Adventure Camp!

Hello everyone! Amy here. Wow, this summer is flying by fast! I hope you have enjoyed the warm weather as much as I have. I wanted to take this opportunity to fill you in on what's coming up next in my life. As most of you know, I have been counseling at a Bible camp this summer and have been richly blessed with new friendships, opportunities to minister, and tons of time in God's great outdoors. I am so thankful for what the Lord has done in my life over the past two months. This week I have spent some time at home, catching up on emails, school papers, blogs, bike rides ;-), and meetings, while enjoying time with friends and family. I am also recovering from strep throat. I slept for more than thirteen hours yesterday (more than twice the amount of sleep I get in the average night at camp)!

On Sunday morning, I will head back to camp for a whole new adventure. In fact, we're calling it Adventure Camp! We will be bringing a group of Native American children to camp for a week of outdoor fun, Bible teaching, testimonies, and relationship building. I can hardly wait! I have worked with this ministry before and have seen God work in incredible ways in the hearts of the campers. However, ministering to so many children from such diverse backgrounds can be very challenging. We as a staff team will be fighting some very real spiritual battles and making tough decisions as we strive to empower these children with the hope of Christ. Please pray for us!

1.) Pray that God will be preparing the hearts and minds of the campers to hear and understand the truth of His Word.

2.) Pray that the Lord will give our staff team wisdom and discernment as we plan activities and chapel times for the campers.

3.) Pray that we will be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can show the campers the love and peace found only in Jesus Christ.

4.) Ask God to provide the finances needed to fund this camp.

5.) Pray for health and safety for campers and staff alike.

6.)Please pray that God will do mighty works at Adventure Camp!

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Before I sign off, I want to encourage you with something the Lord has been teaching me this summer:

Sometimes the tasks set before us seem daunting--even impossible. Sometimes we see Satan's fingerprints all over a situation and feel like it's hopeless and we might as well give up. Sometimes we're just too tired and drained to even care anymore. Sometimes we find that it hurts too much to love those who don't love us in return, and everything in us wants to strike back.

In those times, remember that we serve a God who delights in giving us beauty for ashes. He can take the most broken situation and change it into a testimony of His power. He can melt hearts of stone and redeem them for His kingdom's work. His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. He will never call us to do something without giving us the strength to see it through.

Take heart, my friends! We serve a mighty God!

#14 & #15

My collection keeps growing! These adorable snowmen were a birthday present from Amy. Kyle and Ella's mom let them pick these cute little piggies out for me. Thank you everyone!

Life Lessons

Today is my (Julie's) 20th birthday, and drawing on my years of knowledge and experience, I thought I would share a couple lessons I have learned over the years.

1. Running on ice is not a good idea.
2. Remember that in Europe, they use triangles and circles to designate men's and women's restrooms, not the easily understandable pictures of a boy and girl. It is good to know which one you belong in, or else you are in danger of walking into the wrong one. If that happens, you can only hope that there is no one in there, or at least that they understand you are American and have no idea which one is which.
3. Not all churches use grape juice for communion like ours. Be aware that if you are not used to real wine, it can make you dizzy, tired, and sick.
4. Leaving a piece of watermelon gum in your pocket and washing your jeans makes a mess in the dryer, but it does make it smell very summery.
5. When you bring a plate of cookies or bars to a place where guys work, don't expect leftovers.
6. The whole 'don't lick a flagpole in the winter' thing - it's true.

Egg-ceptional Present

This past weekend, we were on the campaign trail, visiting a couple fairs in the Twin Cities area, and so we stayed at Bop and Nanny's house on Friday night. They gave me my birthday present early, and look at the cute salt and pepper shaker set they found:It will look so cute with all my other ones! Thanks, Bop and Nanny!

Must Hear

I found a song a couple days ago on YouTube that has been making me want to dance and clap ever since. It's the David Crowder Band's rendition of "I Saw the Light." I loved the song anyway, but their version is just so much fun to listen to. Songs like that make me overflow joy in my Savior! If you need a day-brightener, or even if your day is fantastic already, this is a song you must hear!

Addendum

An oversight on my last post was brought to my attention last night. I failed to mention the part-time delivery guy, Rob, who doesn't complain about my stickers, because, in his own words, "Ogema does enough complaining about them for the both of us."

What do you do?

