"It's just beautiful..."

Those are the words Lish used to describe what happened this past week, and they fit....beautiful.

We jumped into our church partnerships head first this week, with a full camp of 60 kids, ages 7-13. When we were all in the van on the drive up, I don't think we had fully recovered from our ABK experience. With basically less than a day to recharge, we were out on the road again, heading into a very busy week, we spent some time in prayer and just focused a bit.

Walking into that room in the church office was amazing. It was so easy to drop all our burdens and thoughts from back home, because we were surrounded by a church community that was loving, excited, humble, and passionate. The adults in this church are amazing, and they would be the last to recognize that. From taking weeks off work to help at the camp, to billeting, to looking out for our every detail and comfort, these people are a true example of family, and Christ-like servants. The encouragement, excitement, and love never stopped.

We had a full camp, and the best part was that only 10% (if not less) were actually from Bolton Alliance Church. If there's a church that wants to get into its community, and takes this camp seriously, it's Bolton Alliance Church. From kids that were sponsored from the Crisis Centre in Bolton, to foster kids, to kids with ADD, this camp was an outlet for so many families. The amount of encouragement from parents was unbelievable, as so many talked about their kids being sad it was only a week, and we should run a month-long camp, and some said they have never seen their kid so happy, excited, and safe.

One mother said, "The thing that gets me, is when I drop off my kid, I don't have an inch of worry in my heart. I know my son is safe, and happy, and being loved. That's all I need."

I could go on and on about the things we were told, because this camp atmosphere, this church, gave dozens of kids an outlet from alot of tough situations, and just let them be kids. Praise God for that.

There was Emily and Hunter, two kids whose parents were divorced and lived with their grandfather. Their nanny wrote a card for us, saying she's never seen them so happy and free.

There was Ed, a foster kid who, if he could ask God one thing, it was "to be with my real parents." This kid was the funniest kid, and maybe had the best shot, a full handful of icing right in my left eye, during our little cupcake fight on Thursday.

There was Michael, (from Brandon and Michael from last year, for those who know :)) whose mother said they scheduled her mother-in-law's memorial service around this camp, because there was no way Michael was going to miss it.

And on....

and on...

and on....

Somehow the church feels the need to give us coaches the credit, but that is absolutely not where it should be. They step up and demonstrate Christ in so many ways, and God is going to bless and use that church in a huge way. God was faithful this week, and was glorified this week. Praise God!!