John-Paul's Kiwi Adventure Blog

The Beginning of the End (of a Season)

As I’m writing this, it’s a bit surreal to think that I’ll be 35,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean less than a week from tonight. Heading home after nearly six months of being abroad on my adventure with God in the South Pacific. Today began the last week of my DTS program. This last week is one of reflection and celebration as we prepare to take all that we’ve learned back to each of our respective countries. My prayer is that this week will be one of the best as I celebrate with God all that He has done in my life these last six months. 

But I promised to catch you up on the last few weeks of outreach leading up to this week. So let’s start with Camp Raglan…

 Camp Raglan (June 30th - July 17th)

 After two nights of resting (and intense laundry) post-Vanuatu, our team piled into an eleven passenger van and made the five hour road trip down to the sleepy surfing town of Raglan. We received an incredible welcome at Camp Raglan as we settled into our temporary housing. Our South African cook and his wife, Peter and Shantelle, made us feel like the most loved people in the entire world. We arrived Wednesday evening and worked Thursday & Friday giving the entire camp a thorough cleaning before the campers arrived. Saturday afternoon began the first of two straight weeks of camp.

 Camp was definitely the highlight of my outreach experience. It was simultaneously the most exhausting and the most rewarding phase of outreach for me personally. It was tough living with the kids 24/7 for two straight weeks, but I learned so much about fatherhood, about God, and about love.

 The first week was easily the hardest. I co-led a group of eight 10 & 11 year-olds with Pau. We had a really cool crew of guys, but we struggled with setting the right expectations early on and had some minor (but consistent) issues with behavior. The week still went reasonably well, but it was exhausting to manage. Fortunately God really moved and two of our campers made first-time choices to follow Christ throughout the week. It was especially cool to get to talk with the mother of one of the boys and share with her the incredible news that her son had committed his life to Christ.

 By the end of our first full week of camp, most of the YWAM team was exhausted, myself included. Uncle Mike, the camp leader, said that this particular group of campers had been particularly challenging. Fortunately God absolutely came through with His incredible faithfulness. After the campers left, we gave the camp a light cleaning, had lunch together as adults (incredibly refreshing!) and took about two hours to ourselves to refresh with God. I grabbed my iPod, Bible, and water bottle and jogged down to the beach. I listened to a Hillsong United worship album while praying and listening to God. By the time campers began arriving for week two, I was feeling really refreshed!

 Week Two was a huge improvement! I began the first afternoon reading 1 John between watching over the zip line whenever campers wanted to have a go. (God was really speaking to me about what it means to receive His love, and to chose to love others out of the overflow of His love.) Later I got to meet my new campers and my junior leader. This week I had seven 9 & 10 year-olds and a 15 year-old JL named Peter. I attribute the week going better to three things: setting expectations up front and sticking to them (love through structure/discipline), having generally wonderful kids, and God’s grace. This week was far more enjoyable as I knew better what was happening and could learn more from my mistakes the last week. I really connected with my boys and was thrilled to see one of them make a first-time choice to follow Christ, and to see two others show signs of seeds really being planted in their lives. 

 At camp God taught me a lot about what love looks like (everything from hugs, words of encouragement, structure, discipline…), He reminded me how much I want to be a father and how central fatherhood is to His identity and my own, and He reminded me of how deep His love for me really is. One thing I loved about camp was Thursday nights. The evening meeting’s songs had more of a worshipful vibe, the message was about ways we can hear from God, and ultimately the Holy Spirit did some amazing things in heaps of peoples’ lives (my own included) as kids and adults opened themselves up to draw near to God. It was so amazing to see kids just snuggled up with God at the altar, curled in a ball as they connected with Him.

 Because I was fighting a cold the second week, I had gotten into the habit of carrying tissues around with me everywhere. That Thursday night we were in the middle of the meeting and I was sitting by one of my campers when he asked me for a tissue. I somewhat reluctantly handed him my last one, which he promptly whispered his thanks for, proceeded to thoroughly snot all over, then expectantly handed back to me - as though he thought I had some kind of desire to hold onto his nasty, snotty tissue. And at that moment something fatherly clicked in me. As I accepted it back, God was whispering to me that this was a picture of the heart He has for me. As a father He honestly cares so much about me that He wants me my snotty tissues. Because of His love for me, He patiently waits for me to surrender my pain, shame, and hurt - allowing Him to take care of it. 

(Dargaville Coming Soon)