19 days at Lost Canyon - Young Life Camp in AZ

There is nothing quite like an assignment at a Young Life property. Spending a month (19 days specifically for us this time) in close community all with the same goal of presenting the gospel to hundreds of kids, it is simply amazing. There were 3 camp weeks, two Junior High, the third a Capernaum week dedicated to those kids who often live in the shadows of society, kids with disabilities.

I will say that coming into the assignment I had no idea who Justin Beiber was. After two weeks with look at like after look alike I certainly know what his haircut looks like. Dozens of 12 and 13 yr old boys each week sported the Beiber hair cut. (See Jen Byard’s blog about this, it is pretty funny as one day she took picture of all the Bieber’s) (Jen and John Byard were on the assignment with us). Click here for a video of what 100 junior high kids in one hot tub looks like. I didn’t think it was possible, but you can see for yourself. I think the biggest lesson learned coming out of the first two weeks is how scared I am to have a daughter soon to be in junior high. Emma turned 10 at camp and she got her first iPod. (And yes, Bieber was a first download). See picture of Emma as she turned 10. As we began to prepare for week 3, I will admit I started to get a bit nervous. 250 kids with special needs, plus 200 leaders and buddies were to be our next guests. For those that don’t know, under the leadership of a great brother Nick Palermo, Young Life started ministering specifically to this kid group about 20yrs ago, under the name Capernaum Young Life. What started as one club in San Jose now has grown to the largest outreach ministry to disabled kids in the US, with another 14 countries also with ministries to these special kids. The camps 2^nd day was July 4^th. So we decided to have the first ever Lost Canyon 4^th of July parade. (See picture of the parade masters, Eric Scofield and I). My nervousness melted away as I saw the complete joy on every campers face. These were amazing kids. My favorite moment of the week came when I was in the coffee shop one night and an impromptu sing-a-long broke out. I said,’ heh, do you know Free Fallin’? Click here to watch the video. The kid in the corner that is absolutely belting it out, he was having the time of his life!!

Stay tuned as I gear up for Africa and watch for the blog posts hopefully during but for sure after! Sept 5^th -10^th…the Journey Continues…