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.