the past 16 days have been a whirlwind!

June 13-17 was youth camp. there wasn't a mission team per se that came to do that week. there was a couple from Georgia that came to be the mom & dad of the week and 3 college guys also from Georgia that came to help out. so all of us summer missionaries got to be in cabins and help out with the camp. it was probably my favorite week thus far. the group of campers were just super wonderful and the team was as well.

there was one girl in particular in my cabin, Emma, that i got to talk with about what baptism means and just kindof what it means to be saved and everything. she was sprinkled as a baby and just had a lot of questions so it was a really neat moment.

also some of the youth that got saved or rededicated during the week got baptized in the lake on the last day and that was super neat to witness.

the team we had during youth camp was just really amazing. the "mom & dad" were Todd and Terri and they were just really really awesome folks. Terri actually stayed in the same cabin that Rebecca and i did and we had some good times.

the three guys, Colby, Mason, and Bart, were just all around awesome guys. they're all college age but super mature and just Godly servants. it was such a blessing to have them here and get to hang out with them. it's really encouraging to me that men like that exist in my generation.

two of the guys from Georgia, Mason & Colby, decided to stay another week because they loved it so much up here and felt like God wanted them to stay.

June 20-24 was girls camp with 44 little girls. we stayed in cabins again and also did our normal jobs for the most part so it was kinda like doing double duty. it was pretty exhausting because these were 1st-6th grade girls so they were younger and you had to really keep your eye on them, but it was a wonderful week. the first night all of the girls in our cabin volunteered to pray so we went around the room and everyone prayed and it was such a sweet moment. our devotion times were my favorite part of the whole week. those girls were young but they had an awesome grasp of the gospel and their prayers were just super sweet. some of our girls wrote us goodbye notes and it was really sweet. i think 10 girls got saved during the week and about 3 rededicated.

Colby and Mason left today and it was really hard to see them go. but we're moseying on forward, boys camp starts tomorrow. there's gonna be around 40-50 little boys here all week doing "boot camp" so should be interesting :)

first camp done.

so today after lunch we said goodbye to our first group of campers. they were probably the best group of campers ever! they were the politest kids i've ever met. the first week of camp went by way too fast though, this summer is gonna be over before i know it. yesterday i got to hang out with Alyssa a fair amount which was nice. she made a cross during craft time and gave it to me with a little note on the back. it was so sweet.

after night worship, Tyler (one of the campers that got saved this week) shared his story and said this was the best week of his life. i got to talk to him for a little bit after and it was really encouraging. seeing these kids lives changed and talking with them this week has just been amazing. one of the little girls, Hannah, gave people nicknames that all had "ed" in them because she was Fred. I got named Sped. anyways, she trusted in the Lord earlier this week, then her friend got a call that her uncle had been found dead and she jumped right in and ministered to her friend all night. the friend decided to stay and had a smile on her face the next day. that was really cool to see. so Hannah was crying really hard after worship night last night and i asked her what was wrong and she said she missed her mom (who had died when she was 9)... and that was a really tough moment. i brought her to Shane once she kinda composed herself and he just encouraged her about how God was using that and her in her friend's life when dealing with the death of her uncle... so that was really neat to hear.

also we paired up and told a camper our story last night during worship night too. i was paired with a girl named April. she said she wasn't saved but listened to me talk and then i asked her a few questions and she answered and would smile. she was really sweet. she said she wanted to start going to church so i told Shane so he could connect her w/ the church in Anchorage that he's connected with. during the invitation that night she raised her hand and went back and talked to someone, so that was really cool.

we had s'mores for snack after worship and then mr. Walter brought out the smoked salmon. i tried it with some cheese and crackers and it was pretty good.

the camp is really quiet now because all of the campers are gone & we're all worn out. Sherry & Walter have gone to the airport to pick up some of the team that's leading youth camp this coming week. youth camp only has about 6 people coming in to lead so we're gonna be involved more in the leadership as well as our normal jobs we have, and we may even be cabin counselors... so it's gonna be a busy busy week!

Alyssa (next to me) & Hannah (one of the staff's daughter at camp)

this week of camp has been so busy but awesome things are happening in some of these kids hearts and it's been so rewarding just to see God move in them. the natives here are a hard group to get in good with because they don't really trust the white people that much. however, the Oklahoma team that is leading this week's camp, the leader of the team has been coming to Alaska for 5 years and involved with First Native Church up here so i think that may be why some of these kids are opening up.

two days ago during nighttime worship Shane (the leader of the OK team) asked us all to break up in pairs and share our story with each other if we were saved. so me & Alyssa paired up and she shared with me that she had "said the prayer" at 6 years old, but she didn't say much more. then last night we broke up into pairs again and prayed with each other. so she asked me to be her pair again and i asked her how i could pray for her this week and she told me that she wanted to learn more about Jesus and God (she always says Jesus and God together instead of just one name:) and that she wanted me to pray for her to read her Bible at home everyday. so i prayed for her and then she prayed for me. it was the sweetest experience i've probably ever had in my life.

so at the end of the service Shane gave an invitation and asked them to walk to the back of the room and go with someone to talk... and Alyssa got up and went. she talked to one of the OK team and then i got to talk with her afterwards. she told me over and over that she was just so excited. she said she felt like she should've raised her hand the night before but she didn't... so she did tonight cause she still felt like she should. she also said that even though she prayed at 6, this was the first time she felt it (the prompting of the Spirit).

