I don't think I really need to say anything else. They're great.
Seriously.
Alright fine, I'll elaborate :P
While there are occasional disciplinary issues, we laugh them off and always manage to get through the lessons and such. They always get involved in the discussions (which is good, because otherwise it would be less a discussion and more a lecture) and participate in the activities.
The best part is that they're all at that point in their lives where any questions they have about God are really deep. I'm hoping they start asking them soon though, because they haven't done alot of that so far. They all grew up in the church, and for the most part are strong in their faith, which is a really refreshing thing to see in the younger generation.
I made it my goal to get them to pray as often as possible this past week, and to my pleasant surprise they all were totally up for this! I even had one camper receive a vision from the Lord during Jesus Time, a vision that was encouraging to him AND to me.
They're also super helpful- one of them, a master pianist (no joke, this kid's infinitely better than any of the staff!) likes to help out with Jesus Time on a regular basis. Another is always asking to help with the clean up at the end of the day, doing dishes, helping take out trash, etc. I even have one camper who took the "Going to the wading pool with the little kids" punishment and starting begging to be put in there so he can help with them! Strange, innit?
So that's my praise report for this week. :)
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Session 2, Day 7
Hey everyone! A quickie:
Highlights:
- In this morning's Jesus Time, Karim talked about having faith in God. We did some blind trust exercises to demonstrate what it means to trust someone even if you can't see them/what they're doing. The kids loved it, understood it and will, I think, remember it.
- Mike stopped by again today and shared a bit of his amazing story with the kids. I love this story, and will re-tell it in brief:
Mike had learned to play the trumpet in his grade 10 music class, and God blessed him to learn very quickly. But after graduating high school, he had no more trumpet. He contacted a man at the Concordia music school to ask if he could borrow a trumpet, but the man said that he could not lend out to strangers. He and his mom prayed together that God would somehow get Mike a trumpet. Later that week, the man called and had Mike come down to the school. He had a box ready with two trumpets in it, for Mike. Mike thanked him and asked when he would need to return them. The man replied that he didn't need to return them, ever, and said to Mike, "God answers prayers." Years later, Mike found out that the night before the man gave him the trumpets, he had been planning to give them to someone else, but heard a voice in his dreams tell him, "Give Michael the trumpets!" I love that story.
Prayer requests:
- Healing and restoration for Micah, one of our young leaders who is sick.
- Please pray that God would set our hearts on fire with a feeling of urgency for each of these kids; that we would be motivated by increased understanding of God's love for them and desire to be reconciled with them.
Highlights:
- In this morning's Jesus Time, Karim talked about having faith in God. We did some blind trust exercises to demonstrate what it means to trust someone even if you can't see them/what they're doing. The kids loved it, understood it and will, I think, remember it.
- Mike stopped by again today and shared a bit of his amazing story with the kids. I love this story, and will re-tell it in brief:
Mike had learned to play the trumpet in his grade 10 music class, and God blessed him to learn very quickly. But after graduating high school, he had no more trumpet. He contacted a man at the Concordia music school to ask if he could borrow a trumpet, but the man said that he could not lend out to strangers. He and his mom prayed together that God would somehow get Mike a trumpet. Later that week, the man called and had Mike come down to the school. He had a box ready with two trumpets in it, for Mike. Mike thanked him and asked when he would need to return them. The man replied that he didn't need to return them, ever, and said to Mike, "God answers prayers." Years later, Mike found out that the night before the man gave him the trumpets, he had been planning to give them to someone else, but heard a voice in his dreams tell him, "Give Michael the trumpets!" I love that story.
Prayer requests:
- Healing and restoration for Micah, one of our young leaders who is sick.
- Please pray that God would set our hearts on fire with a feeling of urgency for each of these kids; that we would be motivated by increased understanding of God's love for them and desire to be reconciled with them.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Session Two, Day Two
Hey everyone.
Sorry. It's been awhile since I've posted anything up here, but I noticed Jo has been doing alot in my absense. Let me just start by saying that the first session ended really well. Now that THAT'S out of the way, my thoughts on the second day of camp.
