Beautiful Things

Dear friends and family,

First, I apologize for the late post. There is a crazy rain storm here and our internet was down! So we will post twice :)

Let me start off by telling you about the amazing day God has blessed us with yet again. We started off the day with our daily devotional with the facilitators. Everyone had wonderful stories to share about how God is not only working in their lives, but the kids' lives as well. Our beautiful Thursday morning was just teeming with energy and fire for the Lord and these kids. We were on a mission to pour out so much love onto these kids that they wouldn't know what to do. Our wonderful trip leader Chris shared his testimony with the camp, and it was amazing to see the Spirit move through him. After devotional, we had breakfast with the kiddos and then had a time of worship. The kids broke off into groups to practice their skit, dance, or song for the talent show. Overall, we had a wonderful day and God just continues to pour out his love on us.  

Meredith here! The weather was cozy and everyone was bundled up for the day as we dispersed for our group activities. Kinsey, Camille and I lead the bible study talking to all the kids about creation and answered questions the kids had about creation and about God. It was wonderful to work alongside the OVC leaders to hear the very deep and insightful questions the kids had (interpretation was needed). Susie, Kristin and Alexa showed the kids how to make beautiful flowers from coffee filters. It was so great to see the creations the kids made and they proudly wore them around for the rest of the day... yes even the boys rocked their flowers!  Kelsey, Hannah and Nolan led indoor games and activities, the kids, despite the cold, played cards and created 3 different puzzles. Working together and laughing filled the shed here at Bridges. Racine, Jackie and Dustin were our prayer warriors today and covered the Bridges campus with prayer. It is such a precious time that every group has been able to experience and be able to step away from the busy day and spend time with God. After our rotations the kids were divided into their cabin groups and given their 'Bible Quiz'. Their challenge as a team was to work together to  create a presentation about creation to the entire camp. We had four judges; Zilindle, Jackie, Kinsey and myself; it was so great to see the creativity that the groups came up with. We were so happy that the Lion room won... the fabulous prize... candy!

After another intense and fierce game of dodge ball (where Space and Dustin ruthlessly pegged kids with the dodge balls) everyone headed into free time. And it was just in time because it had started to rain (Thank you Jesus!). Our worship time tonight was bitter sweet since this was our last full day of camp, and even now I can't believe how fast the day went. It was wonderful to have our worship filled with songs that the kids knew and introducing them to new songs (gotta love Oceans!). It was wonderful to see Space and Blax speak to the heart of the kids and it was beautiful to see so many of the kids come to Christ and renew their commitment to Christ.

We ended the night with a talent show including the infamous Rock Harbor dance to Footloose... and so many wonderful performances from the kids including spoken word, dances, singing and a dramatic performance. Ok back to you Kinsey!

God had an incredible plan for today. He sure put that into affect tonight during worship. You could feel the Holy Spirit so present and among us. Tears were shed from so many different avenues of life. You could feel the pain of these kids and the vulnerability. You could feel the chains breaking away from their beautiful little hearts. So many kids came forward to ask for God in their life. And so many kids came forward to recommit their lives to Christ. God works in such powerful ways and to be here with all these kids is unbelievable. The Holy Spirit truly moved among us and through us and just poured and poured into these kids tonight. As the night comes to an end we have just been taking moments to pause and think about the wonderful stories and memories God has burned into the very essence of who we are.  

I am so blessed to be a part of this team and to see the many wonders God works in. As we are approaching our last day, there are just a few prayer requests that we would love to ask you to pray for. We would love prayer over our hearts and especially the kids' hearts. Tomorrow is our  final day of camp and we have become so attached to these kids as they have to us. It will be hard saying goodbye to all the staff and kids. We have become so embedded within this beautiful place that saying goodbye seems to be a far off word in our vocabulary. Please keep us in your prayers as we have only a few days left in South Africa.

Love you all,

Kinsey and Meredith (aka bunk buddies) and the team