Dear Friendsand Family,

Sylvia and Iare now back in Columbia, SC after being in Spain almost two months Working out at L’Arcada this summer.   It was amazing to see what the Lord is doing over there with the youth and families that come to the camp.   We had some interesting experiences in our process of getting over there like getting charged 3 times for the same ticket and then getting the real ticket canceled 3 days before we left but everything worked out as the Lord wanted it to and Sylvia and I got totest our attitudes and trust in our Lord. As always he came through. 

As many ofyou know summer is one of the busiest times for us at L’Arcada and we are very short full time staff.  It was a blessing that Sylvia and I could go over and help. This was the first summer for Pere Gonzales, the new L’Arcada Director.  It was amazing to see the Lord work through Him during the summer.  Keep praying for him as he settles in to all the different areas of directorship and pray that the rest of us full time staff will be a good support to him. 

So what happened?  Well the first camp we were there for was the English camp which my Brother-in-law Christian and my SisterTafie directed for the second time.  I was not planning on doing much but help with some activities during this camphowever because of so little volunteer staff this year I had the opportunity to direct the activities group as well as help out in washing dishes and my favorite: CLEANING BATHROOMS J  hehe.  We had a great time serving where we could to help relieve Christian and Tafie a little here and there.  It is amazing that no matter what you have to do in life you should be doing it for the Lord and Joy should be the foundationof it.  Sometimes it is hard and we don’t want to do something.  I have to be honest cleaning bathrooms is not on the top of my, “I wish I could do this more often” list hehe, but then I stop and think that our God invented quality andas Christians trying to live a Godly life we should give the best quality we can.  A lot of these kids coming to camp have not experienced Godly love.  If even one of the around 1000 kids that come to L’Arcada comes to know the Lord and will be with Him for all eternity because he or she sees how everything we dois to show them love then I am going to clean with Gusto J. 

So on to what else happened.  As we have mentioned before, Sylvia and I really have a heart for the youth that come to the camp as staff.  L’Arcada has some discipleship and training programs for the different stages of staff that come to camp.  Some of you will know this but for those that do not, two of these programs are for staff in training called Cantera andFEV.  Cantera means quarry where the stone is taken out and FEV stand for Formation of Summer Staff (in Spanishhehe).  Cantera come to serve around the camp in activities, kitchen, service, cleaning. These are the youngest and I got to give their Bible study Sessions every day with then talking about knowing our God so that we can serve him better.   FEV are 16-17 year olds and this is the next stage of training and discipleship as they learn during their program how to be assistant counselors.  Their training is  focused on discipleship for them and how to share their faith since thefollowing week they were in with the kids helping the councilor.  I co directed this program with Pere.   These kids are in my heart as they later go back to schools, towns, and work where many are either one of 2 or 3 Believersor they are the only believers there.  So the programs have a dual purpose.  Yes weare training them to be Godly staff at L’Arcada however that is the small purpose.  In our eyes the larger purposeis that these kids can go back into their community and not only resist temptation and not get pulled in to the world, but because they are grounded in Gods word they get involved in their Church and they can be a witness wherever they are for our Lord and Savior.  

With this process kids come to L’Arcada and learn about the Lord and come to know Him as their personal Savior then we see them grow up over the years coming back toour different age level camps and we finally see them old enough to step in to these discipleship and training programs for staff I described above.  Then they leave L’Arcada on fire to get involved in their Church and grow more and to share what the Lord has done for them.   Some of the Kids in Cantera and FEV this year have been campers since they were 6 or 7.   That is so amazing and all Glory be to our God in heaven as He uses us to help shape these young adults as they grow closer to Him.

It was a great summer where again God broke into the hearts of many young kids.  Adventure camp start, which is the last camp of the summer.  The Family camp justended with a full camp of 15 families and some of the non-believer parents said that they have never experienced such love. Wow! 

Sylvia had mother duty most of the time which with a 1 year old that is a full fledgedrunner was pretty crazy work hehe.  But because she helped with taking care of Shania so much I was able to really digin and help a lot more then I would have been. It was also a blessing because she got to spend some good time with her parents, brother and extended family that she has not had in a year. 

Sylvia and I want to thank you all for your prayers during this summer.   Keep praying for Spain with us and praise Him with us as he does amazing things over there.   Thanks to all of you who support us with one time gifts as well as monthly support. We want to share with you that thanks to the Lord we have gone up from30% to 38% during the last two months of monthly support needed to get toSpain.  Praise the Lord.

Praises:

- Shania is walking and is a healthy ball of energy. 

- We got toSpain and back safely.  Everyone on the overseas flight back knows who Shania is since she walked up and down all the aisles tons of times.

- We are nowat 38% of what we need to get to Spain Praise the Lord

Prayers:

While we were up in Michigan someone opened a bank account in my name and over drafted it sowe are in the middle of an identity theft situation and are working with the bank and police to figure out what happened and who did it.  Please pray that this will get sorted out as it was a little scary how easy it was for this to happen.

Pray for monthly support.  Our goal is to be in Spain before next summer.  We are going to be traveling anywhere we need to share about the ministry and try to raise support.  Pray that the Lord will help us find more churches and individuals that have a heart for Spain and the enormous need overthere.  Please pray to see if the Lord isleading you to support us monthly.  And if you can help us with any contacts that you think may be interested let us know.