Today went really well. I have been switched to the oldest group, giving me kids aged 9 to 12. They're a great group, and I'm so much more comfortable with them than I was with the little kids. I specifically requested this group for the second session because I'm starting a project targetted toward kids this age in the fall, and wanted to get a feel for the kind of lessons I can teach them.
They have a slight listening issue, but to be fair I did give them permission to draw during today's class, which might not have been the best choice on my behalf. I'll be trying to keep their attention better tomorrow, and I get the feeling it will be better. Apart from that minor issue today, they are wonderful. I had a few of the younger boys in the group asking me theological questions about loving our enemies and about sin. It was a real joy to see the curiosity stirred up inside them, and I told them all to go home, write down any questions they can think of, and I plan on doing my best to answer as many of them as I can tomorrow.
As for things in my personal life, please continue to pray for me. Things were looking pretty grim for me and while I've managed to hold on to hope, these are still hard times for me. I made a decision that I felt I had to make, and expressed a feeling I had to express, and, to say the least, now I'm realizing the consequences, and alot of things that I care about are being lost to me right now. I'm taking this less as a horrible traumatic event and more as an opportunity to grow and such. Still, prayer please. :)
Prayer Requests:
- That God would give me the tools to answer questions
- That the girls in my group would be more comfortable getting involved in the discussions and activities
- That I would adapt to these life changes in the best way
So that's about all I have to share.
Sorry. It's been awhile since I've posted anything up here, but I noticed Jo has been doing alot in my absense. Let me just start by saying that the first session ended really well. Now that THAT'S out of the way, my thoughts on the second day of camp.
Today went really well. I have been switched to the oldest group, giving me kids aged 9 to 12. They're a great group, and I'm so much more comfortable with them than I was with the little kids. I specifically requested this group for the second session because I'm starting a project targetted toward kids this age in the fall, and wanted to get a feel for the kind of lessons I can teach them.
They have a slight listening issue, but to be fair I did give them permission to draw during today's class, which might not have been the best choice on my behalf. I'll be trying to keep their attention better tomorrow, and I get the feeling it will be better. Apart from that minor issue today, they are wonderful. I had a few of the younger boys in the group asking me theological questions about loving our enemies and about sin. It was a real joy to see the curiosity stirred up inside them, and I told them all to go home, write down any questions they can think of, and I plan on doing my best to answer as many of them as I can tomorrow.
As for things in my personal life, please continue to pray for me. Things were looking pretty grim for me and while I've managed to hold on to hope, these are still hard times for me. I made a decision that I felt I had to make, and expressed a feeling I had to express, and, to say the least, now I'm realizing the consequences, and alot of things that I care about are being lost to me right now. I'm taking this less as a horrible traumatic event and more as an opportunity to grow and such. Still, prayer please. :)
Prayer Requests:
- That God would give me the tools to answer questions
- That the girls in my group would be more comfortable getting involved in the discussions and activities
- That I would adapt to these life changes in the best way
So that's about all I have to share.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Session 2, Day 1
Yay!
We had 27 campers today, and are expecting I think at least 2 more campers sometime this week, bringing us to about the same number of campers as last session. In past years, the construction holidays have meant that we have considerably fewer campers in the 2nd session, but we continue to have many campers inviting their friends, Christian and otherwise, to camp, which is very cool.
Marco and Cara, the Session 1 junior staff, are no longer with us, but David and Micah have returned as junior staff this session and Maria has begun her first session of Inspiritus as staff. Kelly, who has been at our St. Peter's, TMR location for the past two weeks has returned to 'DG after that camp ended (and went really well, even though nobody blogged about it). We also have Kim and, I think, Thierno (whose name I am spelling correctly this time) returning as volunteers, and had a surprise visit from Mike, who will probably be returning next Tuesday as a guest artist! For those who do not know him, Mike is a professional trumpet player (with MSO, last time I knew) and is a veteran Inspiritus staff-person. He has a very cool story about how God gave him his very great talent and a trumpet when he was a kid, and I am really looking forward to him sharing it and his music with the kids!
I realize that I have been a bit general with prayer requests so far, so, in addition to praying for us all in general, here are some specific things to pray about:
- One young camper is very afraid to play games of any sort with the rest of the group. Please pray that she would feel comfortable with the group and want to have fun with us.
