NEWSLETTER: JUNE, 2007

As I got out of my car I saw three boys excitedly running toward me and yelling, "Von. Von, look ." As they came to a skidding stop the leader of the pack stuck out his hand. "Hey, Von, look ..." On his three fingers were three brown scorpions hanging on for dear life. Impressive? Yes. Macho? No. Smart? Yes. You see he had taken their stingers off. Soon other boys were coming in on all sides. I had entered camp!

There is really nothing like our camps. They're the greatest! Our team knows Mexican boys and we whip up a camp geared just for them. We had over a ton of boys, more like tons of boys and you can take that literally.

Almost everything about our camps is different except the rocks, trees and hills, which have been here forever. Individual tug-a-war's, chase games, B.B.guns, even combat with *swords. There are special T-shirts for the winning team.

Boys run on food and the food is good and plentiful. Boy, these kids can sure down a lot of tortillas and they enjoy everything served with a hot chili spin. The large chow-hall has three high poles along the middle of the long tables. One contest is to see which of three boys can climb to the top of their pole first. I'm sure you will agree that these kids deserve to come away from their Barrios and have some real light-hearted fun.

Camping like this is so effective because we create a controlled environment in which to share our love and the love of Jesus. In the morning and evening there are big meetings (two a day) which the kids really enjoy. There's lots of singing, funny skits and a story about God in their language. These are the very special times when we have the ear of almost every camper.

From our perspective, these meetings are the purpose of camp and we work hard at making them the best!

When it's time to go home, the bittersweet question is always the same ... "Do we have to go home?" The answer has to be yes, but we're there with them, too. Camps like these take lots of time and money and a real team effort. Thanks for your part in making this camping experience possible for these neat kids!

If you'd like to check out some more photos from Camp Agua Viva, click here.

Von, for all of us here at Spectrum. Thank you for continuing to keep us in your prayers.