English Camp 2011: Return

After three days of travel amounting to four flights, two bus rides, a handful of taxis, and the Hong Kong airport express train, I arrived in DC around 7pm yesterday. Now after sweet, sweet sleep and a run, I'm happily stuffed with pumpkin pancakes and freshly brewed coffee!

Not really sure where to begin with this post. I think I'm still processing things. This morning's run was glorious. FRESH air and BLUE sky. I woke up at 6am, when the sun was still low in the sky and a crispness was still in the air, thankful that I had managed to sleep until after the sunrise began. Not bad for the first night back.

"The sun rises like an athlete EAGER TO RUN the race." -Psalm 19:5

Originally I thought that maybe I should take a day of complete rest today, but after sitting for so long traveling I was itching to stretch my legs. Immediately when I stepped out the door I was struck by the smell of grass and soil. I could hear the distant, roaring hum of I-95, yet my immediate surroundings consisted of bird song and chirping crickets. Setting out on my run, I enjoyed a feeling of anonymity. I was just another person out for an early morning run. Nothing special. Nothing weird. Nothing to be stared at. After running, I was so giddy that I had to get on my knees and stick my face into the grass of my mom's front yard. If suburbia seems so incredibly fresh and clean to me right now, I wonder what Farmville is going to feel like Sunday!

"For you have been called to live in FREEDOM, my brothers and sisters..." -Galations 5:13

Something else refreshing is the ability to speak freely. I was so thankful to arrive in Hong Kong Wednesday evening, meet up with Tracy, and speak about what God is doing in our lives without the use of code! It was awkward at first, but slowly the burden lifted and I finally felt like I could adequately express myself. What a great blessing we have to be able to speak the name of Jesus and heavenly things both freely and openly. We don't have to meet in secret or refer to him generally as "he," "the boss," or "our father." We don't have to feel out whether or not someone is a spy from the government sent to report on us before we open up to them.

While it's true that we are always free in Christ, there is something to be said about being free of government persecution. I had the chance to meet and work with some AG missionaries this time around and found out a missionary and his family I met at the first World Missions Summit had gotten kicked out of the country. They served in a particularly sensitive part of the country. Jail time was involved. They now serve in Eurasia.

There's something to be said about not having to rejoice and cringe when a student shouts out in class "About Jesus!" on the last day when posed with the question of "What did you learn at English Camp?" and you start to pray that it's not repeated in the wrong context.

"Let there be LIGHT in the darkness..." -2 Corinthians 4:6

I had the chance to meet up with old friends and to make new ones. Our time was spent encouraging those who believe, speaking truth to someone who had never heard, and very often simply being salt and light, an example, in the way we live.

"We now have this light SHINING in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." -2 Corinthians 4:7

It's not that we shine of our own goodness, but that we reflect the SON. When people recognize that there's something different about us by the way we live and not just the way we speak, that's when the light makes it easier to see and the salt gives a stronger taste. That's when people wonder at how much this group of foreigners who, for the most part, just met each other can love each other so much.

"I mean I love the place but it's kinda the middle of nowhere." -Rebecca

English Camp doesn't exactly take place in a developed area. We do bucket laundry, teach in non-air conditioned classrooms, watch roosters peck at trash on the street in the morning, ride in sanluns, marvel at all the non-car traffic and how it doesn't follow any rules and yet for the most part doesn't crash, get excited if something even remotely resembles ice cream, don't drink the water, carry our own toilet paper and always watch our step lest we fall into the squatty potty while showering.

This lays the groundwork for adventures and storytelling, but doesn't exactly create an environment where you always feel like giving 100%. It brings the temptation to focus on your own needs and discomforts rather than the needs of others.

"...And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's AMBASSADORS..." 
-2 Corinthians 5:18-20

"So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Therefore, whenever we have the OPPORTUNITY, we should do good to everyone..." -Galatians 6:9-10

I know I definitely get tired while I'm there and have to constantly remind myself that soon this opportunity will be gone and I won't be able to get it back. Some of these people I might see again, but most of them I probably will not. What impression am I going to leave with them? Am I investing myself in them or just going through the motions of camp? Am I using my free time to their benefit or to mine? Of course you can't let yourself burnout or you're of no use to anybody, but I think at camp that line has got to be pushed if you're going to do the most good possible in a short amount of time to feed hungry hearts.

"Sing a NEW SONG to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!" -Psalm 96:1

We had an interesting new song at English camp this year. Not new as in no one has ever sung it before, but new as in it, and nothing of its kind, has never been heard at English camp before. It was the worship song "All in All." And the interesting thing is that it was chosen by students. Class One sang it together at English Song Night (our closing event). When asked where they had heard it before they said "the Internet." When one of our team asked the girl who found it if she's a Christian she said, "Lots of people aren't in [this country]." Such a political answer.

Our leader decided that the chorus should be edited for them to sing it to avoid any controversy, but the verses were kept the same. And the whole class listened to the real thing over and over and over again to learn it! Such a blessing to see!

After camp, I traveled to another city to see friends I met while studying language there two years ago. I'm so glad they're doing well and that their fellowship is growing.

On my way home, I had a night to spend in Hong Kong. I spent it with Tracy, a Hong Kong native that was part of the 2009 English Camp team. It was great to catch up with her over amazing mango frozen yogurt and the night lights of Victoria Harbour. I'd missed seeing the lights on our way in this year because I was sick. It turned out that she was flying out of Hong Kong at nearly the same time as me the next morning for a mission trip to Cambodia, so we got to travel to the airport together in the morning! It was so awesome to be with her team as they prayed in the airport and to watch the fire in the eyes of the tiny little woman who is her pastor. They were speaking Cantonese, so I didn't understand them. Tracy was asked to introduce me. I don't know what she said, but they were all smiley and welcoming to me. It was a surreal moment to be returning from a mission and watching another team departing on one. Especially a team that comes from a people group many people send missionaries to. GLORIOUS.