Camp Hope is something that is near and dear to my heart. When I was a teenager and extremely ambivalent about who I was and what I wanted to be Camp Hope provided a place where I could flourish. I discovered my deep love of scripture and my deep love of serving others at the ripe age of 16, all thanks to this ministry at my little church in Lake Jackson.
While we had no easy task before us this year, the youth team and I were committed to making Camp Hope happen again so that not only did our children have a place to learn and grow, but so that our youth could dive deep into who they are and to whom they belong. Week one we had 24 staff members ages 13-19 and week two we had 21. We made slime, sang songs, ate pizza, created bubble art, and had inflatable slides. I saw gifts grow in our teenagers in photography, organization, problem solving, team work, and all sorts of things! God was truly dwelling amidst this wonderful weeks.
One story that sticks out for me is the story of a new camper whose family was taking a walk in the neighborhood and saw children playing outside for games. They stopped in to see if there was a spot available… and low and behold we had a cancelation juuuust before they arrived. The Holy Spirit is like that I guess. But don’t just take my word for it, listen to what one of our staff had to say “I will carry the fun of camp forward into the future, I enjoyed camp a lot and I had a lot of fun talking to the campers and just being with them, and at the end of the day I was and still am proud of the fact that I was apart of it.”
