Thursday 15 October 2015

The Lord's Tents Camping #7

On the 12th-14th of October we hosted the Lord's Tent's camping #7. 

So many tents! 60 children and 20 adults on our camp this year.
The Lord's Tent's Camping started as a project a couple of years ago with a small group of Burmese kids that we were ministering to. We had realised in the time that we had spent with the children that because of the circumstances in which they grew up, they did not dream big dreams for their future. Most knew that they would never make it past primary school and that their life would be in construction. There were walls stopping their dreams, and we wanted those walls to be broken down.

We had the kids each think up a small short term dream. Something that they had never done but wanted to do. They each wrote them down on a piece of paper and together we picked one out of a hat. It belonged to a little boy - he had never been camping and his dream was to camp in a tent and sleep in a sleeping bag. Together we prayed with the kids, raised funds and the dream of the Lord's Tent's Camping was born.

Now 7 years later, most of that first small group of Burmese kids are all grown up. Two of the girls are in second year university - this year, they played a role in helping us lead the camp. But now there are not just a small group of children. One little boys dream of camping in a tent and sleeping bag now is a tool that inspires other children like him to dream beyond his community. 

Approximately 60 children attended this year - some refugees, some the children of Burmese migrants, some Thai children - but each with a story, and each with the potential to dream of something bigger for their lives. We hope that they were inspired this week, not so much by us, but by each other - that they will see freedom to dream in the eyes of a friend, and have the courage to take down those walls in their own heart. 

Words of encouragement written by the kids

Cooking their own food

Cooking in bamboo over a fire

Evening activities