Half of our service team (four people) had to make their way home two days ago, leaving us understaffed for the remaining three days of adult camp. Add to this that I have spend the last few days fighting a nasty virus and have been considerably weakened, and you have a recipe for discouragement. Yet, through these difficulties, I was able to see God working through the campers here. Completely unprovoked, they have all volunteered themselves to help clean up after meals. This has been a greater blessing than it would normally be due to my illness, and I praise God for it. I don't know if I would have been able to make it through the past two days without their help. Sometimes, the smallest showings of a servant's heart in fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is exactly what is needed to lift our spirits.
Today was spent playing team sports with the campers and filming our final workshop video. I will be editing it tomorrow and hope to get all our videos up on youtube over the week long break between adult and family camp. Chelsea's workshop is going strong and she has planned a complex challenge for her campers to cook for the entire group (five courses) the final night of camp as a special treat. She has been truly enjoying herself and has felt truly blessed to get to know the campers in her workshop. Pray that the final day of camp goes well and a spirit of joy is over it all.
In other news, I have been asked to help watch the 11-13 year olds at family camp during times of Bible teaching, and am looking forward to the opportunity to meet new kids and help them make their own (albeit more simple) video, plus other activities. As family camp is completely in French, pray that I would be patient with the process and the leader of the activities (and translator for me) Mark Hoyle.
God bless,
David
Friday, July 29, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Exhausted But Joyful
Well, needless to say, it has been a whirlwind of a week. It is currently mid afternoon and there are about 10 people sitting in the BAFA room (where internet connection is best) checking email and such. It is almost silent, and you can feel the exhaustion in the air.
At about 1 PM today, about 50 of us returned to camp from a 3-day, 2-night hike through the French Alps. Known as a “rando”, these hikes are held for every English camp. However, this was our first rando ever, as it was the first time we were allowed and able to go, without the duties of the kitchen to hold us back. While we are certainly glad we went, and we can now say that we have climbed up and down the French Alps, we would also say we would probably choose to not go again. It was invaluable time with the campers, and we got to know everyone just a little bit better, but I suppose that sort of life just isn’t for us. I don’t know that going three days without showering while hiking strenuously most of each day and sleeping in the (literally) freezing cold and eating cold potatoes for dinner is really in my DNA… Of course, the views were absolutely incredible, breathtaking, magnificent, and singing to the Lord in multiple languages huddled around a campfire was beautiful, and hearing some stories of loss and sadness but joy and comfort in His presence was inspiring. So maybe again… (Doubtful.) ☺
During the hike, we also got to spend some time building relationships with some of the campers who we have begun to know here at camp. One camper, of whom we would like to share about here, especially encouraged us. His name is Cyril, and he is 32, significantly older than all of the other campers here. He is a member of the French Air Force, and he has never been to camp before. He is in my workshop, and immediately upon meeting him, I was blown over by his kindness and gentleness. As we have gotten to know him a bit this week, we asked him to share about his faith. He became a Christian when he was 20 years old, and is incredibly intelligent, having gone to school for physics. We conversed about creation and doctrine, and we were both so encouraged by his discernment regarding Scripture and teaching and theology. It was great to talk to him and know that there are people here in France who have those kinds of gifts to plug into the church. We did hear from him that there are many negative doctrines coming from the USA into France, with the thought that any doctrine coming from the USA must be good… Pray that both the church here and in the USA would expel these problematic teachings.
Concerning workshop, both seem to be going really well. David is having a great time making short little funny videos with his crew, and he is enjoying the laid-back structure quite a bit. I am having a blast with all the people in my cooking workshop. I am teaching mostly young men (two girls and four guys) how to cook dishes from around the world. We have so much fun cooking and eating together. We all just jump in, chopping onions and tasting and perfecting and laughing. I have a great group of campers who are all game for ANYTHING, including taking on dares to eat entire hot peppers and picking cilantro leaves off stems. In fact, our last workshop, I was dared to speak entirely in French for the hour, with one of the French campers translating to English for me. I completed the task and had a great time improving my speaking. I really love going to workshop and getting to know the campers. It is such a blessing.
