Ashley (from The Summit Church) and me the last day of MK Camp.

View of one of the townships in Soweto.  People make their houses from scrap pieces; they have no electricity or running water, no AC or heater, and live very meager lives.

Standing in a circle to play a game with some of the kids in Soweto at one of our Kids Camps.  The kids would fight over who got to hold a white person's hand.  These two girls would not let go of me!  It was very sweet, and I was reminded how much they need to be shown the love of Christ.

I don't know this little boy's name, but you can see the glimmer of joy in his eyes just from hanging around us.

Sarah giving the Bible story.  Many of the kids knew basic English, so they were able to understand Sarah's story about Jesus and the little children. 

MK Youth Camp Dec 28- Jan 1

Trent and I singing during one of the worship sessions.

A modern version of "Jousting". So hilarious to watch!

Tug-of-war:  Team Narnia against Team Gondor....Narnia won. I was on the Gondor team so I was sad.

Some of the MKs showing Gondor spirit. They got into it!

Practicing with "the band" before MK Camp. I'm sitting with Tim; his twin brother Steve played the electric guitar. I played the keys (obviously) and sang, and Trent was lead guitar and vocals.

MK Youth Camp was a blast! After spending Christmas with Trent's family in Pietermaritzburg, we drove back to Johannesburg to help with the annual MK (Missionary Kid) Youth Camp for all MKs in Southern Africa. Trent was asked to lead music for it, and he asked me and some friends to help.  We practiced for hours(!) before the camp started, and ended up sounding really great (at least I thought). We wanted to provide worshipful, Biblical, youthful songs for the campers, and I feel like we did just that. 

Camp was a lot of fun! I roomed with several girls from all over; some were Journeyman or short-term missionaries, and others were from a church called The Summit in Raleigh, North Carolina.  I made lots of friends and was able to get my "fill" of youth because I LOVE working with them! 

Kurt Holiday, an IMB missionary working in Johannesburg, led the Bible teaching every night, and "the band" led the music. Every morning different MK musicians helped lead music with us; that was fun, getting to teach them the different songs and help lead them in leading others to worship.  The theme for the week was 1 Tim 4:12, "Don't let anyone look down on you because of your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity."  It was a great challenge to the campers, and to us adults as well!

For New Years, Trent and I led the worship service at camp, then drove into Joburg (about 45 minutes away) and led a watchnight service with Florida Baptist Church. We sang songs and prayed in the new year. It was very meaningful, especially because I had never been to a watchnight service before.  Afterwards  Trent and I drove back to camp and celebrated the beginning of 2009 with sparkling grape juice. Happy New Year!