she also shared with me that during her quiet time that morning, they were to read John 6:1-15 (the story of feeding of the 5,000) and she just wanted to keep reading, she didn't want to stop, but she didn't have enough time during the time allotted for quiet time. so we finished reading that chapter together and talked about it. then she told me she wanted to tell Shane... so we went to Shane and she said she was afraid to tell him because she was shy... but i encouraged her to tell him so she finally did and she just had this huge smile on her face the entire time, it was so sweet.

they also have encouragement bags out for all of the kids so i wrote her a little note and stuck it in there. so when we were talking she told me she liked my note and that she had a facebook and we should be friends on there.

just seeing the smile and excitement and enthusiasm in Alyssa's eyes, just reminded me of when Jesus talks about being humble like a child, and shed so much light on it.

Matthew 18:1-4

At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, "who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" and calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

so please just pray for these kids that have trusted in Christ (a few of the ones i know are Alyssa, Hannah, and Billy) this week and also for a little girl here named Cora. she is from a village of about 500 people and she got a call from her mom last night saying they found her uncle frozen to death on the ice. and even though her mom was super upset at the time of the call she did ask for us to remember their family in prayer. Cora has decided to stay until the camp is over, but you can see how devastated she is in her eyes, so please pray for their family and village.

first day of camp.

The mission team that is leading this week's Native Youth Camp is from Oklahoma. They got to Anchorage last Thursday and have been at First Native for a few days until coming here last night. They brought a few kids with them that didn't have another way to get here. We all introduced ourselves and went over some rules then just had a rather chill night. Me, Rebecca, Will, and Thomas went out to the ballfield and played some horse, then volleyball, and then softball. I ran back to our cabin before softball to grab something & one of the native girls was playing on the swingset outside our cabin. I said hey to her and asked her if she was having fun and she said no. So i asked her if she wanted to play softball with us and she said she would love to. So i told her that we were about to play over at the field if she wanted to head over there and i would be there right after, but she said she'd wait on me to go over there. so we went over there and we taught her the basics cause she had never played before & it was a lot of fun. then she started telling us all of these jokes she knew, which i used to tell jokes all the time when i was a kid, so it was fun hearing them. one time she hit the ball well and i told her that she rocked and her face just got eaten up by her smile and she said in the sweetest way "thank you Robyn" - that's probably gonna be my favorite moment of this entire summer.

today was our first real camp day. it was long and busy but good. this morning we got to the dining hall at 7:30am and did our jobs that we're assigned for breakfast. afterwards we cleaned the bathhouses and started on some weedeating. then we went back to the dining hall to do our jobs for lunch and ate lunch. after lunch we did some more weedeating and then got a shower and went back to the dining hall to do our jobs for dinner. one of my jobs was to serve drinks and Elizabeth helped me with it. she's lived here for 5 years so she knows how to do most everything and it was fun to just have that time to talk with her a little more. after dinner we cleaned the bathhouses again and they had their first night worship service. it was a lot of introductory stuff and playing games to meet people that we hadn't met yet. it was interesting and fun. afterwards kids were just playing out on the field so i was heading over there & Alyssa was outside my cabin again so she came over and played soccer with me, Thomas, Will, James, & Hannah. it was good having that time to hang out with Alyssa again since during the day i'm busy doing jobs & stuff. i hadn't seen too much of Hannah and James last week because they were catching a break in between school and camps starting, but i love them! when rec time was over and they had to go back to their cabins Alyssa was so cute when she said goodnight! i hope i get to spend more time with her over the week, she's such a sweet girl!

Thursday we went out to the Iditarod Museum and got to see some of the Iditarod dogs and the puppies that are in training. The puppies are super new and they were really cute, it was a lot of fun.

Yesterday we did a lot of cleaning and getting the camp ready. The Native Youth Camp starts on Monday. We're not sure yet how many students will be coming, but i'm excited for them to get here. Just praying that we will have the strength and energy to adjust to the first week of camp and that our hearts are prepared, as well as the mission team coming to lead the camp and the campers themselves.

today we had a tutorial on how to weedeat, but it's been raining so we didn't actually weedeat today. we moved a lot of firewood and stacked it in the shed. then we took a walmart run. i'm glad we did because my hair straightener quit working yesterday so i got another one. i also found a few aisles of souvenir stuff so i got some really cute things for some people.

after walmart we went to a thrift store and i got 5 shirts and a jacket for $5.25! i was so excited! i got a few long sleeve shirts cause i needed them, but i got some Alaskan fishing shirts and just really neat stuff. and i found a dunder mifflin shirt! and the jacket i got is a Wasilla Warriors basketball warmup jacket.... i love it!

thus far we've only been doing about half day of work but next monday our first camp starts and it's gonna be super long hours. normally we'll be in the kitchen around 7:30 to get started in the morning, do devotion, clean around cabins and bathhouses, maybe do some outside work, serve lunch, do some outside work, maybe have an hour or two break, serve dinner and clean up the dining hall and be done around 8 or 9 some nights. so it'll be long hours.