How was the last week of camp?

This blog was written Sat. 8/13/11, I didn't have time to post it so when I say "this week" or "today" keep the date in mind. I will be posting about this last week soon. Sorry guys!

This week was filled with trials and struggles and, blessings and learning. At the beginning of the week I was SUPER distracted by a few things that had happened over the weekend and in the first day or so of camp. It wasn’t anything that would normally be as large of an issue for me but I think Satan saw an opportunity in my weakness and jumped on it. I was having trouble focusing in quiet times, having trouble paying attention in meetings and during devotions, lost my appetite… for something normally so small I was having a really hard time. It became such a struggle that one night I talked for a very long time with Bruna about it. After asking a few more people to pray for me that night I went to bed still struggling with it. For the rest of the week the power of prayer was evident, as things progressively got better. As I am writing this I am still struggling, and there have been A LOT of prayers of mine asking for focus when I would start battling against it again but it became a manageable struggle. God also blessed me with a lot friends here to help give me wise counsel and keep me focused on Him. After I was able to start focusing on the camp and campers again I realized that there was a difference this week… the campers very quickly became very open with the all the counselors and from day one/two and a lot of us had a lot of counseling on our hands.This week I had the opportunity to work with Lidia, who happens to be Lancy’s partner in crime working with the kids in Miratejo (and I had the wonderful gift of having Mário and Lancy here this week as fellow counselors). Lidia and I turned out to be a really good team and God used her a lot to really pull the counselor out of me. I was kind of sad towards mid-week when I realized that I had finally gotten the hang of this whole counselor-in-another-language thing during my last week as a counselor.But then after thinking about it, it was amazing to see the work that God did through me and in me here at camp. Every Saturday before lunch the campers were given a chance to share with the rest of camp what God had done in their live here at camp. At times counselors or workers would share but I never really felt called to share. This morning was different, I was being called so fiercely that there was no mistaking that I needed to share. Me being who I am, decided that I was not going to share… I was nervous... I kept saying “well… if they say specifically that counselors can share then I’ll share… if someone looks at me specifically and motions for me to go I’ll go… if such and such a person goes I’ll go…” I even, being the hypocrite we all are sometimes, encouraged one of my friends who said, “I’m not brave enough to do that” (after someone else finished sharing) to go and share… which he ended up doing. One by one the things I listed as the “requirements” were fulfilled… the friend I encouraged even encouraged me to go after he sat back down. Finally I stood up and waited for my turn… When it came to my turn and Miguel said “ok Heather” I walked up slowly and with fear but I walked up. I shared about the impact my time at camp had had on me, the things that God used to teach my heart and the work He has start in my life.I shared Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (… well at least I shared the general idea of the verse since I was speaking Portuguese and verses are always hard to translate…), after sharing the verse I shared that even though I didn’t fully relay on God during every minute of my time here, it was only through Him that the things I did do were done. It was only through Him that I was able to share in Portuguese the effect my time here had, it was only through Him that I had built relationships and it was only through Him that I had had energy to continue. I shared that living by faith is never been a gift of mine, but that the time here was about living by faith. Camp has turned out to be a real blessing in my life, from friendships, to Portuguese, to my faith, God has blessed me here. I am sad it has ended but I am super excited that I was invited to stay here with the PV missionaries for another week!I know God will continue to use this extra time here not only here at camp but also in me.

Phil. 4:4-7

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

~Heather

S.D.G.

Me giving my testimony on the last day of the last week

Do you ever do anything fun?

So yesterday, Sunday, was our day off. It’s the only full day in which we have no campers and basically no work. So since the weather was AMAZING they decided to treat us to a special day out at a beach called Coxos (meaning “crippled”) in the near by city of Ribamar. It was A LOT of fun and very beautiful!!! We walked there from camp, about a 30 min walk, and than we had a long time to just hang out and have fun. I personally decided to explore the rocky area with a friend, played volleyball, played a super fun game called cat and mouse (not the same from as the one I played with Lancy), Ninja, Pi-Hey-Hono, took LOTS of photos, helped to served dinner, and then walked back home with the group and watched the sunset (again taking lots of pictures which I will post when I get back to Mário and Lancy’s). Most of the group didn’t walk the entire way back since the few cars that we have here where making runs back and forth to pick us up, but about 6 or 7 of us decided we wanted to walk. It was a really fun walk and I had the opportunity to get to know a few of the workers here better (which was actually one of the biggest reasons I wanted to walk). It was a great day, full of fellowship through laughing, singing, relationship building, games, walking and of course videos and pictures J It made me realize that I am really going to miss the little community we have built here, I am super grateful for the relationships I have been blessed with and the things I have been learning. This is going to be the last week before most people here go home and I am going to cherish every second I have left with each of them.

