El Fin

It's hard to believe that today is our last full day @ Malibu. Today the rain is falling hard, the clouds are low and I am greatly enjoying sitting by the fire in Kanata in sweats with a latte on my afternoon off.

This assignment has been wonderful. Our team has been a blessing and the Lord has been moving powerfully in the lives of campers and work staff alike. It will be hard to leave here tomorrow. But it's time. I am tired and can't sustain this pace of work much longer, but our memories and relationships built here are sweet and will last a lifetime.

We have laughed , we have played, we have cried and we have worked incredibly hard. Tonight, the new assignment team and work staff arrive in Egmont. They will arrive on the Princess @ noon tomorrow and we will depart @ 1pm. Please pray for this new assignment team. Pray too for the property as they have an entirely new work staff to train in their jobs and roles throughout camp. This change over is a big deal for all involved. Join us in praying for the transition here @ Malibu.

| Notable and Quotable things|

• Someone shaved Stormy! Stormy is a dog that lives here @ Malibu. She belongs to Gill and Lynda and is a fixture in camp, Stormy is a big, black, furry dog who keeps bears and cougars away. Last night as we were walking down a dark main street, we saw a dog trotting towards us following Gill that we figured was Stormy. As they neared us, however, we realized that this dog didn't have any fur. Stormy had been shaved. For those of you who know Stormy, you can imagine what a sight it was to see a sheared Stormy.
• The Info Booth: revised. The Info Booth is another Malibu fixture along the main st boardwalk. A head leader is posted @ the Info Booth during camp to ensure that everyone stays in camp at night. Peder asked one of the maintenance guys if he could work on making the Info Booth a little more comfortable. The following night, we arrived to an Info Booth that had been lined with tarps and was to be filled with hot water. The Info Booth was now ready to become a hot tub. A note was left for Peder stating that whomever had revised the Info Booth hoped that the new arrangement was to Peder's liking. Peder promptly changed into boardshorts and got a rubber ducky and lifeguard rescue can and sat it the Info Booth/Hot Tub.
• Felipe the Pollo. During entertainment night this week, Jed (on program) did the movie theater skit in which an obnoxious movie goer enters a theater and proceeds to annoy the other movie goers. Jed said that he snuck a friend into the movies and pulled a rubber chicken out of his hat. He told everyone that his chicken's name was Felipe Contrerras. Felipe Contrerras is really one of our WC bosses. Jed later shoved the chicken in someones face and said, "My name is Felipe Contrerras, I'm a pollo!". Felipe has since become sort of an unofficial mascot for our assignment team. He even lost a bet to Jonah (our camp musician) and was called on stage during Jonah's concert last night to play the cowbell and the spoons.
• Yesterday a camper was out wakeboarding and when he took a fall somehow got hit in the head with his wakeboard. When Harold circled back around to get him, the camper asked if he was bleeding. He was, and quite profusely, so Harold plucked the kid out of the water and brought him back to the dock. The camp doctor was sent down to the dock and I cleared the inner dock of bystanders, as there was much blood involved. The camper had a decent sized gash and need 15 stitches to close up the wound on his head.
• Today at the end of Life Signs, leaders came out on stage with cardboard signs telling a bit of their stories. The front side of their cardboard sign said something about their life before Christ. The back of their sign said something about how Christ redeemed their life. It is incredibly powerful for kids to see their leaders be vulnerable and honest. Kids and leaders alike were crying and shaking as cardboard signs ended Life Signs. Examples of some of the cardboard signs: Used sex for love/Found true love in Jesus, Sexually abused and felt worthless/Valuable in God's eyes, Eating Disorder and out of control/Learning to trust Jesus, Left and abandoned by my father/ Found my Heavenly Father, Filled with hate/ Filled with love and joy by Christ.
• Tonight is Say So for this camp. Pray for kids to be brave and respond. Pray to that when they go home that they would continue to seek the Lord.
  

There are countless other things I could write about. God has done some incredible things here. Thank you for reading, for praying and for caring. Tomorrow I will be back to my beloved Bellingham. I am excited to sleep in my bed and have some Thai food, but I am sad to leave this place and these people.

Adventures

The club room @ Say So, week 2

• 2 nights ago was Say So for week 2. 66 kids stood up to state their decision to follow Christ because of their week @ camp. It's always an incredible event full of tears and smiles. Love it!
• Yesterday was boat day. Week 2 headed out and week 3 made their way into camp. On the way out to the outer dock, the ski boat we were in blew an impeller. No big deal, there were other boats to tow us back in...except that we were in the middle of the Malibu rapids. That's a little more of a big deal. Kiki from the dock did a great job of getting us through the rapids and another ski boat came to tow us back. A little panic, a little fun and it all worked out in the end...well except for the impeller.
• Things that I hear regularly that don't make me think twice: "Alright it's time for the cheesy song of the night, so guys, turn in your man cards and sing this like you mean it." (Jonah @ club) "Connor, you need to let your sister play with the chicken now." (one of our a-team wives talking to her kids in the pool who are playing with a rubber chicken in the pool) "The volleyball is in the inlet again..." "There is a kid coming through the obstacle course in a wrestling singlet and an entire cabin coming through barefoot." "They're throwing the salmon heads in the inlet again." "Has anyone seen my wig?"
  

