All Nations Outreach

Camp Lutherhaven in Albion, Indiana again hosted the Servant Event "All Nations Outreach" for youth across the country to participate. This year brought in youth groups from Painsville, Ohio; Marshall, Michigan; Ft. Wayne, Indiana and Bridgeport, Nebraksa. Our group flew out on Saturday from Denver, and arrived at the camp a day earlier than the rest of the youth. Everyone else arrived on Sunday after a church service in the Pavillion. We quickly became acquainted with the people we were going to spend a week with and by Monday morning, we were all ready to go when the campers arrived around 10:00.

They all arrived on buses, 'adopted' of sorts by a church in Ft. Wayne who holds services for them in their language. They spent the day with our youth coloring, playing games, swimming, nature hiking, boating, and eating lunch. For some, it was the only meal they got all day. We served a lot of rice and noodles with their native sauces. (Not good on Sarah's stomach!) Then we said our goodbyes at 3:00p and they headed back to the city until the next morning.

The campers are all refugees from war torn or third world countries who have been sent to Ft. Wayne in search of a better life. Their basic physical needs are met, but their spiritual well being is more of a challenge. Most of the children who attended Camp Lutherhaven during our week are Buddist and Muslim. The older children are trained enough not to pray with us for lunch, or participate in the songs we sing, or to discuss Jesus. The younger, more influenced children, eat up any information they can get, especially if they have the one on one attention of a teenager. Most of the children live in small apartments with many other family members, so the one on one time was a real treat for them, and for our youth as well. All of our youth got to witness about Christ in one way or another, and it was neat to watch that happen. Hopefully, these children will remember something about this camp in the future, and turn to Him.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know each other. The youth leaders from the other groups were wonderful to spend a week with. They had all been to the camp before, and were extremely helpful and friendly. We played cards (as can been see on You Tube keyword: Lutherhaven Spoons), ate junk food, sang together, talked, had devotional time, and just plain goofed off together.

A good time was had by all and friendships were made and kept.

To God be the Glory!

(Because of their refugee status and the fear & abuse that comes with that, the camp asked us not to post any pictures of them online. Since that's what the camp was all about, I find it hard to pick out photos without any of the children in them! Hence the lack of photos in this blog.)