On a serious note: from Brook

Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for all of your prayers thus far. God is good. You know, last weekend I was anxious about my staff. Yes, I know that I shouldn't be, but I am human.
On Wednesday, all but one of my counselors came to the first evening of staff training. The remaining counselor was from a nearby village and he was early the next morning.
**Join me in Praising God for a great team of leaders!
As we studied through the life of Joseph and the activities that we will teach this year, I was encouraged by their willing attitudes. At the end of the first day, I was exhausted from teaching all day, but glad that we were
ahead of schedule. In fact, we were so far ahead that instead of having evening training classes, I invited them all over to my house for a movie!
We watched the Ten Commandments over the next two evenings. Did you know that it is a really long movie? We never did finish it, but we made it to the part where the Israelites leave Egypt. That was a great movie for them because as we teach about Joseph much of the story takes place in Egypt.
Because the movie was set mainly in Egypt, they were better able to understand some of the culture and customs of that country.
Saturday they all returned home and to get their homes set for the next three weeks as well as to prepare their Bible studies and sermons for camp.

**Pray for them this week as they prepare to leave their families and prepare to teach the campers.
This past week I've been receiving registration forms from various churches. It looks like we will have a lot of kids at the first two weeks of camp for sure. There will always be some that signed up but can't get the $2.00 they need along with food for camp. I've already had three kids knock on my door today asking for small jobs to earn that money.
**Pray for the campers as they look for jobs to earn money for camp. Pray too for their hearts to be softened to hear God's Word.
On a heavier note, we took part in a funeral yesterday. It was one of 7 that have taken place in the last three days in the four surrounding villages. Three of these funerals, including the one we were at yesterday, were for babies. This particular funeral hit home to us because the baby's father, Justin, is a camp counselor. Everyday he left home to join us at staff training and his child wasn't feeling well. But Friday as we were finishing up they told him they had taken his 1 year old to the hospital. He died the next afternoon. It was a sad funeral to watch our counselor mourning the death of his child in the way that we in the US would never
mourn. Here they visibly and vocally mourn. It's heart-breaking to watch your friends wailing.
**Pray for Justin and the other families that have lost loved ones. Pray for other families that have sick babies and are scared that their child may be next.
God works in ways that we can't understand. That is something we are learning in the life of Joseph. Joseph encouraged his brothers that what they had meant for evil God intended for good. So amidst the trials that we
are facing I know that God has intentions that are beyond my ability to understand and as the theme of camp says:
God Has a Plan for Me.
Take care and keep praying for us as we start our first week of camp on the 16th.

In God's Hands,
Brook