Adventures in Church Camp

Welcome to Kawai, the Peruvian version of church camp, located on the ocean 88 km outside of Lima. 15 Gringos from Kansas, One Nebraskan and 62 Peruvian high school and middle schoolers made up our wild group. We spent four days at the camp running games and activities, team competitions, skits and music, devo's and chapel messages. It was cold and misty the entire time, but overall I would say that the camp was a success. The Wichita team, myself, Pastor Cesar and about 10 of the Peruvian student leaders went out to the camp a day early to prepare and pray over the camp. For me, this was a cool experience because a large part of my overall ministry here in Peru is to work alongside Peruvians and develop them as leaders. During our four days I was blessed to watch the Wichita students working alongside the Peruvian student leaders developing games, scavenger hunts, worship and skits. I watched them work together as one leadership team, encouraging each other and learning from each other as we led this camp for the youth of the ADIEL. For many, this was the first time they had ever been to camp, and it was a blessing to watch the kids throughout the week.
One bittersweet story of the camp:
There are about 4 women that make up the kitchen staff at the camp who prepare all of the meals for the campers. One of them has a 9 year-old son named Anderson and the both of them actually live on the campground. Our first couple days Anderson would just follow us from place to place watching the activities but not joining in. He was rather shy but as we kept talking to him, inviting him to play the games and activities he started to show his excitement. After the second day we officially added him to one of the teams, and he helped win the team points each day. I had visited the camp one other time about a month ago and had noticed Anderson walking around the camp all by himself and assumed that since his mom works, and he doesn't have brothers or sisters, that he is left to play by himself all day every day. I got the impression that this may have been one of the first times that campers had actually included Anderson in the daily activity, and for him it may have been one of the few times that he was able to play with other people. On the last day we all said our goodbye's, each one giving Anderson a special hug - but as we drove away we watched Anderson begin to cry, his face in his hands heartbroken that he was left alone once again on the vast campground. For those of you that know my relationship with Jose in Mexico, this was just one more example of the power of Christ's love and the effect it can have on a person. It was also an example of the unfortunate circumstances that accompany short-term missions.
But overall the camp was wonderful, and I was so blessed to have been involved. My Spanish grew leaps and bounds during our four days, as I was responsible for a lot of translating between team members and staff. I even had to get up front and translate for the main speaker a few times. While it was encouraging to conquer my fears of making mistakes, I was humbled in recognizing how much I still have left to learn before I will be ready to do formal translating. But little by little I'm progressing, and by this I am encouraged.