June Update!

Since our last post, life has been keeping us busy as always! Here’s an update on a few things going on with us:

The Outdoor Ed season comes to a close!

Our last Outdoor Ed school left on May 13, ending the spring season. Overall it was a great season! One of the highlights was during one of our bigger camps with Ventura Missionary School (fifty kids and thirty adults). This school is different from some Christian schools in that many of the parents are not familiar with Christianity; they just send their kids to a Christian school so they can get a better education than at the public schools. With thirty parent chaperones attending camp with their kids, this provides us with a great opportunity to reach out to them. To be honest, it is also one of the more stretching weeks, because sometimes the thirty parents can be more difficult to deal with than the students. This year, before their arrival, we focused on praying for the parents and our own attitudes toward them, as well as for their hearts to be softened and ready for whatever ways God wanted to stretch them.

With this school we always bring in a special speaker named “Grizz” for one of our evening programs. Grizz is a Native American pastor who travels around often to speak to groups and to share his powerful testimony. He always delights the kids with his Native American dancing and singing, but his message is what they end up remembering the most. After sharing his testimony and explaining the truth of salvation, a couple of parents and students gave their lives over to Christ for the first time! It is so exciting to see how, even though we often focus our attention on the students and their growth in Christ, God uses our programs and His Creation to speak to the adults as well!

Visitors from the Midwest!

A few weeks ago, right after Outdoor Ed ended, my two cousins, Amy and Lesley (who are really more like sisters than cousins), and Amy’s husband and little girl came to visit us for a week! It was Amy and Lesley’s first trip to California, so we had fun showing them around Southern California and the camp! A couple days before they left, two of my close friends from Indiana, Courtney and Nancy, also came to visit! Here is a photo of all the girls at the historic Rock Inn, an old hotel/restaurant in our tiny town that attracts mostly motorcycle riders from all over California. Meals at the Rock Inn always end up being an adventure! It was great to spend time with our friends and family, and we’re looking forward to their next visit!

Summer officially begins in the “Wild, Wild West!”

As of Thursday, all of our summer staff has arrived and we have begun our summer training! About a third of our staff is returning from working past summers here, so that is a huge blessing. On Wednesday we took our summer leadership staff on a camp out retreat to Sawmill Mountain, where we spent time bonding and focusing on the Lord and goals that He has for each of us this summer. We have an amazing group of leadership staff this year and it has been fun getting to know them so far! Here is a photo of some of them during a skit they performed to welcome the counselors on Thursday.

Our theme this summer is “Wild, Wild West”—focusing on God’s forgiveness and Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” We are excited to see how God uses the theme to speak to the kids’ hearts and bring them to a deeper knowledge of His love and forgiveness.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Please continue to pray for the health of our baby boy as he continues to “bake in the oven!”
• With the arrival of our new baby in September, our support level will be rising. We will need to raise an additional $903 monthly, or $10,800 a year. Most of this increase is due to the jump in insurance costs since this is our first child. God has been so faithful in providing for our support needs so far(through so many of you!), and we are trusting that He will meet this need as well! Please be praying for these pledges to come in, and ask God if He wants you to become involved in this exciting ministry!
• Pray for our summer staff as they leave for Fresno today for a week on intense urban training and exposure.

Thanks for your love and prayers!