End of Week 5

Week 5 was a tough but fun week. The New York group was big this year and there were lots of kids who came to the Lord. In my cabin alone, out of 8 children, 5 made decisions this week. Olivia made a decision Wednesday to trust Christ as her savior. Friday morning, Kya also trusted Christ as her savior, Teasya, Colby, and Rachel all received assurance of their salvation. It deffinitely reminded me on a 5-Day Club setting because I had 4 girls who wanted to make a decision. It was very exciting to know that so many children accepted Christ that week.

Two girls had to go home because of their behavior. They are good girls, but in the end the decision was made for them to go home because they were not listening to their counselors and head staff. It was difficult to see them leave, but we are praying that the consequence of going home has impacted their hearts to show them what they have done wrong. We pray that they will come back next year and want to grow throughout the year.

It was a tough week for college bound. We are all very tired in many ways. Pray that we could stay spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally strong for the last two weeks. As of right now, we are again being stretched. For the past two weeks, Elizabeth and Ben have been at Blueberry Bible camp and will finally be coming back to Camp Good News this week. We are thankful for a great amount of volunteers who will be at Camp Good News this upcoming week (Week 6). Because of this, and a GREAT need with CEF of Central Maine at their Day Camp, so Myself, Aaron and Nate will be going up to the Traveling Day Camp. I'm a little nervous since I've never done this before and I will be with a host family for the week. Pray for patience and courage as I try new things.

Week 5 update

Camp has been great so far. We are having lots of fun and we have had wonderful weather.

I have a praise. Olivia accepted Christ as her savior!! She was so excited and wanted to tell everyone. Please pray that God would open her heart and that she would want to grow!!

Week 5 Begins

Hey Everyone!

Week 5 has officially begun. I'm in the Chippewa cabin and my junior counselor is Tori. I'm really excited about this week. We have a full cabin of 8 girls. 4 of the girls are from New York State. Not much has happened as of yet but i knew it will be a hard but fun week.

Please Pray:

• For Kya. She is in my cabin and wasn't feeling well for the second night in a row. Pray she would feel better!!
• For Daryana. She constantly gives all the staff a hard time and has already made some hard times. Pray that God would soften her heart and help her to listen when she should.
• There are some homesick campers, so please pray that God would help them to have a good day and to feel better about being away from home. I know it can be really hard being away and not seeing their parents. 
• There are some parents from New York that are here. Please pray that the counselors and those parents would not but heads but would work together to make this week the best there can be.
• Pray for the college bound, that they would be given strength as it's our 7th week and we are getting tired. Pray for spiritual, emotional, and mental strength.

Thank you for the prayers. I'll update again soon!!

End of Teen Week

Teen week was so much fun this year. I'm so glad we were able to reopen and campers were able to come. We had a great group of kids and I had some really great conversations with most of them. Many campers got awards for leadership and sportsmanship, but the biggest one was Honor Campers. We had two honor campers. On the boys side it was Jesse Tettlebach and on the girls side it was Jean Wakati. Jean was completely surprised which was so excited. I love it when we have campers who are great and deserve it but they are so humble they never see it coming.

There are some campers who really need prayer when they go home. Please pray for all of them as they go home and they try to grow and keep their fire (passion) strong for God. Many desired to keep their fire for god strong and I pray that we are able to do that!! There are many campers that i could give by name to pray for them while they are away from camp. I know that i will be personally praying for many of them

This week many teens came to know Christ. Two of my campers accepted Christ as their savior. Alex Powers and Helen Aboda both made the decision to accept Christ as their savior. Please pray for both of them.

This weekend the college bound and some other staff are going on a canoeing trip. Please pray for us as we go on this trip. that we could be safe and have fun.

Teen Camp

We are halfway through Teen Camp. I'm so thankful that so many teens came to camp to learn and grow in and through God. It has been great so far and i've really enjoyed spending time with all the teens here.

As I previously stated, I'm in the Shawnee cabin with 6 girls. I've really enjoyed our time together. I do have some prayer requests.

PLEASE PRAY:

• For Jean, Manuela, and Helen. They have expressed a want to really follow God and to do their best to witness to their friends and family as well and strive to do what is right and true. However the neighborhood they live in and and school they go to make it hard for them since there is a lot of violence and hate. Please pray that they could be safe and be the light for God as well as being able to follow God even when it might be hard and scary
• Steph talked about her home life light night. Please pray that God would give her strength and comfort in those situations
• We talked about trials and tribulation last night in devotions, as well as peer pressure. Please pray for all the teen campers. That they would accept the challenges in their lives and look towards God in their hard times, especially when they are being pressured to do wrong things with friends in school. Pray that they would be able to stand strong in their faith and show others as well. 
• That the campers would really be able to hind God's word in their hearts and not just memorize them for the points for their teams.

Thanks again for praying. I will try to update again soon!!

Transition from ROL or Camp Good News

The end of ROL was great. We ended on a good note. There was a few campers who came to know Christ. It was so exciting moment to watch children realize how wonderful God is and what he did for them.

Week 4 (Teen Week) has started. I'm very excited for this week, especially to see God working though the campers lives. I am in the Shawnee cabin. I have 14 and 15 year olds. So far it's a good start to camp.

Please pray for a girl name Steph in my cabin. She has a good heart. She talks a lot and sometimes it just isn't the time to talk, so please for her; that she would be able to still when it's time to be still. Please pray for a group of girls from the root cellar in portland. Please pray for their hearts, that God would work in and through them.

River of Life update

Today (Wednesday) is our first full day here at River of Life. We have 33 campers and a hand-full of staff and staff-kids. It looks like a good group of kids. Here at ROL there are 4 campers (2 boys and 2 girls). I am the senior counselor in the younger cabin called Sprucehaven. Abbie is my junior counselor, but is very capable of being the senior counselor as she is also in the college bound program. Kim Cushman who is in the college bound program and is working with Alex Bourgoin in Northern Maine is here this week as well and she is in the older cabin. In my cabin I have 8 girls. They have been great so far which I am very thankful for!!

One of my girls Lily got scared last night so she went and slept in her parents cabin. Please pray for her. She was so excited to be able to be part of camp this year at ROL, so I'm hoping she will be able to maybe sleep in our cabin another night. Please pray for patience of the staff. It's so easy to be short with the campers and not even mean to.

River of Life

Hey everyone!

A lot has happened in the past week. During week 2 they had a full camp. Unfortunately Tuesday night many people got sick and therefore Mr. Romano made the decision to send everyone home. What had happened, was a fast spreading flu had passed around the campground between campers and staff. This was what was posted on the Camp Good News Facebook page:

Wednesday was a sad day for us a Camp Good News. We were compelled to shut down our camping program and send all of our campers and staff home because of a great number of illnesses that had begun the night before. On Thursday, the Maine Center of Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services visited our campground to collect samples and to inspect our facility to determine the cause of the illness. Both of these Departments do not believe that it was food poisoning, but a quick spreading flu. We have cleaned and disinfected our whole campground and have been cleared by both Departments to open again this coming week for camp. We are sorry for any misinformation that you have heard. If you have any questions or concerns, please call us at 897-3221 or 897-6182 or email us at cefsoff@cefofmaine.org. Thanks again for the wonderful attitudes of parents, campers and staff during this process.


Due to our sickness last week at Camp, we were informed this evening that our camp will remain closed another week until all testing has been approved by The Maine Department of Health and Human Services.


So because of camp being closed this week, I am at River of Life Bible Camp in Maxfield, Maine. It's a tiny camp but I know God will do great things here. Abbie Boyd is also up here with me, and from what it looks like, she will be my junior counselor. We both have never been to River of Life (ROL) so please pray for both of us. Please pray for the campers here at ROL, that God would prepare their hearts and that we would be able to minister to many kids this week. 


As for the rest of the college bound, we all will be scattered around the state of Maine doing different work for CEF. Please pray that we can continue to stay united as well as being able to serve God and have open hearts to our new surroundings until Sunday when we are back at camp for the rest of the summer.


Abbie and I will be at ROL like i have previously talked about
Robbie and Derek will be at Camp Jireh
Nate and Jonathan will be in Harmony with the traveling day camp
Josh and Tim will be at Camp Good News helping with maintenance 
As for Ben, Liz, Rebecca, and Aaron, I'm not sure what they will be doing

End of Week One

Week one ended on a successful note. Unfortunately I had to leave a day early but it was still a great week. Two of my girls made decisions this week. Andrea (Ann-Dray-Ah) accept Christ as her savior on Monday during chapel. She was so excited about it! Emma received assurance this week too. So please pray that these two girls would grow in Christ and would really witness to their family and friends. Please pray for Emma's home situation. She lives in a loving home but as you can imagine, there are some times when it gets difficult.

As for myself, it was a rewarding week. The night I left we were ahead in points, but I'm not sure if we actually got Honor Cabin. Friday and Saturday were spent driving in the car to North Carolina for family vacation. I will not be at camp until week 3. BUT... Please pray for the counselors this week. From what i've heard it will be a full week! Please pray for the campers. that they would have a good, fun and safe week and that campers would come to know Christ!!

UNTIL WEEK 3 :)

Week one update 2

Yesterday was the first full day of camp. It was a good day. There were a few campers and staff who were sick yesterday so pray that they would feel better and that they wouldn't be so sick and have to go home. One of my girls, Emma, received assurance of her salvation. It was so exciting. Please pray for her home and that she would be able to grow.

The Start of Week One

CYIA has ended. It was a great 10 days and we were able to reach many kids, teens, and adults! There were life-long friendships made which is always encouraging.

Week one has officially begun!! We have about 60 kids on the campground. There is a group of kids from the Root-Cellar in Portland and I am so excited they were able to come this week to cabin! I am the Senior Counselor in the Cherokee cabin. I have a full cabin of 8 girls ages 10-12. They are the brightest and sweetest cabin. I'm so excited to see what God has in store for this week of campers. There is a group of campers from the Root-Cellar in Portland. I'm so glad they were all able to camp. Pray they would have a good week here at camp!! There are also some campers who are homesick. Please pray that God would comfort them and do a work in their hearts so they would want to be here. More to come :)

CYIA update

CYIA has been GREAT!!

I am a cabin supervisor in the Hopi cabin. I have 7 girls ages 16-17 and they are a great group of girls. We have been having really meaningful devotions at night which I am really thankful for. They have been deep and personal and at time have made some of us cry. I hate it when people cry, but God has really been pulling on their hearts and I'm thankful that God planned out what we would learn in conjunction with lives. For example, last night we had another great deep devotional time and during chapel this morning God convicted me during the chapel message. It just goes to show that God can show us anything through his Word.

As for the program. We started going the junior program and the regular program yesterday. Unfortunately we were unable to go hand out "Meet the King" Books but today we were. We are going door to door in Auburn and are hoping to do the entire town of Auburn and hand out all 1,500 books. It's a big job, but with a group like ours, I'm sure we can do it. The regular program started their 4-day club ministery. I've heard wonderful things from the girls in my cabin as well as other girls. Some clubs have 8-15 kids, others have 1-5 kids and some don't have any yet. Please pray that kids would be coming to club to learn. Please also pray for the literature distribution program (junior program). That they would be able to hand out lots of "Meet the King" books.

The classes there were from Thursday-Saturday went very well. They were, at times, long but God really helped us to learn so much and be prepared for our opportunity during Open Air. Speaking of Open Air, we were able to be in contact with about 350 people and 35 made decisions to accept Christ as their savior. It was such an exciting day and although many were afraid and nervous, they did a wonderful job and many people were able to hear.

Thanks for praying! I'll update again when I get the chance!!

Clean, Clean, Clean

Hi everyone! Today we continued to clean. I was pleased to hear that yesterday the college bound staff got A LOT of cleaning down so today it was a lot of little stuff that needed to be finished up. We each have to give a wordless book test. Please pray that each of us would pass and be confident while giving the test. We should be getting our assignments tomorrow and be able to move our belongings into our cabins that we will stay in during CYIA. I'm not sure when I will be able to update next since the first couple of days of CYIA are all classes and we will be very busy.

So the Adventure Begins

Today is the start of the long summer. Most of the college bound staff at at camp as I type this. They are starting the long but rewarding process of cleaning up the campground. Please pray for the college bound staff: Kristen, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Abbie, Nate, Ben, Derek, Robbie, Josh, Tim, Aaron, and Jon.

I am not currently at camp since yesterday was my last day of work at Hannaford. I am very excited for the summer at camp and to see what God will do in and through me while I'm there. I will be arriving tomorrow morning and will help with the 2nd day of cleaning.

Wednesday night start CYIA (Christian Youth In Action) which is a training program with teens and young adults. We learn how to minister the gospel to children. So please start praying for those who will be coming to CYIA. It is a long, challenging but fun 10 days and I pray that i can be the example and help wherever I am needed.

I would also like to thank those who are supporting me through prayer and financially; for without you guys, I wouldn't be where i am now.

If you have any questions feel free to comment on here or to e-mail me at trackbrunswick@yahoo.com

It's almost time for summer

Hey Everyone! I hope all is well and everyone has had a wonderful year. I can only imagine everyone feels the same I do when it comes to summer being right around the corner - literally! Although it's been raining a lot, at least here in Maine, it's been good and we've needed it. I'm not a big fan of rain, especially when I have to work, and mostly because rain creates mud and I hate mud.

I've been preparing for camp through my support letters, prayer and organizing the stuff I will need to bring. A few weekends ago, I had lunch with my pastors family and go to talk about what my plans were. It was an excellent time of fellowship. During this time, the pastors wife had suggested the idea of giving a devotional book to my teen campers and maybe even the girls in my CYIA cabin because the devotional book I had read from seemed to really hit home with them. I also talked about all my homes for the summer and although I can't do it alone, I know it can do most with the strength from God.

Last summer I concentrated on the power of prayer with myself and my fellow staff and campers. It's so important to show them what prayer can look like, in good and bad. Although sometimes stressful, God gave me wonderful examples to use while I was at camp and I'm thankful for that. This summer I'm concentrating on how he is ALWAYS there, even in the difficult situations. Many teens and children feel like God isn't always there as well as but God on the back shelf after leaving camp. It's easy to go back to school and forget to do devotions or go to church, it has even happened while I was at school. I would become so preoccupied with my school work I wouldn't exactly think about anything else. Find a home church while at school was hard too because I'm not able to drive. My goal is to not show that God is there but to be an example and show in my own life how important it is to have god ever-present in our lives.

I have exactly 5 weeks until CYIA (Christian Youth In Action) starts. I will surely update before then if I get the chance. I want to thank my supporters for being a prayer partner or financial partner for me thus far.