Dear Camp Family

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." ~ John 18:36a
This summer was absolutely incredible. I can hardly believe that it's coming to a close and that school begins next week. I have mixed feelings. I'm both excited and sad to turn the page. This summer, I saw God move in so many ways, in both staff and children. I grew so much, and I learned so much. There's always one thing about summer camp that I cannot shake, and that's my camp family. So this, my family, is for you.

Dear Camp Family,
I cannot even explain to you how much you mean to me! It's so cool to see how each person comes with different lives and gifts and walks, yet we all come together as one team, one body, one family working together to further God's kingdom. I'm going to miss the late nights in dorm with my roomies, talking about boys, and life, and stories, and boys, and eating junk food, and making bracelets, and talking about boys ;) I'm going to miss crying and praying with you. I'm going to miss the late nights and early mornings and being way overtired to the point of being delusional. I'm going to miss seeing you all using your gifts in this ministry and being so incredibly selfless in order to serve these kids. I'm going to miss seeing all of your faces! Your amazingly wonderful faces that Facebook cannot do justice. I'm going to miss your hugs, and feeling your love around me all the time. I'm going to miss opening up encouragement notes that make me smile, cry, or laugh to the point of tears. I'm going to miss writing you guys encouragement notes! Can you guys imagine how much the world would change if people encouraged each other like this all the time? Instead of insulting each other and calling names or pointing out flaws, to point out the good things and encourage them with where they're at, and with where they're going? Life would be so different. Those notes have made my life so different. To encourage and to be encouraged is one of the things I've learned to value most in life. I will never forget the reactions to some of those notes, and how much they meant to you, and how much a small act of kindness like that could change some one's entire day. I'm going to miss our Sunday night meetings. When a group of friends come together to worship Jesus together, something strange happens. They're not friends anymore, they're family. Brothers and sisters joined together by one Daddy. I would ten times rather worship Jesus with you and pray with and for you than have all the money in the world or party night and day or whatever the world says will make you happy. Those Sunday nights, I looked forward to them every week. The prayer times we had together showed me what the body of Christ should be doing all the time. I felt so much love in those times. Now we can go out, and pour that love onto others. I'm going to miss how absolutely insane you all are. From mud fights to food fights to pots and pans baseball to giant dutch blitz to glow in the dark hocker to seshing up...I love it! I catch myself about to do stuff all the time, and have to remind myself that I'm not at camp. At Corn and Apple I had a water bottle in my hand and saw one of my friends, I was about to pour the water all over her until I remembered that I was not at camp anymore. Ha, it was moments like those with you guys that made this summer golden. The thing that I'm going to miss most though is not the fights of various kinds, it's not the random things you say when you're way too tired to be letting anything come out of your mouth, it's not watching you sesh up, it's not the activities, or the sites, or the videos, or the chapels, or the meals...the thing that I am going to miss the most is you. My family. I've been home for not even a week, and I just want that community back. I wish that everyone loved Jesus as much as you all do. I wish that all of my friends wanted to have praise and worship sessions and pray together. I wish that the world could have community like camp does.
Yeah, I'm going to miss all of this stuff like you wouldn't believe, and I'm going to miss all of you even more. But I'm excited. I'm excited for what life's going to bring. Now we've all just charged our batteries for a solid 2 months. We're way stronger than what any Energizer Bunny could ever give us!! And that makes me excited. We were all together for 2 out of 12 months. We have 10 left to make up a year. We're all going to different places...Winkler, Morden, Winnipeg, New Bothwell, Steinbach, Altona, Los Angeles, Australia...we are going all over the place! When you get a plate of fries, what do you do? You put salt on them. And then you eat them. The fries where the salt lands are always the better ones, the most flavorful. We are called to be the salt of the earth. We're being shaken out from Winkler Bible Camp and we're landing in all different places. We're giving where ever we happen to land a new taste, new life, new experience. I want to encourage you with that. You have the opportunity to change lives! You did it here at camp. Follow where God leads. Listen to him. Don't be afraid. For someone who's never had fries with salt before, they might be surprised by the taste. They might find it strange, interesting, they might love it or find it disgusting. Either way, we have the awesome privilege to influence people where ever we are, and where ever we go! Take advantage of that privilege.
I love you guys, so much!!
Ariel


Meet my crazy, absolutely wonderful family!

Enjoy :)