It has been a really good week with campers from Virginia. We had been staying at Victory Mountian camp ground (Sophia, NC) for three weeks now and it is time to leave.
Looking back, this camp ground is very special to me. I had both fun and frustrations at this place. It was there where I got homesick several times and cried over the phone while talking to my mom and dad because I found it hard to connect to some girls. However, it was still there where I found more comfortable and confident of being a counselor.
The girls from this past week were very friendly. During the week, two girls opened up to me about their background. They are both from divorced family, but God helped them go through the difficult times. The speaker this week kept bringing up "God loves us." He loves us because we are His children. He loves who we are. He wants to take what is broken and heals it. Having conversations with the girls and knowing their passions for God truly made my heart happy, especially when they asked me many questions about China and showed their interests of going to Asia for ministry in the future. This means so much to me.
Through the past five weeks, I have been learning something new every day. I learn more about God and more about myself. Five weeks ago, I was not confident. Today, I am very certain and pleased about making this choice. I know it is all because of Him.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
NC East Senior High Camp
We just finished up a week at NC East Senior High camp. It is always nice to see the passions for Christ developing in these senior high students. Many of them are seeking God in their everyday life and trying to figure out what they want to do with their life.
Many of the students we are meeting this summer are carrying so much baggage. All week long there were nights when students opened up to counselors about the things they were dealing with. It is so nice to see the campers lay down aspects of their life and move toward the future. For example, I had one precious camper who was blaming herself for her family’s problems. Her mom became pregnant with her so her parents got married and then divorced. This sweet girl is loved so much by the king and with her desire to serve others he will use her in amazing ways!
My cabin this past week was so much fun. At first it was very overwhelming. Along with 2 other counselors there were 23 girls 22 of which were all from the same youth group. Most of them have grown up together and are very close. Even though the girls are very friendly I struggled with just jumping into the big group at first. Then it just clicked and most of the time I felt like I was hanging out with some friends. Most of the girls were juniors and seniors in high school. Our cabin usually had the most spirit and we even won the gong show.
The picture of our team is at Ruby Tuesdays. We went their to celebrate my birthday and we really enjoyed eating dessert.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Our Schedule
| Thanks to my awesome older sister who mentioned this to me! Date of Camp | Location |
| June 14-19, 2009 | North Carolina East District Victory Mountain Jr. High Camp 3592 Youth Camp Road Sophia, NC 27350 919-302-1138 |
| June 21-26, 2009 | North Carolina East District Victory Mountain Sr. High Camp 3592 Youth Camp Road Sophia, NC 919-302-1138 |
| June 28-July 4, 2009 | Rockfish Camp 226 Camp Rockfish Road Parkton, NC 28371 910-425-3529 |
| July 6-10, 2009 | Shenandoah District Victory Mountain Camp 3592 Youth Camp Road Sophia, NC 27350 540-342-3968 |
| July 12-17, 2009 | North Carolina West District N.C. West Sr. High Camp Southern Wesleyan University 907 Wesleyan Drive Central, SC 29630 864-644-5192 |
| July 20-24, 2009 | Never the Same Camp 1 Willard Avenue Houghton, NY 14744 248-303-4108 |
| July 26-August 1, 2009 | Rockfish Camp 226 Camp Rockfish Road Parkton, NC 28371 910-425-3529 |
Training and First Camp
This is Tyrome and I am writing my experiences for the first part of the summer. Sorry for the long wait and thanks again for your prayers.
The beginning of our journey began with training. Training was amazing it was so fun and we all received tools to better serve campers this summer. We also learned many games that would help us on our journey. We went through training with another team, Selah, it was so fun to interact with the other team and bond as a huge group.
Summer ministry team is a richly rewarding experience if you go into with an attitude of service and that is what I felt the whole time during training. The people on these teams really want to serve Jesus by serving others. Or as Ken Dill would put it " Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others."
So after training both teams headed up to Indiana since both had our first camps up there. It was fun being with the other team and sharing the first part of our journey with them. We heard a kid say the funniest thing in a chinese restaurant, he said "not all chinese people are black." It made Chen and I laugh really hard (I know that is random but it was really funny).
