During out JP week 1, Sean Gundry was our program director - that's right our very own Sean Gundry. He did a fantastic job, and the kids had a blast at camp. They all worked super-hard doing home repair for four days, as well.
Here are some of their thoughts:
Cara Golias writes:
This is my first year at JP and it has been great so far. The staff and adults here are amazing and fun, and you get to become friends with the other campers as well. One thing I like about JP is that they make worship very comfortable and easy for youth to understand. At home, it’s not always the coolest thing to talk about Jesus and your relationship with God. At JP, you can also work well with each other for the same reasons, the love to help God’s people. So, today at JP my group and adults went to wash and refinish decks for a family. From what I’ve heard from other campers from previous years is that the families are always very kind and that you will love to get to know them and their stories, and I found out for myself that this is true. When we pulled in their driveway we were immediately welcomed by the mother of the house. She brought her family out and showed us her two daughters and her son; she also brought out her sister. As we started working we didn’t get to talk with the family often, but we saw the conditions they were living in. There were at least 5 people living in their small house with no running water. At the end of the day, it was really cool to have seen the difference we made in these people’s lives and I hope to keep up with the work for these families.
Grace Weaver writes:
Today we started out with devotions. We thought about the parable of yeast. After that we got in our working groups to pack for the day. We went to a sweet lady’s house. Her house needed some painting to be done. So we first used painters tape around her house. Then we painted part of her house this brown color. We took a break for lunch. After lunch we talked about the parable of yeast for devotions. Then we got back to painting. I took a break with some people in my group and got to talk to her. She was an amazing person. I wish I could talk to her more, but we had to get back to work. So we got back to work and got finished with the job. We got to talk to her a little more before we left. Then we got back to camp. This was an amazing day to be with God and my friends.
Eric Burks writes:
Today… it was one of those days. You know, like the kind you never want to end. We went to a trailer park again. We knew we were going to be doing a bunch of small projects so I thought I knew what to expect. When we arrived, the man (insert name here) took us inside to see an autographed helmet. Then I looked at him as just another redskins fan wanting to show off his real helmet. So, big deal right? We walked inside the house and then the real heart-felt story came out. We learned that the helmet had belonged to his son, his dead son. His dead son who died of cancer. His dead son. But he story gets better. Apparently his son was in that “Make a Wish” program, they offered to take him to Disney land but all he wanted to do was to go to a redskin’s football game. Talk about a diehard fan. How could all this happen to him and he still has faith in God? But sure enough there was a cross hanging on the door showing extreme faith. How did all my problems compare to this? How did my faith compare to this? It was nothing. But it was only later I realized that it didn’t have to be nothing. I had helped these people but I think they and helped me just as much. They helped me grow in my faith and helped me to know that God does watch over people and works his will through them. Was it God that put me inside that trailer today? It just might have been so.
Zoe Cooper writes:
So far this week, I have had an amazing, educational, life-changing time. From waking up every morning, to evening activities at night. In fact today, (Tuesday-the 2nd day of the trip), I got to experience going to my work site at Ms. Blankenship’s home. We were assigned to build steps up a hill to connect to her house. We all got to greet Ms. Blankenship, and then immediately had to get working since we had to build six steps altogether. I had a blast getting to know the others while working with the tools. In the beginning, we got assigned to different jobs throughout the week, to do along with building in general. I offered to do the “Tool Person” duty since I thought it would be fun. So, today, I checked off all the tools before we left camp and before we left the site at 3:30. Besides that, I started off digging the hill to make the ground even, and put the step in place. After, some of my teammates did that, while my new friend Amy and I, went to cut some steel bars. That was not so fun, but luckily, Ms. Blankenship own 22 cats that she rescued herself, so we got to watch them run around! One of the rules at the Jeremiah Project though is, “No petting the animals.” So, obviously, we couldn’t pet them, but they were still very cute. Overall, the week has been great, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me tomorrow!
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