Sunday before Teen Camp

Tomorrow teen camp starts! This is, by far, the biggest week of the year in the ministry for David and I. We spend all year thinking about it, praying about it, and preparing for it. And now it is here!

We are honored to have the Ryan Thompson family from North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California with us for 2 1/2 weeks. David invited him to come to preach the teen camp, and he decided to bring his family which was just the icing on the cake for us! Their three little ones are the EXACT same ages as our three kiddos (ages 8, 6, and 3), so you can imagine the excitement that is going on in our house since they arrived! We are thrilled to be hosting them for the duration of their time here.Bro. Thompson preached in our deaf services and then hearing services today, and people are already revved about teen camp. The messages were awesome and I've heard comments floating around that camp hasn't even started, but it has been phenomenal already!

Ukrainian and American kids in the children's class today

A couple of the groups from other cities (and even Belarus, which is a neighboring country) were already with us in church today. We were blessed by their presence and special music and look forward to getting to know them better this next week.

The temperatures having been soaring near 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and you have to remember that we live with no air conditioning at home, nor at the church. It has been hard on everyone, but the spirit has been great. We are just on fire for Jesus here in these parts, I suppose! {smile}The Thompsons brought us a couple of suitcases full of goodies... a Wii gaming system plus games and accessories for our kids, bow-making materials for me (including glue gun) {yay!}, CDs, cups and t-shirts/sweatshirts from their college bookstore, about 10 pounds of coffee, books, Reese's peanut butter cups {hold on a minute... I think I need one now...}

Okay, I'm back...

...bags and bags of Reese's peanut butter cups for the campers {shhh... don't tell!}, a yummy-smelling candle {another weakness of mine}, socks for Nate, clothes to give away, a gift for a doctor here (more about that later though), etc... I'm sure I've left some things out, but the Reese's have me distracted!

I know that their Sunday School class had a large part in buying these things for us, so if any of you are reading this post.... THANK YOU IN A BIG WAY!

But, to top all of that off, after church today they bought us all ice creams and then the kids played in a little pool that they got for us yesterday. The kids had been incredibly hot all day long, so it was fun to sit and watch them cool off...., and giggle...., and squeal to their hearts' content.

Pool is too small for all six kids, so two of them went inside to play Guess Who?

Ahhh... it was a great day... and camp hasn't even started yet!