After a long day of traveling to Indiana we finally made it to our hotel, and we hung out for a while until we found out that one of fellow SWU students was in the hospital and the prognosis was not good. When Melissa found out she stepped up and had everyone gather to pray for the student. It was beautiful and I believe healing. Almost immediately after we prayed we got another email saying that the girl was doing miraculously better and was being sent home!!!!I believe that our prayers combined with many other prayer warriors were responsible for her miraculous recovery. Soon after that we had a late night worship session and prayer time which just help get excited for the ministry we were about to embark on.
The first camp was Camp Dunamis in Frankfort, Indiana. I was particularly excited because I was there last year and I had kept in touch with many of my campers and was really excited to see them. Seeing my campers a year later was cool, some had become taller than me and others had taken huge steps spiritually. The band Atlantic was there and our team found out that the lead vocalist for the band was going to be the speaker also, since the original speaker had some personal things come up, and made the right decision by not speaking at our camp.
The speaker, Cory, was really good and connected well with the teens. He talked about the practice of confession and how we are suppose to confess our sins to one another, and not so you can be judged. The reason you confess is to bring things into the light so that God can redeem those things. If we keep things in the darkness the devil can control it. Christ dwells in the light and that is where we should place our burdens. This really resonated with the campers and I had a few confess things to me and I had the priveledge of hearing their struggles and getting to talk and pray with them about it. I was deeply honored that they trusted me with the shame, stains, and imperfections.
There was fierce compettions between 6 teams at camp Dunamis. Competition was fierce and every team went all out. I can not tell you the winner because it was not my team :(. The staff was truly amazing and activities and afterglows were so well put together. I had an amazing time and so grateful that God allowed me to an instrument for his kingdom!
More to come later...
Tyrome
The beginning of our journey began with training. Training was amazing it was so fun and we all received tools to better serve campers this summer. We also learned many games that would help us on our journey. We went through training with another team, Selah, it was so fun to interact with the other team and bond as a huge group.
Summer ministry team is a richly rewarding experience if you go into with an attitude of service and that is what I felt the whole time during training. The people on these teams really want to serve Jesus by serving others. Or as Ken Dill would put it " Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others."
So after training both teams headed up to Indiana since both had our first camps up there. It was fun being with the other team and sharing the first part of our journey with them. We heard a kid say the funniest thing in a chinese restaurant, he said "not all chinese people are black." It made Chen and I laugh really hard (I know that is random but it was really funny).
After a long day of traveling to Indiana we finally made it to our hotel, and we hung out for a while until we found out that one of fellow SWU students was in the hospital and the prognosis was not good. When Melissa found out she stepped up and had everyone gather to pray for the student. It was beautiful and I believe healing. Almost immediately after we prayed we got another email saying that the girl was doing miraculously better and was being sent home!!!!I believe that our prayers combined with many other prayer warriors were responsible for her miraculous recovery. Soon after that we had a late night worship session and prayer time which just help get excited for the ministry we were about to embark on.
The first camp was Camp Dunamis in Frankfort, Indiana. I was particularly excited because I was there last year and I had kept in touch with many of my campers and was really excited to see them. Seeing my campers a year later was cool, some had become taller than me and others had taken huge steps spiritually. The band Atlantic was there and our team found out that the lead vocalist for the band was going to be the speaker also, since the original speaker had some personal things come up, and made the right decision by not speaking at our camp.
The speaker, Cory, was really good and connected well with the teens. He talked about the practice of confession and how we are suppose to confess our sins to one another, and not so you can be judged. The reason you confess is to bring things into the light so that God can redeem those things. If we keep things in the darkness the devil can control it. Christ dwells in the light and that is where we should place our burdens. This really resonated with the campers and I had a few confess things to me and I had the priveledge of hearing their struggles and getting to talk and pray with them about it. I was deeply honored that they trusted me with the shame, stains, and imperfections.
There was fierce compettions between 6 teams at camp Dunamis. Competition was fierce and every team went all out. I can not tell you the winner because it was not my team :(. The staff was truly amazing and activities and afterglows were so well put together. I had an amazing time and so grateful that God allowed me to an instrument for his kingdom!
More to come later...
Tyrome
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Summer Ministry Team
This is our team, Love's Servant. We are a recreational ministry team working under the direction of the department of spiritual life of Southern Wesleyan University, seeking to represent Christ as we travel, work at camps, and love people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)