Week one we took 55 kids, ages 6-12, to Camp McConnell about an hour from their homes in Tirrases for a week filled with Bible lessons, team games, competitions, pool time, and a bunch more! I had no idea what to expect going into this week. We started off by splitting the kids into two teams. I was a captain of the one team and my friend Jafet was the captain of the other team. I found out early on that cough drops would be my best friend through the screaming of our team name, Superamigos, over and over again! Along with being the team captain of half of the campers, my main responsibility was being the cabin leader/mentor of half of the boys. I was all alone in a cabin with 13 Costa Rican kids that were definitely full of energy! It was really awesome for me to do life with these kids for the week.
All the 55 kids that came for camp were from Tirrases where my ministry is. God's been opening up more doors and more opportunities for me to spend time mentoring, hanging out and working on construction projects in Tirrases. Hearing some of the kids' stories and deepening my relationship with them was something that was very eye opening and special to me.
During one of the meals, I was talking with Issak, a kid that moved to Costa Rica from Nicaragua not too long ago. He was on plate number 3 and about to go up for a fourth serving so I asked him why he was so hungry. His response left me sitting in my seat for a while after he left. He said to me that he wasn't that hungry but he knew that he wouldn't have food to eat when he got back to his house, so he wanted to eat now to make up for the lack of food. His answer really hit me hard. I knew that the living situations of the majority of the kids at the camp weren't that good, but it wasn't until that short conversation with Issak that God really had me thinking of how blessed I've been.
Week two had a completely different feel to it. Everything and anything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. The directions being about 2 hours off, the place being a huge mud hole, the huge toads in the flooded kitchen, and the bus full of 55 teenagers breaking down on the way made for quite the couple days! The week ended two days early and was a huge test of patience for everyone involved. Once the teens actually arrived there, we made due with the conditions that we had and when the time came to leave they all wanted to stay. These couple days God was working really hardcore in the lives of us leaders. He taught us to trust that He had everything under control. The camp we went to ended up refunding a chunk of what we payed, which we will use to send those same teens to another couple day camp in March to let them get the rest of their camp experience.
Prayer requests:
- follow-up with the campers and their families
- we're hoping for our church plant in Tirrases to kick off within the month
- financial support
- continued growth of the GAP students
Or give by mail:
SCORE International
Attn: Brandon Hoover
P.O. Box 9994
Chattanooga TN, 37412
