California Missions Trip

Camp Berea

The trip was a major success! It was a fun, exhausting time spent with approximately 40 kids, age range 6-12 years.The week was spent playing games, hiking up and down steep trails, and watching out for mountain lions and bears! A mountain lion was spotted on one the trails the day after we were on that trail. A mountain lion had not been spotted for years prior to. It was exciting but I was terrified to walk the trails with 12 little kids multiple times a day, let alone by myself; which I unfortunately had to do. Here are some pictures of what the camp was like.

(1) Girls Cabin (2) Look Out Point (3)A small part of the long, steep trail (4) The Main Building (5)Home of the Keepers of the Camp (6) Another cabin along the trail (7) Arts & Crafts (8) Story time with Buddy the Porcupine

***Interesting note: We walked passed the above cabin (6) daily, multiple times and if we saw that the trash cans were tipped over we needed to be extra careful and watch out for the bear. Thankfully we never encountered or saw any signs of the bear thankfully. The rumor is that last fall the bear was shot. The bear was around a lot last summer at camp, they even had blow horns that the counselors carried around when a bear was spotted. It just gives me the goose bumps thinking about it. I praised God daily for keeping us safe!!!

Highlights of the Week

This is a picture of Ricky and me. Ricky was in my trail guide group. He heard of camp through his grandma's friend. He has two little brothers that live with him at his Grandma's house. They have never gone to church. Until this week at camp he had never really heard of who Jesus is. Throughout the week Ricky and I talked a lot about who Jesus is and how much He loves us. We also talked about how He died on the cross to save us from our sins. How the topic of the in-depth discussion arose was when Ricky was scared one night and wanted to go home because of the one the scary camp stories. We talked about how Jesus protects us and is with us all of the time. I told him how we have to ask Jesus into our hearts and what being a christian means, how it is a big decision and something he needs to think and pray about before he makes that life changing decision. Well two days later on the last night of camp he asked me to pray with him and he prayed for the second time in his life to ask Jesus into his heart. It was beautiful to hear such an innocent voice pray the sinners prayer. He was so excited to tell everyone, we even ran half way down the trail laughing and cheering, we were making noise to scare any potential animals away, to tell Sam Carney another one of the counselors. It was a tearful goodbye on Saturday but we knew we would see each other one day in heaven. Also his grandma was asking about information on a church close to them. His grandparents are planning on attending church with the boys. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Another highlight from the trip is David, (bottom photo) who is one of the teens from Nappanee who went with us, accepted Jesus into his heart while on the trip. David and Starla both had made the decision to be baptized on July 6 at the NFBC church baptism. When we met for dinner Saturday night after camp had concluded David was sharing his new decision with Pastor Paul (Pastor of one of the Brethren Churches in California) he was very excited for him. He began to talk about baptism and what it means and what all it involves and then said "Heck we could baptize you over in that little pond" and David said that would be awesome. So Pastor Paul baptized David and then Starla said she wanted to be baptized too. It was an amazing time and Gods presence was felt by many. It was truly a unique and memorable experience.

Well as you can see it was a very exciting time for all involved. I think everyone came back a changed person. We all appreciate all the prayers and support that was given to us prior to and during this experience. Thanks for everything, we could not of done this without you! God Bless!

note: oh yeah, David fell off the railing of a deck and sprained his ankle, which is why there are crutches in the photo