Letters

At the end of each week of summer camp each counselor is given a list of their campers with mailing addresses.  It's a great tradition that encourages us to keep in touch with our campers.  Even with the list it's still hard to write all the letters.  Hard for me at least.  To help motivate me I've decided to break it up a little and send to 2 campers per tribe until I finish everyone.  With 4 tribes that adds up to about 32 letters before the new year.  I've found that 8 letters is manageable in about an hour.  Then I just need to stock up on stamps.  All that said, I've sent out 10 letters so far, and have heard no responses.  I think it's good for me to learn to pray over a letter and just trust God to handle the rest.  I'm sure some letters won't reach campers, and that if they are read the camper still may not respond.  I'm praying that God will use the letters with the kids that may need to refresh their memory of what they experienced over the summer. 

This process also reminds me of the different needs of my campers.  Most of them claimed a relationship with Jesus when I spoke to them about it, but some had some unique situations.  Writing these letters reminds me to pray for their relationship with God.  Several of my campers didn't come from homes that attend church, and some didn't even know the emphasis we put on establishing and growing a relationship with God when they sent their children here.  One particular 5th grade boy found us on the internet and chose our camp because we offer 2 chapels a day.  He comes from a family that has never been to church, yet chose us mainly because we have so much teaching.  Another camper invited his unsaved step brother and asked his family to pray for his salvation.  After talking on the bus ride this 5th grader had his step brother prepped and ready to talk to me about accepting the Gospel on the second night of camp. 

Glory to God for working in the lives of these kids!  After the effort some of them put into spreading the Gospel at their schools and with their families I feel it's an important part to try to encourage them through letters. 

Whatever season it is, we're always trying to proclaim the Gospel here at Camp Barakel.  We had about 350 men up here this weekend.    Many of our campers invited their friends to camp so that they could be exposed to the Gospel and Tom Harmon carries that task very well.  It's amazing to see so many men singing and worshipping in one room.  Their excitement is contagious and you can see it spread to many of the staff that just love having such a big group of men gathered in the name of Jesus.