Blame it on the Rain

It's day 6 of week 2. At the beginning of this week Harold (Malibu's property manager) and I made a little weather wager. Harold said that the weather would continue to be warm and sunny, while I bet that it would rain this week. The stakes: a latte form Hamilton's. It's been raining for the last 3 days...sorry Harold. Below are some happenings, fun and otherwise, as well as prayer requests for this week and next.

| Happenings |

• Day 5 @ Malibu is ropes day, so the A-team spent the day in the trees with campers and leaders alike conquering-or at least confronting-their fears. I was tethered to a tree from 6:30AM to 4:00PM. The setting: the forest. The smell: graphite and damp earth. The sounds: the patter of rain on the trees, the clipping sounds of caribiners and the guttural screams of campers as they left the jump platform.
• We have a group of tough kids here from Montana. They are rough around the edges and a split second away from starting a brawl with a a group of boys from California. Several of these young men came to my platform yesterday on the ropes course and I realized as they leaned over to spit off my platform, that they were expectorating chewing tobacco. Nice.
• Another adventure on the ropes was one of the funniest things I have seen in a while. One of our program guys, Andy-who is smaller in stature, and by stature I mean weight-was on the divide section of the ropes course. We had a leader come through who decided he wanted to get down and wouldn't be able to finish the course. The divide is the only place to get down from the ropes course before you get to the jump platform. So it was Andy's task to belay this leader down. The only problem was that this leader weighed at least twice, if not three times as much as Andy. So when Andy had the leader scoot off the divide platform, the leader went down about 5 feet and Andy went up in the air about 5 feet. Katie (one of our WC bosses) who was on the divide platform with Andy grabbed onto his arm and a few other staff quickly hurried over to hold Andy down and to get the belay device to lower this leader to the ground. It all took about 5 minutes, and once we realized that everyone was safe, we all had a good laugh, even the leader.
• Today, Harold bought me my victory latte. He even conceded that the rain was good for Malibu because we were nearing fire danger levels, since it had been so long since we'd had any rain. So it was a win-win situation for all, except Harold's Hamilton's tab.
• I got a card from a dear wonderful friend and a little care package with gluten and dairy free brownie mix in it arrived by plane the other day from another wonderful friend! It's amazing how special mail is when you're away!
• John Franklin, our divisional VP for YL in the West flew into camp on Tuesday for a visit and to see how our assignment team was doing. It was great to spend time with John and to hear his feedback on our assignment-all good things!
  

| Prayer |

• Last night was the message of the Cross in club. Kids had a 20 minute quiet time last night and they will have another 15 this evening after club to consider their response to Christ's sacrifice for us. Tonight @ 10pm, we will have Say So, where kids will get to stand and state their decision to enter into a relationship with Christ. Pray for this night, and for this time of Say So.
• Our a-team is sleeping much better as a whole, please pray for continued rest and renewal for all of our team, work crew and summer staff.
• We had a SS girl-Anna- who has a staph infection in her leg. Pray for healing and that it would not spread, especially towards her heart-if it starts streaking towards her heart, we will have to fly her out immediately.
• We have a WC kid-Carlos-who is dealing with issues of racism, being a minority on the WC. He left his job last night and started packing his bags. When is WC boss, who is also his YL leader, went to him he said, "Leave me alone and let me pack and leave, or else I will start destroying things." He settled down and went back to work and is doing well today. Pray for a soft heart for Carlos as well redemption in his heart regarding race and living in community.
• Tomorrow is Day 7 of Week 2 and Day 1 of Week 3. It's a hard day. We don't get a break between camps and literally have 2 in camp at the same time. Pray for us, that we would give week 3 our best and find rest somewhere in the day.

With joy and many thanks!

Jen

Week 2, Day 3 | Attack

Week 2 is in full swing here @ Malibu. Today was full of Pool Olympics and Regatta and tonight kids will dart through camp in cabins for the Amazing Race trying to find Jimmy Ike, the program character who was kidnapped by the villain, Kashi Karl.

Amidst the fun and controlled chaos of camp, our assignment team is under attack. It's week 2, we're comfortable, we're settled and the enemy is coming after our team. It seems that sleep is the battlefield for our team. Please join us in praying for the following things/people.

