Primary Camp Wrap Up aaaaand....Junior Camp!

Primary camp was a wonderful time for campers and counselors alike! Despite being severely short-staffed, most of camp went smoothly. Our counselors rose to the challenge of being hugely outnumbered, and the extra staff worked extra hard to serve food, support counselors, run games, and anything else that was needed. When asking the campers what their favorite part of camp was, the answers varied between swimming, chapel, the slip n slide, snack shack, game time, and craft time. Really I think they were just having fun 100% of the time. This group is both our smallest (60ish kids) and youngest (1st-3rd grade).


Slip n Slide fun on a beautiful day

This afternoon (After a much-needed 28 hour break/training sessions), our junior camp kids came in- all 150+ of them. Once again, we are understaffed. Each counselor is on their own with up to 9 fourth through sixth graders. Please pray for extra servings of grace, strength, and patience for each of our counselors. Many of our staff have been here for the last camp or two, and we're getting tired and seem to have less patience than we did last week. Please pray for RENEWED energy. We are all looking forward to this camp despite the challenges. This is a fun age, where the kids are still young enough to sing silly camp songs and go down the slip n slide twenty times, but old enough to have serious conversations and dig into the Word. As always, we are praying for opportunities to share Jesus' love with our campers. So far things are going well. All of the cabins are sleeping, despite some very loud. booming fireworks going off on the beach (a week late, people), and we are ready for a big huge day of FUN tomorrow!

Middle School Wrap Up/Primary Camp Intro

Hey!

Middle School Camp has been done since Sunday, and all those of us on staff have had the opportunity to go home and rest in between camps. We had a great time celebrating the 4th with our families and sleeping in a bit. Somehow in the rest period I didn't have time to wrap up from our last camp, so here we are...

Thank you for praying for us so faithfully during Middle School Camp! Camp was awesome; the campers really connected with the messages, devotions, and initiatives. At least a few campers accepted Christ as their Savior, and many grew in their relationship with the Lord. Our team of counselors and program staff maintained energy for the whole week and formed great friendships with our campers. Most of the staff went home, and those of us left will miss them and their hearts for Jesus and people.

This afternoon we welcome about 60 campers (1st-3rd) grade. This age is super fun to work with! They are filled with energy and laughter and are hungry to have fun and hang out with their counselors and experience all the fun that camp has to offer! As with middle school, we ask for your prayer for all of our staff members: counselors, kitchen staff, leadership team, nurse, speaker, worship leader, activity leader, craft leader, and extra staff. Energy, safety, and opportunities for spiritual conversations. Pray that our campers will come with open hearts and won't struggle too much with homesickness. This is a rough age to be away from your parents overnight.

I managed to get some of our crew together for some picture so you can see who you are praying for :)

Our counselors:

Joel (He does a little of everything), Kyle (Camp director) and Nathaniel (speaker):

MaKenzie (counselor), Maddie and Katie (extra staff):

Our pictures our lacking quite a few people, but here are at least a few faces to prayer for.
Thanks everyone!

Middle School Camp

Hey team!

In about one hour, this place will be flooded with about 150 middle school campers! We have spent the day in meetings, moving into and decorating our cabins, and running any last-minute errands. All of the counselors received their cabin assignments before lunch and are excited to see our old campers and meet their new ones.

      We have an extremely busy week ahead of us; almost every minute is planned full of devotions, games, meals, and chapel services.  Last night (our only camper-free night) was interrupted at 3 am by the fire alarm going off. Thankfully, there was no fire, but we weren't too happy to be woken up. That said, we may be a little extra tired going into the week, but we'll probably have the campers equally worn out by the end of the night. Finger crossed the alarm doesn't go off again tonight!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Counselors: These are the people who will spend every waking moment with their campers. Meals, cabin devotions, free time, chapel times, and games. Not only are they in charge of taking care of and hanging out with their campers (each counselor has 6-9 campers), but they also will have many opportunities to share with their campers about Jesus. Please pray for these opportunities to be abundant and fruitful. Please also pray that our counselors will stay healthy, be blessed with extra energy, and will lead their cabins with wisdom. Our head counselors are here to support all of the counselors, bless them. They run all over camp providing prayer, snacks, breaks, and discipline if needed. Pray for wisdom and energy for them as well!

Speakers/worship team: We have several speakers. Joe is our head speaker who will be speaking during our evening chapel, and we have a handful of others who will be leading initiatives in the morning. Please pray that God will speak powerfully through them and the campers will be receptive to their messages. Please pray for the worship team to stay healthy and maintain their energy. Worship is many of the campers' favorite parts of camp and we are grateful for such a great team.

Game leaders/Video staff: These guys are always working to create fun here at camp! The game leaders will be leading games and fun activities for about 6 hours every day, which doesn't include all the work they put in to set up the games! Our video crew works tirelessly filming and editing fun videos, many of which star our more extroverted campers. At the end of the night we all gather and watch these videos, which all the campers love. It's a great way to end the day! Please pray for energy for our game and film teams. Pray that they will be well organized and games and filming will run smoothly.

Nurses: We have two great nurses this week who are responsible for any medications the campers need, as well as first aid and sunscreen (the most important part of camp). I was able to speak with one of the nurses directly, and she requested prayer for a soft heart, and to see what God sees.

Kitchen Staff/Extra Staff: We love these people. They are in the kitchen for hours each day, cooking, serving, and cleaning. They take excellent care of us. They also do an excellent job at providing a steady supply of coffee, which is appreciated by all the rest of our staff. They also help games, free time, and snack shack run smoothly.

Directors: Our directors our here to lead, offer support, and make sometimes difficult decisions. Please pray that they will be filled with wisdom. We are extremely grateful for all they do in the planning and leading of our camps. Our head director, Mathias, asks for confidence and encouragement for our staff; many of them are new and experienced.

Campers: Last, but certainly not least, please pray for our campers. Pray of safety, close friendships, and open hearts eager to hear about Jesus. We are so excited to see how God moves in their hearts!

Thank you so much! I will try to update you all a couple times this week when I get a spare moment!

Welcome!

Hi friends!

     Thanks for checking in and taking time to read this! Tomorrow Dunes Bible Camp kicks off for the next 4 weeks, and we're so excited to minister to our campers and help lead them into deeper relationships with Jesus. We love camp and always have almost more fun than we can handle, but it is also exhausting, discouraging, and difficult. That's why we ask you to come alongside us in prayer. Having a support team lifting us up to our Father outside of camp is so important and encourages us immensely. To all of you, a huge thank you from all of us!

     We also love receiving care packages and letters of encouragement (fan mail), so if you are interested in sending anyone a little something, here is the address:

23515 Pacific Way

Ocean Park, WA   98640

     Tomorrow we have over one hundred middle school students coming in for our first week of camp! We are excited and are working hard to get ready for a great week. Whether sitting in logistical meetings, working on team building exercises, or decorating our cabins (Christmas lights in June, anyone?), we're busy preparing to welcome these kids with enthusiasm and open arms! The excitement is palpable! Please check in throughout the week to hear what were up to and how you can pray for our team and our students. 

     Thanks, friends!