Hunger

"People need to feel that hunger before they go to the one they need (also known as Jesus)."

The people in Mark 6:30-44 experienced that hunger before Jesus performed a miracle and fed the five thousand with only a few fish and loaves of bread. The disciples were all experiencing that hunger because they were tired and barely ever had time to eat because they were always serving others. They also realized that they weren't going to be able to feed all of the other people and the other people were all hungry. Jesus let the people experience that hunger before he assisted them.

Sometimes we've got to go through some difficult trials inorder to experience that pain. What would life be if it was all so easy? We wouldn't grow in our faith. We wouldn't grow in our wisdom. We wouldn't grow through our decisions. We wouldn't grow in our relationships. There are so many things that we wouldn't grow in if we weren't able to experience that hunger. It is through trials that God draws us closer to him. When I'm at an all time low and I feel like I can't hold on any longer, I cry out to Jesus because I know that he'll provide that comfort that I need just like how he provided for all of the hungry people in Mark 6.

So it's good to experience that hunger because when we are weak, we are also strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Young or old! Who cares!?!

1 Timothy 4:12 "Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."

I'm not really sure if any of you know this, but I'm the youngest worker here on the Camp Grow Ministry Team. I have my friend and roomie, Katy Cram, who is only 8 days older than me. Other than her, the Camp Grow Ministry Team is mainly composed of college students who are juniors, seniors, or recent graduates. I also have one more friend, Barb, who just graduated high school . Overall, Michelle is the youngest amongst everyone. Nobody looks down on me or anything like that. It just appears to be difficult for me because I have that constant worry that one of them might look down on me just because I'm younger, but nobody has done that. We all treat each other like we are best friends and there is no age difference between anyone. I'm pretty comfortable with everyone. They are just beginning to adjust to my uncontrollable laughter.

The basic point of me writing this is that it is so difficult for me to stand up and share with others what I would like to share. It's not because they are older than me or because I think they would look down on me as some immature young one. It's because I'm surrounded by so many leaders. I love being a leader. I'm sure that some of you at DCCC have seen me display that character various times. Even when I was an LDCer (Leadership Development Camper), I was so use to it being so easy to stand up and be a leader to fellow LDCer's. When no one would know the bible verse or want to share some of their experiences where God was at work, I was always there. I'm also very use to sharing at bible studies on Tuesday's. It's very different for me now because about 70% of the staff is made up of people who are attending bible colleges and God has blessed them with such an incredible amount of wisdom. I'm happy for them and that they can use some of that wisdom to share with me. I need to work on being able to stand up and say what I want to say and not let any concerns of older people looking down on me. I don't even need to worry about what to say because the Holy Spirit intercedes and speaks through me (Romans 8:26).

Please pray for me and that God would give me strength to stand up and be a leader to people who are older than me. Timothy and many other bible characters did it, so why can't I!?

Camp

What can I say?

Thursday was fun because I got to spend a lot of time with my mom. I'm not very close to my mom so it was great to be able to spend time with her. She now has a visual of camp and what it looks like. We spent almost 2 hours just sitting on the lakefront. It's so beautiful there. God definitely had it planned out so that I'd be able to spend the time that I did with my mom. It was really weird bringing my mom into the camp atmosphere because I'm so use to it being a place where I can be away from my parents.

Friday seemed extremely busy. I woke up at about 7:30, ate breakfast, said my goodbyes to my sister and mom, and headed out to the conference center with Paul. I met a whole bunch of old people who work in the Green Lake Conference Center. I took notes on what everyone looks like because I'm going to be driving the Camp Grow van up there every week and I have to get familiar with who everyone is. I made sure I didn't write anything mean like the old scary lady. Anyway, I got "processed" and officially am a Camp Grow Ministry Staff Member and I can get all of the discounts at the Green Lake Conference Center and golf for free even though I can't golf. This took about two hours. Paul and I then went back to camp and got my permit forms and went to Green Lake School so I could get my workers permit. Then we went to the court house so I could get finger printed. It was really funny getting finger printed. Next, we went to K-Mart and Ace Hardware and then back to camp and then a whole bunch of other running around and I'm pooped. There is so much work to do everywhere and I'm going to get a lot of back aches from working all over the place.

When I went over to Paul and Pam's house for lunch it was so adorable! They have a son named PJ and James. James is 5 and PJ is 2 1/2. PJ really started opening up to me and talking a lot to me today. Pam told me that he shows his affection by hitting and throwing things. He was doing that to me a lot. The most adorable thing was that he was sitting at the counter eating lunch and asked his parents if he could sit at the table with me. He went to the table and pulled his chair as close as he could to me. He sat down and realized he wasn't close enough and tried to move even closer to my chair. I looked at Pam and she smiled. I felt really bad because PJ's affection went too far and he ended up getting in trouble because he poured his Danimal drink onto my fruit that I was eating. He started crying and got in trouble. I felt so bad. Jordan, I think you've got some competition with a 2 1/2 year old! Haha.

I'm not really adjusted to camp yet because not everyone has come in for Staff Training Week. It actually got pretty lonely for just this one day of working. I'm sure that once everyone is at camp, I'll start to get more comfortable. I need to make sure that I remain focused on serving God and don't get sidetracked. Honestly, I'm feeling scared about the burden of being an office assistant. There is so much that I need to do to make sure that Paul is doing his job effectively and everyone at camp in general.

I really need all of the encouragement I can get. God wants us to all encourage each other with our words and build each other up (Ephesians 4:29). I'm asking for it now. My email is Theresno1likeu8@aol.com, but if you want to write me a letter (I love getting mail!) the address is W2580 Oakwood Beach Rd. Markesan, WI 53946, or if you prefere to comment me go for it!