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| "The best month of my life!" I spent June 29th to July 26th serving on Summer Assignment at Washington Family Ranch - Creekside, which is a middle school Young Life camp located in central Oregon. My job was the dining hall work crew boss. I was in charge of 24 high school students that were volunteering a month out of their summer to serve in the dining hall. We set tables, served, and cleaned up after, between 400 and 600 people, three times a day. Young Life serves meals family style. Kids eat at a table with their leaders and are served as much food as they want. Our kids serve them with a smile and get to know their names. We want kids to experience a little bit of heaven here on earth - plentiful, good food, generosity, laughter, and dessert. It is an another opportunity for kids to have a tangible way to know what God is like.
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There were also another 20 work crew kids working in in "The Pits" (cleaning dishes all day), Housekeeping (laundry, cleaning rooms, scrubbing, and plunging toilets), and the Outdoor Crew (mowing lawns, groundskeeping). It was long, hard work...but it was good, very good. There is something about getting in the trenches, working, sweating, praying, crying, laughing, and celebrating in the name of Jesus, that brings people together like no other way. We came together as strangers and left as family. Each one of my work crew kids said it was, hands down, the best month of their life.
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| In awe.. During my time at Creekside, we had five 5 day sessions in which we saw roughly 2,000 leaders and kids come through the camp. On the 5th day of each session, before the campers went home, they went on what is called the "New Believers Walk". Those kids that met Jesus that week would walk around the camp (with their leaders), be given a Bible, and stop and listen to people speak about what it looks like to walk with Jesus. They were each given a 1"x1" tile to put their name on and they would drop it in the sluice box (Creekside is a camp with a mining theme and sluice box is a mining tool used to separate the gold from the water and dirt). There are thousands of tiles with thousands of names. I can only describe the sight as weighty - like looking at a war memorial but with a positive, holy feel - it's like taking a peek into the book of life. During our session, over 700 middle school kids started a relationship with Jesus. (It's humbling to be a first hand witness as to what the Lord is doing in the lives of so many). After the kids left the camp, some of my work crew, summer staff, and I would go up and pray over the tiles of kids that just started their relationship with Jesus. One of the tiles was laying face down and on the back it had the words "I'm free!" I still get tears thinking about it. When we were there praying over the tiles, two of my crew boys found the tiles they had placed there five years ago, when they met Jesus at this camp. There were actually a number of my work crew kids who met Jesus at Creekside and were now serving other kids for Him there.
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| Living Testimonies Each of my work crew kids made what is called a cardboard testimony. It's a square piece of cardboard and on one side is a few words about who they were before they met Jesus and on the other side a few words about what their life is like having met Jesus. Some of the "before" phrases were: "used sex and drugs to try and fill me", "harmed myself looking for comfort", "felt unlovable", "abused and abandonded by my father" "insecure about my body", and "looked to others to fill me up". On the "after" side were phrases like, "I have a heavenly father who loves and accepts me", "Found comfort in Jesus", "Found a community in Jesus", "I am completely loved in Christ", "Found healing and restoration in Jesus". They did a presentation to each group of campers showing them "before" and "after" while songs like, "You Make Beautiful Things" played. It was probably one of the most impactful things for our middle school friends who came to camp. After their presentation, they were available for the middle school students to come speak to them. Campers came up to them with hugs and tears in their eyes thanking them for showing them that there is hope in Jesus because they could relate to what was on the "before" side of their cardboard.
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It's hard to put this last month into words. I not only got to serve middle school kids who came to camp, I also got to love on, father, and disciple my work crew kids which was such an amazing blessing to me. I definitely came away changed and blessed beyond what I gave in time and energy.
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| Summer Update: We have been going strong this summer with Campaigners on Monday nights. We are currently going through the book of John. We have also had a few BBQs and movie nights that were a blast! Club will be starting up again in mid-September! We can't wait! There are many ways to get involved - praying, volunteering, giving. Please contact me if you are interested! 907-769-1387 or SewardYL@gmail.com. In Him, Jason Bickling
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