- Please pray that God would bless communication between staff and campers and between campers and campers. Some of the staff are not very comfortable in French, one volunteer is not very comfortable in English, and a sizeable minority of the kids are unilingual one way or the other.
- Jesus Time! There have been a few very dramatic things and, I believe, many more subtle things, happen in the hearts of individual campers during Jesus Time; please pray for more of both. Please pray that God would give each of the kids an increased desire to worship him! Please pray that we staff would have wisdom in our leading of the Jesus Times and know how to invite the kids to respond to God in ways that will reach them where they are at.
- This week's small group lessons are about Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and the stories of Rahab and Ruth. Please pray that God would use these stories to impress on the kids the idea of his acceptance of people of all nations and backgrounds.
Also, I'd like to ask personally for prayer as I have been feeling a bit sick (small head and stomach aches) and very exhausted for quite some time. Renewed strength would be great, whether or not in the form of a day off. ;)
Thank you guys so much!
We had 27 campers today, and are expecting I think at least 2 more campers sometime this week, bringing us to about the same number of campers as last session. In past years, the construction holidays have meant that we have considerably fewer campers in the 2nd session, but we continue to have many campers inviting their friends, Christian and otherwise, to camp, which is very cool.
Marco and Cara, the Session 1 junior staff, are no longer with us, but David and Micah have returned as junior staff this session and Maria has begun her first session of Inspiritus as staff. Kelly, who has been at our St. Peter's, TMR location for the past two weeks has returned to 'DG after that camp ended (and went really well, even though nobody blogged about it). We also have Kim and, I think, Thierno (whose name I am spelling correctly this time) returning as volunteers, and had a surprise visit from Mike, who will probably be returning next Tuesday as a guest artist! For those who do not know him, Mike is a professional trumpet player (with MSO, last time I knew) and is a veteran Inspiritus staff-person. He has a very cool story about how God gave him his very great talent and a trumpet when he was a kid, and I am really looking forward to him sharing it and his music with the kids!
I realize that I have been a bit general with prayer requests so far, so, in addition to praying for us all in general, here are some specific things to pray about:
- One young camper is very afraid to play games of any sort with the rest of the group. Please pray that she would feel comfortable with the group and want to have fun with us.
- Please pray that God would bless communication between staff and campers and between campers and campers. Some of the staff are not very comfortable in French, one volunteer is not very comfortable in English, and a sizeable minority of the kids are unilingual one way or the other.
- Jesus Time! There have been a few very dramatic things and, I believe, many more subtle things, happen in the hearts of individual campers during Jesus Time; please pray for more of both. Please pray that God would give each of the kids an increased desire to worship him! Please pray that we staff would have wisdom in our leading of the Jesus Times and know how to invite the kids to respond to God in ways that will reach them where they are at.
- This week's small group lessons are about Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and the stories of Rahab and Ruth. Please pray that God would use these stories to impress on the kids the idea of his acceptance of people of all nations and backgrounds.
Also, I'd like to ask personally for prayer as I have been feeling a bit sick (small head and stomach aches) and very exhausted for quite some time. Renewed strength would be great, whether or not in the form of a day off. ;)
Thank you guys so much!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
1st Session Overnight Trip + Regular Prayer Requests
Dunno if everyone saw Karim's comment, but just in case:
Praise God for bringing us 32 campers Monday morning!
I got back this evening from the 1st session overnight camping trip at Cap St. Jacques. We had a total of 29 people; 20 campers and 8 staff from both camps, plus one fantastic parent volunteer.
I dramatically underestimated how much food we would need and I couldn't reach anyone in Montreal, but our amazing God provided for us! Many, many thanks to Brian and Luce for finding a super market and getting us everything we were missing late Monday night, and to Lori and Ruben for making such a delicious supper with so little.
I have learned my lesson, and, next time, will dramatically overestimate instead.
The location was great, and the weather was great. (Thanks, God!) We canoed, swam (briefly; it was cold), did a bit of archery, played in the woods, shot some hoops... A couple of tents stayed up late singing; including a lovely rendition of "Father, I Adore You" in rounds at midnight.
Thanks also to everyone who drove us there and/or back!
Please pray for:
- Ali, our administrator and leader of the oldest small group, who has just recovered from strep throat.
