once a week I dress like a pirate for dinner

It's totally normal to dress like a pirate for dinner.  It's also totally normal to send your Work Crew boys to bed @ 10:30pm only to have them woken up @ midnight, blindfolded and "kidnapped" to go through the Malibu Ropes Course in the dark. 

It's day 4 of our last week here.  I can't believe it's gone so fast and that I have to take these 42 incredible kids to the airport on Saturday.  It's been fun, it's been hard, it's been an honor to serve with these kids and our Work Crew team.

I am healthy.  Thanks for those of you who prayed for my health!  We've had a few fevers and kids put on bed rest for 24 hours, but overall we are whole and in one piece.

Below are some pictures of our WC boss team and kids.  Please be praying for our transition home and for these kids as they return home.  Some of them return to hostile and unhealthy situations, others will go off to college.  Pray that when given the choice of the world or Jesus, that they would choose Jesus.  

Tomorrow we will be on the ropes course from 6am until 5pm.  Then we get the day off as Work Crew and Summer Staff.  Pray for us to have fun, rest and get some closure as we enjoy a time off together.

Five Alive

Five alive is a orange juice box drink served here @ Malibu.  It contains 100% of your recommended daily vitamin C.  Today I have had 2 Five Alives.  Today I am feeling under the weather.  I have a sore throat, runny nose and zero energy.  PRAY for health.  Not just for me, but for our whole Work Crew.  We have several sick kids.  Jason who works in the pits is on doctor ordered bed rest for the next 24 hours.  He has a fever and very sore throat.  Abby from the dining hall is in bed resting from severe head and chest congestion.  Illness @ camp and specifically the work crew can spread quickly because we are living and working so closely.  Please pray for our health and wellness!

| In other news... |

• 4 days ago was night 6 for our first week of campers.  Night 6 is Say So night here @ Malibu where campers are given the chance to declare their decision to walk with Jesus.  We had a number of kids stand up and at the very end after they had all sat down, one young man from Montana stood and said that when he got here, he was determined to do everything to keep God out of his heart, but after being here for a week, he couldn't keep God out of his heart and in fact wanted Him there!  It was an incredible end to a great week!
• Week 2 is under way here-it's day 3 for this camp and today they will compete in the Pool Olympics and Malibu Regatta.
• Our WC boy in charge of collecting the trash from all over camp is the happiest, friendliest 6 foot 7 inch young man I have ever encountered.  The highlight of his Malibu experience is getting to clean the bottom of the boats while they are still in the water.
• Our outdoor crew boys' highlight from yesterday was getting to take out some power lines.
• Our Work Crew kids love each other so much that they are already planning our reunion.

We are the Work Crew. We work @ Malibu.

We are in full swing here @ Malibu.  It's Day 3 here (we don't keep track of days of the week- we just know days by their camp day number) and our kids are learning their jobs and doing an incredible job!  Here are some highlights from our time with our WC kids:

•   We have 42 work crew kids-14 male and 28 female.  There are 2 male and 2 female work crew bosses who work alongside of the kids in their departments.  I get to work with and oversee all of them.
• Friday, June 5th I spent all day in SeaTac airport picking up our kids as they flew in from all across the US (Georgia, the Carolinas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, etc.)  They all arrived safely and happily.
• The first day we were here was without campers.  It was a day of training and getting camp ready.  While my WC boss team and I were in a meeting, our kids had finished their jobs and made their way into our lounge on their own to worship together.  It was wonderful to see them signing together without us suggesting it.  (there is a picture of it above).
• Day 1 here @ camp is boat day when the Malibu Princess brings in not only the entire camp but also 20,000 pounds of freight.  It poured down rain while we were doing freight, but our work crew is so stellar that they loaded it all on smaller boats and then unloaded and hauled the freight into camp in about 2 hours which is a boat day record.  
• On night one, our dining hall crew served, bused and reset the dining hall in an hour which Sharon (the head chef) said was easily a night 1, week 1 record. 
• Our kids are hard workers, and are getting long so well!  I can't imagine having to say goodbye to them in 2.5 weeks.

Things you can be praying for:

• Health.  We have some kids with sore throats and sniffles.  We don't want any sickeness because it spreads so quickly.
• For WC unity to continue.
• For health and rest for our WC boss team.
• For the campers that are here right now.  They're a very interesting camp-a lot of energy, kids who are into/think they're vampires.  It's a very strange feeling week.  Pray for them as they process the gospel as JC (our speaker) presents it.
• For rest for me and everyone here putting camp on-assignment team, property staff, work crew, summer staff and interns.

June 2010 | Malibu Assignment

This summer I get the honor of returning to Malibu for the month of June to serve on the 1st Session Assignment Team.

For the first summer in 4 years, I will not be filling the role of Head Leader.  I have been placed as the Work Crew Coordinator for this year's assignment.  The WC Coordinator is basically the mama bear of the Work Crew.  We will have 44 high school students from across the US coming to volunteer for 3 weeks of their summer and work harder than they've ever thought of working.  I will oversee this group of kids as well as 4 fantastic adult Work Crew bosses who will work directly along side of the WC kids.  As the mama bear, I get to care for, work with and extend loving discipline when necessary.

If you find yourself reading this blog, I ask that you would pray for us.  Even now, less than 40 days before our arrival @ Malibu, I ask that you pray with and for us.

Things to pray for @ this point in time:

• our WC Bosses: Dan Hartsoch, Ryan Johnston, Sarah Field and Angie Leon
• one our of WC girls found out recently that her dad has cancer.
• for all the travel details of getting an almost entirely Southern US Work Crew to Seattle and then to Malibu

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