Harvest Camp

Current mood: chipper
Category: Life

Song that was always stuck in my head: Jesus, Youre my superhero!

Most overused phrase: toot-to-do-do-do! (If I hear it one more time Ill scream!)

Games: Games were THE BEST! We had 2 sport sessions (not counting the morning workout) and 2 game sessions each day and they were all SO FUN! All of us not only exercised our bodies, but our minds and hearts. Heres some of the stuff we played: Soccer (Of course! Hello, this was a Russian camp!), Capture the Flag, Mr. Fox, 7 Bureaucrats (SO FUN! We totally tortured the kids! The point of the game was patience, obedience and submission), Socks (Another revenge on the kids game LOL!), Rocks (An awesome test of character game!), Night Game (THE BEST GAME! Total revenge on the kids! Everyones favorite! Pitch black darkness, flashlights, running through the woods, screaming, popping balloons, it was SO fun! And scary of course!) We also had a water balloon fight, lets soak everybody time, lets dunk the girls counselors in the pool time, 5 minutes of torturing all counselors and workers, and other things that I cant think of right now, but you get the point!

Crafts: We did the BEST crafts! They were really cool: awesome necklaces, key chains, bracelets and other jewelry. Everybody loved them, they were really neat!

People: Russians HAHA enough said! For real though, everyone was really cool. I didnt know anyone really well except Diana and almost everyone except like 6 people were paired off, so it was pretty much all couples which got a little bit annoying because the couples were pretty much always together. I guess camp is pretty romantic, especially at night when the kids are asleep and all the counselors and workers are hanging out by the huge fire lol there were 4 single people there including myself and I was the oldest one (not by much, but still) theres Russian culture for yalol. We all got along really well though and had a blast together!

Kids: I had 6 middle school girls and 8 middle school boys in my group (An older man was in charge of the boys, but only at night). I was pretty nervous because only 4 of those kids were from my school and I didnt know the other ones. The kids were SO good though! Sure, I had to have a couple of heart to hearts with them, but God gave me such favor, they totally loved me, looked up to me, and listened to me! I loved having the older kids because I could give them more freedom and independence. I barely had to ask them to do anything, they were pretty responsible and did everything themselves. I loved it! I always knew where they were and I just really enjoyed being with them, it was awesome! Our group was called the Brave Guys and Girls (trust me, it sounds better in Russian).

Church: We had church twice a day: worship, exhortation and lessons in the morning and worship, prayer, testimonies and performances at night. Guess who taught the lessons? Thats right, yours truly. I was nervous about how it was going to go, but God gave me such grace, those lessons were the best I have ever taught! The kids were very attentive and participated and it just went so perfect and so smooth, it was really anointed I could hardly believe it, it was ALL God!

My group also put on 2 skits and sang/performed to 2 songs, and my girls even wrote their own song in Russian to thank everyone.

Worship: THE BEST! It felt like we were worshipping all day because we literally had music on all day throughout the whole camp. And let me tell you, it was GOOD music! I heard so much incredible Christian music from so many genres, I felt like I was in heaven. I never knew such music even existed! Im talking Christian techno, hip hop, rap, REALLY GOOD music! Worship time was very fun too of course! Different groups led worship and we had a lot of dancing, jumping around and just having a great time worshiping God with reckless abandon.

Prayer: God showed up BIG TIME! Thursday night especially, it was so incredible! I wasnt even expecting it and then BOOM! Ill never forget itpraying for all the kids at the altar, prophesying over them, crying with them it was so awesome to see EVERYONE, especially the boys and guy leaders to be so moved by God, just holding each other, praying for each other, laying hands on each other, it was almost unreal to see tough little (and big) Russian boys crying, hugging each other and their leaders, praying for each other to receive the Holy Spirit 20 kids received the Holy Spirit that night! It was very overwhelming everybody telling each other how much they love each other and asking for forgiveness lives were changing right before my eyes Ive never seen anything like it before! Ive never seen kids touched by God like that before! I was praying with and for my girls and they were just so broken, we just held each other and cried together, they were telling me they loved me we were all just soaked in the presence of God This went on for a long time and it was so sweet nobody wanted to end it it was radical.

Food: There was SO MUCH FOOD! They fed us 6 times a day! No joke! Good food, like pancakes, chicken, pasta, Russian soup, lots of sweets, TONS and TONS of sunflower seeds (they are HUGE in Russia!)! Between all of us, we easily went through like 50 bags, we were eating them constantly! I seriously had enough to last me until next years camp!

Favorite memory: When all the kids were giving their testimonies after Thursday nights prayer. One of the boys from my school (a good buddy of mine and my personal masseuse) was completely in tears but so happy because he has just received the Holy Spirit and he said I waited 12 years for this and it feels so good! I couldnt hug him enough that night.

Funniest moment: Lost and Found time at the end of each day! It was THE FUNNIEST EVER! Throughout the day we would pick up the things kids left behind and at the end of the day we would torture the kids and make them work very hard to get their stuff back! It was SO hilarious! Punishments ranged from singing, dancing, push ups, running around screaming, goose walking to anything else that was embarrassing and funny. My favorites were singing Russian cartoon songs and techno songs! Everybody was doubled over with laughter; it was the most I have ever laughed! You really had to be there to truly appreciate it!

Overall: This was one of the greatest experiences of my life Sleeping in a sleeping bag on the ground with 6 girls in a tent flies and mosquitoes literally EVERYWHERE using the outhouse outside sinks man it was pretty hardcore and yet it was beautiful. Theres beauty in simplicity. God was there and lives were changed. I have to say the CK Camp really prepared me in some ways, but there was really no preparation better than prayer and God still surpassed all expectations, but thats why Hes God I got ridiculously blessed and touched by God and I am not the same.