Hope Heals Team (Nauvoo, AL) - July 10-15, 2022
Our team will travel to Hope Heals Camp in Nauvoo, Alabama. Hope Heals Camp is designed to minister to individuals and families that are affected by disabilities. Our students will spend a week at camp, serving in a number of different capacities. Some students will be ‘compassionate companions’ to children attending camp, and some will be ‘runners’, helping wherever help is needed.
DAY 5 (JULY 14, 2022)
Hey Y’all,
Today was the last day of camp!!!!!! (laughing and crying) We are so grateful to have spent time and built relationships with the campers and their families. Today we finished our rotations, and then had the Luke 14 Banquet, where everyone is invited to have a seat at the table. We proclaimed the theme of camp- “you were meant to be here” to every camper and volunteer. After this, we had an EPIC dance party to end the night, singing and dancing and sweating our hearts out, leaving all of our cares aside as we celebrated the wonderful week at camp. We learned so much about loving each other until the end (John 13:1), and we are thankful for this powerful experience.
Tomorrow we will help pack the families up so they can have a safe trip home, and then we will come back to Tucson ourselves. Please pray for safe travel, and endurance as we come back home.
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DAY 4 (JULY 13, 2022)
Hey Y’all (the southern twang has gotten to our brains by now),
Today was our second full day with the campers!!!!! We started the day off with rain as the kids and their squads went through their rotations, while the adults got to chill out with a kid-free day. In the evening, the kids and their compassionate companions had a crazy dinner featuring pizza and watermelon, while the adults had a seperate “Parents Night Out” event, and, the campers even took part in a special magic show with cotton candy and popcorn!
We continue to learn more about our campers and how we can bless them even more going into the last day of camp, and we are having a blast seeing the character of Christ lived out through every family here. Going into this last day, we just ask that you pray for us to see perseverance and an outpouring of love into every camper here.
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DAY 3 (JULY 12, 2022)
Today was the first full day of camp; it saw us interacting and developing relationships with the campers and their families. Those of us assigned to child campers did our first day of rotations, which involved making crafts, swimming in the pool, and all sorts of other fun activities.Those assigned to older campers had a fairly relaxing day of worship and storytelling, and even a spa day! Our experience here so far has been both enjoyable and eye-opening as we enjoy the presence of the community with disabilities, and their typically-abled family members and friends, but begin to understand how they still have so much joy and love throughout every situation.
We ended this wonderful day with a celebration of diversity through the camp talent show! Campers of all ages and abilities showcased their unique talents of song, dance, magic, comedy, and poetry, giving us a slice of what heaven will look like, showing us how everybody here is fearfully and wonderfully made by God. (Psalm 139:14).
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DAY 2 (JULY 11, 2022)
The campers have arrived!! All of this morning consisted of orientation and training, and then we greeted the campers with what camp called a “Welcome Parade.” We made signs for each of the families we were assigned to, and welcomed them to camp overall. We greeted each car full of family members and campers as they drove through, and screamed our hearts out with a joyful noise. As each camper arrived, those who had a compassionate companion or wheelchair pusher helped them get settled, and we hung out with them for dinner to get to know each other more. We then ended the night with a “Sorting Ceremony” to find out what group the campers and volunteers are in for rotations. We also had a “Welcome Party” where they served delicious snow cones as well as face painting, and popcorn. We are excited to start our rotations tomorrow and get to know our campers better as the week goes on.
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DAY 1 (JULY 10, 2022)
We made it to Hope Heals!! A couple of delays and some weird technical problems along the way, but we arrived safe and sound. Our travel extravaganza started Saturday night when we had our sleepover at the church. We then had some generous parents drive us up to the Phoenix airport. We then flew to Denver and then off to Birmingham, where Brad picked us up and drove us to Hope Heals. We’ve gone through some of the introductory steps as we’ve become immersed in the jovial culture here at Hope Heals. We look forward to adventure and growth in the following days as we begin to meet and interact with the campers.
Tonight we went through what the camp called a “Purpose Party”. We were given our individual assignments in decorated envelopes that told us where we were serving this week. Some of us are Compassionate Companions, while others are Wheelchair pushers, and others are serving in specific programming. We were given a brief orientation, and learned about finding treasure in the darkness. Campers and families arrive tomorrow, and we are beyond excited to meet all of them! Thank you for your continued support and prayers, and keep a lookout for the update tomorrow!
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Please pray:
- For safe travels, we will be flying out early on Sunday, July 10 and returning on Friday, July 15.
- For energy and perseverance to serve sacrificially next week.
- For wisdom and discernment as we work with the community of people with disabilities that many of us are not familiar with.
- May the hope that we have in Christ give those that we are serving joy and comfort.