Hello Home Team!
It is Monday afternoon, July 19th. We've been home for approximately 3 days now, and I know every one of our students is reflecting on the past 3 weeks in one way or another. Whether it is because they have already begun receiving Facebook friend requests from their French counterparts (I know I've received a bunch), or because they have to fold their laundry! We will be presenting briefly at church next Sunday morning, so if you want a brief first perspective, come check us out during the 10 AM service (it is not easy to organize so much information and perspective!). If you can't make this Sunday, put September 26th at 7 PM on your calendar. This is one of our Missions Celebrations, and we will be presenting the full breadth of the trip (as much as will fit in an hour).
I figured I'd write one last blog to summarize, not an easy feat ... for God does much of His work in hearts and minds ... and I can't see much of this, unless I get to have conversations with every camper on a regular basis! The last days of TED always tell a bit about where God was/is working during our Champfleuri '10 trip, so it is fun to think over this time period (see these blogs below).
In France, camp is a very special experience ... these campers do not necessarily have a 'youth group' to go back to, maybe not even a Christian friend or a household with another believer. It makes you realize why there is such emotion in the last few evenings and mornings.
So ... where was God at work at Champfleuri '10?
I've got two points I'd like to make now:
1. Camp has quite an impact on GVPC campers. Even though our students go in to camp with all kinds of preparation, God still surprises them as they reach out and live intentionally for Him. It seems as though we learn quite a bit about God, ourselves, and what it means to put God and others first ... when we first put ourselves in a situation to obey this piece of our Scriptural and Christ-given mandate. In other words, part of learning about the heart of God is by first stepping out and doing, and not always the reverse. And we find out that what at first terrified or concerned us ... when blessed ... is awesome to experience! All of our students did things on this trip that were uncomfortable ... sitting at a dining table full of only French campers they had never met, or spending the last hour of each day (depending on how long everyone could stay awake to chat!) in a room with only French teens. God will make us love to serve. He will change our hearts as we obey His Word.
2. This one I'm still thinking through. Our team included a number of students that would call themselves introverts. But they realized in the preparation that they would need to 'put themselves out there' ... that no counselor, or more mature student would be with them in conversation, or around the dining table. These specific students really stepped out of their 'shell' to initiate conversations with French students who were not inclusive, or had not been included by others of our team. I constantly heard stories of all of our students, including these 'introverts' reaching out to any number of their fellow campers, with no prodding. This is a big deal to me, for I have always acknowledged that God has given us our personalities, and if we weren't made to share with others easily, then we should do something else to serve. There is still truth in this, but I am now wondering if I've swung the pendulum a bit too far in this 'personality type thinking.' I'm not sure any of us is allowed to step out of the 'intentional sharing' mode, because we are simply shy or withdrawn typically. God's given every one of us a mouth ... I am now thinking we all better be ready to use this piece of our anatomy as He provides opportunity. No, we're not all mass evangelists ... but these few individuals showed me that stepping out of their personality comfort zone was a very cool blessing ... to the glory of God. This is an example of where each Champfleuri TED camp is spectacular. Students are not on the outskirts as famous speakers run the show. They are not simply building a house or running a VBS for little ones. They are embedded with their peers, and have opportunity to reflect the love of God, in word and deed. Can you tell I'm excited about these opportunities?!
Want more thoughts? ... You'll have to attend the Champfleuri presentation at the end of the Missions Celebration this fall (September 26th) … I believe Dana Smith is going to preach that morning!
Two last items ... we are very thankful for a home church that so readily supports our involvement in Champfleuri. The resources you give (time, money, effort) are well used in changing lives in an area of virtually unreached people. Second, I was blessed to be a part of such a pleasant team. These young men and women brought much to camp, and left with a better understanding of missions, and seeing God's hand in their lives. I am thankful for each and every team member!
Thank you again. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask any of us.
