"I should expect everyday to encounter circumstantial evidence of God's commitment to my dying. And I must seize upon every God given opportunity to be conformed more fully to Christ's death no matter the pain involved.
When my flesh yearns for some prohibited thing, I must die. When called to do something I don't want to do, I must die. When I wish to be selfish and serve no one, I must die. When shattered by hardships that I despise, I must die. When wanting to cling to wrongs done against me, I must die. When enticed by allurements of the world, I must die. When wishing to keep besetting sins secret, I must die. When wants that are borderline needs are unmet, I must die. When dreams that are unmet seem shoved aside, I must die."
Galatians says that I have been CRUCIFIED with Christ. It isn't me who lives anymore. But Jesus lives in me. The life I live now, I live by faith in Christ who LOVED me and gave Himself for me. So must I GIVE myself to these kids. I kept asking myself, "How would Christ GIVE Himself for ________ right now?"
I had to "psych myself up" for serving these kids numerous times today. Dismissing the lies that "we weren't doing anything" or "that was pointless". KNOWING that those are NOT true. Even just having us physically BE there is huge for these kids. When we go back to school, they will know that we were with them this whole trip. Many of them, this is their first time away from home- or out of Newport. Lots of them have never been to Cardiff, the capital, which is 10 minutes away from their school. I had to remind myself that none of it is pointless. Just because I can't see it, doesn't mean God isn't working. And I'm going to HAVE to get used to that.
I have really enjoyed being here. Having "Miss!" yelled every 5 seconds, repeating every word in "my language" as they call it, and then hearing, "Your accent is lush!", feeling like a celebrity.
I had two great conversations with several of the kids today about church and what they think about it. I just asked questions. Got an idea of what they're thinking and where they're coming from- what they've been taught. They are not afraid to be asked questions which is so refreshing. If you think about it, they're asked questions all the time. This is a such a great season.
However. I am also very excited about going home. REAL food. Adult conversations. Not smelling "camp smells" everywhere. (ie fencing gloves that are never cleaned and used thousands of times a year, helmets that smell like bad breath and dirty hair, etc.) Just, being in our house. Making dinner. I miss it!
Ok, now about the details of the day; and some pictures for you.
Today my outfit consisted of two long sleeve shirts, one t-shirt, a "jumper" (aka jacket), two pairs of trousers (because "pants" are underwear), two pairs of socks, a hat and my big rain coat with my hood.
Repelling down 11 stories in the Rocky Mountains at Frontier Young Life Camp in 9th grade...not quite...=)
The kids did quad bikes.
A frequent habit has been Kat and I running up to the "teacher's lounge" for a cup of tea to warm up.
...and fencing...
And archery again. This is me.
And this is Kat.
And this is Kat's bulls eye. Extremely impressive considering that yesterday she missed the target entirely.
This would be Peter and Sat Nav dancing. There was a "Disco" tonight and I was so encouraged by how extremely "into it" the guys got. Taige was ALL OVER the place! And being several feet taller than all the kids, we all stuck out like crazy; we had a blast.
Well, we check out of our hotel in the morning (I'm going to miss the internet!!!) and have a half day at the camp, and then are off to go home- I know Kat has Home Group tomorrow night, not sure who else. Peter and my group meets on Thursday. I can't wait!
This is all still very much in "adventure mode"!
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