Amy and I hit the ground running when we arrived in Japan. We had 5 days to recuperate before we began three weeks of a Christian camp called Joy Bible Camp. It is located in the mountains of Okutama, about a two hour train ride from Tokyo. It is only about an acre big on the side of a mountain with a highway immediately below and the Okutama river flowing about a ten minute walk below. There were three camps; the first was for kids going into 3rd, 4th and 5th. The second camp was for those going into 4th, 5th and 6th, and the last camp was for those going into 7th and 8th. I (Caleb) was the head boys counselor and Amy was in charge of the crafts throughout the camps and was a counselor during the last camp. Counselor training was held for one and a half days (which Caleb led) and then camp #1 began! Oh, I should mention that for the last ten years there has been a tradition at the camp in which all the staff have nick names. Since I have worked at this camp all those ten years, I kept my nickname, "Grover" and Amy took the nickname, "Ducky," and thus we were called for the next three weeks! =D
Each camp had so many highlights, and I wish I could write them all! However, that would take a really long time! I'll try to narrow it down. All throughout the three camps, things were run basically the same (with a little change during the last camp) and we were kept quite busy! For crafts, Amy had the kids working on a Japanese style bracelet braiding called "kumihimo" and it was a hit! Many of the kids loved the craft so much that they came back to make seconds and thirds. It was not uncommon to find kids during free time or even during meals with their "kumihimos!" It was also neat because while craft time was usually spent concentrating on the craft, the affect of this craft was similar to a scene of ladies sitting around knitting and talking! As the kids worked during the craft activity, much conversation went on, both trivial and spiritual!
In addition to all the fun activities (which included a lunch down at the river, several incredible all-camp games, a space theme dinner, quizzing, and much more) there were some great chapel messages and great cabin discussions and devotion times. God blessed us immensely through the chapel speakers. Each one spoke on the camp theme of "Choose Life" but each chose a different approach and each was perfectly suited for their particular camp of kids! God's awesome, isn't He?!
I also want to share some highlights in the cabin. In my (Caleb) cabin during the second camp, I had a great co-counselor (nickname of Pork) whose heart was very tender to the Lord and on-fire for God and for His glory. We prayed a lot and asked and expected great things from God and God answered in a number of ways! One way was that from day one about half our cabin was already thinking about raids and pranks and such. While Pork and I didn't see those things as wrong, they have a tendency to distract kids from more valuable things of camp and such things tend to escalate and get out of hand. Anyway, we began praying that God would help us direct their love for such things into desiring God. God answered in several ways. First, we got the kids excited about brainstorming uplifting and encouraging "raids" or "pranks." One result was a"hug raid." We snuck up on one of the cabins at night and burst into their room yelling, "Hug raid!" and started hugging them. After they caught on, we together with them, "hug raided" the other boy's cabin! Another result was to do the opposite of messing up a cabin. We had already won the Golden Broom Award (a daily awarded trophy for the cabin with the cleanest room) once and decided to clean up one of the cabins. The guys got all excited about it and it was fun to see them plan it out and try to keep it a secret and all! Then during one of our cabin reflection times, we got talking about what Paul said, that everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. One question or comment led to another and soon they were questioning a lot of things that they did, and whether it was good or not. We looked at 1 Corinthians 10:31 and then everything began to fall into place! They began talking about how we could bring God glory in the different things that we did. This even went to the degree that we changed a favorite card game we played to be more God glorifying!
In the third camp, God continued to do great things. To name a few . . . one of my campers came to the camp a Christian and a growing one, but God did more, He set a fire in this camper's heart. He devoured the chapel messages, cabin devotions, and asked many questions and grew in leaps and bounds! One area especially was in the area of prayer. He began praying a lot, throughout camp, on his own, or with me or my co-counselor!
Another camper and I spent about 2 hours talking about salvation. After spending about 45 minutes clarifying on sin and salvation, I pointed out what Jesus said concerning both the Christian life being the hard way but also the best way. Then I asked him the question, " Are you willing to give up everything for Jesus?" The remaining hour was spent with him deliberating over that question, clarifying it. I sat near and prayed a lot, and shared from time to time, and finally reminded him that he didn't have to decide right then, but he stopped me and said that he wanted to follow Jesus! The first kid I mentioned had been praying a lot for him too during camp, and wants to be there for him throughout this next year since they are classmates! Praise the Lord!!! One other boy in the cabin also chose to follow Jesus and I got an e-mail from him a couple days after camp and among other things he told me that since choosing to follow Jesus he had a strong urge to get baptized (I never even mentioned baptism to him!) and I sensed a hunger for God as well!
So, there you have it, as short as I can make it, when God did so many great things! =D
