Update from July 14th

Dear Friends and family,
Marcia called today from the laundromat in Waimea. What better thing to do with the waiting time than to call home. :) They had a busier week with about 45 teens, more guys, than girls. Marcia had 4 gals and one of them had accepted the Lord last week at camp. This week, she was eager to apply what she was learning and Marcia and Kayleigh had a lot of good talks about walking in obedience to God’s Word in her difficult home life.

(Kayleigh)

Marcia has appreciated the emphasis that is put on prayer, not only the 24 hour prayer vigil each Sunday ( that I mentioned last week) but also the daily prayer times. Each morning before the campers get up the counselors meet for prayer at 6:45-7:15AM. They will not be headed down the mountain this weekend. Tomorrow afternoon ( worship time in the morning) they plan to take two four wheel drive vehicles up the volcano. It involves some hiking as well.

(the cold, bumpy ride to the top!)

(it was worth it for the view from the top!)

No sickness to report, but they are getting tired. Pray for them to be renewed and eager for this last week. For most of the campers this is their only week of camp and the counselors want to be as enthusiastic as they were the first time they played all these games, etc. This next week is junior week again and the younger campers take more watching than the teens.

Next Saturday they have a special activity planned that all the campers will be invited too. She thinks it is at the Christian school down by Hilo. Marcia didn’t know any details, except that it is kind of a wrap up/ goodbye day and one more chance for everyone to gather.

Thanks for praying,
Raynell Harrison
PS. For all those in the San Diego area, Marcia will be sharing a power point presentation about this summer ministry at our church (Faith Community Bible Church) on Sunday evening, Aug. 5th. If you’re interested in attending and need details, feel free to ask.

Update from July 7th

(smallest week of camp)

I just heard from Marcia. After about 60 campers last week, this week was quite small with only 7 teen girls and 12 teen guys. So they decided to only have 2 women counselors and 2 men. The other counselors worked on operational staff.

(Marcia and her cabin at the sand dunes.)

Marcia was a counselor with 4 teen girls. It wasn’t quite as intense this week, but Marcia got a cold, so didn’t feel quite up to par. She said it reminded her to depend on Christ for the strength she needed (which is a good thing all the time, right?) The teen girls in her cabin had all attended the Christian school and professed to know Christ, so she was able to challenge them in their walk and encourage them to live for Christ. While it has been raining at the coast (near Hilo) they have not had rain up at the camp and it is dry. They had a fire nearby last week. She said it reminds her of the hills of Southern California. They had a bit of wind and it blew over one of the staff tents, flipping it over one of the staff cars.

Pray for this next week’s teen camp- about 40-50 expected.
Pray for safety and good health.
Pray for unity among the staff.
Pray for the speaker and his family. (his wife and two year old son will be there as well)
Some of the teens that attended last week will be coming back up this week. Pray for all of the campers—that the seeds of God’s Word that have been planted will take root and produce fruit in their lives.
Each Sunday the staff has 24 hours of prayer in preparation for the week and each one signs up for at least a one hour time slot, maybe two, depending on the number of staff. Marcia has had the 4-5 AM time slot on Sunday mornings. (They keep a fire going in the lodge for those who have the night shifts, which is nice)
Thank you all for your continued prayer for Marcia and the ministry at the WINDS Christian camp.

Update from June 30th

Well. I just had a real nice talk with Marcia. All the counselors are headed down to Kona for a swim and relaxation for the day.

(shopping in Kona)


(view for our picnic dinner on the beach)

They had a good first week of camp. It was a junior camp and went from Monday through 9 AM on Friday. Each counselor had 8 or 9 campers. Marcia was able to talk to each one of her girls one on one. Some attend the Christian school, but even then do not have strong Christian background. Marcia had a 45 minute Bible class with them each day and then 10 min. devotions at night as well. None of them prayed to receive Christ, but Marcia could tell they were thinking and counting the cost by the questions and comments they made.



(some of my girls)
It is cool during the day. (the one day that they planned water games outside it was warm, which was a praise!) At night she said you want to pull your head down in the sleeping bag to keep warm. They each get a bucket of water and cup for pouring to bathe each night. So she washes her hair in the bucket first and then uses the water to clean up the best she can.
They do have running water in the lodge/kitchen building which is nice. The days are full and for the most part the girls were ready to sleep at night. There were no major discipline issues, but she said that none of them have been taught to obey right away.
She asked that we pray for wisdom for counseling this week as she will probably have 5 teens in her cabin and some come from pretty rough backgrounds. Pray for continued good health for all. The teen camp lasts until Saturday morning, so is a bit longer.

Update from June 22

(Picnic dinner at Akaka Falls - after VBS)



I talked to Marcia last night and the week of VBS had gone well. They had about 90 children. Marcia was in charge of crafts for all the age groups. The first day had a bit of a learning curve as she realized how very little K-Ist graders can do. “Mom”, she said, “some kids can’t even bend a pipe cleaner in half” . The dragonflies (made with round wooden clothespins) were the favorite.







This morning they are headed up the mountain to prepare for camp which starts next Monday.





They will be using a camp that is also used by the Girl Scouts and is empty most of the time. So they have to clean the 4 cabins (which the girls will use) and the lodge. The guys will be setting up big canvas tents, lay down wood planks for the floor and setting up cots for the boys’ lodging. They have a lot of work to do, but she sounded excited. Marcia talked to a local girl who had been a counselor up at the camp a previous summer and she suggested buying a big storage tub from Wal Mart to keep her clothes in. (to keep the critters off, J) So the girls went to Wal Mart.

(Marcia's cabin)

They have more prep to do for the camp program too. They will have two teams, each made up of 2 girl cabins and 2 guy cabins. One is the Black Diamond Climbers (Marcia is on this one) and the other is the North Face Mountaineers. They have been preparing songs as a staff choir; Marcia is the pianist. Some songs they are being accompanied by a guitar, and then she will sing.
She is not sure if she will have cell phone coverage up on the mountain, but if I hear from her, I will pass on the news.
She thanks you all for praying.

Update from June 16th

Marcia arrived safely, minus one bag, but it came two days later. She has been busy with staff training this week. God has provided some good deals for VBS and things are coming together. They are working together well as a team. Marcia is in charge of crafts for the VBS week. The theme is the Days of Creation. It was a bit overwhelming at first but she has had time to organize and plan and feels good about it. Up until last Saturday they were experiencing a drought and with the majority of people on cachement, it was looking very serious. They estimated only 18 days of water remaining for the county. Well, this week it has rained and rained. Marcia had a great practice game of paintball with the leaders in preparation for camp, IN THE RAIN. At least it is warm!


A number of details need to come together yet for camp. They need a speaker for the first week. The speaker originally planned backed out. Pray for the children to be open and accepting of them as white counselors. There can be difficulty between cultures (white vs. Hawaiian) Pray that the counselors will be wise and not unnecessarily offensive. This Sunday night they will be sharing testimonies and special music at a local church.

My deepest apologies...

I was unable to access my blog at all while in Hawaii. I was afraid that might happen, so I set it up for my mom to email updates to my blog. Unfortunately, I did something wrong and that didn't work either. I am so sorry for leaving anyone hanging. I tried to have my mom email as many people as possible, but I apologize again for anyone who had no idea what was going on.

I did have a wonderful trip and I will now post some of the updates my mom sent out with some pictures to fill you all in. Thank you for your patience!