Today was a different day for us that was full of new experiences.  Since the team has been pushing pretty hard, we were able to have an extra hour of rest this morning before heading down to the ministry center for breakfast and morning devotions.

We started our day with a bit of camp prep since today was our first day of camp with the Limones kids. Our team has not only been doing mission training all summer long, where part is learning together, but the other part is preparation.  Each of the students have roles that they chose to lead out in and there was a bit of excited apprehension as they were each preparing their area of camp.

But before camp, we were invited to visit one of the local Christian radio stations (Radio Redencion) in Gualan that partners with His Hands for a tour of their radio, TV and streaming ministry.  To get there, we got to experience traditional Guatemalan travel in a Tuk Tuk (think motorcycle with an inclosed small seating area).  We loaded up four to a Tuk Tuk and scooted our way through the city over to the station.

There at the station, we not only got a tour, but got to be live, on the air guests during the 10 o’clock hour.  We were interviewed by a local pastor, who is one of the radio hosts, who asked me to share about our mission.  He also then asked questions to every member of the team.  Then I had the opportunity to field some more questions from the host and also some listeners, share the Gospel and pray over the listeners – which we were told was in the thousands.  This was a crazy, cool experience for our team!

From there, we were back at the ministry center for to prep for the arrival of the campers.  We heard the truck horn and saw a bed full of kids (it’s how they roll down here) and some very happy but also apprehensive faces started walking in.  Most of these kids have never been to the center, nor had a camp experience.  Then the truck was back with the second load and we kicked off camp with about 70 kids from Limones.

Camp never runs super smoothly on the first day, but I was so encouraged to see our students in action.  From arts/crafts, to music, to Bible, English and sports – we were off and running.  The kids were much younger than we have ever had, so we did have some challenges, but our leaders adapted really well and camp day one seemed like a great start.  We’ll have a whole new group tomorrow, so be praying for that.  We are also praying that we can break through some of the shyness and start building relationships.

To finish off our night, after dinner, we walked over to the town center where folks gather.  We got to race some little go kart like things and just had a blast hanging out together.  We also scored some ice cream, so that always makes for a great night.  We just finished up our team time and are off to rest for a full day tomorrow.  We’ll start with a half-day of construction and then finish with camp.  Thanks for continuing to pray for us!