Well, camp is over for the second week, and quite frankly I don't think we have ever experienced a group of students who were quite as into camp from the beginning of camp as this group was. For most groups, the first two days of camp are spent trying to convince them why an academic group is a great place to be during their summer vacation, then after witnessing on Wednesday, they have seen faces of real people and all of a sudden camp is more important and much more real.
On Wednesday of this week we had an interesting event happen. Generally speaking we try to witness on the campus we are on, and this week was no different as we witnessed on the campus of The University of New Mexico. On our way to walking out to the location we met at to group up before we began, Mike noticed a man sitting on a bench that was talking to himself and cursing loudly to himself. Seeing this as something significant of note, Mike, Chad, and Shanon (Chad's wife) walked over and began to sit next to this manin attempts of detering our students until we determined if this man would be a safety hazard to our students. After five minutes of listening to this man curse at himself and carry on a conversation with himself, Chad began a conversation with him. One of our philosophies at Worldview Academy when we go out and talk to people is that the scariest or most intimidating guy, the camp director or someone on leadership goes to talk to them. This does two things, one it allows the scariest or most unstable person to speak with someone on leadership, but it also allows the students to see us witnessing as well.
So, this man's name was Dustin and he began to explain to Chad how he had schizophrenia and how he really was just guessing on how to do this thing called life. He went on to tell how his wallet had been stolen years ago and how that caused so much pain and stress in his life. He was really struggling with who he was and how to live. Ten minutes into this conversation it was very clear that he was extremely lost and without purpose. It became so clear that yes he was vulgar and yes he was hard to follow because he would switch back and forth between who he was, but he was lost. He started out as the scary guy who we needed to talk to, but quickly became the man who so desperately needed Christ.
The conversation ended with him being incredibly grateful for the time we spent listening. He didn't trust Christ and he didn't recognize his need for Jesus, but he saw someone who was willing to listen. Someone who wouldn't just shrug him off as a nobody, but someone who cared. He saw Christ through us. There were other interesting conversations that occurred as well as two people trusted Christ that day.
Overall, it was a great week of camp. I don't think we have had a better group of students more on board with what we are doing in quite a long time. Randy Sims our executive director said it was one of the best groups of students he has ever seen in his 12 years of doing Worldview. That says something.
Now, we are getting ready for Arizona and the 7,000 feet of altitude that awaits us. Please let us know how you are doing and the events happening around you. Thank you for your prayers and support!
Mike & Angela
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