Idaho & Commission Week

So much for keeping up the blog while we were on vacation!

June 22 - 30

Friday the 22nd was our longest day of driving at just over 800 miles.  The kids actually did quite well for the most part, and we arrived around 8:30 p.m.  We were so blessed to have an entire 3-bedroom house to ourselves for the duration of our stay in Idaho.  God bless Mr. Amos M, a gentleman who is a member of one of the participating churches and left town for the week to do some fishing and traveling in the Northwest.  He generously offered to let our family stay at his house, sight unseen!  The girls shared a double bed in one room (until Charis joined the Commission campers, that is), and the boys had trundle beds in another room.  Ted and I had a king-sized bed to ourselves, with Zaden and his pack-n-play in one closet and Lucan on a sleeping bag in the other closet!  Aside from the fact that Lucan woke up at least once nearly every night panicking slightly at being in a strange place, the house worked out very well for us.

Saturday was prep day.  This year was the first time Commission utilized a different location than the church we've been at for the past 12 years.  God opened up the doors for them to be at the local junior high, which was amazing.  Each track had an entire classroom to use for Bible study and prep time, and we had plenty of space in the common area for our Morning Celebration and evening worship gatherings, plus dinner time together.  The kids and counselors camped in "Tent City" on the grounds just outside the building, inside a gate that could be locked at night, and they used the showers in the locker rooms.  All in all, it was a perfect location!

On Sunday we attended the service at First Southern Baptist Church, where we attended when we were stationed in Idaho.  We were delighted to have Pastor George Slaughter as guest speaker--he was the full-time pastor when we were there!  It was a fun surprise to get to see him and Elizabeth.  They have raised 6 children, so it was fun to tell them that since leaving Idaho (with one baby Charis in tow), we have grown to a family of 6 children as well!

Commission kicked off Sunday afternoon with a medieval theme (decorations included a big castle on stage and staffers running around in dragon, princess, and knight costumes) for our Bible study topic, "The Quest for Holiness."  Charis was delighted to find that she had been placed into her first choice of tracks, Interactive, which was designed to allow students to serve elderly people by cleaning their homes and visiting with them.  (I will have to encourage her to blog about her experience meeting an honest-to-goodness hoarder!)

The week was typical of our Commission experiences:

• Tons of praying
• Not much sleep
• Lots of silliness
• Watching kids grow in Christ as they put their faith to work, being the hands and feet of Jesus
• A bit of teenage drama
• Meeting new friends
• Renewing old friendships

There were two gals who worked child care for the kids of staffers, which was a huge blessing.  I did help out with that, since 5 of the 7 were our kiddos!  I'm not entirely sure what my role was during the week, but I did get the opportunity to visit with (and hopefully encourage) some of the counselors and other staff.  I didn't get to hang out with students very much because of having little ones who needed me more than usual because of the different environment and circumstances, but it was definitely fun to get to observe what was going on throughout the week.  Someday I'll be in a season of life where I am able to fully and wholeheartedly staff and not just watch from the sidelines...but this is where I'm at right now (and have been for oh, about 11 years!).

Ted staffed the Street Evangelism team, which you can see squished into a van on the way to Boise in the picture above.  His partner, Allison, was awesome.  I really enjoyed getting to know her a little bit and wish I could have hung out with her more!  This was her first year to staff, and she and Ted clicked really well and did a great job with the kids they had in their group.  Unfortunately, the group wasn't able to do as much in the actual street evangelizing arena, but they DID spend a ton of time praying and encouraging other groups, and I know they were right where God wanted them to be!

Charis seemed to have a great time as a camper.  I'm still a bit shocked that she's old enough to BE a Commission camper...even though she reminded me constantly during the year leading up to Commission that she would, indeed, be able to join the kids this year instead of watching from the child care room as in the past!  She was by far the smallest camper there (you can see her in the front row of the picture above), but my mama's heart was so thrilled to hear counselors, staffers, AND other students tell both Ted and me what an amazing girl she is!  Hard worker, dependable, heart for God, wonderful...those are just some of the descriptions we heard.  Proud?  Oh, yes!  Blessed?  Definitely!!

The other kiddos got to have some fun during the week as well; one of the tracks was "Community Crew," which set up activities for neighborhood kids in the backyard of the church.  One day was crafts (not such a big hit with the boys, but Kenna liked it), one day was water sports, and the last two days were carnival days, complete with huge bounce houses, cotton candy, snow cones, games, face painting, and so on.  As you can see, Tobin really hated this part of the week, ha!

