Halfway

So, I’ve reached the halfway point in my summer and I can’t believe how fast it’s all going by. Things have been great at BigStuf. Camp 6 starts in just a few hours and the campers are already arriving. I’m loving the work I get to do down here. I’ve been crazy busy (as you can tell from my lack of posting) but it’s been fun. This summer has already shown me how much I enjoy production and want to continue doing it if I can. I’m learning how to run lights, which is something that I never thought I would get to do. Anyway, I’ve got work to do, but just wanted to say that things are amazing down here and I’m having an incredible summer. Please pray that we’ll be able to keep the energy up for the rest of the summer and create great environments for these kids!

Thanks,

Caitlin

My Prayer

So, lately I’ve been focussing a lot on 1 Thess. 5:17 which simply states, “pray continually.” I realized that this  is an area that I’ve been slacking in and I want to make prayer and constant and completely natural part of all areas of my life. So this week I had committed to working hard at doing just that, praying continually. So what better way to start that week than with a little prayer walk?

Much to my surprise and excitement, this morning–the start of Camp 2–began with our leader, Jeff, asking us to do a prayer walk through the Big Room and to pray over each seat that the campers would fill. It was a great idea, and a great way to start off camp. Anyway, I thought I would share my prayer with you so that hopefully you could pray it with me too:

“In just a few hours these chairs will be filled with almost 1,500 people. 1,500 souls who are going to spend eternity somewhere. 1,500 of Your children. Some who are broken and lost and hurting. Some who are oblivious and prideful and couldn’t care less. Some who are running and afraid of You and angry with You. Some who need peace. Some who need joy. Some need clarity, and some need hope. But one thing they all need is love.

I don’t know where these kids are coming from or what they’re going home to at the end of the week, but I know that they need to know Your love. All of the preaching about time [our camp's theme] and making wise choices and giving time to God is great, but more than anything I want them to understand the depth and intensity of Your love for them. Because if they don’t get that, then none of this other stuff matters. I pray that they will find You this week and find Your unending love for them.

If there’s one thing that you taught me in Camp one, it’s that BigStuf isn’t enough. All the lights and the cool songs and funny videos aren’t enough. These kids need to see the love of their Savior, and nothing we do is enough to show them. Pushing the right buttons in the right order at the right time won’t change lives the way I’ve seen them changed at this camp. It’s not enough. But You are enough. You are a patient and thoughtful Father who makes old things new and dead things alive. You are enough for me and You are all that is going to be enough for these kids. And that is what I want to rest in. You. Because You are enough.”

Kenya-Day Two, Part Two

So, I don’t have any pictures for this post, but I might throw in a few from the safari we went on at the end of the week. I don’t think I’ll blog about that, but some of the pictures are fun. But I wanted to tell you about the rest of day 2.

When we got back from the Masai village we went straight to dinner at a hotel near ours. We were meeting some Compassion people from their Leadership Development Program (LDP). This is a program for the elite of Compassion children who have great potential. They are sent to college and participate in mentorship programs. It’s a great program that creates some great people and I’m so grateful that we got to meet some of them.

We had dinner with some of the college students and it was so much fun. Trent, on of my fellow interns, and I sat with a guy named Wilson. He was a college student studying Microbiology. He was awesome. He talked about how much his Compassion sponsor meant to him and how much he wished he could meet her and just give her a hug and tell her how thankful he was. He also talked about how much he wanted to give back to his community and help other people the way he had been helped. We talked about other stuff too. Winston watches a lot of western movies and TV shows, but some things were confusing to him. He asked me if everyone in America has a car, what Thanksgiving is, and what Prom is and why is it so bad? hahaha. He was very entertaining.

What was so cool about the dinner was that they were college students just like me. They were fun, and bright, and had huge potential. And if it wasn’t for Compassion, they would be no where. They wouldn’t be able to get an education, or even get out of the village or slum they grew up in. Compassion gave them hope and changed their lives. I knew that all along, but it really sunk in that night, because they were so much like me, but we came from such different worlds. It was incredible.

Here are a few safari pictures: