This year was the 6th summer that the Ambridge Sports & Arts Camps have given the youth of Ambridge opportunities that they would not have had otherwise. Wow! Six summers of an entirely free camp, and hundreds of youth seeing God through the love of the leaders and through our weekly testimonies. We would have never made it through the first summer much less the sixth without your prayers and support.
Its amazing to me that God continues to make the Ambridge Sports and Arts Camps happen. This year was no different. There are a few stories that I want to point to to show you the fruit that is beginning to come from these past six summers.
I have to start off with Johanna.* Johanna attended the Sports Camp as a participant when we first started in 2004. In 2009, Johanna was one of our leaders. She is a rising sophomore at Ambridge High School. As well as helping us out this summer, Johanna had jaw surgery, a procedure that forced her to eat nothing but liquids for several weeks. While recovering we sent Johanna a signed T-shirt from all the campers and the staff. We were planning a trip to her house, when she
decided to come back to camp! Even though she had difficulty talking and wasn’t able to particpate in the sports, Johanna was a huge help with registration, treating injuries, setting up snacks and anything else we threw at her.
Here is a quote from Johanna, “I wanted to thank you for letting me come back and hang out the last two weeks. It really helped me feel better both physically and spiritually to be working with such a great group of coaches who love God and want to love on the kids of Ambridge. I really felt encouraged each day when I was walking home by just hanging around with you guys. The energy and excitement that you and the other coaches brought into each day was a blessing to me. I feel like in just those two weeks I learned so much.”
Two other High Schoolers who helped lead the camp, Brandon* and Alex,* also had transformative experiences. Brandon is one of the High Schoolers that I have been mentoring since last September. He has been great to watch grow as I have seen him make new friends and be stretched by working with youth at the Sports and Arts camps.
During one of our Thursday night Pizza and Testimony nights, Brandon gave his testimony to the youth about how God has changed his life and released him from some of his anger. Alex also gave her testimony, she told the youth about her challenging childhood and how God has brought her out of that. Alex is someone in whom I have seen great leadership potential and who Shea will have the opportunity to mentor starting this fall!
Finally, I want to tell you about the final performance of the Arts Camp. It was music week and the youth learned how to play guitar and djembe (hand drums), and sing together. Their performances brought chills to the audience, including myself. It was amazing to hear them perform that well after just two weeks of practice. One mother told me that she “was brought to tears” by the youth. God was truly glorified through the youth and the leaders performance.
* Youth’s name changed
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