• For Kelli on program, she's not sleeping well. Pray for rest and peace in her heart and mind at night when she lays down to sleep.
• For Jed on program. He is not sleeping well either. His wife and 2 daughters were not able to make it up here for this assignment because Rawni teaches summer school. Rawni and the girls have been sick back home, and that makes it harder for Jed to be fully present here. Pray for peace and rest for Jed and for health for Rawni, Bailey and Charlie.
• Nate, our speaker is also not sleeping well. He woke up in the middle of the night last night because of nightmares. Pray for rest, peace and for truth to reign in Nate's mind and heart, even as he sleeps.
• We have a camper here named Keith who has not slept for 6 days. He's a tough kid and for some reason he can't sleep. Pray that Keith would find peace, rest and the love of Jesus this week and that he would sleep, and sleep well. May he be surprised at how well he sleeps here @ Malibu.
• Several leaders have said that they have kids who are agnostic, but are beginning to entertain the idea that there is something more, something bigger than us. Pray for those kids to hear Truth and to be set free because of it.
  

Boat Day | Out with the old in with the new

Today was boat day. Our 2nd week of campers arrived today on the Malibu Princess while our work crew 1st week of campers cheered them off the boat. Last night was Say So with our first week of campers. Scripture says for the redeemed of the Lord to "say so". At YL camps, we give kids the chance to stand before their peers and proclaim their choice to follow Christ after their week of being @ camp. Last night 56 teenagers stood up in the club room and declared their decision to follow Jesus this week. It was awesome and wonderful and an honor to be witness to.

PRAY: A girl I have gotten to know this week while playing volleyball named Shelby from LaGrange, TX stood up @ Say So last night. After wards, I stopped her and hugged her and told her how proud of her I was. I asked her what home was like for her and she said, "There's a lot of alcohol and drinking." She went on to tell me that she spent the 2 weeks prior to camp drunk. She would go to school drunk and even spent one night sick in the bathroom for 5 hours after drinking with friends. She said she knew she wanted to get rid of that way of life and that she really does want to live her life fully for Jesus, but that going home would be hard because her family and friend so readily offer her alcohol. Please join me in praying for Shelby as she returns home tomorrow to LaGrange.

It was sad to say goodbye to a group of leaders and kids that we have grown to know and love over the last 7 days. During our week with our first camp, I got to pray with Evette, the leader from Colorado Springs whose husband is battling cancer back home. We prayed together and wept together. She is an amazing woman and it was terribly hard to say goodbye to her on the dock today. Please continue to PRAY with me for Evette and her husband Mark as they go through this tough time together.

Week one is gone. Week two is here. Week one was a group of 194. Week two is a group of 311. Week two has a lot of energy. Currently, they are sitting in the club room across Main St from me singing, jumping and rattling the club room windows. PRAY for this group of kids, for soft hearts. PRAY for their leaders. We have groups from Montanna, California, Colorado and Texas here with us. They are tired and many of them began their trek to camp on Thursday. PRAY for our assignment team and for me, as we are tired. I hit the wall right before dinner and am sipping a half cup of coffee in hopes that it will keep me going until the final cabin is tucked in, but not fuel me so much so that I can't sleep tonight.

Our God is good. So incredibly good. Kids lives are being changed and the Kingdom is growing. Thank you for reading, for praying and for caring.

My half cup of coffee and I are off to man the Info Booth for the Obstacle Course.

More to come...

Week 1, Day 3

Work Crew Welcome on Boat Day

Welcome to Malibu!

Cabin Uniforms
This group of girls from Houston, TX wins my cabin uniform of the week award. They had these terribly awesome dresses from various decades for their cabin uniforms @ the volleyball tournament on Day 2.

Water Balloon Cannon, check.
Eric Friesen might have built a water balloon cannon for our program team to use during the volleyball tournament, instead of the old fashioned surgical tubing and funnel method. We launched balloons from the gym all the way to forbidden island. The kids loved it!

It's Friesen @ Malibu
Actually, it's been about 75-80 degrees or more since we've been here. But Eric & Shelby Friesen (who are basically my family) are here as adult guest hosts. A little bit of home, here on assignment. It's osm!

Right now I"m sitting on the upper deck of Kanata Lodge, which is the new assignment team housing @ Malibu. It's beautiful, wonderful and such a blessing to our assignment team. From across camp, I can hear the shouts and cheers of Pool Olympics echoing off the granite walls that surround this place. Kids are having fun, kids are being loved and in about 20 minutes they will experience a Malibu snow storm. When Pool Olympics is done, they will head to the inlet for Regatta, which will end with a snow storm (fire retardant foam sprayed all over campers while Christmas music plays-don't worry, it's totally safe). I'm off to take a nap, or at least lay in my bed for a while.

