Teen Camp

  Tonight's like to tonight make it evident to me that there is a God and he is walking with us daily. This week we have been having Teen's Camp. Living Hope has life skills educators in the townships of Masiphumulele, Red Hill, Ocean View, Capricorn and Overcome Heights. Kids here don't have summer vacation like we do back in the states, instead they have just long breaks throughout the year. This week they had off and these teens had to be selected by their LSE's to be able to come to camp. It was mostly for those kids who come to club regularly so camp is kind of our way to say thank you for putting forth your effort. There are about 80 teens that came. Anyways I am not going to lie...this week has been quite frustrating. On Monday, first day of camp everyone's meeting everyone from the different townships. I feel like they all thought they needed to impress everyone else. So right off the bat we had the guys that craved being center of attention and doing anything to get everyone to laugh. Then we had those that didn't care what we said, they were going to do it when they wanted...just typical teenage behavior really. At times it would take at least 10 minutes to get everyone to be quiet before we ate or before a devotion. Meagan mentioned a few times how out of all the times she's had camp, this group has been the most disrespectful and i felt like it went through one ear and out the other. Now I don't want to bash camp and say how awful it was because there were absolutely some kids there that were being fantastic and really showed that they wanted to be there. 
   During the day we would have different speakers, then we'd break into groups and talk about different things. Roger and myself had a group of 9 13-15 year olds. 

 this is Roger

There was one kid in my group that went by the name 'disaster'. He was quite a mess...so his name fit him well. I was surprisingly put in charge of something while at camp. I was told by someone who is a long time volunteer, been here for a little over 2 years now that Natalie, who is head of all LSE's, has never really given a specific task to a volunteer before. Now hear me out, my role in this camp wasn't huge, I was in charge of baseball with Ashwyn, but hearing that really made me proud. Proud to think out of all the volunteers that she has seen come through Living Hope and has dealt with that she decided to give me that job. I don't know it was very humbling even though it was something small. But when we were not having devotions or eating or small groups I was teaching kids how to play baseball. Some of them were straight up naturals which was awesome and some not so much haha. So there were good and bad times at camp! 
OH...here's one of the bad times. First of all, last Friday when all the LSE's were together, we had people raise their hands who didn't want to be involved in any pranking while at camp because apparently it's been done in the past. I obviously didn't raise my hand and proceeded with bring it on, this will be a fun week. Well Monday gets here and we are out at camp, this is about 2, right after lunch. It's swim time and every kid loves this time. So the pool is surrounded my this elbow high iron gate..this will be important later in my story. I'm sitting inside the gate on one of the benches by the pool...minding my own business! While sitting there with some of the kids, I see Kennedy (an LSE at Red Hill) get Chenette (an LSE at ocean view) and throw her in the water clothes and all. Of course everyone starts laughing and then carry on with their fun. Then Kennedy comes up to me and asks if I plan on swimming and I just respond with ha no. THEN he goes are you sure? and I'm like oh crap! So I almost fall backward off this bench and SPRINT to the tree. He catches me and I'm holding on for dear life to this tree trunk. He's pulling me trying to get me away and after a good 5 minute battle, a ripped t-shirt, scratches all up my arm AND two good sized bruises on each of my biceps he gives up. Then I hear cheering and applause from all the other LSE's who were smart enough to sit OUTSIDE the iron fence. So I do a little bow and wave, just being funny. Well I stand behind my bench just in case he tries anything again. 10 minutes later he runs at me again...I run to the opening of the gate and Roger closes it and smiles so I run to another tree thinking I will do the same thing again haha. Well this time we ran around the tree like 5 times then Roger came in and helped. At one point I remember just giving up and thinking to myself well...I'm going to be wet the rest of the day...and that's when I was thrown in, clothes and all. Oh how I miss summer camp.....


  Now earlier I mentioned how nights like tonight make it evident to me that God has his own timing. This morning I woke up not wanting to go to camp, not wanting to put up with these kids anymore. Today they were surprisingly better than the last two days which was so nice. The games we played had more participation and it was just an all around better vibe. I think the kids were starting to get used to us and there was a select few that would always want to come sit by me or be my partner in a game which made me feel good. Well tonight was something special. We had a little 'talent show' and had different people dance or sing..just some fun stuff. Then we had a time of worship and one of the campers went up and led songs. Her voice was absolutely amazing so that started it off quite well. Then I think these kids finally realized that they were in a place of hope and trust and they could just be themselves. They could let down the barriers and be real. I think some of them still had the 'tough guy' facade that they have to show everyday back home and tonight they put it away. Raw emotions came out from kids I thought were going to leave tomorrow not retaining anything. Kids were crying singing worship songs to the Lord and it gave me a sense of peace and hope for them. At one point we were singing a song and I prayed 'if nothing big comes out of this camp, I hope that if anything I have at least touched one person and made a small impact in their life', and right when I said that Enrico(an LSE) tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I'd pray with this girl. She brought me outside and started bawling, for reasons even know I'm not sure of. But I got to pray over her and after I was done she gave me a long tight hug and just said thank you so much. I just thanked God then and there because I knew he just answered my prayer. 5 kids committed their life to God and many more said they wanted to as well. 

   It's amazing to me how God works in his own time, he knows exactly when you are going to finally let him completely immerse your heart and soul with his love and it was amazing to see that time was tonight for some of these kids I almost gave up hope on. There's a saying that says,'If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans'. Throughout this journey, from day one back in February, it's amazing how things I planned out have turned out the complete opposite and yet have been absolutely perfect. I think it's God's way of showing us that he is in absolute control and we just need to give him the wheel because he will get us to our destination. 

God is good....ALL THE TIME

"I hope that my achievements in life shall be these-that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been."

-C. Hoppe