Jim
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
So long Champfleuri
Our time here at Champfleuri was filled with many different emotions. We felt tired the whole camp, but energized at the same time, we may have been frustrated at the language barrier, but we have learned to be patient in all situations, and finally we have been so happy at how many relationships have been formed throughout the 10 days, but extremely sad to see the French campers leave.
Throughout the camp God has blessed us with everything from strength, to safety, to energy. We all got to build strong relationships with the help of God. I'm going to talk about one of the relationships that I have formed in my time here at Champfleuri. One of the campers who I got to know very well was a 14 year old boy who we will call T. I talked to him a lot the first few days of camp. We played basketball a lot over course of the camp. When we were playing it was a good chance to talk to him and get know more about his life. He was not a Christian. He was very friendly towards all of us, and though his English wasn't great he would actively engage in conversations with us. Getting to know him well was a great blessing during this camp. Please pray for him to realize how great our God is and also for God to work in his heart in the rest of his life. I also pray that he would return next year to learn more about God and Jesus.
One thing that I learned on the short term missions trip was how to be a servant with extremely good patience. Serving others was one of the key things that we were told to do coming into this camp. I feel that God gave us the patience to hint of others before ourselves. I learned that patience is a great way to avoid unnecessary problems. God truly blessed us with this and as a result many uncontrollable variables (uncontrollable by us) were nullified. He truly blessed all of our work here.
So to finish I would like to say so long Champfleuri. Our time here was only temporary but it will hopefully have eternal impact on us and in the lives of the French teens. Thank you all so much for your prayers.
Because of Him,
Kris Peterson
Throughout the camp God has blessed us with everything from strength, to safety, to energy. We all got to build strong relationships with the help of God. I'm going to talk about one of the relationships that I have formed in my time here at Champfleuri. One of the campers who I got to know very well was a 14 year old boy who we will call T. I talked to him a lot the first few days of camp. We played basketball a lot over course of the camp. When we were playing it was a good chance to talk to him and get know more about his life. He was not a Christian. He was very friendly towards all of us, and though his English wasn't great he would actively engage in conversations with us. Getting to know him well was a great blessing during this camp. Please pray for him to realize how great our God is and also for God to work in his heart in the rest of his life. I also pray that he would return next year to learn more about God and Jesus.
One thing that I learned on the short term missions trip was how to be a servant with extremely good patience. Serving others was one of the key things that we were told to do coming into this camp. I feel that God gave us the patience to hint of others before ourselves. I learned that patience is a great way to avoid unnecessary problems. God truly blessed us with this and as a result many uncontrollable variables (uncontrollable by us) were nullified. He truly blessed all of our work here.
So to finish I would like to say so long Champfleuri. Our time here was only temporary but it will hopefully have eternal impact on us and in the lives of the French teens. Thank you all so much for your prayers.
Because of Him,
Kris Peterson
Reflections
This week, I became close with many French teens, from many different backgrounds. The one that I became closest with was a girl named A. She was a solid Christian who had the benefit of growing up in a Christian home. It was nice to hear what it was like being a Christian in France. After conversing with her, I realized that fellowship with other Christians was extremely limited in France. When asked about the size of our church, we nonchalantly replied, "Oh it's not that large, we only have 300 people." Their jaws suddenly dropped while they replied 50 people at one church service was considered a packed day. Fellowship here was so important to them because they virtually have no Christians in their hometown or school. I have learned the value of fellowship and how blessed I am to have a large amount of Christian friends and mentors to support me.
Coming into the camp, we were told that it would be helpful to have one verse or passage to really meditate on during the trip. I picked 1 Corinthians 13, which defines the properties of love. During this trip, whenever I felt angry, frustrated, or found it difficult to love, I would recite this verse. It helped me to really live out scripture and to be patient, kind, content, humble, etc. I hope to apply this passage to my everyday life when I return home.
Christine F
Coming into the camp, we were told that it would be helpful to have one verse or passage to really meditate on during the trip. I picked 1 Corinthians 13, which defines the properties of love. During this trip, whenever I felt angry, frustrated, or found it difficult to love, I would recite this verse. It helped me to really live out scripture and to be patient, kind, content, humble, etc. I hope to apply this passage to my everyday life when I return home.
