His Name is to Be Praised!

       

   

It has been an incredibly busy week! It has flown by so quickly! Today is the last day of Jr. high camp and I am feeling that exhaustion set in! But it has been a really great week focused on building relationships, showing the campers that God loves them, and creating positive memories. 

Throughout this week we have been getting to know the campers through English lessons (which I am loving!), camp games, and Bible Studies. We did a variety of amazing activities such as bridge jumping, hiking to castle ruins, counselor hunt in Ruette, and jumping from waterfalls. The most difficult aspect of it all is bridging the language gap. For the most part it has not been too difficult as you are almost always with another camper who has great English and can help translate if needed, but I am deffinently more aware of how fast I speak and that I need to simplify my words when talking to campers. 

                      

 

Although there has been a language barrier, I have been able to get really close to my campers! They were so fun to be with and one of the best cabins I have ever had in all my years of counseling.  It was very cool to see how God worked in their lives over the week and see the change in them, particularly in my camper, Katarina. Katarina had never been to camp before and knew the least amount of English in the cabin (although she was still at a low intermediate level). I was nervous about her the first day because I had seen campers like her be negative about camp activities and really closed off. But throughout the week she opened up more and more and was so much fun to be around. I could sense there was a change in her too. On Wednesday night I gave my testimony in chapel before the speaker came up and spoke, and she really connected with it. The speaker encouraged the campers to talk to their counselors afterwards if they had any questions about God. Katerina approached me a little bit before bed and asked if I wanted to talk. We went for a walk and through broken English she opened up and asked a lot of questions and I tried to respond in the best simplified English that I could. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit was at work in bridging the language gap and she was able to get a sense of what I was saying and wanted to start a personal relationship with Christ. In a moment that almost brought me to tears, I was able to pray with her in English and she accepted Christ in German. It was one of the most moving moments of my life, to see how God's love knows no bounds, even through different languages. 

I am praising God for moving not only in Katarina's life this week, but also in the lives of all the campers here this past week. 

                     

      

Pray for my team as we rest, re-cooperate, and gear up for a batch of sr. high campers tomorrow afternoon. Please be praying especially for the sickness that has been going around in the staff this week! 

Until Next Time, 

Mikayla