Camp Equipped

With the month of May wrapping up today, we are now only 29 days away from our departure. Tickets have been purchased, passports have been ordered, and the team's membership finalized. The one new member of our team that I haven't mentioned is young Nehemiah. He will be traveling with his mommy, Linzi, this year! This is a new experience for our team, as we've never traveled with anyone younger than teenagers. Be praying for Linzi, Nehemiah, and the team as we try this experiment and see how it goes!
Our theme at the Black Sea camp this year will be the equipping of God. We are looking at the various tools that God gives us in our spiritual walk in order to carry out His will. We will demonstrate that theme with a different real world tool each day that the teams will have to use in various activities and challenges. For instance, one tool will be the flashlight and we will discuss how God's word is a light that brings us guidance and direction. We will be using shovels, backpacks, canteens, ropes and more to give the kids a fun and challenging camp experience with a scouting feel, while also demonstrating spiritual tools that God has equipped us with to serve Him.
Let me take you through a typical day at camp... The leadership wakes up early for a 7 AM meeting each day to go over the previous day and prepare for the next one. At 7:30, the children are awakened and assemble fifteen minutes later for a quick team challenge to wake them up and introduce their tool for the day. Breakfast is at 8, followed by a time of small group prayer. Then, its off to the beach for the next 3 hours. The camp is only a short distance away, so the entire group walks there and back. We return from the beach just in time for showers and lunch, then its nap time for the younger kids. In the afternoon, there will be an activity involving that day's tool, followed by a drama to present the spiritual lesson of the day. Then, the kids are broken up by age groups and taught from the Word, followed by a craft or game. Dinner starts at 7 PM, followed by the evening service... a time of worship and teaching. The kids then enjoy some free time before going to bed at 10:30. We usually stay up afterward to prepare for the next day and go online to communicate with our families back home. A long day!!
In my next post, I'll share our itinerary for the entire trip so you can see what we're up to besides the camp. God bless!

New Year, Same Vision

Summer is rapidly approaching, which means the team is eagerly planning our next visit to Bulgaria and Macedonia. We're losing a few team members this year as Vernon Garrett and Megan Kern will not be joining us. However, Linzi Drew is planning to return after taking last year off. We've also added a few new teenagers to the team. Leeah Gadd, Haley Jones, and Sara Kerrigan are all new to the team this year and excited about taking this adventure with us!

In addition to our team, we will be working together with another team of Americans from a church in New Mexico. We got to spend some time with the couple that will be leading them and we're really looking forward to sharing the ministry together this year.

We will be leaving on Monday, June 29 and returning on Thursday, July 16. We've got a busy 2 1/2 weeks planned, with a full week spent at the Black Sea as usual for a youth camp with about 60 kids from Bulgaria and Macedonia. The rest of the time will be spent visiting churches in both countries and, oh yeah, we've also got a wedding to attend between a dear Bulgarian friend, Simona Ivanova, and one of our own from Bullhead, Tommy Hein!

I'll try to post something new here each week as we prepare for our journey, and then more often while we're there. Keep us in prayer!