From Here to South Africa: The gospel is beauty!

Goeie Dag! Meaning good day in Afrikaans... that's right...be impressed! Not really, I am terrible at this language and everyone speaks English here so it is very difficult to learn. But this is something I heard a lot while I was at camp this past week. We were doing a teens camp from Monday till Thursday morning. I had no clue what this was going to be like going into it and I tried not to have too many expectations which was more difficult than I thought. Having done several ACU leadership camps it was hard to get that out of my head but it didn't take to long because this camp was nothing like it. Both, however, were pretty amazing. The camp was talking about worship. They discussed different types of worship and how to worship the Lord with your personal talents that the Lord blessed you with. While the whole week was fun and a blessing there were a few things that were truly amazing to experience. One of which was swimming time. There was a swimming pool, which is pretty normal to most of us, but for these teens it was the best gift they could have received. When we would tell them everyday they would literally all scream with joy that they were getting to swim. There were 77 teens at this camp and almost every single one of them got in the pool at once. The joy was amazing to watch because I have never seen teens so excited about something that I am so used to. I have the gift of having a pool in my own backyard at home and swam it occasionally while these kids jump in with all their cloths on because they are so excited. I have never seen so many people swim in jeans before. :) Anyways, on Wednesday night we decided that it was important for the teens to have a time of worship, a time to experience God personally. Keep in mind that less than 50% of these teens consider themselves Christians so this was a new experience for them. But that night was absolutely amazing! We started out singing a few songs and then someone on the leadership team came up and started sharing a word for the girls and a word for the boys that the Lord had given him. Before I knew it almost every single person was in tears. We, the leaders, starting praying and laying hands on the teens and asking for the spirit to move and He most definitely did. Almost every single teen went up to the front and accepted Jesus that night! This was an amazing sight and a wonderful thing to see the Lord working in some way on so many kids. Later that night in my cabin, which consists of myself and 6 14 and 15 year old girls, I got to have a wonderful conversation with them. My Bible was sitting on my bed and one of the girls picked it up and starting reading something random. Then all of the other girls started saying, "my turn, my turn!" They were so eager to read about Jesus and see what he has to say. Then one of the girls started to read the story of the Samaritan Woman. We started to talk about that story and then they started asking me questions about dating. They were shocked when I told them that God doesn't have an age where it is okay to start dating. I gave them my personal opinion on the matter and we proceeded to have a wonderful conversation about what a God centered relationship can look like. I was SO excited to get to talk to them about this because they don't see those kind of relationships often and I am not to sure that anyone talks to them about what a good relationship looks like. Sometimes it frustrates me because there are so few opportunities to speak truth into these teens and you really do have to take every single tiny chance you get before you send them back into their world. Being here you realize how much you really do have to trust the Lord with every person you talk to about Him because we see and encourage these kids about 5% of the time and then they go into their normal lives where the world prevails. You have to trust that the Lord has planted a seed in them and that he will, in some way, make a way for it to grow. The next morning I wake up and we have one last group session with these teens. So my co-leader and I have one more opportunity with these teens before we all go our separate ways. During this time I asked them if they were serious when they said they wanted to know Jesus and accept Jesus into their life. I made them all look at me in the eyes and tell me yes or no. I told them that if their answer was yes then wednesday night was the biggest and most important night of their life, not their high school graduation, not their wedding day, but the day they accepted Jesus. I looked into their eyes and while most of them gave me the answer I hoped for one of them was honest and said no. He said no! I am aware that maybe the other kids just said yes to please me but with them and with the one that told me no I ask the Lord to work in their lives in some way for them to see. I pray that this camp experience, the relationships they are making, will start building a foundation for a life with Him, their heavenly Father! I pray that somewhere along the way they can truly look at me or whomever and give them a confident YES! I pray that there again is a seed being planted in every single one of these teens somewhere along the way.