Day 2 of Camp Scotland!! :)

Our first day of camp has come and gone and to be honest, we are already tired! But it’s a good tired- a “these kids are having a blast and it’s hard to keep up with them” tired.

We have 24 campers (including the four from Kingdom House- Praise God!) and then about 7 Scottish adults. 4 of the adults are here just to work in the kitchen. It’s unbelievable how much they are serving our team and the students. It is a real blessing. There are 3 students who are unsaved (that we know of)- pray that God would call to their hearts and they would respond!

The students jumped right in to the games and activities as soon as they got here. The Scottish people by nature are far more reserved than Americans- so where our students at home would jump around and holler and act insane, these kids do about 15% of that, but enjoy it just as much. It is amazing how receptive they are to us and to each other. One HUGE benefit of such a small camp is that it is fairly easy to remember names, so they have learned us and we, for the most part, have learned them.

The service last night went well. The students worshipped and were attentive through the talk. We sense and believe that God is stirring things in their hearts and speaking to them in the deep places.

We played a few team games including running the obstacle course (which they call an “assault course” here). We made about 60 water balloons just to make the course more difficult- each team had to carry 10 balloons safely through the course. And then, as boys will do, it became a water bomb throwing game. Which was fine with us. ☺

Tom arrived today, safely with all of his luggage! Another praise! He will rest tonight and then speak tomorrow night to the students. It will be very nice to have another male counselor here- there are a lot of boys who need (and deserve!) personal attention and love, so it will be nice to add another adult to the pack.

As far as prayer needs, there are many. To be totally honest, we are feeling a bit overwhelmed. The students did not go to sleep until far after midnight and were up running the hall (that we ALL sleep on!) by 6:30am. It’s one thing for their little bodies to survive that, it’s quite another for ours to go with that little sleep AND try to plan a fun-filled day for the students. We are spending some time today trying to figure out how best to solve this sleeping situation- there has got to be a solution besides making them run laps for a couple of hours each evening!! ☺

Cheryl is quite sick. It seems to be a cold/flu type thing, but she is coughing through the night and just feeling miserable during the day. Elizabeth also has some sort of cold that is hindering her ability to help lead worship. And if you haven’t heard, we’ve already made our first trip to the emergency room. Ian was bounding down the stairs at the Kingdom House on Sunday night and apparently is unaware of his own hopping ability and hopped his head right into the cement sloping ceiling. 3 stitches later and a sweet bald spot, he’s feeling better. But our team, aside from being tired, is experiencing quite a few health issues. PLEASE pray for healing and strength. We are looking at some other sleeping arrangements for Cheryl (11 year old boys are not all that sympathetic to her pleas for sleep), and hoping that some of the medicine she is taking will make her better quickly.

We are also finding that there is more down time than we expected- for example, breakfast was supposed to be at 9am and the students were eating by 8:15am. So what in the world are we supposed to do until 10am?!!? It’s a frightening thought! ☺ Pray that our minds would be filled with creative and fun ideas to fill in the small blank areas that are popping up.

It is interesting that it only took one day of camp for our personal strength to run out. Our own ability, our own enthusiasm and excitement, has apparently been zapped. At our own Summer Camp, the first day is always the most difficult and then it eases up as you go. We keep reminding each other of that, hoping that the week will continue to get easier. But it is hard. We are fighting for our joy.

Please pray- we KNOW that in our weakness God is made strong! And we want to see Him show up for these students- in the fun times and in the serious times. We need HIM!

So, to recap, please pray:
-for salvation for the lost
-for sleep/rest
-for strength
-for creativity
-for healing

And honestly anything else that comes to your mind. We are relying, FULLY, on the power of God today.