Exciting New

So much time has passed and so much has happened that I don’t even know where to start…

It was a wonderful, fun filled summer, super busy but super awesome at the same time.  I spent three weeks a Frontier Lodge, an outdoor adventure camp.  This was an awesome experience and I learnt so much, I also met some pretty wonderful people, which makes any experience that much better.  I learnt a lot that I can take back to Colombia and Camp Gozo and maybe even some future staff, which would be a double bonus.

I also spent two week at Bethel Bible Camp.  The first week was children’s camp and that was such a special experience.  My brother directed and it was my niece’s first time at sleep away camp and I just pray that it plays as huge of a role in her life as it did in mine.  And then to end off camps for the summer I did girls camp at Bethel as well.  

I also managed to do a week of camping with some good friends, so while I ended the summer a little tired and glad to not sleep in a sleeping bag for a while, it was a summer full of blessings and I really enjoyed being in God’s creation, spending time with old friends and making new ones.

So here comes the exciting news, which I am still trying to process and my mind can’t stop reeling from ideas and how awesome God is…. We have more of a permanent home for Camp Gozo… oh you heard right… WE HAVE MORE OF A PERMANENT HOME FOR CAMP GOZO… how crazy is that.

As a ministry we have a big house (7 Bedrooms) and lots of land, just east of the city.  Previously that house and land was used for kids that lived in 24 hour care but for various reasons we aren’t using it for that anymore and we are now using it for Camp Gozo.  It could be a forever thing or it could be a just for now thing, but the possibilities of things to do there are endless, and there is also so much room and so much land to expand and grow.

For now we will only take 18 kids (cause that’s all the room that we have) but as I mentioned there is so much room to expand and grow and we can easily build more cabins.  There is hiking and a river and potential rock climbing (if not we will just have to build a wall).  I want to build a cool ropes course and a cool fireside area so we can have sweet camp fires.  The up stairs of the house is a big den area that I want to make a really cool spot for kids to hang out between activities of if its raining.  We have have out door movies, zip lines, really the possibilities are endless

So kind of our next step is to raise money to furnish the house.  We need bunk beds and mattresses, bedding and dishes, pots and pans and tables and chairs and couches and a foosball table (for the den).  I am having a fundraiser here in Edmonton on November 4th to raise money for these things.  If you are unable to come or not from here or want to help out in any way you can go to msccanada.org and under projects select Camp Gozo, or if you send a check write Camp Gozo in the memo.  100% of donations go right to the camp.

This really is a huge answer to prayer and like I say, I don’t know if its going to be a forever home (it just might be though), but I am so excited at what the next few years at Camp Gozo are going to be.  I am so excited to see how these kids are going to experience God through His creation and through challenging themselves and pushing themselves.  I am just so excited and blessed to be a part of what God is going and is doing.  I am blessed and touched that even while I am far away in Canada, God hasn’t forgotten Camp Gozo and He has been taking care of things all along.  Even when I worry and I wonder and when I forget to trust and I forget that He has always, always been faithful, He never ceases to be God, He never ceases to be good and He never ceases to amaze me.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58