Joshua is so small the other boys were picking him up and carrying him like a baby. He hated it, but could not seem to tell them to stop. When Tarrah told him he can tell the boys to stop he said, “It doesn’t matter, I can’t keep anyone from doing whatever they want to me.” It was a terrifying statement to hear from this small boy who has been taken advantage of in so many ways. Joshua said he received Jesus and he is growing and learning to trust Jesus with his life, thank you for your continued prayers for Joshua.

Mary, Joshua's sister, received Christ at camp this summer. Mary is a sweet and lovely girl. She has beautiful deep blue eyes and shoulder length blonde hair. Her smile lights up any room she enters. You would never guess she had suffered such violence. Tarrah was able to share with her about the healing love of Christ and exhort her to love her little brother with the love that Christ is showing her. Both of these campers have grown so much in large part because of the prayers that have been offered up for them for years as they have come to camp each summer. They are healing!

Thank you for your faithful prayers and supplications for these most precious of God’s children.

Blessings to you all,

Matt Pritchett

Camp Director

God's Faithfulness & Provision - Session #7, July 27-August 1

Letter to Prayer Coordinators for Session #7, July 27-August 1, 10th-12th Grade

Dear Our Wonderful Prayer Supporters,

I am extraordinarily grateful for all your support! I have had the privilege of counseling here at Camp Alandale four times this summer! I cannot begin to tell you all the marvelous things God is doing here at camp. We honestly could not have camp without all of your support in prayer. You have tremendously blessed my campers and me.

Last week I had a beautiful young woman named Tesia. God must have been working when Jeremy and Amy were picking counselors for each child, because so many of the current issues Tesia was struggling with were the issues of my past. The lies that she believed, the life she is living, that was where I came from.  But praise the Lord we serve an inspiring and awesome God! I was uplifted when I had the chance to look back on my life and see God’s faithfulness and provision and it was a strong witness to Tesia. I may have scars from my past, but they are proof God truly heals.

Tesia was always brutally honest with me. She came in and from the beginning she told me, “I have heard about God. I know what to do, but I do not believe.” She went on to explain why would a so-called “gracious” God let all these awful things happen to her? She had numerous perplexing questions and there were times where all I could do was cry out to the Lord for wisdom and guidance because I did not have the answers. At certain points all I did was shower her with the love of Christ and listen to her story.

You never know how God is going to work! By the end of the week Tesia saw the love that was lavished on her and the walls she had built up began to crumble down. She no longer looked at Christians as fake people, but she saw that our love for her was genuine and sincere. I am ecstatic to inform you that my beloved Tesia accepted Jesus as her personal Savior this week. She has now started an intimate relationship with God and by the end of the week you could see the joy of the Lord emanating from her!

She was such an enormous blessing to me and we were able to go through Proverbs 31 and talk about what a godly woman looks like and how we can change to be more like that woman. We also talked about her becoming a junior counselor next year or in the years to come.

As you think of Tesia please continue to lift her up before the Lord! She understands that there will be many storms that come, but if Christ is truly her foundation then her life is secure in his hands. Pray that she will continue to grow in the intimate relationship with Christ and that if God wills, she would come back as a junior counselor next year! God is good! Thank you all for your love you have shown us here at Camp Alandale!

All Glory to Him,

Leah Dickinson

Summer Staff 2015

Listening After All - Session #5, July 13-17

Letter to Prayer Coordinators for Session #5, July 13-17, 7th-9th Grade

Greetings Dear Prayer Family,

This week I, Brian, had Jonathan and Robert and although I have often seen how much work God does on these hurting and hardened children in just a week at camp, it never ceases to amaze me. The first few days with Jon and Robert were especially tough. Every other word out of their mouths was profanity or filth, and they spent nearly the entire time of our first Bible study insulting each other. I didn’t find out until Tuesday that Jon comes from a home where he has two fathers, and that his behavior was mostly the same at home. 

And it wasn’t until Wednesday night that he was responsive. As he started sharing with me, for almost the first time that week, I saw the twelve year old boy in him, instead of the profane rebel.  It brought such joy to my heart to see them both go from being unresponsive to interested in the things of God. Although they both were familiar with the Bible, they didn’t have a practical understanding of what it means. In particular, Robert defined himself as being half-Christian. He understood the message of the Bible, but loved his sins so much, he wasn’t willing to commit his whole life to Christ. Please continue to pray for these two boys. This is such a tremendous age in their life; pray that the seeds sowed this week would take root.

This past week I, Michael, had the pleasure of counseling Steven. Steven's birth mother used drugs and alcohol while pregnant, and Steven was born with a series of complications requiring several open heart surgeries and leaving him with a severe hunchback, brain damage, and four fingers on one of his hands. Steven came to camp knowing Christ but insecure about his own identity and fascinated with secular heavy metal and its satanic imagery. One night early in the week he confided to me that, “I have so many problems I don’t think Jesus could ever want me.”  He continued to talk constantly about his favorite metal bands and during Bible Study he was usually unresponsive. I was worried he was so caught up in his own world that he wasn’t aware of the love of Christ that surrounded him. My doubts were ill-founded, however. 

During one of our one-on-ones he asked if we could play music together. I asked him what song he wanted to play, expecting some “screamo” song, but instead he asked for one of the camp songs we had heard in amphitheater. Later in the week when I asked him if he was ready for our pine cone ceremony, he responded, “Oh! I want a pine cone! I can’t wait to toss it in the fire and watch my sins burn away!” As if that wasn’t enough, later in the evening Steven told another counselor that, “Sometimes the devil uses fire, but God doesn’t burn people. No way. He invites people into heaven to have fun and eat dinner.” I thought he was just being silly until that counselor reminded me that our Bible Study that day included Revelation 3:20, where Jesus offers to eat with those who seek him. He had been listening after all! 

Throughout the week Steven's smile, sweet heart, and timely insight proved once again that God and the joy he brings is always in control at camp.

In Christ,

Brian & Michael

Summer Staff 2015