They’re here! 96 kids… 25 leaders… a serve team of 15+…camp is on!
This is so exciting! We’ve been working towards this all year and to see it happening is incredible. Yesterday was craziness… travel and details, last minute preparation and then the excitment of 115+ students and leaders in the room praising God. The energy in this room is incredible. The teams here this week will go to Guatemala, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, DR, Romania, Peru, Nicaragua, and Kenya on 2, 3, and 4 week trips!
Some awesome stories just from preparation and the first day…
-AIM has two school buses that we use to transport students. Last week, the big bus went in the shop. With over 70 people flying in, we needed more than one bus. The bus is so old that the shop is having a hard time finding a part. So with 2 days before the students came, I had to find a bus.
We did what we always do at AIM… prayed… then started making calls. And talking to people around, seeing if they had any ideas. Networking is a great thing. Don mentioned it in a leader meeting, and one of the leaders (who is from Gainesville), was able to hook us up with a church that had two 15 passenger vans. I was so excited–but it still wasn’t enough. So we made more calls. Networked some more. The same leader suddenly remembered that she knew someone who owned a bus. Two phone calls later, we had a bus! Praise the Lord!
**Prayer Request–our bus still needs to get fixed!**
-Two of our teams are flying Spirit Airlines on the 21st. On June 12, the pilots went on strike! Every day I got online and they extended it another day. We prayed… and prayed that a Plan B wouldn’t be necessary. Last night during worship, I looked online and they’d announced the end of the strike! Flights resume Friday… so our teams will be able to fly on the 21st!
**Prayer Request–pray for all of the teams flying out–for safety and no hassles whatsoever!
-Finally, on the first night of training camp we have a parents’ reception and along with our normal dinner. It’s a lot of people! We had a headcount of who RSVP’d, but several parents showed up unannounced. Others brought extended family–and many children as well! By the time all the parents/family got through the line, the food was almost gone. We had 96 students, plus serve team and staff, who still needed to eat. So we prayed. And we didn’t run out of food. :0)
(Me with some of the leaders, serve team, and staff for the first camp).
First night meeting.