Friday evening was a pool party celebration of the entire week, beginning with probably 5 baptisms, which are always awesome because we get to hear the testimonies of the kids getting baptized.

Saturday after clean-up we went to the debrief meeting at Mom and Dad Plymptons' house, and then we said our farewells and headed back to the house to clean up and pack in preparation for our departure the next morning.  All in all, a very full, very blessed week.  We are so thankful for one last opportunity to be involved with Commission in person before we move overseas!

For more Commission pics, visit our Facebook album.  You can also look for Commission on Facebook and like the page...there are lots more pictures there!  But I'll close with a darling picture of Zaden and Kevin, a staffer-in-training this year.  We've watched Kevin grow up over the years, and he's a great guy from a wonderful, godly family who have been involved with Commission since 2002, I believe.  We called Kevin the Baby Whisperer.  Zaden actually did NOT want to come back to Mama when he was in Kevin's arms!  Anyone else who tried to take him away from me was rebuffed, but Kevin obviously has the magic touch!  Sweetness!

A Time for Writing

There may be a season for everything under heaven, but around here, if it's not written in my planner, it probably won't happen. Such has been the case with this year's Commission Bible study. I wrote the study for Day One probably two months ago--and never even had a moment to think about what should come next.

Finally I looked at my planner and saw that I had this weekend relatively open. I talked to Ted about scheduling a day for me to work completely uninterrupted on the study, and he agreed it was a good plan. So I marked my calendar and protected today from any other engagements. I asked our small group and the Commission folks to be praying for me in the days leading up to Writing Day and also during this whole day.

It was somewhat freeing and yet somehow nerve-wracking. By telling people I'd be working today, I relieved myself of the pressure to try to "find time" to write on other, more hectic days. At the same time, I was really putting myself out there--if everyone knew I was going to be writing, they'd expect me to actually produce some material! The accountability was good, but I had to be careful not to let the burden of accomplishment rest heavily on my shoulders.

Furthermore, there was the problem of not knowing exactly WHAT I was going to be writing. I had the intro day done, sure. But I hadn't even thought (much) about what needed to come next. I spent time this week praying and trying to map out a plan for what to do once the time came to open up the file and start typing.

An appealing idea was to take my laptop, Bible, and a few books to Panera and camp out for the day. But then my practical nature took over--what if I wanted a resource from home? And what would I do with all my stuff when I needed to use the restroom, for crying out loud?!

I decided the best thing would be to lock myself in my basement office. The trick was in convincing Kenna that I wasn't there! Otherwise she'd be crouching at the door, crying to be let in. I had to deliver a stamp club order anyway, so I left the house and told her goodbye. I called Ted as I was coming up our street, and by then he had all the kids in the play room in the basement, listening to worship videos while cleaning the random toys that were scattered hither and yon. I had already set up my work space, so I quietly let myself into the office...and began a 7-hour journey with the Lord!

What a precious time of prayer, searching the Scriptures, and listening to the Holy Spirit. I found myself yearning for more times like this. It's my dream to some day write and actually get paid for it...today, God showed me that I actually COULD have time to write...IF He directs me to do so!

Ted was an amazing, wonderful help and encouragement. He dealt with all the normal household and kid duties, including tending two little ones who are sick with a fever and runny nose. (Well, Lucan apparently is on the tail end of whatever he came down with Thursday afternoon, but Kenna got hit hard this morning, showing signs of life only after some Tylenol has kicked in.) He made both lunch AND dinner and never came down to ask me any questions about what should be done. :-) I took a 45-minute break for lunch, which happened to be right after Ted put Kenna down for a nap, so the illusion of Mommy being away worked all the way until I emerged from the basement like a mole just in time to help put the finishing touches on dinner!

The upshot of all this is that I completed Days 2, 3, AND 4 of the study! I'm so thankful I was able to do it all in one shot, as these days really hinged upon one another, and the continuity and devoted prayer time really opened my heart and mind to what God wanted to accomplish. I pray He receives glory and honor as a result of today's efforts.

