From the Edges of the World

Recently I had the absolute pleasure of taking the youth I'm serving to the national youth camp, WYCAMP, in Ngaruawahia(I've still yet to pronounce that place correctly upon request). As an adult, the importance, energy, and efficacy of these summer camps had become a distant memory that was made anew as soon as I was greeted with the vivacious yells of 90 youth yelling "WYCAMP!!!!!" in response to the simple, yet effective "CAN I GET A WYCAMP?!" Needless to say, it was an amazing time! The youth were blessed with incredible sermons, awesome facilities(waterslide, mudslide, AND kayaks), gorgeous weather, and an atmosphere I had almost forgotten could exist, an atmosphere so inspiring that it tore through every layer of character and simply allowed each person there to feel welcome. The Holy Spirit blessed us in ways that only it can. In this 4 day bonanza of high energy, its presence forged unlikely friendships and softened hardened hearts. 

For those of you who don’t know or may not have considered, the months of which seasons occur is dependent upon which hemisphere you live in. For example, in the Northern Hemisphere where North Americans and Europeans reside March-May means spring, June-August means summer, September-November means Autumn, and December-February means winter. In the Southern Hemisphere where many South Americans, Australians, and Kiwis reside, those seasons are flipped meaning now summer is winter, autumn is spring, and so on. All this to say, I experienced my first summer Christmas this past week. This does not mean it was my first warm Christmas because any South Carolinian can tell you that winter doesn’t always mean cold, but it was my first Christmas where strawberries were in season and we ate outside.  14 of us gathered under one roof for a multi-cultural Christmas. There were 5 different families and 3 different countries represented around the table, all of us short-term and long-term immi