Therefore, I'm A . . .

. . . PRINCESS!!!

"For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song!"
- Zep. 3:17

This past week, in a little compound tucked away on some side street of Jos, Nigeria God showed 19 girls and 7 women that they are HIS Princesses. Each princess unique in His creation of them, but each loved more deeply and completely than ever imagined. God showed us his love through times of prayer, times spent reading, studying and teaching his word and though conversation. But God also showed us his love through jumping into a green swimming pool, watching movies and eating popcorn together, laying on the floor and coloring, singing around a campfire, introducing Marshmallows into the vocabulary of little Nigerian girls, baking cookies, making jewelry, climbing trees, and eating around a banquet table together.

Oh the joys that camp bring! Living in your own World for a week, with nothing to do but dwell on Gods love and share that with those around you. Yes, at the end of the week I was exhausted and desperately in need of a shower and good night sleep, but a huge part of me wasn't ready to re-enter the real World. We were so created to be in relationship with each other, and so created to love on each other, so having a week, where all I had to do was love on 19 girls, was the perfect place to be.

There are so many stories I could tell from this past week . . . from teaching the girls what French Toast is, and how to use a fork, to reading them a bedtime story each night, showing them how to eat their first smore, dressing them up as princesses, to the story of Munch and Crunchie . . . I could go on forever, but I am going to pick two highlights for me from the past week at girls camp.

The first highlight came for me on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00pm. Although the girls knew we were going swimming at some point during the week, they had no idea that it was going to be this afternoon. So when we woke them up from rest at 1:45pm and announced that we were off to the pool, you couldn't contain the excitement! Girls running up and down the halls screaming, and Mama Sati trying to make sure each girl had a towel, it was chaos in the best way possible.
As this is the rainy season, we knew there was the possibility of it raining on us while we were swimming, and boy were the clouds DARK as we drove towards the pool. Each of us said a silent prayer, "Lord, please hold the rain off for a few more minutes, these girls have never been to a swimming pool in their lives!" and praise the Lord he did! We had at least a whole hour of swimming time before the rains came!

Seeing the faces of the girls as they climbed into the pool for their first time, was amazing! So much joy! Corinne, Nicky and I had little girls clinging to us for dear life, yet they couldn't contain the smile on their face! Eventually they gained confidence and "swam" (well sorta swam) around on their own. The big girls learned that they could jump in off the edge! It was so much fun! It didn't matter that it was cold and the water was green, all that mattered was that these girls were having the time of their lives!

Another highlight for me was the last night of camp, our banquet night. The theme for camp was "The King and I" and we had spent the whole week studying who God is, and how we are all called to be his daughters and his princesses. So on the last night, we threw a Banquet and a Ball! We dressed each of the girls up with their own crown and sparkly shall, each received their own necklace and we had a huge cake to finish off our wonderful dinner! We even had a string trio playing beautiful music during dinner (thanks so much to the Sampson family children). The evening was finished off with Anna (another STA from Ireland) "Teaching" the girls Irish dance! IT WAS THE GREATEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!

Each of these girls has come from horrendous backgrounds. They have been in situations and been through things we will never experience in our lives, so watching God shower his love upon them in so many unique ways, was a gift. We are so blessed to have such a loving and redemptive God, who can take so much brokenness and bring it so much life!