Christine F
Post-camp
Yesterday was the day the campers left. It was so rough! I had no idea we would be crying so much. Pretty much all us girls were bawling our eyes out. I didn't realize how much I would miss all the French girls until yesterday. It was hard to stay the extra days in camp without the French kids walking around with us. I am glad that I don't have to be sad alone, and the fellowship amongst the team is comforting.
One girl that I got especially close to during the length of camp is S. She and her twin sister live in France, but were born in England. Their parents are missionaries and their dad is the pastor of their church, so from the first day it was easy to connect with her. She slept in the same room with me, and so we had cabin time together as well. This was such a blessing because her bilingual ability made it easier to communicate with the other two French girls in my room who didn't speak very good English. During this cabin time each night, I felt like I could really sense God working in her heart.She asked such good questions and her passion for Christ was so evident. In cabin time and when she shared her testimony in front of camp, S talked about how just this past December she realized for the first time how important Christ truly is in her life. Over the past week, S and I grew very close and we stayed up late every night talking-sometimes getting in trouble like I mentioned in my last post. So I think S was especially influential to me because I could see how God was working in her heart and growing her to become closer to Him. We are definitely going to keep in touch often once I get back home.
The most important thing that I learned during camp was what it really means to have a servant's heart. Before coming, I thought that it would be easy to put the French campers before myself and find ways to serve them, but once I came, I saw just how difficult it was. You really have to change your whole mindset and despite the difficulty, I think God showed me how much it can change my life. If I live now with an intentional servant's attitude when I go back home to my family and around my friends at school, I am sure that my life will change. And I am sure that it will change for the better. Here at camp, when trying to look for ways to serve others and not myself, it made a huge difference in how I related to the French kids. I definitely want to keep this up when I go home, but I will need God's constant help and support. I am so thankful that he has shown this to me over these past couple weeks.
So our time here at camp has ended. Tomorrow we come back home, but Champfleuri will still be in my thoughts and prayers, along with everyone I met here. Thank you God for this opportunity and the power that you have shown in the peoples' lives here.
In Him,
Natalie Scott
One girl that I got especially close to during the length of camp is S. She and her twin sister live in France, but were born in England. Their parents are missionaries and their dad is the pastor of their church, so from the first day it was easy to connect with her. She slept in the same room with me, and so we had cabin time together as well. This was such a blessing because her bilingual ability made it easier to communicate with the other two French girls in my room who didn't speak very good English. During this cabin time each night, I felt like I could really sense God working in her heart.She asked such good questions and her passion for Christ was so evident. In cabin time and when she shared her testimony in front of camp, S talked about how just this past December she realized for the first time how important Christ truly is in her life. Over the past week, S and I grew very close and we stayed up late every night talking-sometimes getting in trouble like I mentioned in my last post. So I think S was especially influential to me because I could see how God was working in her heart and growing her to become closer to Him. We are definitely going to keep in touch often once I get back home.
The most important thing that I learned during camp was what it really means to have a servant's heart. Before coming, I thought that it would be easy to put the French campers before myself and find ways to serve them, but once I came, I saw just how difficult it was. You really have to change your whole mindset and despite the difficulty, I think God showed me how much it can change my life. If I live now with an intentional servant's attitude when I go back home to my family and around my friends at school, I am sure that my life will change. And I am sure that it will change for the better. Here at camp, when trying to look for ways to serve others and not myself, it made a huge difference in how I related to the French kids. I definitely want to keep this up when I go home, but I will need God's constant help and support. I am so thankful that he has shown this to me over these past couple weeks.
So our time here at camp has ended. Tomorrow we come back home, but Champfleuri will still be in my thoughts and prayers, along with everyone I met here. Thank you God for this opportunity and the power that you have shown in the peoples' lives here.