Things to note, that are great:

• I now have not just 1 but 2 bottles of shampoo, thanks to the Friesens and Jenny Dow!
• I have my own room and a dear friend on property staff gave me his fan so that I can sleep better at night.
• The Friesens are here, which is osm.
• Our program team and Nate are doing an incredible job.
• Our head leader team is amazing!

Things to be praying for:

• We have leader here from CO, whose husband is dying of cancer back home. She felt like she was supposed to be here with here kids, so she made the trek to camp. Pray for her, for her heart, for her husband and for her kids-this could be an incredible witness to them. Her name is Evette.
• We have an adult guest here who buried his dad last Wednesday right before they came up here. Pray for peace and for rest for him. His name is Shane.
• Pray for Jed, Kelli and Andy, our program team, for energy and strong voices (when you yell into a mic as much as they do, your voice can get a little tired).
• Pray for Nate, for clear words to share with kids and for continued favor with this group.
• We have a lot of southern kids here. Pray for them to encounter Christ in a new and powerful way, that will be not only life changing.

With love, joy and gratitude for your partnership with me,

Jen

We're Here!

Peder, Marissa, Brian & Me

For those of you unfamiliar with a Young Life assignment team, allow me to introduce you to our team. I am sure that updates will include their names and ways to pray for them.

Camp Manager: Rich Ward (wife: Amy, kids: Ty & Tate)
Speaker: Nate Emhoff (wife: Amy, kids: Grace & Issac)
Program Team: Jed Morris, Andy Gadach & Kelli Thiederman
Head Leaders: Peder Brakke, Marissa Hunsberger, Brian Boucher (wife: Caron) and myself
Work Crew Coordinator: Keith Dow (wife: Jenny)
Work Crew Bosses: Dave Affman, Felipe Contrerras (new wife: Kelly), Katie Wright, Lindsey Frey
Summer Staff Coordinators: Bill Dooley (wife: Carmen, kids: Jaden & Conor)


We arrived yesterday by water taxi and had most of the day to move in to the new assignment team lodge, Kanata. Kanata is incredible and a huge blessing in creating community amongst the assignment team. After a few meetings and all camp worship, we called it a night. I did sleep well last night (mostly because I didn't sleep @ all the night prior).

This morning I realized as I squeezed what I thought was my shampoo into my hand in the shower, that I had apparently packed two bottles of conditioner. So I have no shampoo...luckily we have adult guests coming up tomorrow from our area.

Today you can pray for our team as we meet and nail down the final details, for the work crew and summer staff as they learn their jobs and for unity throughout camp.

the Battlefield

In 1983, Pat Benetar let us all know that Love is Battlefield. If that song were re-written for me, the title would be Sleep is a Battlefield.

Stress and anxiety manifest themselves in my body in a number of ways, the most noticeable being sleep issues. Lately I have been falling asleep for a few hours and then waking up suddenly and being awake for a good 2-3 hours in the middle of the night. This makes for one tired Jen. It is always a goal of mine to not arrive on assignment exhausted. I'm trying to be extra good about getting to bed early and taking care of myself so that I am whole and healthy when I get to camp.

If you think of me in the next 3 weeks, would you ask the Lord to help me sleep while on assignment? Would you also ask him to help me get two great nights of sleep before we arrive @ Malibu?

Luke 1:19

A dear and wise friend of mine recently shared a passage of scripture with me as an encouragement. This scripture has encouraged me, challenged me and it even inspired the title of this little blog of mine.

In Luke chapter 1, the angel, Gabriel, visits Zecariah to tell of John the Baptist's birth. When Zecariah asks how he can be sure of what he is hearing, the angel boasts not of his rank as head of the LORD's angel army, but touts his true identity...

I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to you to speak to you and tell you this good news. (v. 19)

As a follwer of Christ, I long for this to be what I embrace as my true identity. I am however, broken and sin-filled and terribly prone to please others. My prayer for our assignment team and specifically my head leader team is for us to wrap out lives around this truth that we may be more effective in telling the good news to those we are being sent to.

May this be true for you as well...

Bienvenidos

I am not a blogger. I do not want a blog. But I do love to share stories, to communicate and to be efficient. Hence the creation of this blog.

In 5 days I will be whisked off on a boat through the waters of the Jervis Inlet to Malibu for my Young Life summer assignment.

The LORD is going to move powerfully in the lives of teenagers and adults alike and I would love to invite those of you reading about the adventures of our assignment to pray with and for us.

I hope to update this blog a few times a week, sharing stories, pictures, victories and prayer requests.

Bievenidos y gracias por leer.
(welcome and thank you for reading)