Here’s What Our Family Camp Looks Like
The word camp often conveys rustic – tents and outhouses in the woods, cooking over an open fire. That’s a far cry from our family camp. It was held in a hotel.
I’m wife to Gene aka “Sailor-Man,” mother of three married kids, grandma to thirteen of the planet’s cutest little people, and co-director of a missionary sending agency called International Messengers Canada.
The word camp often conveys rustic – tents and outhouses in the woods, cooking over an open fire. That’s a far cry from our family camp. It was held in a hotel.
This is our eighth trip to Eastern Europe since 2008 and, apart from gasping at near head-on collisions, I’ve never felt afraid. Until today, that is.
Tears filled Anna’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. My heart broke for her. What do I do, God? I prayed. The answer came back, Pray for her. And so I did.
My husband and I are leading a team of nine to partner with five career missionaries. We’ll host a camp for young adults facing life-threatening illnesses.
If Jesus Christ died on mankind’s behalf, then God must desperately want to release spiritually dead people from the trap of religion.
My time there also gave me a surprise personal link to the Ukraine. My whole life, I’ve known that my father was born in Russia but didn’t know what region.
A sense of humor is essential for living in a foreign country. Perhaps the man who said that laughter works like a medicine had missionaries in mind.
While waiting for the anesthetic to take effect, he sat beside me and chatted. Suddenly he grabbed his drill and said, “Now I work.”
Never in a million years would we have imagined we’d be doing this. What a ride when God takes the wheel.
Our trip to Poland and the Ukraine has begun, and so have the adventures and, yes, the misadventures.
What was the lesson God wanted them to learn? To trust His ability to provide for their needs. It looked as though they understood, but then came the test.
My precious wee grandbaby looked directly into my eyes and slapped her hands over her ears. She never said a word, but her actions spoke volumes.
Life doesn’t always turn out the way we hope or plan. Sometimes our circumstances don’t make sense, and we wonder if God really knows what He’s doing.
Three days? So much for a leisurely trip and quality time. I managed to remain positive in public, but I poured out my heart to the Lord in private.
My thoughts are tempted to flit from here to there and everywhere – wondering why marketing efforts didn’t produce more, wondering what more I could have done.
It was the third morning of the family camp at which Gene and I were ministering in Poland. We’d been awake for a half hour when our cell phone rang.
More than one million people died at the Aushwitz death camp in the 1940s. It originally held Polish political prisoners – doctors, lawyers, and professors.
How many Canadian women get to spend their 51st birthday in Romania? I do, I do!
And what a day it was!
It’s okay here to reach across someone’s plate if you want a food item. It’s okay to leave your chair and walk to a place at the table where you can reach it.
We’re in Budapest! It’s 7:00 a.m. and I hear traffic, dogs barking, and a car siren that’s been blaring for at least twenty minutes.
This train ride was an overnighter. Before boarding in Budapest, we doublechecked with the conductor to ensure this was the right train.
What an amazing weekend! The women’s conference in this Hungarian church was the first-ever. Organizers expected sixty women but 200 showed up.
I was guarding our luggage, and Gene was nowhere in sight, so I had no choice but to stay put and hope that we could catch our train if this was it.
I truly felt like the “older woman.” Thirty years ago, I was in their position – in college, with my whole adult future ahead of me. Where has the time gone?
I made a boo-boo at the bank machine. Not understanding the exchange rate between Romanian and Canadian currency, I punched in an amount I felt was reasonable.
There were three sermons. The service lasted two hours. The building was so cold that we could see our breath…and no one complained.
The bathroom was in a different building. Going outside in the storm meant bundling up in my parka. What a sight! Enough to make Frosty the Snowman laugh!
Caring for the village seniors is a vital ministry. Some of these folks live in houses with dirt floors and no hot water.
We squished into a car and headed for Romania. We wound through farmlands and little villages, over countless train tracks, and past old factories.
Joseph’s aha moment reinforces his understanding of God’s sovereignty over his life. It frees him from anger and bitterness and a desire for revenge.
We have a Hungarian contact in whose heart God is working. Pray he’ll read the Bible and understand that God loves him and wants a relationship with him.
These young moms found encouragement in knowing that I was a stay-at-home mom and was forty years old when I started my writing career.
What an emotional journey. I’m so thankful for God’s presence and for His presents – my IM friends. This day was a remarkable gift.
When I listed various fears that women struggle with and then asked for a show of hands from those who could relate, many hands went up.
There’s a huge sacrifice involved in this trip, and I believe with my whole heart that God will honor it with eternal results.
I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God…..remember that Gaither goldie? Those lyrics describe how I feel right now.
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GRACE FOX MINISTRIES
PO Box 11022
1945 McCallum Road
Abbotsford, BC V2S 0E4
Canada