Colombia

Some of you know, from my many emails asking for prayer, that our last camp didn’t end how one would want/imagine/hope.  I won’t get into all the details because there are a lot and a lot of them have since been sorted out, but it would also make the blog long winded,  But on the last night of camp one of the boys got hurt.  A few boy jumped up and hung from the soccer net and it tipped over and fell on this kids face.  His bottom lip was ripped up really bad, like scary movie bad, and he lost several of his upper teeth and some of them got pushed up into his gums.  He was rushed to the hospital and has had two surgeries, but is now home and recovering.  There is still some figuring out to do and he will need implants, which insurance doesn’t cover, so we are seeing how we can help out with that and other additional costs that come along with this incident. Needless to say it wasn’t fun and I was struggling with the whole realm of emotions.  (I am...

I am sitting here in my nice cozy home drinking hot chocolate as it is pouring rain, I mean pouring rain.  I have never in my life been so thankful for the rain until I moved into a house that relied on rain water for everything… FOR EVERYTHING, and as the rain comes pouring down, I am reminded of Gods faithfulness.  I sometimes don’t know  what God is up to…Most of the time I don’t know what God is up to. In a season full of blessings, but also filled with stresses and questions and wonderings… God has always proved faithful. From bunk bed mishaps, to sitting on the side of the road in a broken down truck on moving day, to only having seven girls sign up for the last camp, to wondering where my full time team is, cause if I am being honest, its a little hard doing this journey alone… but God has always proved Himself faithful and has always provided just what I needed, when I needed it.  From money to pay what we needed to get the bunk beds done, from a tru...

So here it goes, another camp in the books and it was a full one.  20 beautiful girls ages 8-10 and 9 staff… every single bunk was used minus one.  And despite them coming together a little late, the are BEAUTIFUL and the girls and staff loved them and they go perfectly with the rusticness of camp.  It feels so good to have the bunks done and now even more then ever it looks like a camp, which of course makes me excited. We did a little bit of a longer/harder hike with these girls and it actually turned out exactly how I wanted it to.  There was lots of complaining on the way up, a lot of them telling me they didn’t want to go any further but once they got to the top, the loved the view, loved hanging in the hammock and loved playing the games up at the top and on the way down they we’re all smiles.  I always ask them what their favorite part if camp was, a lot of them said the hike.  ( Well almost all of them say the food… we make sure to fill them up...

Once again it’s been way to long (I really have to stop starting my blogs like this I know) and so much has happened and there is so much to tell, I have no idea how I can fit it into one blog post.   It’s been a crazy three plus weeks and of course I’ve meant to blog on various occasions but between it being busy and tired and having a broken computer (still broken but hopefully it will be fixed soon) I just kept putting in off, but tomorrow life is going to get busy again so really its now or never. At the beginning of June for one week and wonderful group of 8 people from my church in Canada came.   It was such and incredible huge blessing having them here and man did they ever work hard. Camp got a Gaga Ball Pit, a sweet fire side, an A frame team walker and two pairs of team walking skis (pictures will be attacked for the last two).   Not only did camp get all that sweet stuff and that they finally made it look like a camp.   I got three solid deliciou...

Once again two months have passed since my last blog post and life has been CRAZY but so good.   I have water which is awesome… we pumped water a couple times and then pretty much everyday in April it rained, which filled my tanks.  No more saving my dish water and flushing toilets once a day with that. Even though the tanks are overflowing a little, I still try and be a little conservative with my water. My mom also came for a visit at the end of April beginning of May which was awesome and so nice to have her. Two good friends of mine moved really close, if you had a good arm I am sure you could throw a football from my front door to theirs, which is really nice actually.  I have my space when i need it but still have community really close. I have had two different Colombian team come up for a day and help get things ready and they worked hard and got a lot done.  Cause there is A LOT to do and if I am being honest sometimes I get overwhelmed with...

I can hardly believe I have been back for almost two months, it feels like I just got back but at the same time if felt like I have never left.  It has been so AWESOME being back, it has been so good to re connect with old friends and to get the ball rolling on setting up camp.  I feel like I have so much to say but I will try and be choosy and not ramble on to much. Well number one, we have almost everything we need for camp.  All the kitchen stuff is bought, the table and chairs and all the bedding.  It was quiet fun when we went to buy the kitchen stuff, me not being kitchen savvy, especially when it comes  to what would be needed for 30+ people, I just sat there and my friends went around and put stuff in a pile, but we did get a super good deal and it was a lot of fun.  For the table and chairs and the bedding, a friend went around the centre for Bogota (not the best place to be wandering around) and checked everything out and found the stores tha...

The count down is on… my ticket is bought and I will be leaving the great white north on January 10th, approximately 36 days, just over a month, and I am SOOOOOO excited.  Don’t get me wrong, I will miss all you guys like crazy and probably even shed a few tears in the good byes, but I am so excited.  I have been missing Colombia like cray and I can’t wait to start the next part of this crazy journey God has me on.  I am so excited that we have a permanent home for Camp Gozo, I am so excited to go and buy all the stuff to furnish camp and to get camp started, apparently the kids have been asking when we are going to do camp again, but I just may be more excited then they are.  I am also excited to have visitors (hint, hint).  So to say the least there are a lot of reasons to be excited. There are also a lot of reasons to be thankful.  I am so thankful for my time here.  I am so thankful for the time that I got to reconnect with old friends and for...