2008 Summer camp newsletter
Sun , 31-8-2008 3428 views
Our theme this year at camp was “The Domino Effect,” and how we must live a life that resists the enemy’s attempts to make us fall.
KING’S KIDS Newsletter
SUMMER CAMP 2008
The Domino Effect
You probably played with a set of dominos as a child. Perhaps even now it is still one of your favorite activities! Its fun to set them all up in a crazy path and then, with just a slight touch, they all come tumbling over, domino by domino, each affected by the one just before it. The domino effect is fun to see as a child, but in our walk with God, Paul actually warns against such behaviors.
The students experienced the effects of this relationship first hand on many occasions throughout the camp. One of the games was played near a cave and some old ruins near Yad-Hashmonah. The students were divided into teams and one team was given a large number of Bibles that they had to get from the cave to the designated safe area without being arrested by the “police (the remaining students).” The students really enjoyed the activity, and got a small taste of what it would actually be like to live where the Bible must be hidden. After the game the Bibles were handed back out to the students; that is, all but one of them. The missing Bible belonged to a young girl and was a special gift to her from her mother. The girl was very upset about this. As a group, we immediately began to pray the Bible would be found. Less than 2 minutes after we finished praying one of the male students walked up to the team with the missing Bible in hand. The students were amazed that God had answered their prayers. They learned that their prayers are effective, and heard by our Father in heaven. The team rejoiced with the girl, who was quite relived that her Bible had been found.
The remaining first five days of camp were a good time of bonding between the groups of Israeli Arabs and Jews and Palestinian students. The students received a chance each morning to have their Quiet Time, going through the book of Colossians individually, then coming together for a time of worship and further study of the passage. In these first five days only the older students participated, and it was during this time that they learned most of the songs and dances they would be using during the outreaches. In the following week a smaller team of younger age group joined us and together we continued learning and preparing for outreach.
Throughout the two weeks, students had opportunities to attend various workshops. Some of the students learned to do tricks while jumping rope, which they were able to perform at multiple outreach events. Others chose to do various crafts, one included helping paint the theme banner we hung during each performance. At Yad-Hashmonah several of the students were taught how to build a water-proof tent out of sticks and branches. Two of the girls even decided to spend the night in the tent, but while it may have been waterproof, they quickly realized it wasn’t mosquito-proof!
The students were able to perform a total of seven different times. However, one performance they truly enjoyed and will probably always remember, was in Tel Aviv along the promenade beside the seashore. The day had been a difficult one, especially for the leaders doing the prep-work for the evening’s events. The enemy tried to hinder us and attacked us in different ways: It was a day with a challenge in the Arabic and Hebrew speakers’ relationships, also the battery of our sound system died, and in the process of finding a new one we ran into many barriers. Even with a system borrowed, the leaders arrived at the beach only to find that they couldn’t connect the mp-player to it. As it is with our living God, He gave us victory, as we took time to prepare our hearts for the performance, the spirit of the Lord worked amongst us, there was repentance, forgiveness, openness and decisions to overcome the attacks of the enemy on our relationships as Arab and Jewish youth. We all felt so relieved, a great spring of joy flooding out of our hearts. Also as the King’s Kids were on their way to the beach praying intensively for the technical equipment to work properly also seeing that there was a big demonstration at the beach were we wanted to perform, everything seemed impossible, but somehow, after several tries the sound system began to work!! The missing cds were found and we had a wonderful performance a bit further at the beach without any disturbance. A lot of people watched it and could hear and see about the good news, local believers joined and spoke to the viewers. Praise to Jesus who gained victory over the enemy! The students loved the opportunity to share the love and excitement of Jesus with the fascinated crowd.
Despite the hot weather, the second day in Nazareth held a lot of hard work for the students as they ventured over to the Scottish hospital for volunteer work consisting of pulling weeds and picking up trash. The enthusiasm was low at first, but when they were able to look back over the area and see the ways they had improved the grounds, they felt good about the work they had done. This year the younger students were able to join this exercise and they enjoyed being a part of what the older students got to do.
Worship
Despite the language barrier, students and leaders alike came together for worship both in the mornings and evenings each day. This was another highlight of the camp, and we found the students asking for more worship times than we originally planned! Praise God for this desire! We were more than willing to change the schedule around to include more of these times.
It was so lovely to see the younger students watching the older students worship and imitating their behavior. The older students were very reverent, and often volunteered to pray for the day’s activities or the evening’s outreach events.
Team Building
With so many diverse backgrounds represented at the camp, it was important to do several team building activities. For one of these the students sat in a circle, each with an unlit candle. The first person turned to the one next to him and gave an example of ways he has seen Christ in that person. As he did this, he lit the student’s candle. This continued around the circle until all the candles were lit. The students took this time seriously and gave very good remarks about how each other had grown in the Lord and ways this growth had been visible.
The last night of the camp was a time to process all the experiences from the past two weeks. Each student received a flower taped onto their back and they all wrote on each other’s flower prayers, words of encouragement, and funny moments for that student. God was glorified during this time as the students learned to look for Godly behavior in each other and focus on the positive aspects rather than the differences.
Prayer Requests
From talking to several of the students, we are thankful to hear that so many of them have chosen to continue in their quiet times, now going through the book of Philippians. Please pray that this time will remain of importance to them and that they will see the results of grounding themselves in the Word of God and in prayer. Also pray that the relationships formed during these two weeks will continue to flourish and that God will use them to further His kingdom. Also, we heard from many that they are the only Believer at their schools and often feel lonely. We ask God to make them strong in the faith, and that they would have a very intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, walking with Him throughout the day, whether at school, or elsewhere.
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