Erin Village

Erin Village Alliance Church Soccer camps was harder than Bolton. I can’t really explain why it was harder because I don’t really know why it was. Maybe it was because I didn’t fully say good-bye to Bolton or maybe it was because I didn’t prepare myself for the week. Maybe it was because I kinda knew what to expect because it would be the same routine as the week before – whatever it was, I felt like I didn’t have as much energy as I should have had.

Monday is always hard. It’s a new camp, new volunteers, and new campers. This Monday morning was especially hard, because that’s when it hit me: every week, I would be at a new camp; I would have to say good-bye to all the campers I’ve hung out with all week Friday afternoon, and then start again Monday morning with new campers.

Monday small groups is hard because some campers are surprised that we talk about God, Jesus, and the Bible at a soccer camp. The campers are unsure what to expect from us and what we expect from them. My small group was mostly boys aged 9-10, and a couple of girls. The theme for Monday was explore and I say my testimony about all the voices around us telling us what to do, but we have to figure out which voice is the Truth. The girls were willing to share their thoughts and questions; the boys weren’t. Instead, they asked questions like “do you like pie?” because they knew they would get a laugh from the rest of the guys. It was frustrating because the girls wanted to talk, but with the boys trying to show off, it just wasn’t possible. I didn’t know how small groups would for the rest of the week.

By Wednesday, I couldn’t believe that I was frustrated with this group. Yeah, some of the guys were still showing off, so the girls didn’t comment as often, but the group was getting used to small groups. Wednesday’s small group theme was battle. Usually, the kids will talk about some of the battles they are going through or have gone through: fights with brothers and sisters, fights with parents, people they know who are sick. Logan didn’t really talk about those kinds of battles. Instead, he asked me questions about Hell, the battle between God and Satan, what happens after you die, do you go to Heaven, Hell, or in between? I could tell that Logan was thinking about these things and it was really cool that he asked me these questions. I focused mostly on Logan and answered his questions as best as I could. After, I closed off small groups I told them, that if they had more questions or just wanted to talk, that any of the coaches (myself included) and assistant coaches were more than willing to talk with them.

Five minutes into lunch, which is just after small groups, Logan comes up to me and asks me why God would create humans. Then he goes back to his lunch. As we were walking to the tents for afternoon break, Logan started asking me about how the world came to be. So I started telling him how God created the world and how day 4 built on day 1, day 5 on day 2, and day 6 on day 3, although I wasn’t completely sure that I got it correct, so I told him that I had to double check the days in the Bible. So we sat down with my Bible and I explained to Logan what God created first. He asked more questions, and we soon got into the fall of Adam and Eve and what that meant for us. It was amazing experience to see Logan so interested and seriously thinking about these things.

Thursday’s small groups theme is endurance. What keeps you going through your battles? What hope do you have? Darren talks about Craig, how’s he’s dealing with it, and the hope we have because of our relationship with Christ. Going into small groups, the mood is serious and we usually learn a lot about the camper’s lives because they are more willing to share. I was expecting Logan to ask more questions, which he did, but what surprised me most was Tanner. He was one of the guys who always got a laugh, but he asked serious questions and I could tell that he was thinking about it for awhile.

Friday after camp was over we had some Bibles to give away. I asked Logan if he wanted one. Excitedly, he said yes. So I took a Bible and wrote a message to him, encouraging to keep asking questions and looking for the answers. Right away, he took the Bible, sat down, and started reading. I also overheard two girls – Natasha and Skylar (they were my personal trainers for the week; I gave them piggy-backs all the time) – talk about who got to read the Bible first.

Erin Village Alliance Church encouraged me. The campers encouraged: they listened to what we said, they thought about it seriously and if they didn’t quite understand it, they were willing to ask questions. Wednesday Ashley asked me a question about my testimony. I never would have guessed that someone would think about my testimony after Monday, but Ashley had been thinking about it since Monday – wow. Tanner and Logan really encouraged me; they showed me that how you act is just for show, it’s not who you really are. This is what camp is about. This is what we do for the summer.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Ephesians 6:19-20