Meanwhile, I am helping out a bit in the kitchen and trying to do some work with some kitchen organizational stuff. It is going slowly, but well, and I am hoping to devote most of my time the rest of the week to that.
Also, we are heading to Paris in less than a week for five days! Pray that preparations for that are completed soon.
More prayers – one of the campers received terrible news today about a friend in Paris. Please pray for this friend, whose name is Angelique. My heart goes out to these campers who all must face this broken and sinful world once again when they leave us.
God bless you these next couple of days.
Chelsea
P.S. We have been trying for the past week to upload videos of camp to youtube for you to watch, but due to the slow speed of the internet connection here, have been unsuccessful. Be patient with us as we keep trying!
At about 1 PM today, about 50 of us returned to camp from a 3-day, 2-night hike through the French Alps. Known as a “rando”, these hikes are held for every English camp. However, this was our first rando ever, as it was the first time we were allowed and able to go, without the duties of the kitchen to hold us back. While we are certainly glad we went, and we can now say that we have climbed up and down the French Alps, we would also say we would probably choose to not go again. It was invaluable time with the campers, and we got to know everyone just a little bit better, but I suppose that sort of life just isn’t for us. I don’t know that going three days without showering while hiking strenuously most of each day and sleeping in the (literally) freezing cold and eating cold potatoes for dinner is really in my DNA… Of course, the views were absolutely incredible, breathtaking, magnificent, and singing to the Lord in multiple languages huddled around a campfire was beautiful, and hearing some stories of loss and sadness but joy and comfort in His presence was inspiring. So maybe again… (Doubtful.) ☺
During the hike, we also got to spend some time building relationships with some of the campers who we have begun to know here at camp. One camper, of whom we would like to share about here, especially encouraged us. His name is Cyril, and he is 32, significantly older than all of the other campers here. He is a member of the French Air Force, and he has never been to camp before. He is in my workshop, and immediately upon meeting him, I was blown over by his kindness and gentleness. As we have gotten to know him a bit this week, we asked him to share about his faith. He became a Christian when he was 20 years old, and is incredibly intelligent, having gone to school for physics. We conversed about creation and doctrine, and we were both so encouraged by his discernment regarding Scripture and teaching and theology. It was great to talk to him and know that there are people here in France who have those kinds of gifts to plug into the church. We did hear from him that there are many negative doctrines coming from the USA into France, with the thought that any doctrine coming from the USA must be good… Pray that both the church here and in the USA would expel these problematic teachings.
Concerning workshop, both seem to be going really well. David is having a great time making short little funny videos with his crew, and he is enjoying the laid-back structure quite a bit. I am having a blast with all the people in my cooking workshop. I am teaching mostly young men (two girls and four guys) how to cook dishes from around the world. We have so much fun cooking and eating together. We all just jump in, chopping onions and tasting and perfecting and laughing. I have a great group of campers who are all game for ANYTHING, including taking on dares to eat entire hot peppers and picking cilantro leaves off stems. In fact, our last workshop, I was dared to speak entirely in French for the hour, with one of the French campers translating to English for me. I completed the task and had a great time improving my speaking. I really love going to workshop and getting to know the campers. It is such a blessing.
Meanwhile, I am helping out a bit in the kitchen and trying to do some work with some kitchen organizational stuff. It is going slowly, but well, and I am hoping to devote most of my time the rest of the week to that.
Also, we are heading to Paris in less than a week for five days! Pray that preparations for that are completed soon.
More prayers – one of the campers received terrible news today about a friend in Paris. Please pray for this friend, whose name is Angelique. My heart goes out to these campers who all must face this broken and sinful world once again when they leave us.
God bless you these next couple of days.
Chelsea
P.S. We have been trying for the past week to upload videos of camp to youtube for you to watch, but due to the slow speed of the internet connection here, have been unsuccessful. Be patient with us as we keep trying!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Familiar Faces
Adult camp started yesterday, and it is definitely a change of pace. We immediately recognized many of the arriving campers (about 30 total) from previous English camps, and it is encouraging to see them return to the camp as adults continuing to seek fellowship and community with other believers. Pray that they would find respite from the difficulties of their home lives while at camp through the building of strong relationships with others they meet here. Like the youth, they also wrote questions anonymously at the beginning of camp, and they have asked many difficult questions about a wide range of scriptural topics – pray that those at the camp and the guest speaker Will would be given the words to Biblically and carefully answer their questions.
