Hi Blog Friends,

So here we are sitting at the beginning of our final week of camp this summer. Wow, I can't believe it! At this time next week, we will be anticipating the start of Leadership Training Week here at good ol' PRBI. The team was talking about how we will miss travelling together in the van. In some ways it feels like we have become a tight little family (poor Andrew now has three extra sisters). All summer long, it has been our great encouragement to know that we have extended family in you all. Thank you for your prayers, your financial support, for feeding us on the weekends, for asking us how we are doing, for letters, for calls, for cookies...

As for an update about our camps, well, last week we were at Sturgeon Lake Bible Camp and the week before that we were at Bear Lake Bible Camp. Bear Lake was a huge encouragement to us because in some ways it felt like coming home. We have loved all our camps this summer but it is always nice to go to a familiar location. While the staff encouraged us, it broke our hearts as we saw the lostness of the kids. It is such an exercise in trust to invest everything that God gives you in a week of camp, when there doesn't seem to be much fruit. How does one convey the gospel to those who seem so blind to truth? All we can do is trust that God is good and that He is in control.

Sturgeon Lake, too, felt like a place where it was easy to belong. I, personally, was encouraged about the intentionality at SLBC of using every moment and opportunity to testify to Christ. It was a Sturgeon Lake that I was really challenged to reinvest today all that God gives today. Sometimes it seemed like I wouldn't be able to last until bedtime, but somehow always I was able to finish telling the bedtime story. Another thing I learned was to just stop and listen. In different situations I found myself becoming easily thrown off by things that didn't matter. One day during singing in chapel, I stopped listening so self-centredly to my own voice, and listened to the 8 year old beside me who was enthusiastically and joyfully belting out Revelation Song. She told me later that this was her favourite song. It was the favourite of most of the camp. Another day, a girl needed a towel and all of the extra towels were used, I was about to walk back to the cabin and tell her I couldn't find one when I stopped. The verses about giving our brother our extra coat and the other verse about the widow putting in all the money she had came to mind. I had a towel and I didn't need it; why not offer her my own towel? God gives us energy today. Who knows if we will need it tomorrow? What are we holding back for? What do I need that God will refuse to supply me with? Am I only actually afraid of seeing how much I need Him?

Now to learn how to balance this with Sabbaths. Ah, the balance of the Christian life. How do I live focused on the prize?

Well, tomorrow at around noon we pull out for our final camp: teen camp at David Thompson Bible Camp. We would love your prayers as we are low on energy, the remains of a cold are kicking around and I seem to have a problem with my ribs that inhibits laughing and running. We would also appreciate your prayers as we need to recharge physically, mentally, emotionally and most importantly spiritually, before school.

For the rest of the crew (Heather, Andrew and Kimmie),

Kendra :)