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It was a grade 7 character/leadership development camp at the Skaba. During the two and a half days we had been encouraging the young boys to think seriously about their lives and the need to make decisions and deal with the consequences. On the final day after a solo time I noticed that one boy was still having solo time so I went across to sit with him. Well I was met with a wet eyed 13 year old who had asked God to take control of his life. His words were” I did not want anything to obstruct the cross and a big tree was in the way( there is a cross on the hill ) and God said to me that it was like my life, lots of stuff was in the way and I made the decision to get rid of it and it is so good.” Goose bumps and great joy were what I felt then and now. This is what it means to be a ‘youth for Christ’ outdoor centre. fin.
L’Abri hosted D.U.T Durban and PMB. Educo-Africa a Cape Town based outdoor organisation facilitated students from DUT studying child and youth care diploma. This was a very diverse group with very different backgrounds. It was very touching to see the passion Educo-Africa has in working with young people. Educo-Africa was very impressed with the service they received from the L’abri staff and the hospitality team. The group leader made a comment “Special dietary requirements were well looked after” Thereafter, DUT (PMB) brought their Public Relations students to L’Abri. It was their second time visiting L’Abri. They were very impressed with the building developments that are taking place. Mrs Applet was very happy with the way L’Abri changed the programme to accommodate weather changes. There were two areas that were highlighted:
fin.
HIGHERGROUND The month of June/July was a very busy and challenging month for
the L’Abri staff especially Sya Zondi, Philani Zondi, Sya Mhawu,
Nomxo Zondi and Phindile Xaba. HIGHERGROUND appreciated being at L’Abri and the service they received from the staff. Emma said “I don’t know what to say you guys have gone out of your way to accommodate us thank you very much” fin.
The CCSA [Christian Camping Southern Africa] annual conference was held at the Youth for Christ Training Centre in Magaliesburg from the 9-13th June. L’Abri was privileged to send four staff to the conference – Rod Capon, Mondli Ndlovu, Siya Zondi, and Nomxo Zondi. Some excellent training was offered, including firefighting, first aid and CPR, hygiene, tool maintenance, catering, and abseiling. The conference was also an ideal opportunity to network with people from other organisations. The opportunity to meet people from all over South Africa as well as Swaziland and Mozambique was very beneficial, and it was encouraging to share our joys and struggles. It was heartening to hear that what we face at L’Abri is not peculiar to us - challenges such as security, and recruiting qualified Christian staff, as well as the very demanding aspect of site maintenance, repairs and development. It was good to hear other sites share their plans for Gap year programmes and that they all want to make this a more significant aspect of their ministry to attract quality young people and ensure that there are others to continue in the ministry of Christian camping. The staff members that attended the camp came away feeling energised,
and challenged. In addition to ensuring an excellent camping experience,
as a Christian campsite, L’Abri faces the added challenge of ensuring
that every camper that visits L’Abri hears the Good News about Jesus
Christ in a clear and concise way. The responsibility to ensure
that we are truly “salt and light” is not one to be taken lightly,
but we thank God for His grace, which gives us the assurance that
we are not alone on this journey! fin.
From the recent camp with Grace College - Grade 11’s: “This camp was life changing for me. It is the best camp I have ever been on”. This statement was made in the context of a very demanding 4 days that presented some significant challenges to the learners and demanded much of them. It came from a camper that had previously said that any good that had happened on the camp had been destroyed by one activity. The process of the L’Abri experience worked once more and we are grateful to God for this! fin.
We had a blind person visit the site to see if it was suitable for a camp. Walking around with him was an amazing experience. His excitement, enthusiasm and desire to do some of the activities was so refreshing. I have seen L’Abri as a special place because of what one actually’see’s’ but now I see it for what it really is. That is a place that God has chosen to reveal himself. It is not so much about seeing but rather about just ‘being’ in the present and allowing our loving God to speak in His own way! Hearing and seeing through someone else’s senses is very special. At Skaba, a first time Trainee was with a group of just ten boys. He was excited to be helping on his first l’Abri camp. The trainee’s story of loss and being alone was one that each of the boys could relate to and he found a reason to ‘Hope”; the younger boys had managed and he was much older yet struggling to come to terms with his loss/grief and being alone. Our trainee changed a very negative boy so much that he became a leader in many activities and camp work. He said, "thank you for allowing me to be part of
this camp I have hope now and have been truly helped just by spending
these two nights at L’Abri, really thank you so much…" |
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