~Heather

S.D.G.

How was the second week as a counselor?

So this week we had WAY less kids, so I didn’t know for a long time what I was going to do. I was eventually told that plan A was to put two counselors in one room and three in the other and the two rooms would each have 8 campers. Then on Monday we changed to plan B (like normal) and we were going to have the girls who are working here at camp move into our rooms with the campers and have 4 campers and 4 workers with one to two counselors in each room. I was told I would be with another counselor, Carolina. The reasoning behind all this was that we didn’t want the campers to think that camp was dead because there were so few youth that came. It was hard for the workers to move and hard for us to find a system that worked since they had a very different scheduled for campers. But we soon figured out a good rhythm and it actually ended, I think, being really good for everyone. Like I said I had four campers; Luana, Tirza, Aline, and Camila, and it was hard to get started but eventually we ended figuring how to communicate and I think the week ended well. I actually ended up getting to know Tirza pretty well in the last few days which was nice because of the struggle I was having and at times still have communicating, it was nice to know that I could and was still building relationships. This week was also a huge blessing for me because I was able to use my Portuguese more and gave devotions and added my “two sense” on most of the other devotions I didn’t give. I was also blessed with the opportunity to talk to one of my girls because she was having a hard time with the fact that her family is moving back to Brazil. I had the chance to share with her the importance and power of the Scriptures and that even though this was going to be hard that God has a plan and will work everything for her good. I didn’t solve any problems or make her totally excited to go but I hope that what we talked about will at least be a comfort to her in this difficult transition. I this week we are going to have A LOT of campers and I am super excited to be a counselor again. In our quiet times we finished Hebrews and are now going through 1 Corinthians, and God has been teaching me that I need to give everything to Him. This is something I have struggled with my whole life, I like to take credit for the things I do, but I am not and cannot do this work. It’s not my work. This is both hard to realize and at the same time the biggest blessing. It is not up to me to change the lives of my campers or fellow workers, it is my job to be obedient and let God work through me. At the beginning of the week I was having a huge struggle with that because I could get anything through to my girls but then Bruna and I talked for a while (since she was having a similar struggle) and she reminded and encouraged me that I needed to give it up to God and let Him do it. I still struggle with it, but I’m learning… slowly…

1 Corinthian 3:5-9

5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

~Heather

S.D.G.

How was the first week as a counselor?

As I thought about what to write for this blog post, to sum up the week that I just had, I found I had writers block… I still kind of do… this week is hard to process. As you all know in the week of preparation I had a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts but in the end I was told I was going to be a counselor and I was actually really excited for what God was going to do for the week. I was kind of expecting some grand work and some life changing experiences, but that wasn’t what God expected of the week. On Monday, the day the campers arrived I was told that I was going to be in a room with another counselor Jade, and that since there were two of us that we were going to have a full room and we were going to have the youngest campers. I was also told that the other counselor would not be sleeping in the dorms, which meant I would have all nine of the campers all night. As it turned out we had nine girls from age 5 to 7 (possibly one or two 8 year olds)… that’s a lot of little girls… and they need to be watched basically 24/7. The week turned out differently then I had thought it would. The little girl who is 5 is named Eva, and Eva was at my side almost every hour of everyday here at camp. She ended taking most of my attention and time. And to be honest with you it was really hard especially as the week went on and I saw the other girls drifting closer and closer to Jade and further and further away from me. At times I kind of wondered why I was a counselor if I wasn’t counseling anyone. I mean, I talked to some of the girls about church and God a little but their attachment and devotion was to Jade, and it was obvious. To be honest when the last of the girls left I was left kind of wondering what had happened this week. I tried to process how God had used me in this week to touch the lives of my campers and came up with little to go off of. I was a little down in Spirit. But then today my supervisor called me in and asked me about the week, both the good and the bad. We talked for a bit, and I felt a little better but after I talked to her I went and talked to my friend Bruna and in talking to her I said something that made me realize why God had me where he did this week. I realized that maybe it wasn’t my job to have a huge influence on the live of my nine girls but maybe it was to watch Eva and in doing so free up Jade to be used by God in mighty ways. I’ve no doubt that Jade had a huge influence on the lives of the other 8 girls, it was obvious. I may not have been the one to lead one of the girls to Christ or to have talked to the one who decided to dedicate her whole life to Christ, but God did use me to allow that to happen. He used the one who could more clear understand and talk to the girls to do the talking and he used all my experience and patience with very young, very dependent kids to take care of the little girl who needed so much attention thus freeing up Jade for the others. It was hard, I’m not going to lie. After all the time that I have spent in VBS, children’s church, AWANA, and other times being a “counselor” or leader and making connections with my group it was hard to see these little girls that I so desperately wanted to influence running to Jade instead of me, but I finally realized that God had a different plan for me for this week. I was to be the helper, not the leader, for whatever reason He wanted Jade to do it and wanted me to step back. Maybe it was to remind me that it’s His work, not mine. Maybe it was to remind me that all areas of ministry are equally important. Maybe it was to remind you of something. Only God knows all of the effects this week will have on everyone who was here or hears the stories. But the best part is that God does know. In the end it wasn’t some grand work on my part or some life changing experiences but it was grand work on God’s part and a heart changing experience for me. My hope is that He will use what I learned to help you grow too. Love you all.

