Heat, Hype, & Hawai`i

by Matt Moran-Ellis, Program Assistant & Starbucks Liaison

The 2009 Expedition Crew performed their opening night of Jesus Walk to rave reviews
despite it coming down to the last few moments of the day trying to get everything in place.
If you step back a little bit and place the night in the context of the rest of the first community
service camp of 2009 then it is clear that the hand of the LORD has been firmly on camp
this summer. Community Service Camp #1 brought an unusual amount of sick campers and staff in addition to record temperatures with no trade winds.

The week had started with 80+ kids showing up with the vast majority of them being boys.
With a few quick cabin reshuffles the kids where settled and ready for the camp. At the
same time so was the heart, as over the week we saw recorded breaking temperatures
and alongside an outbreak of heat exhaustion and seasonal flue. This was taken in the
counselors stride as camp adapted to coping with such unusual situations. Kealoha Irvine
was stretched to meet the need and Lifeguard Tamber (who luckily happened to be a
Registered Nurse) jumped in to help with the strain.

Alongside this with a scaled down rehearsal schedule the pressure was on get Jesus Walk ready in time. With a reminder from God that this was his show and he would use it to bless his kids, the show went on and ended up receiving comments that this was the best opening night of any Jesus Walk in living memory. The energy from this night gave the staff a fresh wind and allowed them to carry through the rest of the camp no matter what got thrown at them.

This week has been a testimony on how Godʼs provision is always enough. Time and time
again this week it seemed that things would not work out, or that sickness or issues would
get the better of us, but as the staff found out at the end of their trying was Godʼs
provision. As the week wound down their were praise reports left, right and center at the
goodness of God and a desire to rest and see what the LORD would bring next week in
the form of Music Camp.