the end of camps!

(Campamentos Jovenes 2011)

What a month it has been, cant belive that January is over, camps have finished and that i´m still in one piece.

The last week has been great and the campers have had a brilliant time at camp. Every camp we finish the last night with a bonfire and people share their testimony, songs or their experiences of camp. This week the bonfire lasted til 1 in the morning with so many young people sharing how God has impacted their lives and their hopes for the future. we had roughly 87 young people (including the team) at camp this week and i just cant help thinking about the potential there was, so many young people passionate about serving God here in Peru and trying to work out what the future holds, whether is serving God in their jobs or going to bible college or working with churches in full time basis.

(one of the teams) (obstacle course) (praise team)

Some stories from the week, on thursday the obstacle course finished with a waterfight, my attempts to escape the campsite didn´t quite work out. the Pastor came out of his room to see what was happening. Jonny Younge told him it was safe to come out, that noone would soak the Pastor but Jonny was wrong! Friday at the beach had a few more people thrown into the sea, the waves were huge on Friday so good job we had our faithful life guard on duty! had a few pranks this week as well, a few of the boys on the team looked very pretty with scarlet red nails, and not sure whose underwear was up the flag pole but they got a bit of a shock on friday morning. I now sleep with the bedroom door locked, just safer that way!

Pray points post camp

- For the young people, that the teaching would have a lasting impact on their lives

- For an excitement for God´s word and a passion to live for him

- For the family issues that many of the young people have, that they wouold find strength in God to deal with incredibly difficult situations

- For the Counselors, that they would know God´s guidance for the future and would continue to serve faithfully in their churches

Ephesians 1: 18

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

(me and tiara and morelia, (from back left: Daniel, Jorge, Jonny,

daughters of our lovely cooks) and in the front David)

So what next for mision rescate.....

sleep.....sleep.....sleep

this week is time to recover post camps and to start preparations for the craziness to come. On thursday we head to Tacna for our first Holiday Bible club. We will be working alongside Luz de Vida in church services, youth work, kids clubs, and anything and everything else. So in the next few days we´re looking over the material, preparing testimonies, devotionals, memory verses, songs etc. I´m looking forward to working with kids and to visit the different churches associated with Baptist missions, to meet people and travel.

Pray for the team as we head to Tacna, most of mision rescate are from Tacna so it will be hard being so close to family and friends and not having a lot of time to see them. Pray for Luz Maria Camp Co-ordinator) too, now that camps are over the campsite is quiet and when the team head off to Tacna, it will be even quieter, so pray that she will be encouraged this week and not too lonely at the campsite. After Luz de Vida, we have a holiday bible club in Ite and then to Ilo to La Pampa, so ready for another busy three weeks!

For me, i´m really loving this experience. Not going to lie, its hard at times being the only irish person in the team, living so far from home and working flat out. Yet i see so many blessings from God, and his mercies are new everyday. This week i got to sing with the worship band and find that i´m even starting to understand the words of the songs, its a baeautiful way to learn spanish. we have great cooks at camp and i enjoy the banter in the kitchen. a special moment for me was when i was telling them i had done the devotional in the morning, they asked what is was about and i got to share i bit of my devotional. It was brilliant to be able to share a little bit of the Bible in spanish, we were talking about Abraham and Sarah. They had many reasons to doubt God

1) God promised them they would live in Canaan a land which belong to another tribe

2) God had promised them they would be parents to many nations and Sarah couldn´t have children

3) God promised them a son but they were both over 100 years old.

Yet Romans 4 says that Abraham did not waver through unbelief regarding the promises of God.

I am trusting in the promises of God and i´m thankful that he promises he will never leave us or forsake us, that when we come to him we can find rest, that we can do all things through christ who gives us strength. Thank you so much for all your prayers, your prayers make a real difference and the fact that i can talk as much spanish as i do is a result of prayer. Pray that i would continue to know God purpose for having me here, and that i would be as useful as i can be, and would enjoy every moment of my time here!

Prayer points

- That the team would be faithful in our preparations for our work with various churches

- That we would be faithful in prayer and continue to rely on God in all things

- That God would send kids to the holiday bible clubs and that we would have fruitful conversations with the young people as we work with them

- that we would be an encouragement to the churches and pastors and that god would bless those relationships

- That i continue to learn and practice my spanish and not be frustrated, that i would trust God to meet every need

^{Romans 4:20} Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.