Good morning Martha
Thank you for registering me in the golf tournament.
I want to take a minute to tell you a couple of stories that happened at camp this year.
During one of the Youth Camps, there were 4 inner city youth, 16 years old who did not want to be at camp. Their mothers had somehow gotten them on the bus but they had decided, as a group, not to cooperate or join in any of the activities. These 4 campers decided they would sit at a picnic bench and spend their time discussing items of concern to them alone. Whenever any of the staff would approach, they would get up and leave. All in all, they were not going to allow themselves to enjoy their week.
During chapel one night the campers were given New Testament Bibles that the camp had been given to give to each camper. This was a turning point for these 4 young people. The next day they were seen sitting at their same picnic table, but they had their Bibles with them and they were reading them. This gave the staff the courage and confidence to continue to work with these youth. By the end of the week, they were not the same youth that arrived just a few days ago.
A single mother of 2 youngsters, that was made known to me, was given sponsorship to camp for both children. After the first youngster had attended camp, the mother called me and was terribly upset. Her second child, who was scheduled to go to camp the next week, had chicken pox. The mother told me how going to camp had changed the first child's entire attitude about life. She had accepted Christ as her personal saviour and was just different. She took her prize home from camp (her Bible) and was reading it. The mother wanted me to do something so as the other child might get to go to camp and experience the same life changing experiences. We managed to get her into a later camp and the mother was, and remains, very excited about her new children she had picked up at the bus.
During one of the Children's Camps, there was a young boy who had a lot of difficulty sitting still during chapel. Staff spent time praying for the boy throughout the week. It did not appear that this boy heard the message that was being delivered during chapel. One evening, this boy scrambled to the back of the chapel to pick up one of the Bibles being handed out. He accepted Christ into his heart that night and the next day during the last meal, he could hardly concentrate on eating his supper because he was so excited about "devouring" his brand new Bible.
There were approximately 600 campers that have heard the news about Jesus at camp this year. Many for the first time and many of these will have in their hands a Bible that they will have as their very own.
Thank you so much for providing these Bibles to further God's work at Bird River Bible Camp
Thomas Wm. Cooney
