The First Week is Over

The first week of camp is over and it went by in a blur of activity. It was great to see this facility being used for its principal purpose – reaching out to people with the good news about Jesus! Throughout the music, the workshops, the devotional times, and the teaching with Vicente Guerrero the message was always the same – Jesus changes lives –and many young people – experienced that this week.

Daniel Lucas and Janna Fox led the week with grace, tact, energy and a palpable sense of love for the youth. The camp counselors led their cabins with enthusiasm and the appropriate balance of gentleness and firmness where required, while the musicians did a fine job of leading everyone in worship.

The Canadian contribution was great to see with an obvious love for the kids being displayed and an eagerness to embrace all things Ecuadorian – food, language and cultural differences. Rain, mud, scorching heat, humidity, mosquitoes and fleas were accepted as part of the experience and the team efforts were greatly appreciated.

The cooks did an excellent job cooking for almost 200 people – the largest group yet at camp! We enjoyed fish, chicken, beef, and shrimp in various combinations along with the ever present rice. They thoroughly enjoyed their new screen doors and service hatches which, along with the newly installed ventilation fans, lowered the temperature in the kitchen while keeping the flies out. Now if we could do the same for the dining hall….! The maintenance crew of four worked tirelessly at keeping the facility clean and relatively garbage free and even cleaned out my car after a particularly smelly trip to the market for 50 pounds of shrimp!

We are thankful for the safety that we had on the beach and we are able to enjoy the ocean which is particularly dangerous on this stretch. Heather Moore as always did a great job as camp nurse while helping out in the kitchen in her spare time. She dispensed a number of Advil for the usual variety of aches and pains and the only real problem we had was with one counselor who spent the week suffering from a persistent fever until the problem was resolved with a trip into the town clinic.

We spent most of the time working in the background, taking regular trips into town with or on behalf of the cooks, handling the bookkeeping responsibilities and running the tuck shop. Other than a couple of minor logistical hiccups everything ran smoothly behind the scenes allowing the kids to simply enjoy their camp experience.

Our six local kids had a great time although some of them were obviously overwhelmed for the first day or two. Walter and Alex had a great time imitating a couple of Teletubbies on skit night and we are looking forward to going back into the community to hopefully rustle up around 20 children for the upcoming kids’ camp.

We now get a couple of days to catch our breath before it starts all over again next Wednesday when the Alborada and Sauces kids come for a minicamp that runs until Saturday. This will be the first time that they have run the camp on their own and they are managing to cover the bulk of their costs themselves with the help of some sponsors in New Zealand. This will be a smaller camp of around 50 kids and 25 adults.

Holly thoroughly enjoyed spending reading week with us and left us early Saturday morning, arriving safely in Toronto on Saturday afternoon. It was great to see her again and her ability to speak Spanish was an asset as she wandered around camp helping with translating and worked alongside us in the tuckshop. She made it safely back to Belleville in time to celebrate Jessica’s 20th birthday at East Side Mario’s along with her grandparents and other family members.

On a final note, on behalf of the camp committee Kelly and I want to thank all those who prayed over this week of camp and provided generously to both the camp and our personal support in order to make it all happen for these kids. The Lord will surely bless your involvement!

Verse for the Day:

“The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.” Psalm 18:20

What is righteousness? In its simplest sense it is a perfectness that only God truly possesses. However, as followers of Jesus surely we hunger to walk with Him and live a life that is like His. But it is only when we yield ourselves to the active working of His Holy Spirit in our hearts that any righteousness becomes apparent in our lives at all. However, too many times we stifle the Holy Spirit and smother Him as he provokes us to act positively in the lives of others.
That said, I have no doubt that many will be rewarded for the righteous acts that they have committed by their participation in this camp ministry. Now, can we carry that desire to commit righteous acts over into other areas of our lives? Or was it just a onetime act committed in an attempt to salve our guilty consciences from unrighteous acts previously committed? A reward of one form or other awaits us.

Campers lining up by cabins


Five of our local kids!

Just hangin' around!

Trying to get everyone organized for a group shot!

The judges for the skits

Chapel time

Teams get real excited about their performances!