Happy Monday!
Today has been an extremely productive day. It started at 6:30 with a few of the boys running with me...and by 'with me', I mean they ran and I enjoyed the quiet morning prayer time while watching to make sure they were ok. Ha!
The rest of the group got up, played frisbee, and hung out until breakfast at 8. We had biscuits, sausage, and cereal and packed lunches for our site. We are lucky in that our site is in Georgia and only 15 minutes away.
We are working with Ms. Claire and her husband Frank. Frank is in a wheelchair and will be moved to a nursing home in the next few months. It is a pretty rough time for them right now so we all spent time just talking with Ms.Claire and playing with her dog, Bella.
Dont get me wrong, a ton of time was spent on the deck, yard, and painting the roof of her porch (the rest to be stained tomorrow) but with all 5 chaperones working in service positions, the fellowship and sharing of love is a big deal....not to mention she was super sweet to the teens! ;-)
Eric, Nicky, Michael, Robert and Ben worked on the yard with Emily. Ms. Claire didnt own a lawn mower, so they used weed whackers to cut her yard and clear back brush that was over taking....well, everything. It was hot and buggy (including wasps!) and they never once complained!
Taylor and McKenzie helped Christine paint the roof of the porch, while Sam, Lydia, Lauren, Elise, and Casey used the power tools to cut and hang spindles on the handicap ramp and deck.
(Did I mention they all worked hard today?! )
At lunch, Ms. Claire brought out homemade hamburger patties and hot dogs and Christine grilled them for us. (We told her we packed our lunches, but she said she made them especially for us, so we didn't want to turn her down. ) At the end of the work day, she brought out a homemade chocolate cake and ice cream. She was the best. ;-)
After we got back and showered, we went to our annual walmart run. The teens bought walkie talkies ...because we have no cell service and they think I am an idiot and don't know they want to talk to each other after lights out. . Since the boys are in one cabin and the girls are in another. ..good thing I love them...plus I plan on confiscating them when I go to bed. Haha.
We made it back in time for dinner (after going over an Awesome Dam) and then had some free time before chapel.


Chapel started with our teens dancing and singing (well everyone was. . But our teens were in the front rows and then on stage! ) This time other groups joined us and then they asked for volunteers to say how they saw God today. Two of our teens got up and shared. One talked about Ms. Claire and one talked about how seeing all of us together working hard let them see God. We prayed into the message. Today's message was on pride. (The theme for the week is brokenness. ) They showed a video and it was pretty awful. The speaker sat at a table, messed up his words and kept having to look down to read from his paper. I asked God to make the person doing the application points (a real speaker at chapel) better than the video. (Here is a thought: be careful what you pray for! )


One of the other leaders, Rachel, got up and shared a really powerful story of how her uncle just passed away and how he asked her before he died, not to come home because God needed her here and put her here for a reason. So she stayed at camp. It made a lot of people cry and led to great small group discussion in our parish time.
After our hey Gods, Yeah Gods and mad props, we paired up for "prayer partners" and spent some time on our devotionals. God has been with us all day...and we are so blessed. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to hold you in prayer as well.
Much love!
Lori Anne