EHBC Youth

Today was our last and final day at the Student Life Mission Camp. It has been a wonderful time to get away from our daily routines and learn to truly live with a servant's heart.

We woke up early today, so we could get all cleaned up and our stuff back in the trailer. Then we made our way to our very first Celebration time. Because we were one of the early morning missions teams, we were never able to be in the morning celebration/worship time with the other campers who were there for the recreation camp. So this morning was extra special as we got to party with students that we hadn't really seen all week. Then, sadly, it was over and we all departed from the OCU campus. As a meaningful surprise for the students, we (the interns) decided to take them by the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. It was a thoughtful experience as many of the students were touched by the stories and memories left on the gates outside of the place. With this, we are reminded that the world is a dark place and the only true light is Jesus Christ. He gives us our strength to face each and every day.

Afterwards, we left to go to Frontier City, which is sort of like the Oklahoma version of Silver Dollar City. They had several rides and the students had lots of fun being able to kick back and have fun for the day. Then we made our last stop before home at a Chili's to eat, before finally arriving and saying goodbye to the vans and hello to our own beds.

Overall, this week has been a moving experience and just a time to truly listen to God and call for him to help us with our daily struggles. Thanks to everyone who made this week possible, but most of all to God, the author and perfector of our faith and our ever present help in times of trouble.

Today was our last and final day at the Student Life Mission Camp. It has been a wonderful time to get away from our daily routines and learn to truly live with a servant's heart.

We woke up early today, so we could get all cleaned up and our stuff back in the trailer. Then we made our way to our very first Celebration time. Because we were one of the early morning missions teams, we were never able to be in the morning celebration/worship time with the other campers who were there for the recreation camp. So this morning was extra special as we got to party with students that we hadn't really seen all week. Then, sadly, it was over and we all departed from the OCU campus. As a meaningful surprise for the students, we (the interns) decided to take them by the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. It was a thoughtful experience as many of the students were touched by the stories and memories left on the gates outside of the place. With this, we are reminded that the world is a dark place and the only true light is Jesus Christ. He gives us our strength to face each and every day.

Afterwards, we left to go to Frontier City, which is sort of like the Oklahoma version of Silver Dollar City. They had several rides and the students had lots of fun being able to kick back and have fun for the day. Then we made our last stop before home at a Chili's to eat, before finally arriving and saying goodbye to the vans and hello to our own beds.

Overall, this week has been a moving experience and just a time to truly listen to God and call for him to help us with our daily struggles. Thanks to everyone who made this week possible, but most of all to God, the author and perfector of our faith and our ever present help in times of trouble.

Today was probably the most intense working day for all students involved. We spent the morning as we always do in prayer and quiet time and then moved into our working project. We ended up cleaning up a park and weeding several garden patches. Now, for all those who weren't there, weeding doesn't sound that intense, but to those of us that were there, we understand. Those flower patches were ridiculous! They had so many weeds it was more of a weed patch than a flower patch. It took us a couple hours, but we got the job done. Then, with hours to spare, we asked to go back to the site of our first mission project, with a lady named Geena. When we got there, she immediately put me (Rachel) and Corey to work watering the trees again, while the rest of the students went to the house of an older gentleman named Roy. He was a man who had become unable to keep his house clean because of his age, so the students went in and just poured out their hearts on this man and cleaned it for him. Geena told us over and over that she had been praying we would come back to help this man because he has been mistreated so many times in his life and she just wanted him to feel love in this time of his life. Though I didn't witness the house beforehand, I did see it afterward and heard the stories of how bad it had been. To say I was proud of the students is an understatement. All week they have been doing everything that was asked of them with no complaining, just knowing that the job had to be done. When we left this man's house, he joked that he would love to have us back again and again, but we witnessed the tears in his eyes as he hugged us and shook our hands. This man's life was touched because of the selfless work our students did. I know that it affected many of them and several talked of how awesome it was to just help someone out. Hopefully, this attitude will continue and the world will be filled with more selfless individuals who desire to serve others before themselves.

So here we are at the end of day three. For the mission event today, we partnered up with a local church and taped up flyers on doors around the neighborhood. If you asked any of the kids, they all have a million and one stories to share. The crazy thing was, though, the ones in charge looked at the project and estimated a completion time of at least 6 hours for us and 3 hours for another church that was coming to help us. Amazingly, we did it in under 3 hours, along with being able to speak to several people in the neighborhood. 

Then tonight we had another awesome worship experience, which ended in a time of invitation for people to go to their youth pastors if they wanted to accept Jesus. As we looked around the packed auditorium, we saw several students from the other youth groups going down to make that important decision. Many of our students remarked on how exciting it was to see and that it made them just want to rejoice in the Lord and have a party. That is awesome-that they are living in this family spirit and being excited to welcome new brothers and sisters into the family.

As I sit here in the hotel/dorm room bed, thinking about the day, the only word that really comes to mind is this - amazing.

Today we got the wonderful opportunity to serve in a neighborhood just inside Oklahoma city. Most of the group stayed in this park area and helped by picking up all the trash we saw and then watering trees. That sounds super easy until you realize there are a lot of little pieces to pick up and that tree watering takes at least 10 minutes per tree. The students and interns there also helped by putting in some new signs with concrete.'

The other students went to an area just a couple blocks down to work on the entryway to the neighborhood. From what I heard, they had an interesting afternoon because, once they ran out of their planned work, they pretty much just went out and asked the residents how they could help. Those tasks included everything from cutting down tree limbs to killing and disposing of a dead mole. In other words, they had fun just doing random stuff to serve in the kingdom of God. 

So just a short blurb about our first day at mission camp: we all made it here safely.

Done.

But more than that, we have been having an awesome time here in Edmond, OK. It is a whole new experience and I really think that all the students will go home with at least something from this weekend stuck in their heads. The first day we basically just did orientation and a short message and worship time. Hopefully, we can have all of our rest for day two!