Dear Prayer Warriors and Camp Family,
“Oh give
thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works” (Psalm
105:1-2)! We give thanks for you, for you are part of his wondrous works. Thank
you for your faithful prayers all summer. We wouldn’t be able to do camp
without you.
Session
#9, over August 8-13, presented its own challenges. We had to work really hard
to get enough campers. We had plenty of counselors and JCs, but so many kids
are already back in school. Still, God divinely selected 13 special campers to
be at Camp Alandale’s final camp of summer 2016. It was a good, difficult week.
The week started off with a bus mishap, which meant a delay in the campers
arriving at camp, but soon enough all 13 campers filed off the bus and into the
loving arms of their counselors.
George came to camp against his own will. He mentioned many, many times that he didn’t
want to come to camp, but his social worker had to convince him. At times, George made it difficult to run camp because he didn’t want to participate. Still, we
knew God had brought George to camp for a reason. During the first or second day, George began to struggle with the idea of hell being real and at one point he
blew up on his counselor because he was so fixated on this. This provided an
opportunity to remind him, once again, of God’s unfailing love and unending
hope offered through his Son, Jesus. He didn’t tell us for a day or two, but
after George heard there was a different option than hell, he put his faith in
Jesus and became a Christian. The battle wasn’t over yet as George would fall back into his old ways. We’d remind him that God had made him new like 2
Corinthians 5:17 says and prayed for him to resist the Enemy’s lies. Pray for George as he fears resistance back home for being a Christian.
Another
girl, Melanie, returned to camp after a two year break. Melanie has struggled
heavily with depression, suicide attempts, demonism, and darkness. She shared
with us on Tuesday night when it was her turn to share her testimony that she
had plans to kill herself this week if she was at home instead of at camp. Her
counselor got to work with her all week and together they came up with
31 things Melanie does well. Her counselor reminded her often of God’s plans for Melanie and the hope we have in Jesus. Still, Addison questioned God’s existence and
wondered where he was all the times she was being hurt. Through much prayer,
God broke down her walls. She wrote a prayer on the last day which says, “God I
give my life to you. I want you to show me where to go. Teach me what
tenderhearted means. Give me strength when I cry to you. I want to help give
mercy to others. God you are higher than any other and the most wonderful
Father a person can ask for.” May we pray this prayer with Melanie today!
In Christ,
Jeremy Allen
Assistant Camp Director
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