~Heather

Romans 12:3-8

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b] faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

S.D.G.

Why I won't be posting :(

Hey all! I'm not allowed to have my computer out at all for the entire time the campers are here... which means I will be out contact for a bit... Please pray for the camper who are arriving in just a little bit and for the week, for counselors, cleaners, cookers, and staff! Pray that the love of God would abound this week!! Love you all! TTYS!!!!!!

~Heather

S.D.G

So, how'd the first week go?

The first week at camp has been pretty great. I didn’t know exactly what we were doing this week until about mid week when I realized that this “preparation week” was more then just preparation for the camp but also preparation for the workers. We spent the entire week basically have our own camp. We had a Bible study every morning and evening (at night they were about Biblical Anthropology: What am I here for? And the morning they were about the nature of sin). We had quiet time after breakfast. The camp is going through Hebrews in the quiet times so last week was on Hebrews Chapter 11, the faith chapter. We free time and work cleaning the camp and lastly we had meetings in our work groups (i.e. counselors and cleaning/kitchen crew). Now as I said earlier I was told that I was going to be a counselor and was freaking out a little but I have to revert to the title of this blog and the verse it is based on Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I had no idea what I was getting into when I came to camp last Monday and as soon as I got here the little amount I thought I knew quickly vanished. But God knew. He knew that I need this week. This week were I was struggling with having faith that this would work out and the chapter that happened to be for this week was the chapter on having faith and “the great cloud of witnesses” I have to look back on. And then we had an entire week of meetings going through the roll counselors were to have in the following weeks. We were given a manual but it’s not just a book with rules and regulations, and a schedule it’s full of verse after verse after verse. We spent the majority of our meetings preparing for camp by preparing our hearts. Lastly everyone in camp was told they were not allowed to speak English to me (minus the too other American girls who are here for a few weeks and don’t speak Portuguese). So subsequently my Portuguese has improved! This week was obviously God’s plan to prepare me for the next four weeks of working at camp. I don’t have it all figured out and I a bound to fail a lot, but my heart is ready! Thanks to God! Finally last night the girl counselors were surprised with three campers a day early… at first it was hard, not knowing what to do or say since we weren’t set up to entertain kids let. But eventually we figured it out and had fun playing games and talking. It was another reassurance that what happened in this week of preparation has been the work of God in my heart, attitude, faith, confidence and of course Portuguese. I am still a little nervous for the week ahead and the campers coming today but and have faith that God’s got it under control and He is going to do marvelous things this week despite and through my shortcomings. Love you all!

~Heather

S.D.G.

So, are you home sick?

Anyone who has ever left their home for an extended period of time has undoubtedly been asked this question a million times. And the answer for most is “yes and no” and to be honest with you I have the same answer. There are times where all I want is to go home to my comfort zone and sleep or talk to my family and friends and there are times when all I want to do is be here and enjoy every second I have. Most of the times I want to crawl back into my comfort zone is when I an feeling out of place or when I am having a difficult time communicating. I was having one of those moments at church this last Sunday (07/17/11), it wasn’t because of anything anyone did or didn’t do, I think Satan was just attacking me where he knew it would count. But just when it was really starting to get to me one of the little girls from church came over, passed people she knew and motioned that she wanted to sit on my lap. I picked her up and sat her on my lap and she sat there during worship while I sang a few songs. She will never know what a blessing she was to me at that moment. She only sat there for a few minutes and then jumped down and went to talk to her mom about something, but those few minutes where just what I needed. She made me forge that I was new and was having issues communicating and missing my comfort zone and made me remember that God had and has a plan for me her. It was just what I need to fight the spiritual attack of wanting to go home. Not that I don’t want to go home, I do eventually, but right now God has me here and I need to continue to try my hardest to serve Him to my fullest ability despite the difficulties.