One Week. One Camp. And One Amazing God.

We girls just returned from a week at our annual church youth camp, which was one of the most amazing weeks of our life! All of us girls were thankful for the chance to attend this year. (Last year Sarah and Meagan were able to make it, but Melissa had other commitments.)

Every year, our church (Mountain View Bible Baptist Church) hosts this camp up in the mountains near Baguio City. This year, nearly 200 singles (from age 13+) joined us for a week full of spiritually enriching messages, singing, and various other activities. Most of the campers came from our church; however, several other churches as well as unsaved visitors also attended. (With this year’s camp theme centered on soul winning, everyone was encouraged to invite unsaved friends and family members to attend.)

ACTIVITIES AND SESSION TIMES
Although the week was filled with numerous activities (team building projects, afternoon games, Bible quiz bowls, and skits competitions), we spent much of our time in sessions every morning and evening. Every session directly related to this year’s camp theme of “Are You Ready?” (Ready for judgment day)


Each session was very convicting and spiritually challenging to us all! Our main speaker, Pastor Reno, flew all the way from Washington simply to speak at our church youth camp this year.:-) He was a great blessing! Saved at a church youth camp when he was a boy, Pastor Reno made the perfect speaker for this year’s camp. (Many of the visitors were unsaved, so he could really relate with them).

We truly appreciated his life message and sat captivated during every one of his sessions. His stories were touching, his messages were convicting, and his testimony was so encouraging to us all.

JIMBO AND THE UNEXPECTED ACCIDENT
The week began with an unexpected accident.... During the first night, one of the younger visitors fell from his top bunk in the boys’ dorm (The top bunk sits about 8 feet off the ground). Poor little Jimbo spent his first few days of camp at the hospital under the doctor’s full supervision. At first, many feared that he broke his neck or collarbone; yet, we were all grateful that his injuries were not as serious as we originally thought.

Although he ended up with a black eye, broken nose, and some other badly bruised areas, we thank the Lord for sparing his life. Many of the camp counselors (and some of our church members) rotated staying with Jimbo during his hospital moments for the first days of camp. We were all so excited to see him return back to the site in time for the last day of camp!

Despite his injuries, God seemed to have a plan in causing Jimbo’s accident on the first night of camp. Because his fall could have been fatal, we began camp with unique opportunity to question the unsaved visitors regarding their eternal destiny with questions such as, “What if Jimbo would have died when he fell of that bed? What would have happened to him? Would he have been ready for it? What about you? If you were to die today, are you ready?”

We praise the Lord for saving Jimbo and for using this unexpected accident to bring him and many other campers to Christ. All things work together for good! :-)

NAMES ADDED TO THE BOOK OF LIFE

Sarah Mae with Melissa

We praise the Lord for the salvation of 30+ of the young people who attended this year’s youth camp. It was such an amazing encouragement to see the Lord work in their hearts and to see them come to know Him as their personal Lord and Savior.

Meagan with An Sherina

During the week, many of us had the incredible opportunity of leading them to the Lord as well as praying for them, praying with them, and encouraging them throughout the week after they accepted Christ into their lives.:-) At first, we Feeny girls were not sure how we would be able to share with some of the visitors because they did not understand a whole lot of English and we could not speak much Tagalog. Yet, we are so thankful, because with the help of the Lord and our fellow Filipino friends we were able to witness several come to know the God as their personal Lord and Savior.:-)

Sarah with Jervean, Sarah Mae, Louelle, Abby, and Princess

There is no greater joy than the privilege of welcoming someone into the family of God! We pray that each of them would continue to grow in the Lord and that they would be a light for Christ to their friends and family members.

GLANCING BACK ON THE WEEK
We girls are so thankful for Lord giving us the opportunity to attend our last church youth camp before moving back home. It was truly an incredible blessing! We enjoyed every moment of it from the challenging and inspiring messages, to the memorable fellowship times, to the various team activities, and to witnessing many young people coming to know the Lord during this camp. It was definitely one of the most amazing weeks of our lives.:-)

(Please click here for more pictures)