In Him,
Natalie Scott
Rachel's final blog
The time at Champfleuri that I experienced was so amazing and touching to my life and the lives of many others. A very special relationship that I enjoyed having was my friendship with a special young girl called A. She arrived a day later than the rest of the campers, and I really wanted to make her feel welcome and accepted. As I talked to her throughout the week, I learned that she was a Christian, she went to Church, and she was very strong in her faith. As we talked throughout the week, we got to encourage each other in our faith and talk about the majesty of God. Something that I learned this week was that the love of God is spread throughout the world. I knew that the love of God was spread to the corners of each nation, but I had not realized that this news was so powerful. As I was talking to A this week, I Learned that even though she was the only Christian in her school and even her area, she truly loves the Lord and has a passion for him. I learned that the power of God is truly manifested throughout the nations, no matter how small or remote those nations are. I thank God for the opportunity to come to this camp and serve him. Thank you all for your prayers, and I will see you soon!
Post-Champfleuri
Yesterday we all said goodbye to the French students. One in particular was very hard to say bye to. D was in my room and as I learned before she got here, she became a Christian last year at camp. This made me very excited to meet her and just have fellowship with her. As the week went on we were in the same small group and "sports team" and we grew closer each day. It was really neat to see her grow in Christ throughout the week and just see how much she appreciates the fellowship, something that us Americans sometimes take for granted. When she gave her testimony one night in cabin time it was cool to see the other French teenagers intently listen and it seemed to have somewhat impacted them. Even though there was a slight age gap between us it was really cool to see how much we connected through Christ.
Something I learned this week was how powerful God really is and how wide his love goes. Like I said in my post before it was awesome to hear all the voices of the French and Americans blending as we would sing songs like "Mighty to Save" and "God of Wonders". It never hit me before how much influence and power God really had over this world. I knew that it was true but it was awesome to see it first hand. It was amazing to see how God worked in the hearts of many of the campers. Some of them who came as atheists began to question their beliefs, or non-beliefs, and it showed me how much control God has over every single place in the world. I have also learned to have more patience. With the campers who didn't know much English it was really frustrating to have to sit there and just do a bunch of hand motions and charades. God taught many people from the team and I just to have patience and love other people. Overall my main "learning point" was that God is so much bigger than any tangible and even non-tangible things and with him anything is possible.
Meredith DiRico
Something I learned this week was how powerful God really is and how wide his love goes. Like I said in my post before it was awesome to hear all the voices of the French and Americans blending as we would sing songs like "Mighty to Save" and "God of Wonders". It never hit me before how much influence and power God really had over this world. I knew that it was true but it was awesome to see it first hand. It was amazing to see how God worked in the hearts of many of the campers. Some of them who came as atheists began to question their beliefs, or non-beliefs, and it showed me how much control God has over every single place in the world. I have also learned to have more patience. With the campers who didn't know much English it was really frustrating to have to sit there and just do a bunch of hand motions and charades. God taught many people from the team and I just to have patience and love other people. Overall my main "learning point" was that God is so much bigger than any tangible and even non-tangible things and with him anything is possible.
Meredith DiRico
The end of Champfleuri :(
Let me just start out by saying that I can't believe Champfleuri is over! I have had a ridiculous amount of fun and I'm so sad to leave France. But I am also excited to come back to the U.S. During the camp I was very fortunate to have formed relationships with some great campers. One of the people I got very close to is going to be referred to as "B". B was the funniest and strangest person I have ever met in my life, but I enjoyed spending time with them so much. Even better, they were a Christian! I learned much about them and their life, and their brother was known already by some people on our team, so he fit in great :). One important thing I've learned (partly because of B), is patience. I didn't necessarily learn how to be patient, but I'm a much more patient person. I know that sounds kind of confusing, but I feel like God answered my prayers to be more open-minded and forgiving. This camp has been the best experience of my life so far and I know that I'm a changed person because of it. I can't wait to come home tomorrow and see everyone again! Please pray for safety on our long journey tomorrow. :)
-Corey Pittounicos-
-Corey Pittounicos-
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