Anything Could Happen

The campers are here! The campers are here! Y'all today was so insane and it's only day 1. The kids started arriving around 2 in a few different vans and buses depending on which city they were coming from. We were standing on the porch of the main house when the first van arrived and seeing these kids running towards us, hugging the Camp Hope veterans, so happy to see the faces they hadn't seen in a year - it was such a cool sight. It's weird not knowing any of the campers, especially after working with the same Street of Hope kids the past 3 years here. But I can't even explain how these kids faces lit up seeing all their old friends, the American counselors that became their friends, this familiar campsite, so excited for the week to come. 

Gable's Group

Go Fancy Snickers! I'm lucky enough to get to look over seven girls 16-17 years old this week. Y'all these girls are so cool, each of them have such a different personality, there's an artist, a singer, a clown, a quiet but sweet girl, one girl only smiles every now and then. The first day we bonded over creating our group name... Fancy Snickers... And had so much fun decorating our room for "most womanly" competition, hanging our bathing suit tops around our cabin and setting up nail polish up our stairs. A few of my girls went out and picked a few flowers to put on our pillows, literally I could have paid like $10 for the bouquets these girls put together. I love getting to know the girls in my group, and it's crazy seeing and hearing about their stories from back home, when they aren't at camp. Most of these kids come from really hard lives and camp is their escape and this can sometimes be really apparent. The girls hang onto me, hug me nonstop, sit with me without saying a word, decorate my bed, and I love every second of it. It's so crazy, one of my girls has come to Camp Hope for 11 years. All 11 years! I feel like such a noob.

Olivia's Group

One of the best parts of meeting all the girls in my group was asking them what their favorite part of Camp Hope was since it's my first year and they are all returners. A few of them said that they loved water day and hanging out with friends but one girl said she loved the "Big Tent" time because they got serious and really talked about stuff. This really meant something to me because even before I had seen it with my own eyes, I saw what an impact camp had had on her. Group time was special because they all opened up in their own way. Even if they only talked in Latvian, I felt blessed that they were opening up at all on the first night. I can't wait to get to know more about these girls this week! 

We had dinner, night discussion time, and then we had "tea time," where we get together with our group and talk about what Karlis discussed at the night meeting. We talked about the 4 steps of believing in God and creating/having a relationship with him. Our campers are all over the spectrum, some following and totally in love with Jesus, while others don't even believe in a God. It's interesting getting to hear how honest these kids are when talking about it. So many of them want to know God's love and want to be a Christian, but they are so confused as to why so many bad things happen in their lives. But that's what we are here for, to help them know that life isn't always going to be dandy and bad things happen to everybody, Americans and Latvians, everybody. But when we have faith in Christ and know that he is on our side and has our back, we can get through anything. I love sharing my testimony with my girls, it helps to create trust and a relationship with them that's real. 

Day 2 of camp has been eventful. It's crazy hair day and you can't even imagine the crazy hair we have seen from these people. Latvians are very resourceful to say the least. We started today with a staff meeting full of prayer, both in English and Latvian. It's pretty neat hearing prayers and feeling its power in another language, it's one of my favorite things. We spent all day outside playing gaga ball, swimming, singing and dancing, and at crafts they made tie-fleece-blankets. We have an ever so popular night game tonight, which in Latvia usually means running around in the woods at 11pm in pitch black night with your hands zip-tied to your team trying to find some sort of treasure. And lots of bugs. It gets really intense. So we will let you know how that goes. Over camp has been so amazing so far and it's only the first full day... The Texans are still alive and kickin, so that's labi. (That means good in Latvian)

Also, we have a camp-wide blog going written by our American AND Latvian team, and I run out of internet quickly, so you can check that out if you want to know more! (Red & Mansfield family) 

https://hopecamplatvia.wordpress.com

xoxo, Gāble un Olivija