I believe that the mission of summer camp is to plant seeds in the heart and not necessarily to see immediate results. However, throughout the summer, my prayer was answered again and again. As a counselor, I especially prayed that this request would be answered in the context of the girls staying in my cabin. And again, God answered that prayer.
From the moment I first mentioned evening worship on Sunday afternoon, one of my girls made it clear to me that she was completely uninterested. That evening as we gathered for line-call she continued to push back. Throughout the week her attitude did not improve. She loved camp-- in fact, she was staying two weeks-- but each morning and evening she always had a reason not to go to worship.
Friday morning, we struggled as usual, however as the camp pastor wrapped up his worship that morning he finished with an appeal. As he opened an invitation to come to the front, to my surprise, she was the first to jump up! As she began to hurry forward, she suddenly rushed back and began to anxiously tell me how she did not own a Bible.
That evening as we got ready for bed, I took her aside and gave her a Bible of her own. As I watched her jump up and down hugging her Bible asking again and again if it was really hers, I knew that God had given me an opportunity to see Him at work.
The following week, although she was staying in a different cabin, she would find me every morning and excitedly tell me all about the story she had read in her Bible that morning! Through so many answered prayers, God uses Camp Au Sable to change lives for eternity.
Sylvia Fiess is a student at Southern Adventist University where she is a psychology major.