Commission Results

This was the note posted in First Southern Baptist Church--Mountain Home's Sunday bulletin after camp:

Praise God for the results of Commission 2009-Under Construction

* Over 75 youth, counselors and staffers representing 18 churches worshiped God through a week of service to the community.
* Three youth were baptized Friday evening.
* Children were ministered to at the Backyard Bible Club.
* Many youth, counselors and staff made decisions to walk with Christ in a deeper way.
* Many friendships were made.
*$2150 was given for the missions offering which will sponsor our Compassion child for another year and help an orphanage in Costa Rica.
* The Environmental group painted a house, fence, did yard work and helped with a plumbing project for a local senior citizen.
* The Elemental group worked at the Mtn. Home Senior Citizens, Korean Church, helped clean the yard of a local family, painted an under pass for the City of Mountain Home and did a free car wash at Wal-Mart.
*The Production group helped the staff prepare for worship each night as we learned more about being silent before God, holiness, repentance and rejoicing in who we are in Christ. They also helped set up for fellowships, took many pictures and create slideshows. [Note: This was the team that Ted staffed.]
* The Creative group performed for 3 retirement communities, various parks and the Backyard Bible Club.
* The Street Evangelism group witnessed to many in Mountain Home, Boise and Strike Dam and led at least 5 to the Lord.

Commission Report

I had wanted to write an account of our Commission experience this year, but since our dear friend Rose sent the following email update, I think due to a lack of time I will simply copy and paste!

****************

Dear Friends,

I wanted to share how Commission 2009 went. I know many of you were praying for it weeks before it happened and during the camp itself. Again, I am so humbled to be able to experience what God does in our midst. Some of you I have talked to briefly and said for each one that comes there is "His story" of what it took to get them here and then what He does in their lives during the week. The attachment will be in our church bulletin and it is truly just a glimpse of what God did.

All of the items that I had asked prayer for were answered only in ways that God does things. Just for an example - We were short staff this year but Kate contacted us from Colorado, she had come as a counselor last year and wrote in May asking if we needed any help. She staffed Back Yard Bible Club alone (but with a great a counselor) and did an awesome job with an all girls group. Cary also served our Creative group as a first time staffer and started out by herself, but as God would work it out Sarah was able to join us Tuesday and spend the rest of the week staffing (new job called her and apologized that they would not need her after all because a shipment had not come in). We also watched as God provided in other ways all week. The school lunch program started a new program in Mountain Home that provided free lunch and breakfast for those 18 and under which was a huge blessing, then they were able to also allow the adults since they were "counselors."

We switched from the Sand Dunes where we had camped for the past 8 years and the KOA gave us great rates. Since we were at the KOA we planned a swimming party to end the week and Chas baptized 3 of our youth. Again we watched over and over how God put this camp together.

There were at least 20 first timers and it was so exciting to watch them as they discovered this was not a typical camp and the joy of serving others in the name of Christ. Some of these were were ones that had been involved in BYBC and the sports clinics in years past and were now finally old enough to come as campers.

Words cannot express the fullness and joy that is in my heart for God and how He poured out His richest blessing on this Camp and His children.

If anyone would like to have more information, give me or anyone else involved with Commission and we can talk for hours on God's Faithfulness, sufficiency, provision, love, forgiveness, awesomeness.........

Again, thank you all who were involved -

Beverly the Bible study was perfect for the group of students we had this year, I'm always in awe how God speaks through your writing each year. Praying for your family as you move to Ohio.

Chas - as always it was great to have my son in Idaho and watch your obedience to Our Father-- and to have the added blessing of Melinda, Hunter and Makenna for a few days.

Please start praying now for what God would want to do with camp next year and who He wants involved- is it You?

May God bless each one of you as you serve Him!

Because He first loved us.

Rose

In Idaho

For a few minutes I'm on a (very slow) computer in Mountain Home, Idaho. This is Commission week, a favorite time of the year for our family. It has been 6 days since we've left Las Vegas, but it seems like much longer. We drove to Hill AFB Friday and got a nice 3-bedroom TLF to stay in for the night, then drove the 4-hour journey to Mountain Home Saturday morning. We've been going, going, going ever since!

The kids have done quite well, overall. Lucan still is not sleeping through the night, so that combined with an exhausted Kenna has been pretty rough on me. There is a gal who is helping watch the kids, so I have time during the day to participate in the counselors' Bible study, attend the worship sessions each evening, and do some things during the afternoons, so that has been a huge blessing. It makes me feel a small part of camp even though I'm not a "full-time" staffer, although I am considered "Staff" since I wrote the Bible study. :-) Kenna has been having a ball and has actually napped quite well because of being so exhausted!

The kids have been attending Backyard Bible Club since Tuesday morning, and the Commission team working BYBC has told me over and over how good they are being. Hooray for good reports!

