Tuesday & Wednesday have continued to be full days. Tuesday, it rained most of the day, but we were able to pivot and play games in the gym and Tarp Time/Lunch in the room we’re using for art. Hope shared her testimony in the morning, and Keziah shared hers in the afternoon. Our parable studied was the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35).
Today, we were blessed with a cooler day. James shared his faith story in the morning and Nathan shared his in the afternoon. We talked about the woman who lost a coin but looked for it, the shepherd who lost one sheep out of the 100 he had and yet he looked for that one sheep, and then the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).
It was an encouraging day, as students asked thoughtful questions during small group time, and we were able to reinforce the point that salvation isn’t based on works. James’ story tied in perfectly with the key points of the Bible lesson. The gospel has been clearly presented in multiple formats. The kids are very interested in the gospel and are asking good questions during small group times.
This afternoon, I was able to ask other teammates what they would want to add in the update. One person said they ended up challenging their small group to memorize John 3:16. Another leader said, “My group was more interested in sharing prayer requests today!”. Another leader said, “We had one girl ask us to pray for her father. She then said, ‘I don’t know how to pray’, and it was good to be able to tell her that prayer is talking to God, it doesn’t have to be special or fancy.” One Mom has already told Emily that she can’t wait to come back next year.
Connections with the American and Italian teams continue to grow stronger. James took all the male leaders disc golfing yesterday evening. They all enjoyed it, and then they met the man who started the course—this was the first group outside his friends to visit his course! He was so excited to find someone else who wanted to disc golf. David has used this to make a connection with him, and he has already reached out to David to follow up. Pray for this new connection.
The couple who started the camp and ran it for years (and retired) were able to visit. They were very encouraged that the Celtolas have carried on the torch and their goals continue, showing that learning the Bible can be fun while driving home spiritual truths not taught in this culture.
We have two days left. Please keep praying for us!
- Pray we can have good spiritual conversations, it can be hard to understand those who have good questions (and hard for them to understand us).
- Pray that those who are quiet will be motivated to speak up.
- Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead so we can have natural conversations with the kids about areas they don’t understand.
- Pray for David & Emily Cetola as they talk with parents at drop-off and pick-up each day. Pray they can make good connections with these parents for future engagement between them and the local church.
- We are all tired “from all the fun”. (That was someone else’s quote, but I had to share it.) Every night has ended up going later than expected and it’s starting to catch up with us. The heat is coming back in full force tomorrow, so please pray for strength.