The atmosphere is much more laid back than English camp, and in some ways this is making the transition more difficult. We have been so busy for the past two weeks that the amount of down time is bringing unexpected stress. Camp director Tom told Chelsea that his goal for her throughout adult camp is for her to become bored and re-energized for her role running the kitchen for family camp, and I think it will take a while for us to adjust to the change and truly begin to recuperate. I spent today cleaning one of the camp’s buildings and Chelsea is hard at work reorganizing the camp’s recipe books, but within the week our roles should be reduced to simply sharing in community as the campers are doing. I was able to participate as a camper in team sports, and I found this opportunity to meet and get to know the campers to be a joy. We must keep in mind that sometimes the best ministry to others is simply to be their friend and reflect Christ through whom God has made us.
The first day of our workshops went well, with Chelsea making barbeque pork in her cooking workshop (five campers) and me making a short commercial-esque comedy in the video workshop (three campers). With only five days of workshops rather than the entire camp, we have decided to do multiple shorter projects rather than the full narrative done at English camp. Pray that God would bring about conversations with others here and help us to speak truth clearly and humbly through them.
Lastly, thank you for your prayers about our short getaway to Grenoble. It was a blessing and gave us the space we needed to grieve, take a deep breath, and enjoy each other’s company away from camp. We love you all.
God bless,
David
The atmosphere is much more laid back than English camp, and in some ways this is making the transition more difficult. We have been so busy for the past two weeks that the amount of down time is bringing unexpected stress. Camp director Tom told Chelsea that his goal for her throughout adult camp is for her to become bored and re-energized for her role running the kitchen for family camp, and I think it will take a while for us to adjust to the change and truly begin to recuperate. I spent today cleaning one of the camp’s buildings and Chelsea is hard at work reorganizing the camp’s recipe books, but within the week our roles should be reduced to simply sharing in community as the campers are doing. I was able to participate as a camper in team sports, and I found this opportunity to meet and get to know the campers to be a joy. We must keep in mind that sometimes the best ministry to others is simply to be their friend and reflect Christ through whom God has made us.
The first day of our workshops went well, with Chelsea making barbeque pork in her cooking workshop (five campers) and me making a short commercial-esque comedy in the video workshop (three campers). With only five days of workshops rather than the entire camp, we have decided to do multiple shorter projects rather than the full narrative done at English camp. Pray that God would bring about conversations with others here and help us to speak truth clearly and humbly through them.
Lastly, thank you for your prayers about our short getaway to Grenoble. It was a blessing and gave us the space we needed to grieve, take a deep breath, and enjoy each other’s company away from camp. We love you all.
God bless,
David
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Another Type of Transition
This is Chelsea updating the blog today, and I apologize in advance as my husband writes much more poetically than myself...
This morning marked the final meal of English youth camp, the official end to the first third of our journey. These last two days or so have been marked by what you would call controlled chaos. Thursday was Bastille Day or Quatorze Juillet (July 14th), and the kids, per usual, had a fantastic time with lots of games and fun, but of course it also meant just two days left of camp, and David felt overwhelmed with the amount of scenes to shoot and editing to do on the video. However, God definitely provided and they were able to finish. We should be posting the finished product online somewhere, and we will link the blog to it when we do. It turned out so well! The kids at camp loved to watch it and see their friends onscreen speaking English.
Last night was the final night at camp and we had the whole evening planned down to the minute. In camp, all the kids get to choose a workshop where they learn about a certain art and then learn about glorifying God through it (hence the video and such). On the final night, every workshop (and every camper) displays their arts, so there are dance routines and such. The night began with the theater workshop coordinating with the kitchen team, creating a dinner theater atmosphere, complete with Dustin entering the room singing the name of the main course (tartiflette, an alpine favorite). Then, after dessert there was worship, so we showered and went to the hill and we watched the first dance and then the self defense program. Then we walked through two of the buildings where watercolors, ceramics, print-making/woodcutting, and photography were displayed. Following that we went to the main building and then watched the presentations for puppets, video, and the second part of dance. We then watched a fantastic video made by a Chris who is here filming everything that really captured the spirit of the camp and the reasons why everyone loves it so much. It is such a special special place where everyone is encouraging and people have a refuge and a safe haven to be themselves and express their faith with no judgment.
