gotta take the good with the bad

okay, so this week has been a mixture of great things and not so great things. my kids this week might have actually been my favorite campers of the summer. although some of the most frustrating things happened on site. connie, my site contact's father had a heart attack over the weekend so she was not in a great mood for obvious reasons. her mother (granny) usually helps her out with the kids, but she was staying at the hospital with her husband. connie's daughter was there with her best friend who is apparently living with them right now. they just caused a lot of problems with my site kids. they were totally disrespectful to my site kids, and my campers. they were cussing, telling my site kids that they didn't have to participate with us, and that they should go hide behind trees. it was just ridiculous. it hurt my heart to see these kids at my site revert back to the kids they were day one, before we had ever invested in them. to watch them forget about everything they'd been taught and everything they'd learned and turn into these hateful, unruly, backtalking kids...it honestly brought me to tears. i came home from site crushed. satan was honestly trying to work. but God is sooooo huge and so faithful. today, one of my site kids, desiree, made a profession of faith. this precious child of God will be with me in heaven! i'm so excited. she was one of the bullies the first week i was there, constantly picking fights with others. so i'm super excited about that! the next exciting thing was with one of my campers. his name is jeremy. i sensed from the first day that he was quiet, but i thought he was just shy. when i got to spend some one on one time with him, he really opened up to me and shared with me that he wasn't a christian, but everyone thought he was. i talked to him for about 20 minutes, about his life, about how he wanted to accept Christ, but there were things in his life that were keeping him from it...about peer pressure andd how his friends didn't want him to make any decisions and they were distracting him. we didn't really get to finish the conversation because other people were around and slowly gathering around us. so i told him that i'd talk to him more about it later. i didn't get an opportunity to talk to him this morning after bible study, or even on site today. but he was constantly in my prayers all day today. so when we went to our closing track time tonight to share what God taught us this week, i was looking forward to seeing if he'd made any decisions. but when it was his turn he just said that he realized he was very fortunate and the site kids weren't. so during worship i was praying for him. i could see him sitting beside his friend and they weren't paying attention. i just prayed for God to work in his life...to speak to his heart. during the invitation, he just stood there. it broke my heart to know that camp was almost over and he hadn't made a decision yet. i was seriously moved to tears. as i walked to my church group devotion time to let my group in, i was praying that God would just place an opportunity in front of me to talk to jeremy again. so i went in the classroom and let my group inside, then i walked out into the lobby...and who is sitting there on a bench...jeremy. i kid you not, i almost peed in my pants. no joke. so i went over and sat with him and a couple of his friends. they all left and i started talking to him telling him that i was sorry we never got to finish our conversation...and he told me that he had almost come to the front for invitation. when i asked him why he didn't, he responded that he was afraid to in front of everyone. it led to some great conversation. we talked about how he believed it and how he wanted his life to change. and he ACCEPTED CHRIST! it was the most awesome thing! i seriously saw a change in this kid. it was honestly the highlight of my summer. i prayed with him and sent him back with his group. i was totally floored by the amazing ways in which God works...the persistence of prayer...and just how important it is to believe that God can do what we might think is impossible. so i'm so glad that jeremy will be partying in heaven with me. after closing celebration tonight this lady came up to me with huge tears in her eyes. i hopped off stage and gave her a huge hug. it was jeremy's mom and step dad. it was awesome to see that he has loving parents that have been praying for him and that they'll be there to encourage him and hold him accountable to the things he has committed to changing. wow! God is sooo huge!