This week in Haiti was the first week of English Camp, which we were sent here to help out with. English Camp is a 6 week day camp for kids ages 5-14. The kids are here from about 8:40 a.m. until 2 p.m. The kids are separated into colored groups based on gender and age, and they learn English, Science, P.E., and Bible. Monday through Thursday there is a new Bible story that we act out, and a new verse of Psalm 95 is presented. The goal is to get the kids to learn all of Psalm 95 & 96, and if they have both memorized by the end of camp they get a prize. Friday is Friday Funday, which is a typical day of camp. No learning and all fun. The different teams are also competing for a pool party at the end of Friday Funday. This week the Purple Team won (13-14 year old girls).
Our roles in English camp have been scattered, and will change weekly depending on how much staff we have. This week, Mollie and I were group leaders- Mollie lead the Purple Team, and I lead the Pink Team (10-12 year old girls). Heidi was the camp photographer on Day 1, then helped out with the Red Group the rest of the week (5-7 year old boys). Last, but certainly not least, Ethan was the camp’s water boy (pretty self explanatory). We all work together to teach kids about Jesus, keep the older boys from killing each other, and keep the little kids from peeing their pants. They are adorable kids, and very sweet at heart, but they can be very aggressive. I always have kids climbing on me, playing with my hair, and grabbing my ankles. I did bring makeup and stuff to do my hair, but I haven’t touched it, and probably won’t for the rest of the trip (and for good reason).
In addition to the 4 of us, there are 6 others here on staff for the whole duration of camp. There are several other teams coming in throughout camp who will be here short term. For the past week we’ve had a team of 15 from New Mexico, and a team of 11 from Firefighters for Christ. These guys have saved our butts this week, working theirs off to help us get camp ready and running. The New Mexico team is leaving tomorrow, and the Firefighter team leaves Saturday. I seriously don’t know how we are going to be able to do camp without them; they had a lot of extra hands, and they were all needed. Maybe you guys can pray for that.
Speaking of which, the New Mexico team are members of a small church called Cottonwood. The 15 people that came are about 15% of their entire church. The pastor of their church is Dan Cooley, and he gave us a homework assignment earlier this week that we all found very powerful: write why we chose to follow Jesus in 100 words or less. Has anyone actually tried this????? It’s A LOT harder than it sounds. That’s less than the average paragraph. I can easily explain in a paragraph why I chose to follow Jesus, but 100 words? We all managed to do it, all 50 of us in the group. It only took about 10 minutes to tell all the stories, and I learned so much about everyone in the group in that short time. It’s amazing how little it takes to say or do something that will make a lasting impression. I need to remember that for the rest of camp. While we’re here, why don’t you guys at home give this 100 word challenge a shot? We’d love to hear your stories.
Heidi took a zillion pictures on Monday and I’m sure she will be back to post them all soon. If you’d like to take a look at them, here is the link to the photos on facebook you can scroll through:
For now, I think I’ve said more than enough.
God Bless,
Meghan, Mollie, Heidi, and Ethan
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