Ever since I started working at Kal's (more than two years ago now - wow!), I've gotten a lot of people asking me, "What exactly do you do there?" So I thought it was high time I gave you a little glimpse into my day. I usually start with a cup of half cappuccino, half hot chocolate. Dad has coffee, but I guess I'm not old enough yet. :-) This is my desk. I had to add my own personal touch. I'm not the secretary, but I do some filing. Technically, you could probably call me a salesperson, since I'm usually the first person to help a customer who comes in the door. I can do most of the sales, but some of it is far over my head, and that's when I'm thankful I have my dad to help me out! When I first started, the hardest thing to learn was the computer system. Most stores have a bar code system and they just have to scan the item and the computer takes care of the rest. Because there is no practical way we could scan everything we sell (lots of it wouldn't fit in the store!), we have to enter the number in the computer, which means we have to know the number. Some of the numbers (called sku's), are simple. For instance, the sku for a 2x4-8' board is 248. Those ones I picked up quickly. Some are a little harder, like 16 penny sinker nails are 16DCC. Ok, those aren't too hard. Some are hard, like a certain box of nails is NA33314RG. Those ones all have some sort of reasoning behind them, and can be figured out. Then there are the things that have no rhyme or reason behind them and are just a number on the item. Most of the little things inside are this way. These are easy and hard, because you don't have to remember the sku, just type it in, but sometimes there are 4 or 5 different numbers on the package, and you have to figure out which one is the right one. Then there are the wonderful ones whose numbers have changed and we haven't changed them in the computer yet. To top it all off, there are about 6,000 sku's in our computer. I remember getting so frustrated trying to learn all that I needed to know to be able to do things on my own, but also feeling so proud when I could finally do it! Mostly I work inside. Keeping the caulking shelves full is one of my jobs. I do go outside to load customers up sometimes, if it is a small load, or if everyone else is busy. I finally know my way around the yard well enough so I can almost always at least tell people where something is, even if it is too heavy for me to load up for them. Since a lot of the customers are contractors that I have gotten to know well, they are very obliging and don't mind lifting the heavy things in themselves. The other part of my job is cleaning. I spend a lot of time with that broom. Along with sweeping, I clean the bathroom, which isn't bad at all, because, as you can see, it is not very big! I bring something for Dad's lunch almost everyday. We have a couple George Foreman grills in the backroom on the workbench that I use frequently. After lunch, I wash the dishes in that plastic tub there. I also do some deliveries, if they are small, or if we are really busy. I can't drive the two-ton truck because I don't have my CDL (which is fine by me because I would be scared to death to try to back that thing up!), but I can drive the one-ton truck, and sometimes I take things out in my dad's truck. Otherwise, for deliveries, I get the inside stuff ready to go. This includes nails/screws, caulking, joist hangars, etc. We send nails out in paper bags, and I have these cute little smiley face stickers I put on the bags. They embarrass Ogema, our delivery guy, to no end, but he's a good sport. I really have to say I love working here. It is certainly not where I pictured myself ever working, and sometimes I'm amazed that God helped me stick with it long enough to learn to love it. I am so thankful for many of the contractors that come in, and the time I have here with my dad is irreplaceable. There. Now you have an idea of what I do during the day!

Where did it go?

I (Julie) was reading in Galatians tonight, and in chapter 4, Paul is appealing to the Galatians to remember how they acted the first time they heard the Gospel. He asks, "What has happened to all your joy?" That question has stuck with me. Isn't it lame how we have the best thing in the world in Jesus, and yet so often we feel discontent, unhappy, or just bored with life? Sometimes I think we need someone to look us in the eyes and say, "Hey! What has happened to all your joy? It's time to get it back!" Listen to Psalm 16:11: "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." That's where we get our joy, so let's get it!

The Throat of Christ

Hey all! Amy here. If you haven't heard yet, I am spending my summer as a counselor at a local Bible camp and LOVING it! We have been blessed with a great staff team, beautiful weather and some really fun kids! I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve at this camp! Since I'm away from home for most of the week and have very limited access to the internet, I haven't kept up with the blog world much. (Thanks, Julie, for picking up the slack on our blog!) This weekend, though, I feel led to share with you a little of what I learned this week from the six beautiful little ladies in my cabin. Each day we spent time doing devotions in our cabin. One day we talked about being the body of Christ and about how each part of the body is necessary to fill a certain role. We read through part of 1 Corinthians 12, and then we asked the girls to think about people they knew at camp and what parts of Christ's body those people might be serving as. The girls first mentioned the chapel speaker and decided that he was probably serving as the heart and mouth of Christ, because he really loved the Lord and talked about that love to other people (pretty insightful for nine- and ten-year-olds!). I asked if they could think of anyone else and one girl said the name of our head counselor. "And what part of Christ's body do you think she might be serving as?" I asked. She paused for a second, then blurted out, "The THROAT!" Trying very hard (and somewhat unsuccessfully) to stifle my giggles, I asked, "And why would you say that?" She quickly replied, "Because she loves to sing!" I thought about that little talk a lot throughout the week and had a few good laughs over it. I'm pretty sure that our head counselor had never thought of herself as the "throat of Christ" before. Yet what a role to fill! Certainly, none of us is limited to serving as just one part of the body. On any given day, you might take on the roles of dozens of "body parts" for the glory of God. But today, I want to challenge you to intentionally be the "throat of Christ." Use your vocal chords to praise our Holy Lord! Take some time to sing a song of praise all the way through and think about the words and what they mean to you. Tell someone about a blessing God has put into your life and ask what He's been doing in theirs. Talk to God and thank Him for His love and faithfulness. He is so good and so worthy of our worship!