Day 3

Hola,
We are finishing up day 3 in Venezuela and are about to depart for camp in the morning. Today was a great day. In the morning (well, it was from 12 to 230), we went to la iglesia cristiana de caracas (the christian church of caracas). It was a great experience! The people were so welcoming and excited that we were there. In Venezuela, it is very common to dance at church. When we got there, there were people dancing to You are Good, a song you might know, but in Spanish it is eres fiel! After about 10 minutes of that, they had all of us up in front of the church dancing with them. It was a sight to see!
We had a meeting this afternoon with everyone involved in the camp and went over all the plans. They keep saying here, we have done all we can do to prepare, now it is in Gods hands. The leaders have a great perspective and it is really helping us to feel calm about what is about to come. I think overall, the team is VERY excited to get to camp and work with the youth here. There are about 120 youth coming, and 16 guides (they are around our age, and they are like what we would call counselors). Camp is going to be very dirty...lots of games in the mud, even a game where you break an egg on your head like russian roulette (sorry...spell check for me). Some of the eggs will be hard boiled and some raw...I am leading that game so I dont have to get egg all over me! But, the camp is very high energy, and it is going to be a great time. We are praying that God will work through us to bring kids to the church for the year to come. Only 5% of people in Venezuela believe in God and call themselves Christians. YFC really believes that the future of Venezula lies in the youth. It is going to be an exciting, emotional, funpacked 4 days.
We are so thankful for your prayers. I really feel them being answered! Everyone has seemed to pick up at least a little Spanish! With our broken Spanish and their broken English, we are actually able to communicate quite well. Our team has definitely bonded. The boys have created a dance to do at Gringo Night, Katie sang Forever at church today in half English-half Spanish, and we all have Spanish names now...Josh is Antonio, Kevin is Carlos, Alex is Luis, Brian is Pedro, Mary Kate is Dulce Maria (sweet mary), Jen is juvirivisay, Katie is julazee (i dont know how to spell it, but it sounds like you lazy), and I am Julia. We are having a great time, feeling very blessed, and ready to go tomorrow.
Here are our prayer requests while we are at camp for the next 4 days. We will try to write during our time there, but we have to go to town to use the internet, so I am not sure how frequently we will be writing.

• Please pray for our health. A couple of people are feeling weak from lack of sleep slash the higher altitude of Venezuela. It is not debilitating, but I know that they would like to feel better before camp so that they can really give their all while they are there.
• Please pray for our attitudes. It is really important that even if we cannot speak the same language, we are acting with love and kindness towards each other and the campers. We will be having LONG days, and I know we will be tired, so please pray that we do not let our tiredness be an excuse for crabiness, etc.
• Please pray for the guides and their relationships with the campers. They are staying in the cabins with the youth, and they are going to be with them ALL the time. Pray for energy for them, and for wisdom, patience, and love.
• Please pray that through all of our efforts, God would be glorified!

Thank you so much for praying for us. Parents, I hope you are not worried...everything is going well and your sons and daughters are doing a beautiful job serving the Lord.

Also, we noticed that people were having problems commenting to our posts. I think we fixed it, so if you want to try again, go ahead!

Becky