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.