There really is no way to express how difficult it will be to put into words and to sum up last week. No matter how hard I try, my words will be inadequate and only a small representation of all that happened. To put it into perspective, I did not feel rested until 5 days after it ended!
I told some people that basketball camp was harder than I thought it would be, but better than I thought it would be.
First, I was so excited to see one of my best friends, Reagan! She and her family were the ones who came up with the idea to run a basketball camp in Springfield, MA. We met the Lowe family in Virginia and kept in touch with them even after our move. When they and their team pulled into the church on that Saturday evening, I wasn't even thinking about camp or the children, I was thinking about seeing my sweet friend!
Planning for camp was difficult on our end since it involved the coordination of everything. We did not have to run camp- Players with a Purpose did that. We did, however, have to coordinate food for every day of camp, food for the team, inviting kids, getting permission slips, arranging transportation for 75 kids, securing the Basketball Hall of Fame, finding a facility for camp, and other such logistics.
In the process of inviting kids, Matt and I went to a neighborhood where we had delivered gifts through Angel Tree at Christmas time. We had one contact there and had not been able to reach them through the phone number we had, so we drove there. (Later on we found out that 1,000 kids live in that neighborhood and God has just in the last couple of days opened a major door for ministry there!) It was an amazing experience and we ended up bringing 23 kids from that area to camp!! There was a complication though. The church we were using for camp had double booked and we realized that at the last minute. We had to start camp a day early and change the time for the last day. In calling parents to relay that informaion, I discovered that not all of the moms spoke English. I didn't know what to do! Thankfully, we have a friend who just spent a semseter of college studying in Spain and he was able to make some phone calls for us.
We had Bri's friend Katherine and Cam's friend Ethan staying with us that week to help. Brianna and Ethan made all these team signs. They did a great job!
Bus rides were crazy, but Cameron and Ethan were on each one.
Brianna helped in the kitchen each day.
We enjoyed getting to spend time in the evenings and during the day on Friday with the team.
I remember going to camp as a kid and on the last night there we'd have a big bonfire and people would share what happened to them that week. There'd be stories of salvations, callings to missions, relationships formed, fears overcome, and much more. Those testimonies would be so much evidence of God at work that week. Well, there is no time and this isn't the place to be having that bonfire. Many of the stories aren't even my own. But God WAS at work at basketball camp. In the lives of volunteers, team members, campers, and even parents. I am so grateful for Players with a Purpose, First Baptist Church (for the facility use and ALL the help they gave), our volunteers, the businesses that donated food and other goods, and for Matt and all he put into making this happen. We had 95 campers that week-with 75 of them from the city. Praise God!
