Will you drink?

It came no surprise to me that this past week was another holiday and
school break for the kids. But this week end was different, because
each year during theOctober school break, Ministerio de Misiones(my
home church while here), Aljaba, and a brother church in Brazil all
organize a camp for their youth-ages 12 to 19.

Monday through Wednesday we had camp staff meetings then spent the
rest of the days planning. I woke up at the crack of dawn
Thursday-4:30am to be exact- and headed to the port with my tourist
backpack to meet the campers and staff.

Around  6:30 all 100 of us packed in three motor boats and took a
thirty minute ride down the Amazon to a port in Peru. From there we
hiked into the jungle for about an hour to the camp site. The hike was
a blast! It was soggy, muddy, and rainy but so fun!

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect of the facilities we would be
staying in, so I lowered my expectations before going and prepared
for rough jungle conditions. However, when we arrived it was so
beautiful, neat and tidy! It was a retreat center really, not a camp
ground like I had thought, with a dinning hall, kitchen, dorms,
bathrooms, and scrumptious food.

Imagine a retreat center in the states but Swiss Family Robinson
style. It was gorgeous! Surrounding it was a lake running off the
Amazon and across the lake was what you would call an auditorium, but
jungle style; every time we had a session we had to load into the
carved Amazon canoes called "pikipiki" and row across the lake to the
'Floating Maloka'.

The morning and afternoons where spent in main sessions given by the
tutors of Aljaba and two pastors from Bogota. The pastors were amazing
gifted teachers both around 28-30 yrs old, on fire for The Lord and
not afraid to teach the whole truth.

We had a break from 12:00 to 2:00 to eat lunch and hang out. Most of
us went canoeing and swimming in the Amazon lake. Did I say "us"? Yes!
I swam too...

Friday's sessions where on dating, manhood, and womanhood. John
David, one of the pastors, did the session on dating. To make it
short: It was awesome! I was so excited! He nailed the issue speaking
the truth about the pulls and lies of this culture but in a loving and
humerous manner.

For us girls, a staff member from both Aljaba and one of the churches
spoke on womanhood and reminded the girls that they are each unique
princesses of God and treasured by him. I was so excited and
encouraged by what they shared. My favorite two passages of scripture
that we picked apart were Ezequiel 16:1-14 and Isaiah 54:1-8. I had
never heard these two passages used for the the topic of womanhood
before. It was great!

We wrapped up Friday evening and hiked back to the port where our
boats met us, but this time in a hard jungle rain fall. We were
soaking wet; our boots, pants, and legs all muddy, but I enjoyed every
minute of it!

Back in Leticia, exhausted and nasty, we divided into taxis and headed
to the church, cleaned up the best we could then had a final session
and a joyful, freeing time of worshiping our hearts out.

Saturday morning we met and played soccer and had another session that
evening...then two more on Sunday.

It was a nasty, muddy, soggy, heart-stirring, spirit-filled, blast of
a week end and I loved every minute of it!

      Special Thank You(s) to those who where praying for me during
the camp! No accidents or sicknesses occurred during it....However, I
do have what appears to be an irritated ankle from wearing boot that

were too big for me and hiking for an hour through sloshy mud. Tuesday
I couldn't walk on my foot at all without a lot of pain and by the
evening my whole foot was swollen and has been since...Thankfully I
ran into a nurse yesterday, so now I am taking an anti-inflammatory
med to get my swelling down.

Love you all mucho!

Anita