It's a smaller camp this year, with only about 40ish kids and only one staffer and one counselor per track (6 tracks this year) as opposed to 2 staffers and 2-3 counselors. Still, God is working, and it's been exciting to see. Our theme is "Under Construction," certainly a good topic for discussion, as every believer in Christ is in a constant state of construction! At least one camper has come to faith in Christ, as have 3 kids that the street evangelism team has talked with. Exciting!! We're touching eternity!

This is probably it for an update until we return home...I have some quiet time with both kids down for a nap, and I hate to waste it on the computer. I'm heading to the Worship Center to have a real quiet time and catch up on my ladies' Bible study...I've been focused on Commission studies this week, so I need to be sure I'm keeping up with the other book as well.

Commission 2008

This may not be a thorough review of our trip to Idaho, but I wanted to note some things before I forgot them! Our camera batteries died and I never replaced them, so we have no pictures from our time away. That's OK, it's one less event to have to scrapbook, heh!

Friday, June 20
After a hectic week, we managed to leave town by 9:30 a.m. Not bad! We even delivered a meal on the way out to a friend and her family. We made it to Hill Air Force Base and decided to see if there were any TLF rooms available, though we hadn't been able to get through to try to make a reservation ahead of time. Hooray for God--there WAS one available. We all crashed after some play time at the nearby park and KFC.

Saturday, June 21
Made it to Idaho by lunchtime. Ted went off to do his thing with the production team (new this year to Commission--student-led worship team plus photography and power point) and Charis and I headed out to purchase costume supplies from the thrift store. Kenna napped at church and the boys played. Charis and I then went to John and Michele R's house, where we stay every year, to unload the van. We discovered that the van battery was in sore need of replacement...we still had the original battery in when we bought the van new in 2003! Praise the Lord we were at the R's house, as John popped it out, took me to Walmart, and put the new one in for me with no trouble.

Sunday, June 22
After church and lunch at the P___ Cafe, we were ready for students! Thanks to a child care staffer this year, I was able to take part in the camp a little more than in previous years. I was kind of a part-time Production Team staffer and did some signing and singing harmony during worship services throughout the week, which was very fun.

Monday-Friday
Our days were very full! Morning celebration time, Bible study time (I got to do this with the counselors this year!), then I'd pick up the kids from Backyard Bible Club, we'd all eat lunch together, and then I'd spend some time with the Production Team while Kenna napped in the nursery. Afternoons I tried to get the kids away from church a bit; we went swimming one day and hung out at the R's house other days. Then it was back to church for dinner with everyone else, followed by the worship service. The kids and I would head home so I could get them in bed at that point, while the rest of the Commissioners did the evening fellowship/game time. I look forward to being able to participate in that in years to come!

One neat thing about camp this year was that we kind of "shook up" the worship time a little. As I was preparing to write this year's study--which was supposed to teach students how to study the Bible on their own--I felt led to spend some time focusing on worship. It was a journey that the Lord had led me on earlier in the year, as I read and studied the Psalms of Ascent with Beth Moore as well as Stormie Omartian's book The Prayer That Changes Everything. So it was really cool to see Ted and his production students doing some unique activities every evening at worship time. I think our generation (and the ones after us) are quickly tired of the same format--we don't want to go to church and do the same order of service every week. We LIKE keeping things real and fresh, and the students and Ted did an awesome job of providing opportunities for us to spend time one-on-one with God as well as in corporate worship.

All in all, it was a fantastic week, as usual. We're excited by the opportunity in the next couple of years to expand Commission to reach out to some new locations. Stay tuned for more details! We're hoping to get our web site up and running before too long!

Saturday, June 28
This was our 11th anniversary!! We drove out to the Sand Dunes to say goodbye to the students and let our kids climb a dune before we went back to church to clean up. After a hearty lunch we were on our way back to SLC, where we once again stayed in the Hill AFB TLF. (Thank you, God!) Ted took the older kids swimming while Kenna and I got a nap, and we enjoyed dinner out at Red Robin before collapsing in bed that night.

Sunday, June 29
After too many "how much farthers" and "how many more hours" and a couple of extra potty stops, we pulled in to LV in enough time for me to head to Sam's Club to stock up on fresh produce, milk, cheese, and bread. Ahhh! Ted and the kids unloaded the van, and we got cleaned up and ready to jump back into normal life.

Normal?! Did I say "normal?!"