Matt middle back. Shelly lower left. Both in black tees.
Here is his testimony:
"So after some car trouble and a couple wrong turns -which made us a couple hours late- Shelly and I finally made the 2 hour drive south to the Mornington Adventure Camp where we were to work with grade 7 students. The camp was located way out in the middle of no where with sheep grazing on the surrounding hills and Kangaroos hoping all over the place.
After we had a quick lunch we got right into the activities with the kids.
The kids split into two groups of about 25 and went to two separate events. One was raft building down at the river and the other was the “Flying Fox” Shelly and I went there. The flying fox was a zip line you sat in that launched you from a tree house and sent you soaring down through the woods. This thing was a real blast! I spent the next two hours at the far end helping the kinds out of the seat after their ride came to a stop. During this time I had great opportunities chatting with and getting to know them. Some stood down there with me taking photos of the other kids as they went flying by. We talked about movies, tv shows, music, video games and what life was like where I was from. As Shelly and I switched ends and I assisted from the top side, the kids soon made a circle around me. It seemed that we were already connecting on a deeper level. I don’t know why…..but Jesus has given me some special ability to reach kids ranging from 10 – 14. I don’t feel like I do anything special……In fact I feel like I don’t really do enough…….but for some reason…..they flock to me. I could tell this was going to be a great camp.
Next the kids had some free time until dinner. This time I mostly spent in the gymnasium playing “Knock out” -A basketball type of game. As they yelled and played I thought to myself, ‘these kids have not yet been spoiled by the world and their parents still greatly influencing them’. A lot of these kids do NOT come from 'the most nurturing' back rounds even though they were in a Private school. You could almost see their parents controlling their speech with some si-fi looking remote miles and miles away. They were too young to hate- as much as their mouths were spilling. One young boy came from a home where my country was not thought of too highly. I did not want to spend the whole camp with a wall between him and I. And to be honest it hurt to hear what was actually coming out of his mouth. Finally with a slightly stern voice I took him aside and we had a very constructive conversation. I wanted him to know that we could be friends if we put our nationalities aside and just looked at each other as human beings. We ended up being good buds for the rest of the camp, still poking at our different accents.
At dinner time the staff all sat together at the same table. Shelly and I quickly made friends with these teachers from Grace Christian School. One practically interesting fellow was Nev. He was the schools Chaplin. We could tell straight away that this was a man worthy to be honored. He had a heart for what was right and good for this next generation.
After dinner, Shelly, Nev and I walked down to the soccer field to pray over the nights teaching time. I sat there for the first few moments in awe of the beautiful Australian country side. As the setting sun’s beams blasted through a thin row of pine trees on the outer edge of the the playing field 3 kangaroos joyfully bounced into and out of the sun light setting a tone. I was so touched in that time I had to wipe the tears from my eyes before we walked back up the stairs we knew something amazing was gonna happen tonight in those kids hearts.
The first couple hours of the night we spent playing team building games and relay races in the gym. It was fun, loud and over the top. All this lead into Nev’s teaching. The message was about the power our words carry. How God SPOKE us in to existence and how we can speak life or death into each other’s lives. 7 kids dedicated to know God more, and 7 rededicated to live that out better. I had a thrill and an honor to lead these guys through this time of Q and A of the practicality of it all.
After we finally split and the kids went to bed I decided to grab my flash light and walk down to the soccer field to gaze at the stars. As I shined my light down onto the field I saw 30+ kangaroos grazing in the night time air. These funny creatures act a lot like white tail deer. Staring dumb founded into a man made beam of light which made me chuckle. J For the next half hour or so I sat down there on the stairs gazing up at the stars and occasionally flicking on my flashlight to look at the “Roos” grazing in the field. I was in awe of the amazing painting brushed across the sky for me. The stars in the southern hemisphere are absolutely breathtaking!
As I reflected on the days events I could only imagine what the next day had in store."
Apparently it went well.. so.. yeah watch out for more of this as he is Joining Nexwave a ministry here on Base.
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