As everyone said their tearful goodbyes to one another and I watched from a distance I was struck by how short this is for them. They only get two weeks! It may seem like a long two weeks to us because of the business and how much work we do, but it flies by for them and they count down the days until they return next year to this incredible place. I feel blessed to be a part of it.
Next, we transition into adult camp, a period for young french people aged 18-25 to come for fellowship. David and I will be more on the program side of things, which is super exciting. Although I'm sure I will be stepping into the kitchen to help occasionally (I'm about to give an orientation to the new cook), I will be leading a cooking workshop and we will be working more directly with the campers, which is fantastic. David and Phillip will be leading another video workshop, which will be less structured, but also David will not be so active on the service team, so it will be a much needed break for both of us.
Pray for us as we are heading to Grenoble for a night tomorrow in order to get away, do some grieving and such by ourselves.
Also pray for us as we began the planning and organization for the next two parts of camp! They will be busy but less stressful with fewer rules as we are no longer working with minors.
We love you all. God bless you.
This morning marked the final meal of English youth camp, the official end to the first third of our journey. These last two days or so have been marked by what you would call controlled chaos. Thursday was Bastille Day or Quatorze Juillet (July 14th), and the kids, per usual, had a fantastic time with lots of games and fun, but of course it also meant just two days left of camp, and David felt overwhelmed with the amount of scenes to shoot and editing to do on the video. However, God definitely provided and they were able to finish. We should be posting the finished product online somewhere, and we will link the blog to it when we do. It turned out so well! The kids at camp loved to watch it and see their friends onscreen speaking English.
Last night was the final night at camp and we had the whole evening planned down to the minute. In camp, all the kids get to choose a workshop where they learn about a certain art and then learn about glorifying God through it (hence the video and such). On the final night, every workshop (and every camper) displays their arts, so there are dance routines and such. The night began with the theater workshop coordinating with the kitchen team, creating a dinner theater atmosphere, complete with Dustin entering the room singing the name of the main course (tartiflette, an alpine favorite). Then, after dessert there was worship, so we showered and went to the hill and we watched the first dance and then the self defense program. Then we walked through two of the buildings where watercolors, ceramics, print-making/woodcutting, and photography were displayed. Following that we went to the main building and then watched the presentations for puppets, video, and the second part of dance. We then watched a fantastic video made by a Chris who is here filming everything that really captured the spirit of the camp and the reasons why everyone loves it so much. It is such a special special place where everyone is encouraging and people have a refuge and a safe haven to be themselves and express their faith with no judgment.
As everyone said their tearful goodbyes to one another and I watched from a distance I was struck by how short this is for them. They only get two weeks! It may seem like a long two weeks to us because of the business and how much work we do, but it flies by for them and they count down the days until they return next year to this incredible place. I feel blessed to be a part of it.
Next, we transition into adult camp, a period for young french people aged 18-25 to come for fellowship. David and I will be more on the program side of things, which is super exciting. Although I'm sure I will be stepping into the kitchen to help occasionally (I'm about to give an orientation to the new cook), I will be leading a cooking workshop and we will be working more directly with the campers, which is fantastic. David and Phillip will be leading another video workshop, which will be less structured, but also David will not be so active on the service team, so it will be a much needed break for both of us.
Pray for us as we are heading to Grenoble for a night tomorrow in order to get away, do some grieving and such by ourselves.
Also pray for us as we began the planning and organization for the next two parts of camp! They will be busy but less stressful with fewer rules as we are no longer working with minors.
We love you all. God bless you.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Not Abandoned
I have not intentionally neglected the blog - things have just been hectic here both in the kitchen and with the video workshop. I have spent the last three days editing and finalizing the video and hope to post it to youtube and/or facebook soon. This is the last day of English camp, and it is truly hard to believe the time has passed so quickly. Thank you all for your love and support - a more thorough blog is coming soon, I promise!
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