Our youth will be giving back to Camp Sumatanga this week by painting cabins and building decks at the Pool
Camp. They will begin work on Monday and finish up Thursday afternoon. On Friday, the group will head to
Laguna Beach Retreat Center in Panama City Beach. The speaker for this year's retreat is Zach Cawthorn and Shane
Baker will be leading worship. Please be in prayer for all involved as they serve, worship, study, and play.
Monday, June 29th - Today we worked on painting the outside of the 2 cabins we're staying in. The first thing we discovered is that the pool camp cabins are covered in spiders and boys scream like little girls !! Once we conquered the creepy crawlies, we did a great job of covering the cabins (and a little of ourselves) with Sumatanga brown. We have a little bit of the highest points of the cabins left to paint tomorrow (we were short on ladders) and then we'll move on to building 8x8 decks on the front of them. We got the holes dug for the supports so we're ready to frame them up.
Quotes of the day:
"Spiders don't poop"
"Everything poops!"
"I'm just along for the ride!!!"
"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
"Circle up"
Tuesday, June 30th - Paint sprayers are wonderful! We got our hands on a paint sprayer & finished painting our 2 cabins and most of the dining hall. The most noticeable & lasting improvements we made were building decks on the front of our cabins. Both decks are framed & floored and already have steps. We completed the railing on the first deck and will finish up on the second tomorrow. The kids are working hard, having fun, and doing a great job!!!
Quotes of the day:
"I almost died"
"Look what you did!"
"Let me hear you grunt!"
"What would you do for a Klondike bar?"
"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
"Get in the shower & mix up the Gatorade!"
"When's lunch?"
"Can we have flat time?"
"Don't paint the frogs!"
When's supper?"
"Does that look crooked?"
"Where's my cup?"
"It's not a trip until Cole gets hurt."
Wednesday, July 1st - Things are going great! The kids finished both decks including hand rails and burying stepping stones up to the decks from the road. They also finished painting the dining hall at the pool camp and the office at the entrance to the pool camp. And when we turned around this afternoon, we had kids on the roofs of the cabins sweeping off pine needles, pine cones, and sticks. We actually ran out of work & volunteered to build a deck on another cabin. So Evan, the awesome Sumatanga guy helping us out with supplies, drove to Gadsden and got everything we need to build another deck . . . this time with a handicapped ramp. All of the supplies for the three decks and all of the painting supplies have been paid for with the money the youth raised throughout the last year. So, thank you First Methodist for supporting our Fellowship Luncheons! You had a hand in all of this!!
The staff at Sumatanga can't say enough good things about what we've done. They're so excited . . . especially just to have someone who's interested in helping out the camp in a hands-on way! They're updating the Sumatanga facebook page with information on what we've done and are challenging other churches to a throw-down. Just imagine what could get done if all of the churches that enjoy Sumatanga pitched in! Bob Murray, the executive director of Camp Sumatanga, told us that special needs adults will be at the pool camp in 2 weeks and that the decks will make a world of difference for them. The entrances to most of the cabins are made of old concrete steps that have caused lots of injuries over the years. It feels incredible to make such a positive difference in a place that we love so much!!
Quotes of the day:
"Does anybody remember our quotes?"
"I didn't do it!"
"Come on guys . . . get to work guys."
"I told you there was a gnat up my nose."
"Hop, Morgan, hop!"
"I think there's an ant in my pants."
"Something's biting me!"
Thursday, July 2nd - We started today with the idea that we would all work on the cabin 6 deck and ramp together and hopefully finish in the early afternoon. Well, that's what happened and the deck and ramp looked wonderful. That ramp is going to mean the difference in some people being able to come to camp!
This afternoon the lifeguards, who are also the cleaning crew, started cleaning up the cabins after the Church of Christ kids left. Several of our girls and Doreen & Dianna helped them out so we became their best friends. Then . . . we decided to paint cabin 6 in the 2 hours we had before supper. Believe it or not, we got it trimmed out with brushes and used a sprayer and finished just in time. Waylon, Melanie, & Josh joined us tonight (when all of the work was done . . . hmmmmm).
Our time at Sumatanga hasn't been all work & no play. We were able to go swimming 3 of our nights here . . . our new lifeguard BFFs had a great time playing frisbee with the kids in the pool. After the pool, the kids played cards and just hung out in our meeting room. One night we went rapelling off the rocks at Fat Man's Squeeze. We have some hilarious pictures from that night. . . . several of which show kids hanging upside down for some reason. We'll put those pictures on the website soon.
Friday, July 3rd - Off To The Beach!!! - We got to Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center about 4:00 this afternoon and headed for the ocean. There must be something stirring in the gulf (we've been cut off from civilization so we have no idea what's going on) because the waves were great! We jumped waves & got clobbered by a few before supper. Shane, Lori, and the girls were here in time to eat with us and so was Zach Cawthorn, our speaker. We had our first session about 8:00. Shane did an incredible job of leading worship and setting the mood for Zach's talk, and then we found out that Zach is a great speaker! His topic was "What is a Christian?". It's going to be a wonderful weekend!! Please keep us all in your prayers . . . amazing things can happen!
Quote of the Day:
"There's seaweed in my pants!"
Saturday, July 4th - We had a session with Zach this morning that finished up last night's "What is a Christian?" talk. It's amazing the depth that a 23 year old can reach when he's totally committed to the Lord. We've all been challenged to acknowledge always that we need a Savior, remain in Him, bear His fruit, obey His commands, and walk with the Holy Spirit.
During the afternoon heat we shopped a while at Pier Park which is a huge new shopping area before returning to get ready for dinner at Montego Bay. We all had a great meal and great fellowship.
An impromptu session before the fireworks turned out to be an incredible experience for us all. The Lord definitely had his hand on this session and let His presence be known tonight. Just ask any of us how God worked with Shane and Zach before they came on this trip to prepare them for this session. They had never met and never spoken to each other, yet they were both strongly led by the Spirit to share the same message. It was amazing and we all felt the absolute magnitude of the love of God.
Quote of the Day:
"Oh, how He loves us!"
Sunday, July 5th - We got to visit Shipwreck Island Water Park today and spend a little more time in the ocean.
Today's sessions covered the roller coaster of spiritual commitment that many Christians experience.
Zach explained that today's churches tend to simplify Christianity to the point that it becomes a feel-good religion with
little commitment. In reality, being a Christian is HARD! It takes more than reading your Bible, attending church, and
basically being a good person. It takes a real commitment to live like Jesus . . . following Him so closely we get covered
in the dust from his feet.
Quote of the Week:
"Thank you God . . . We Love You!!"
Home Sweet Home
Hey UTurners . . . we just wanted to say again how AWESOME y'all are & what a GREAT JOB
y'all did this week. A huge impact for Jesus!
We love you all.
Waylon & Melanie
A special thanks to Shane, Zach, and Waylon & Melanie!!!
You guys ROCK!!!!
