a whirlwind of blessings

Tuesday:
Back to rotation day on Tuesday! I worked the “snaps” station again with Cynthia Knight (the wife of one of the staff members) and we did some work!! Cynthia is a speed demon when it comes to getting things done, so our photo station time flew by super quickly! But the best thing about working one of the two photo stations was that I got to see about half of all of the kids attending Camp LIFE. As one girl’s group of older boys walked up to have their snaps taken, I hear “Mariah! Mariah!” I look over and see one of my dad’s boys from last year, Bright! Last year I had met him in the compound and had found out that way that he was one of my dad’s boys, but I remembered him and he remembered me! So I saw him this year, and two more of my dad’s boys, Moses and Lazarus! So much fun!

 After rotations was over, we had lunch and it was about time for the big session of the day. At this point, the summer staff girls were all debating who would stay and who would go back to the villas to work on donations. Megan and I decided to stay for the afternoon and stay home the next day since Hannah and Kim wanted to go the next morning to be there for when the Freedom Song played. Big session began with two of the songs, and then Greer comes on the mic and says, “okay now we’re going to play the Freedom Song.” Megan and I looked at each other with surprise and excitement, because we were both bummed about having to miss it the next day. The song started playing and it was such a powerful time in that room. That song spurred freedom from these kids and I was able to see the power of prayer and the might of God. We took kids aside and prayed for freedom from bondage for these kids, bondage that was keeping them from truly knowing the Lord. It was an incredible afternoon, and one that I will never forget!

Wednesday:
This day really wasn’t too too eventful, or at least nothing super memorable is jumping out at me. We did make-up snaps for the kids that didn’t get to take theirs the day before, and I got to spend part of the afternoon in the prayer room praying for lots of kids. Prayer is so powerful!

Thursday:
We spend this day in the communities again, and I was at Matero. My boys from 2009 and 2010 are all from Matero, so I was hoping to see them there during the course of the day. However, this particular compound is HUGE, so I didn’t get to run into any of them. Just being in the same area with them was a comforting thought though. Anyway, the amount of kids that came to camp from Matero was only two groups, so it was a much smaller group working in the community together than last week. I was with a married couple that had individual groups, and their kids were so sweet to me. Almost instantaneously, the kids came up to me and held my hand and linked arms with me as we walked through the community. On more than one occasion, the kids asked if they could carry my backpack for me. And things like this haven’t just happened with this specific group of kids, but so many of these orphans and vulnerable children that come to camp are like this. And it blows my mind that these kids who have nothing and who oftentimes don’t even know what real love looks like are still so eager to love on us and cling to us... something they don’t experience very often. They’re chomping at the bit to serve us willingly, even though they are forced and beaten to serve their parents, aunt, uncles, etc... They love to hug and be hugged, hold hands, play with my hair, stroke my skin, play with my arm hair (they don’t have any), and just physically be loved on. Once these kids realize that we’re here to love on them and not to abandon them, the emotional guard that they come with is broken and they become the most affectionate kids in the world. Many of these kids receive more love during the one week they come to camp than they do throughout the rest of the year. Given their circumstances, their capacity to love astounds me. Rambling... sorry!
Anyway, Thursday was a great time to be with these kids serving the community. We picked up trash around a police post and evangelized to drunks (at 11:00 in the morning).

Friday:
Friday is shoe day, and it actually went really well this time! As opposed to last week, we had much less chaos and mess-ups! Thursday night, summer staff had spent hours sorting all of the specific shoe sizes according to the kids’ and the groups they were in. By the time Friday morning rolled around, shoe distribution seemed like a breeze compared to the prior week! We had shoes for just about every kid (the ones that didn’t get them that day would get them sometime the next week) and we were all very prepared... it felt so good! Because we were so organized, we got to see the big session on the hilltop (last Friday, we were too busy working to see it). We went over and saw hundreds of kids sitting on the top of this hill overlooking miles and miles of Zambia. These kids were looking at their homeland in a way that they had never seen it before! As we talked about the kingdom of God, they got to see their nation the way God sees it. It was so so beautiful!
We went to the Tree of Life afterwards (which was further down the hill) and I got to hang out with my favorite kiddos there. Esther came running up, as did baby Gertrude and my two boys from CL 2009, Musole and Wisdom. The Tree of Life always boosts my spirits because of the kids that I get to see. Almost all of these kids were discovered at Camp LIFE and someone heard their story for the first time. All of these kids had stories full of pain, of sickness, of sadness, and of despair. But now, because somebody told their story, they are here at the Tree of Life with big, beautiful smiles, and God has rescued them from the darkness that they were once living in. The American counselors at Camp LIFE are listening to and telling the stories of these orphans and vulnerable children who would otherwise have no one to tell their stories. Camp LIFE is such a place of joy and of hope for these kids. When I remember this, all of the early mornings and late nights, the heavy lifting and the constant running, the stressful situations and many responsibilities all seem like nothing at all, because it’s all truly worth it to know that these kids get the chance to find light and hope in Jesus.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were all about the same as the previous ones, so I won’t make this blog post into a book! Fun fact about Sunday, I bought a Zambian quilt that I’m absolutely in love with! Everything else is really routine and uneventful! So until next time,

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23

Blessings,
Mariah

Camp LIFE from the hilltop!

With Wisdom at the Tree of Life!