Summer Testimony | Caitlyn

   My summer was incredibly busy but also incredibly amazing! I'll start with our church's Vacation Bible School. To be honest, I think what I learned most from that is that God will often exceed our expectations. Going into VBS, many of the teen workers thought that this particular theme was not going to go over well. We thought the skit was boring and frankly the entire theme itself didn't seem all that interesting. On top of that was the fact that we were staring on Fathers Day, I didn't expect much out of it. But God really used it and not only was it was our biggest year attendance wise, but there were also quite a few saved!

   Next came summer camp at Wildwood Christian Retreat. It was thoroughly exhausting as usual, but it was also epic as usual:) I enjoyed making new friends and seeing my friends from previous years. The main thing I got out of that week was about surrender to God. Not just as a once in a lifetime thing, or as a New Year's resolution, but on a daily basis; surrendering my selfish will and pride for His selflessness and humility.  I praise the Lord for all the ones who received Him as their Savior and for those who made decisions to live for Him that week.

   Next came summer camp 2.0 at Mount Moriah in Tennessee. That was my first time there and so it was a different experience for me. The preaching was excellent and there were a few saved and lots of decisions to surrender to whatever the Lord wanted them to do. I really enjoyed getting to know the staff (as I talked to them most of all); they were all awesome and it was great fellowship!

   Then came the Cola-Clash at Lighthouse Baptist Church in New Concord, Ohio. I had a great time getting to know the people of that church better and I loved talking to the visiting teens. While I was there I stayed on a farm with one of the families there. That was something I've never done before and I loved it! We would garden and feed the sheep and go four wheeling. I loved getting better acquainted with their family and look forward to seeing them all again:)

   Last but not least came my youth groups annual missions trip. Every year some of our teens go on a in-country trip for about a week. This year we were helping out at Every Nations Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. There are many different ethnic groups there and so it was a new experience for all of us, going up to a door, not knowing whether or not the person behind it speaks your language. There were many days where we would be soul-winning for up to five hours. It was days like that where we all had to learn to depend on God for our strength. It was hot and hard and we could not do it ourselves. But God was with our efforts and the Friend Day that we were inviting people to was a big success. Our youth group agrees that this was the best missions trip bonding wise. We would all flip flop who were soul-winning with so everyone got to know everyone better. ( We also came home with like, a million inside jokes so our families all probably thought we were crazy).

   I am so glad for those opportunities to get to know my youth group better and we are all much better friends for it. God was with my summer. He stretched me. He grew me. Sometimes it hurt, but I'm glad that He did, and I look forward to what He's going to do next.

~Caitlyn

Camp Joy | Carissa:)

   This summer, like Charis, I had the amazing opportunity to work at Camp Joy in Whitewater, WI.

I worked in the Housekeeping department. Basically, we cleaned everything. By everything I mean bathrooms (at least most of them which was a lot!), the chapel, the Lodge (which included the Fireside Room and Dining Hall), the Heritage Room, the Office, the Gym, the Nurse's Station, etc. We also serviced the Driftwood Cabins and Deluxe Rooms where families stay during family camps and sponsors stay during teen or junior weeks. Every afternoon we stocked the Gym Snack Shop and Snack Shack (try saying that five times fast! "Stocking the Snack Shop."). In the afternoons and evenings we worked in the different shops: the Bookstore, General Store, Gym Snack Shop, and the Snack Shack in the Lodge.

   Because I wasn't able to be at Camp Joy during training week, I was definitely baptized by fire! I honestly had no idea what I was doing the first week, but thankfully, the other girls and both my supervisors taught me well:) I may or may not have exploded a blender during Junior Camp 1, dump hot chocolate mix all over me, and cut my thumb open two days before I left, but I survived! During Teen 3, a lot of us Housekeeping girls were able to help out in the kitchen because the Kitchen staff had lost a few people. We didn't really have any idea what we were doing in there, but the Kitchen staff graciously taught us. We waitress-ed, worked in the dish room (we REALLY didn't know what we were doing in there ;)) and helped clean up as much as we could before doing our own jobs.

   I made a lot of friends over the summer as well! I had my own little cleaning buddy (the nurse's three-year-old son) who helped me clean every morning. He called me Cleaning Carissa:). And then all the other op-staff people. We had so many inside jokes that no one would ever get and would probably think we're crazy. But we had tons of fun. I was able to go to most of the evening chapel services. There were so many great messages and God was definitely working in every one of the camps. I had an amazing time this summer and hope to be able to do it again next year!!

   If I had to sum up my entire summer in one sentence, it would be "God is good." Pastor Tom Ferrell was one of the speakers for Teen 3 and that was his theme. It was just a really awesome reminder that even when it doesn't seem like God knows what's going on, He's still good. I had to leave before the last week of camp so Teen 3 was my last week. One of the things that was said in the last staff meeting I was able to attend was, "God has a plan." Even if I don't know what God has for me in my life, He does have a plan and He is always good.

~Carissa:)

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