- all our staff: that God would refresh us physically, emotionally and spiritually and enable us to share his love in our every interaction with the campers.
- the campers: that God would reveal himself to each of them in a new way, that they would be filled with love for God and for each other, that they would have a blast every day.
- this week's small groups lessons, which are about the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection: that there would be more than enough time in the day to spend in small groups, that God would enable the small group leaders to teach about Jesus' sacrifice and victory, that the campers would understand and be excited about God's love and power.
- even MORE campers!
Thank you guys so much for your prayers!
Edit:
Ooh, also, we have a new volunteer, Tierno, a friend of one of the young leaders. He is fantastic with the kids and will be helping out this week; thank God!
Praise God for bringing us 32 campers Monday morning!
I got back this evening from the 1st session overnight camping trip at Cap St. Jacques. We had a total of 29 people; 20 campers and 8 staff from both camps, plus one fantastic parent volunteer.
I dramatically underestimated how much food we would need and I couldn't reach anyone in Montreal, but our amazing God provided for us! Many, many thanks to Brian and Luce for finding a super market and getting us everything we were missing late Monday night, and to Lori and Ruben for making such a delicious supper with so little.
I have learned my lesson, and, next time, will dramatically overestimate instead.
The location was great, and the weather was great. (Thanks, God!) We canoed, swam (briefly; it was cold), did a bit of archery, played in the woods, shot some hoops... A couple of tents stayed up late singing; including a lovely rendition of "Father, I Adore You" in rounds at midnight.
Thanks also to everyone who drove us there and/or back!
Please pray for:
- Ali, our administrator and leader of the oldest small group, who has just recovered from strep throat.
- all our staff: that God would refresh us physically, emotionally and spiritually and enable us to share his love in our every interaction with the campers.
- the campers: that God would reveal himself to each of them in a new way, that they would be filled with love for God and for each other, that they would have a blast every day.
- this week's small groups lessons, which are about the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection: that there would be more than enough time in the day to spend in small groups, that God would enable the small group leaders to teach about Jesus' sacrifice and victory, that the campers would understand and be excited about God's love and power.
- even MORE campers!
Thank you guys so much for your prayers!
Edit:
Ooh, also, we have a new volunteer, Tierno, a friend of one of the young leaders. He is fantastic with the kids and will be helping out this week; thank God!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Monday, Week 2, Session 1
Hey guys!
Today was a great day at KCK+1stP, our NDG location, and was also the first day of camp at St. Peter's, TMR! I forgot to get that team onto the blog, but I will try and do that tonight.
We had 21 campers today at KCK+1stP, and we are expecting three more by the end of the week; praise God, who is answering our prayers for more campers! One of our new campers is (I think) from a Muslim background, so it's cool that he's here.
This reminds me; for those who didn't know, our theme this summer is "People of Every Nation and Tongue". Indeed, we do have campers (and staff) from all over; Canada, Peru, Mexico, Korea, Poland, Haiti, Barbados... We've got kids speaking Creole, Korean and Spanish to each other in addition to almost every camper being very French-English bilingual. Every week, our artist-in-residence is giving the kids a look at the culture and music of a specific geographical area. Last week was the Caribbean, this week is South America.
Today's small group lesson was about God's faithfulness to Abraham and Sarah, and how we can trust God (even when we can't see how he will do something). With that in mind, please pray for...
... continued good weather.
... even more campers!
... the staff at both locations: that we would have all the energy, focus, alertness, creativity and loving patience we need, that God would help us prepare and take care of ourselves as much as we need to, that there would be clear communication between us and between us and the campers.
... the campers: that all would come to know Jesus as their friend and their king this summer, that all would have an increased desire to worship and learn about God, that they would all be safe in every way.
... Jesus Time, the morning and afternoon worship time: that the campers would have focus and excitement about spending time with God, that they would understand what we are doing, that the staff would quickly learn how best to encourage them in these things.
Thanks guys!
EDIT: Also, we got a surprise visit from Emerson, who I just noticed is now a follower of the blog! It was really nice to see you! :)
Today was a great day at KCK+1stP, our NDG location, and was also the first day of camp at St. Peter's, TMR! I forgot to get that team onto the blog, but I will try and do that tonight.
