changes and surprises

Camp LIFE 2013 has presented us with many surprises and changes from years past. It’s been challenging and exciting and crazy with all of the new adjustments! Here are a few:

A HUGE summer staff

So this year, we have 14 summer staffers. 14 in the FIRST HALF alone! It’s unreal! I think we had 12 total last summer. It has been such a blessing to have so many more hands on deck to do all that summer staff is responsible for!! It has definitely caused us to become MUCH more organized as a summer staff; we now have individualized roles and responsibilities that we are held accountable for and we have a few different rotations for making sure certain things get done. Summer staff has never been this detailed and organized, so it is definitely a change.. but a change for the better, I think! 

A new location: Chamba Valley Exotic Hotel

Oh, Chamba. This place is something. This year is a transition year, so we are moving from Mulungushi Villas, which is where we’ve stayed ever since I started coming to Zambia, to the Legacy Lodge, which is in the process of being built by the ministry. This place is basically a godsend because there is no other hotel or lodging that would house this many people. The man who owns this place signed a contract with us and is actually turning away business to honor that contract. It is actually a really nice hotel, but it brings its own challenges.

As expected, hot water is still a luxury here at Chamba. The chosen few have hot water in their rooms, while the rest of us do the “shower dance” (similar to the hokey pokey but with a greater sense of urgency) in our ice cold water. One limb at a time, folks. That is, if you can get your water to cooperate with gravity instead of shooting straight up at the ceiling like Old Faithful. 

However, when they say that Chamba Valley is an “exotic” hotel, they are absolutely telling the truth. It is QUITE off the beaten path; in order to reach the hotel entrance, you must first drive about 5 minutes down a very bumpy dirt road. During my stay of about three weeks here, I have encountered many African wall spiders (google it), a colony of ants that lives in the walls and makes daily appearances in our room, cats, wasps, caterpillars, and other strange bugs that I can’t even name. It’s always an adventure when you walk into your room at Chamba Valley.. you never know what creature is waiting inside to greet you. 

Anyway, like I said, we are grateful that we even have a place to stay. The wifi works in the lobby on most days (if you’re lucky), and the staff is so friendly and willing to serve. It is definitely different than Mulungushi, but it is functional and serves its purpose well. 

RAIN

For the first time in my five summers spent in Zambia, it RAINED today. Rain during this time of the year in Zambia is so rare that, when you ask a Zambian, “is it going to rain today?”, they will respond by saying, “No, no. It can’t.” Oh, but it can, and it did. It is the Zambian winter right now, so it wasn’t completely out of the ordinary for the clouds to roll in and the temperature drop to about 50 degrees (or less). However, as we’re bringing kids into the Legacy Center to put in groups on Monday morning, it starts to SHOWER. Not just a mist or sprinkle, but a shower that actually made the pavement darker. 

This year has been so weird, and I haven’t quite made sense out of what God meant by this random rain shower yet, but I do know that He is working. The enemy has taken some roundabout ways to attack our staff and our Americans this year, but God has come right behind him every time and fought back and won. I guess, maybe the rain shower goes to prove (again) that nothing is impossible for our God. And that He is willing to do WHATEVER to move in power for these children. When we say, “it can’t rain,” God says, “let it pour.” So now, I anticipate what other limitations God will destroy during the rest of camp. Nothing is impossible for our God, not even rain in the Zambian winter.  

There are more, that’s just all I had time to write! Until next time, here are a few of my favorite snaps so far! 

james 1:27

We are two days into week 2 of camp... time has FLOWN by. Time flies when you’re SUUUUPER busy, I guess!

Week 1 was a huge success! We had 78 groups of kids at camp that week, so it wasn’t maxed out. It was so helpful to have a lower number of kids and Americans to work with since it was the first week! We got to see things that worked and things that didn’t throughout the week, so we were much more prepared and ready to go by week 2. Week 1 was also refreshing and very moving for me. My mind and heart were reintroduced to the purity of the love that comes from the heart of an orphan AND the purity in loving orphans. The Bible absolutely hits the nail on the head when it says that “pure and undefiled religion” is “to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). Greer, the founder of Family Legacy, says that working with orphans is like putting your finger into a spiritual electrical socket, and that it is a catapult straight to the heart of God. I was just so humbled and blown away again this year by how eager these sweet, sweet kids are to love and be loved. They have these hard shells up around them for protection because they all have to be so tough and strong at home; but it doesn’t take long for love, love in the name of Christ, to penetrate and melt those tough exteriors. These kids come to camp on Monday so closed off and guarded, but I get to see the transformation throughout the week into kids who experience joy and love and fulfillment. They get to be kids again for one week. And none of this would happen for them if it weren’t for Christ. They would be stuck in their chains and defenses and be bound up forever if they never felt the freedom and overwhelming love of Christ. 

Tuesdays are “rotation” days. In the morning, all of our groups rotate between a snaps (photos) station, a blessing time station (one-on-ones with the kids), and a coloring station. Usually, I am working the snaps station because coloring is usually covered by one of our younger staff kids, but today I was in charge of coloring. Coloring takes place in the main room that we do our big group sessions in, so it’s a huge room. The size of the room gives way to lots of running and yelling and general chaos with the number of kids that we have in each rotation. So I’m passing out materials and getting frustrated at all of these kids running around, making noise, etc... Then God basically slaps me across the face and says “Mariah, these kids don’t get to be kids anywhere else. They are orphan children who carry the world and then some on their shoulders.” And then I look at their faces and see how much JOY they were having from just being kids again. They were playing and laughing and their eyes were lighting up because they were HAVING FUN. Being a summer staffer means that I don’t get to hear the details of these kids’ stories. I am not the one listening to these kids when they say that their parents both died years ago and now they live with an abusive aunt who makes them walk miles for water every day. I don’t physically get to hear them say that they have been raped by their uncle and prostituted out to his friends for money. Today was a reminder that I desperately needed. I was reminded that these kids live in a darker darkness than I could ever imagine and that they get these five days to experience joy. And joy is a bright light in the darkness of their lives. 

God is doing big things here. And when He does big things, the enemy attacks harder and harder. Shipping containers have been a huge struggle to get here on time because of random inspections and border issues, and these containers have time sensitive materials on them that we need for house openings and camp. This week though, he has especially been on the defensive. As our Week 2 Americans were about to board their flight from Dallas at the airport this past weekend, their flight was cancelled at the last minute because of a broken part. Commence shuffling of flights and a long, grueling weekend of traveling for them. Today, we had around 15 of our Americans stay home because they all got very sick overnight. And from camp, we sent home about 6 more throughout the day. A fourth of our Americans are currently sick with an awful stomach bug. Satan does NOT want this specific week of kids to be reached. Please be praying for restoration to health for our Americans and against the attacks of the enemy this week (and for the rest of the summer). Our mission here this summer is to build up the kingdom in big ways, and Satan is throwing curveball after curveball to try to stop us. Pray for the ministry and what God has called us to do this summer, because it is an ongoing battle against Satan. 

Until next time!