Our Crazy Month Part 3

As soon as we arrived back in Buff Bay, Kirsten and I were on the move again out of town to attend Youth Camp 2010! Youth Camp is the highlight of the Youth Fellowship calendar. The camp is not only for youth from Buff Bay but also from several other areas around the island. This year our camp hosted about 85 young people for 5 days at a college campus about 30 minutes away from Buff Bay.

Throughout the week of camp, two chapel services were held each day based around the theme of "Reflecting the Image of God." About 8-10 people surrendered their lives to Christ!!! Please pray that they may continue to pursue God in their daily lives away from camp. Jamaica is a very culturally Christian country. As a result, there is strong belief on simply being good and following Christ's example as the means to salvation. However, the emphasis of the teaching was that apart from God's saving grace and work through Christ, no one can reflect the image of God! It is not by ourselves but the work of God alone. Please pray for all the young people that heard these messages. Pray that they will completely surrender their lives to Christ while leaning on the Holy Spirit to guide them in their lives.

Camp games and activities were a blast; we hung out at the beach, had a massive water war fight across the campus, and competed against each other in various competitions. We were able to build relationships with some young people from other youth fellowships as well as deepen some with our own students. Because of the close quarters, we were able to observe and identify some of the needs of our students for future ministry. Pray as we try to speak the truth in love in ministering to these young people.

A couple specific prayer requests from camp follow. One of our own Youth Fellowship students (and Kirsten's star piano student) heard the call of Christ in her life over the week and was saved! After hearing about God's grace she realized that it is an irresistible grace that could not be passed by! Pray for Diedre as she begins her Christian walk. Also pray for Javi. Javi is a great young man that is lost. After a couple conversations in our small group time after the chapel services, Javi's mind pricked, and I believe is reevaluating some things. Pray that he may see his need for Christ and will be drawn to the Lord and be saved!

Lastly, pray for a Peku, an extremely kind, polite, and gentle young man. During Saturday night's chapel service the director of the camp received word from Peku's mother that his brother had died suddenly while abroad in Europe. Peku's brother was 29, his mother's only other child, and the main supporter of the family. Myself, the director, and one of the chapel speakers told Peku the news on Saturday night. Needless to say there were tears and confusion when Peku heard the news. Earlier in the week I had delivered a message concerning God's sovereignty over all things and His goodness in all that He does. In these situations it is hard to understand how these are true, but pray that Peku will be drawn close to God (even unto salvation) and that God's peace and grace will be a support in the family's life through this difficult season.

Pray for us as we hit the ground running back in Buff Bay. And while you do, enjoy some of the pictures from Youth Camp 2010 by clicking here.