We had 21 campers today at KCK+1stP, and we are expecting three more by the end of the week; praise God, who is answering our prayers for more campers! One of our new campers is (I think) from a Muslim background, so it's cool that he's here.
This reminds me; for those who didn't know, our theme this summer is "People of Every Nation and Tongue". Indeed, we do have campers (and staff) from all over; Canada, Peru, Mexico, Korea, Poland, Haiti, Barbados... We've got kids speaking Creole, Korean and Spanish to each other in addition to almost every camper being very French-English bilingual. Every week, our artist-in-residence is giving the kids a look at the culture and music of a specific geographical area. Last week was the Caribbean, this week is South America.
Today's small group lesson was about God's faithfulness to Abraham and Sarah, and how we can trust God (even when we can't see how he will do something). With that in mind, please pray for...
... continued good weather.
... even more campers!
... the staff at both locations: that we would have all the energy, focus, alertness, creativity and loving patience we need, that God would help us prepare and take care of ourselves as much as we need to, that there would be clear communication between us and between us and the campers.
... the campers: that all would come to know Jesus as their friend and their king this summer, that all would have an increased desire to worship and learn about God, that they would all be safe in every way.
... Jesus Time, the morning and afternoon worship time: that the campers would have focus and excitement about spending time with God, that they would understand what we are doing, that the staff would quickly learn how best to encourage them in these things.
Thanks guys!
EDIT: Also, we got a surprise visit from Emerson, who I just noticed is now a follower of the blog! It was really nice to see you! :)
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Day 2
Hey everyone,
So, today was day two of Inspiritus! Hooray!
First, I just want to put out a self-congratulatory statement about the devotionals- the lesson plans -that we used for our small groups this morning. Kudos to myself, Josiah and Christy for doing such a great job. Today's lesson went over especially well with my campers, because we were able to use the many-colored stagelights to add visual effect to the story of the world's Creation.
That's about all I've got in the way of feedback, insight or other comments.
Prayer Requests!!
- More Campers!
- More Fundraising!
- Rest.
- And, for me personally, that God's protection would be with me as I struggle with the things in my life.
Cheers!
So, today was day two of Inspiritus! Hooray!
First, I just want to put out a self-congratulatory statement about the devotionals- the lesson plans -that we used for our small groups this morning. Kudos to myself, Josiah and Christy for doing such a great job. Today's lesson went over especially well with my campers, because we were able to use the many-colored stagelights to add visual effect to the story of the world's Creation.
That's about all I've got in the way of feedback, insight or other comments.
Prayer Requests!!
- More Campers!
- More Fundraising!
- Rest.
- And, for me personally, that God's protection would be with me as I struggle with the things in my life.
Cheers!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Day 1
Today was our first day of camp, and I think I speak for us all when I say that it went very well.
We had fourteen campers, slightly fewer than we had expected but still a good number for the first day, three of whom have never been to Inspiritus before, which is pretty cool. The campers are mostly older (one 6 year-old, one 7, and every one else older than that). Please pray for even more campers! :)
Because of the rain, we will probably be indoors all week. This means that instead of taking them to the pool and park in the afternoon, we will be doing more games programming. This is fun, but also more work; please pray that we would be able to think creatively and lead enthusiastically regardless. Today we played Inspector Clueless (my second-favourite wide-game) and a few circle games (Fruit Salad, Wink Murderer, etc.). The campers were all really into it throughout, had lots of fun and expended lots of energy, all of which was great! Praise God!
Also, both Jesus Times (*Jesus Time occurs at the very beginning and end of camp every day, and consists of the whole camp getting together to pray and worship God) went very well. The kids were really attentive and seemed really eager to praise God! Yay!
Tomorrow, we will be teaching about God's creation of everything, which should be lots of fun. :)
Also, please remember to pray for our second location at St. Peter's, TMR. They will be starting up next Monday and running for two weeks. I will try to get somebody from that team on the blog ASAP.
Thanks so much for your prayers, guys!
