The official camping season recently ended with our last camp, MK Camp. Our family is tired, but satisfied with the summer flurry of ministry and ready for a well-earned vacation!
The season started off early for Bonnie and Lydia. They both helped out with Camp A for 6-10 year olds. Before any camper arrived, Bonnie was hard at work, ensuring that the camp program was not, "over the heads" of the campers. But Bonnie can explain it better than I can, so here is how she describes it: "What do tetherball, baseball, a water slide, cinnamon rolls, and the song 'I Wanna Be Like a Tree' have in common? They were all new activities for Camp A this year we added an American flavor to our youngest Croatian camp. This was my first year at the 6 to 10 year olds Croatian camp. It was lovely to work with my favorite age group for a whole week and we had a great staff who was mostly from Split, a Croatian coastal city. I led the English electives, did the rock climbing instruction and assisted Kate Wurzberg, who was leading the camp for her first time. It was a great week of fun with a focus on the Kingdom of God. We had some good conversations come from the Bible study and evening talk times."
Next was camp B. This camp is for ages 11-13. This time Bonnie, Lydia, and myself all served at camp while Ellie Beth attended. Bonnie spoke about God as our mighty king one of the nights. She also served as a girl’s counselor and had a great room of girls who she enjoyed connecting with. I had a room of 6 guys and spoke to the campers about loving God above all else. This age group is a lot of fun to work with and it is exciting to model a life of loving God with these campers throughout the week. What strikes me at this camp is a comment a parent made to me last year. He said, "you sure do love our children, I appreciate that." It's funny how sometimes we can reach the parents through their children. That family sent their children to camp again this year, and we'll be visiting them later this week on our vacation. One of our highlights of this camp was getting several hugs from campers as they went home. Our prayer is that our lives impact these campers in such a way that they clearly see Jesus.
I was the only member of my family to serve at Camp C. To be honest, this was the most difficult camp I have served at. A number of campers at this camp were from a local foster home/orphanage, and it seemed that at any given moment there were two groups of campers doing something wrong. This required me to try to stop both problems while also trying to lead an activity. This constant need for discipline kept me from having the opportunity to play and interact with the campers. At one point, I simply felt that I had little or no connection with the campers. But, by weeks end, they started coming around. I spent a lot of time getting the campers to know that I expected respect for camp leaders and camp property. In time, a number of them started to get the idea that if they followed the rules, I would give them freedom and have time to play with them. I think that week was a good start to a relationship with these campers, and I look forward to seeing them next year. Our theme at camp was faith factor. I spoke the opening night from Hebrews 11:1 and encouraged the campers to spend a week exploring faith through Jesus Christ. On the fourth night of camp I was asked to fill in for another speaker. With a couple hours of prep time, I spoke on Rahab from Hebrews 11:31. I challenged the campers to see that even though God had sent the Israelite's to destroy Jericho and all inside, that Rahab still took faith in God that she and her family could be saved. In spite of the difficult week, I am ready to hold camp C again and look forward to future opportunities to engage with these young people regarding who Jesus Christ is.
Finally, we had MK Camp. Bonnie served as assistant cook and I served as camp director. Lydia and Ellie Beth were campers. The theme at MK Camp was Faith Factor. Prior to camp, we had two days of staff training and getting to know each other. Then the campers started arriving from all over Europe. Again, I started the camp with a challenge to the campers to spend a week exploring faith, and to consider following a simple process of Listen to the speakers and Bible studies; Communicate with others about
the topic of faith; and then take Action on what they had learned. The defining trait of MK Camp is worship. These campers get together each night and worship the Lord in English. It is exciting to participate with them as they praise God in their native language. It seems that they hold nothing back. At one time during the week, nearly the whole camp chose to have an extra worship time rather than free time. What a blessing that was. If Facebook is any indicator, many of the campers are saying this was the best MK Camp ever. At the end of camp, we ask campers to help us explain what MK Camp means to them and one camper wrote this, "MK Camp is an encouraging, spiritually-renewing week filled with the people who understand you the best. It was one of the highlights of my summer". I guess the campers say it best.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 12:10PM | 
The other day, I was at the doctor’s office. I had a tick bite and because of symptoms, wanted confirmation that I didn’t have a worse problem. Just to let you know, I do not have Lyme’s disease. However, the doctor did not have the ability in the office to do a blood draw and sent me to the clinic for infectious diseases in Zagreb. When the nurse called me for the initial consultation, she wanted to take my temperature, so she gave me a thermometer and asked me to return in 5 or 10 minutes. I obediently took the thermometer, shoved it in my mouth and sat down in the lobby. Then I noticed how large the thermometer was and how awkward it felt in my mouth – more like a cigar. Then I began to wonder where the thermometer was supposed to go and if I really wanted it in my mouth. As I debated this with myself, I looked around and nobody was begging me to remove the thermometer, so I left it in. After I gave it back to the nurse and returned to the lobby, I noticed another guy with a funny protrusion from his armpit. A couple minutes later he got up, pulled the thermometer from his armpit, and returned it to the nurse. Turns out, that in Croatia you take your temperature in your armpit. I love living in a foreign country, especially when I’m at the infectious diseases clinic, with an armpit thermometer in my mouth when the outside temperature is in the 90’s.
