Ministry & Youth: PYV Summer Camp 2019 – Day Six (New Year’s Day)

All of life is worship and it's good to worship together

January 1 2020. It’s the final day of what has been a tremendous camp. Because it was a late night last night, the leader’s meeting and breakfast started later today. While that sounds like we all had a chance to sleep in a bit, we had to have everything out of our rooms before breakfast so it wasn’t much of an extra sleep.

I saw this verse of scripture on the door of one of the male dorms. It seemed appropriate today

If a man loudly blesses his neighbour early in the morning,
it will be taken as a curse.
Proverbs 27:14

Our study groups had their last opportunity to sit together this morning. The friendships that have been formed in these groups are friendships we hope will last for many years. More importantly we hope all they have learned and discussed will guide them to a deeper and stronger trust in Jesus and a clearer understanding of God’s will. The leaders of the groups have been faithful in helping your children understand the scriptures and how they apply to the lives of teenagers.

Have you talked with your children about their study groups?

After a shortened morning tea we walked up the stairs to our session room for our final worship session. We heard a short talk from Andy May to conclude his series where he has simply reminded us that God’s will for us is to know Jesus. We watched a recording of an interview with Sil Ruddle, who was the captain of the Australian Women’s Volleyball Team and involved in the Olympics in Sydney in 2000. She is now serving Jesus in Western Africa. She talked about determining God’s will for her life that led her to Africa and there were a few amazing statements. This was the stand out comment for me:

I went to SIM (Mission Agency) and said, “These are my skills. Is there an opportunity for God to use me and these skills?”

These skills were much more than volleyball. She had learned much about leadership while playing sport, but had also completed an engineering degree and had been working in water management for a few years. She had skills to offer.

Have you talked with your children about the talks at camp? Ask them about ‘maker; manger; cross; king’ and see what they can remember.

We also heard an encouraging testimony from Erwin Yii, one of our leaders. It is always an encouragement to hear about the difference Jesus makes in people’s lives whether it’s a testimony about coming to faith, or a testimony about growing in grace. Erwin has encouraged us all today.

Once again our lunch was fantastic with a choice of chicken or lamb on wraps, and then all the good things to put on top. The meals at camp have been great and listening to the conversations happening across the room over six days has been very encouraging. The campers did good work when it was their turn to set tables or to pack up dishes and wipe down tables.

From there we had our final time together to say ‘thank you’ to everybody who has been busy in leading different areas of camp. Our executive team led by Caleb Schulz; our speaker Andy May; the first aid team; pastoral care team; study and activity leaders; the tech team; and our musicians. (Apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone.) We also heard a bit more about YouthMETRO, and prayed for the group who have finished Year 12 and are graduating from PYV Camps.

This is a great group of young adults. Let's see what God has in store for them.

I was flattered that some time was spent to say goodbye to me. My thanks to all who were involved in putting this together.

Then we had to pack up quickly and leave the camp as another group were ready to start their camp later that afternoon.

This camp has been eventful in unexpected ways with power outages and very hot weather. This probably helps to make it a very memorable camp too.

This camp is also my final camp as the PCV Youth Ministries Director. I am grateful to God for the opportunity that has been mine to be involved in the camps and to help point young people to Jesus. I trust that the seeds of faith that have been sown will continue to bear fruit for many, many years to come.