We had fourteen campers, slightly fewer than we had expected but still a good number for the first day, three of whom have never been to Inspiritus before, which is pretty cool. The campers are mostly older (one 6 year-old, one 7, and every one else older than that). Please pray for even more campers! :)
Because of the rain, we will probably be indoors all week. This means that instead of taking them to the pool and park in the afternoon, we will be doing more games programming. This is fun, but also more work; please pray that we would be able to think creatively and lead enthusiastically regardless. Today we played Inspector Clueless (my second-favourite wide-game) and a few circle games (Fruit Salad, Wink Murderer, etc.). The campers were all really into it throughout, had lots of fun and expended lots of energy, all of which was great! Praise God!
Also, both Jesus Times (*Jesus Time occurs at the very beginning and end of camp every day, and consists of the whole camp getting together to pray and worship God) went very well. The kids were really attentive and seemed really eager to praise God! Yay!
Tomorrow, we will be teaching about God's creation of everything, which should be lots of fun. :)
Also, please remember to pray for our second location at St. Peter's, TMR. They will be starting up next Monday and running for two weeks. I will try to get somebody from that team on the blog ASAP.
Thanks so much for your prayers, guys!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Training Week: A Retrospective
So, training week ended today :( But it was an awesome one, and that just means that camp is getting closer and closer! :D Many helpful workshops, as well as lots of time for prayer and worship, alone and in groups, made it a great week. On a side note, I got my report card, and it doesn't look like I failed the tenth grade, Halelujah!
The number of registered campers has been increasing gradually day after day- we had several visitors throughout the week who came by the location to sign their kids up for camp! And, after getting a brief idea of who all is coming, I'm very excited to work with some brand new campers as well as a lot of familiar faces. Pray that our numbers continue to grow, even after camp starts.
I would like to request prayer regarding some personal matters. Recently, I have had many doubts and questions raised in my head regarding the things around me, and I'm starting to see the lack of permanence in the things we consider "reality". This distresses me somewhat, and I've been losing sleep because of it. At the same time, however, I feel it's a good place for spiritual growth, and it certainly has been a good opportunity for me to spend more time with God this week, which is always a blessing. I have also been hallucinating for the last few weeks. It started with hearing voices calling my name when nobody was around, which I dismissed as wishful thinking, but over the last week I've seen things that weren't there, felt things that were impossible given the situation, and experienced several encouraging visions from the Lord. Pray that this is all a good thing, and that my brain isn't pulling an Eli Stone. The last thing I want is an aneurism :P
Camp starts on monday! Hurray! Keep praying for us! :D
The number of registered campers has been increasing gradually day after day- we had several visitors throughout the week who came by the location to sign their kids up for camp! And, after getting a brief idea of who all is coming, I'm very excited to work with some brand new campers as well as a lot of familiar faces. Pray that our numbers continue to grow, even after camp starts.
I would like to request prayer regarding some personal matters. Recently, I have had many doubts and questions raised in my head regarding the things around me, and I'm starting to see the lack of permanence in the things we consider "reality". This distresses me somewhat, and I've been losing sleep because of it. At the same time, however, I feel it's a good place for spiritual growth, and it certainly has been a good opportunity for me to spend more time with God this week, which is always a blessing. I have also been hallucinating for the last few weeks. It started with hearing voices calling my name when nobody was around, which I dismissed as wishful thinking, but over the last week I've seen things that weren't there, felt things that were impossible given the situation, and experienced several encouraging visions from the Lord. Pray that this is all a good thing, and that my brain isn't pulling an Eli Stone. The last thing I want is an aneurism :P
Camp starts on monday! Hurray! Keep praying for us! :D
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
General Prayer Requests
Hi! I'm Josiah, the Leadership Director. I'll be working with the young leaders this summer, mainly at our NDG location. I don't have much to share at the moment, but I thought I should put up some prayer requests concerning the whole camp.
Please pray for:
... more campers! We want to reach as many kids as possible from as many different backgrounds as possible.
... enough money to take any and all campers who can not afford to pay.
... enough money to pay ample salaries and honorariums.
Also, thanks so much to Tina for helping us drive our supplies to our NDG location today!
Please pray for:
... more campers! We want to reach as many kids as possible from as many different backgrounds as possible.
... enough money to take any and all campers who can not afford to pay.
... enough money to pay ample salaries and honorariums.
Also, thanks so much to Tina for helping us drive our supplies to our NDG location today!
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