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We had a quick but very profitable training. After landing around 1 pm on Saturday we got through customs and made the 2 hour trip to the church. Training was from 3 -10 pm that day. Their camp staff loved the training. There was no problem keeping their attention all the way to the end. Without hesitation they said yes to two more hours of training Sunday afternoon!
Keren Burdick was so excited; it was her idea for CampsAbroad to come to this ministry. None of the rest of her team was familar with The Wilds or CampsAbroad. Over the phone this last week the pastor said he wanted to wait until he met us before he opened his church pulpit to us. I understood completely. After training, the pastor invited me to speak for both Sunday services.
Sunday allowed us to meet the sweet people of the main church. We felt very welcome! There was well over a hundred there for the morning service and close to 200 for the evening. Ethan jumped right in with getting to know the teens who will be attending camp. It is so good to have Willie and Ethan with me.
Today we ride with the campers to a rented camp about 3 hours away. They are planning to have just over 50 campers. Most of them are teens who are faithfully attending church.
Report by Dan Brooks
After a 3 hour ride to the rental camp property, the young people were ready for camp to start. It took a few minutes to get everyone settled in their rooms. Orientation perked up their spirits when we performed some fun ice breakers. Then we let them experience Big Ball for the first time. Both the girls and guys loved it! We won their hearts from the start. They were a fun-loving, energetic group of almost 50 teens and young adults.
All of our games were new to them and they commented on how much they enjoyed them. I think ‘Cat in the Hat’ took top honors. It was so good to have Ethan and Willie perform the mid-week Funtime show. Definitely Proverbs 17:22 is true: ‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.’
The three of us divided the speaking: I took one session, Willie spoke for three and the main speaker took 4 sessions. He is a missionary in northern Honduras. He connected very well with the campers. As I mentioned in my first report, almost 100% of the campers are faithful to their local churches. Still we had counselors telling us of young people making professions or assurance of salvation. One young lady stated openly that she was unsaved and fine with going to hell. The whole staff prayed for her. After the last service, she went to her counselor and expressed her desire to have Christ as her Savior. The next morning, you could see the joy on her face that had been missing in her life.
We were told of 4 professions, a few assurance of salvation decisions and many young men who dedicated their lives to fulltime service. The missionaries were very excited about all of the decisions but they were thrilled for the guys who expressed an interest in the ministry. The churches lack Honduran men who desire to study for the ministry. Soon they will be starting a seminary to equip these future leaders. They have a great team to do so!
The camp ended as a great success. The missionaries were thrilled with every aspect. After seeing the great facilities of the rental camp I questioned the purchase of their own camp property. I was praying how best to word my feelings. When camp was over, they took us to the 12 acres they had just purchased. I was blown away with the beauty and potential of this new property. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains. The land itself has rolling hills, yet it has a big open area for a huge ball field. I now knew why they desired to have their own property!
Report by Dan Brooks