God's Medallists

For the past 38 years Ekklesia Word Ministries has been hosting a camp in Point Fortin for Carnival Monday and Tuesday. The camp seeks to reach out to the community with the good news of Christ, encourages persons to live according to Godly principles, and offers an enjoyable time of learning through craft, music and drama. Each year, hundreds of children, teenagers and adults attend this camp. It is free of charge to the participants - many of whom are not regularly in a place where they hear the Word of God being presented - so it is a wonderful opportunity to pour into their lives.

This year we had over 250 participants

In the early years, most of the workers came from Point Fortin and environs. Over the years the dynamics have changed and the majority comes from outside of Point. This year, some of the regular workers were not available for a variety of reasons. Every year God provides the manpower we need but this year, one week before camp was due to begin, we were still in need of a male kitchen assistant. I had exhausted my options in terms of persons I could think of to ask. The Sunday before camp began, the Holy Spirit drew my attention to someone from my church who I had never thought of asking before and prompted me to invite him to camp. It turns out that, for the past two months, he had been asking God for an opportunity to use his talents to serve him, so when I approached him it was as much an answer to his prayer as he was to mine!

Most of the St. Augustine possee who made it to camp this year

This camp was not without it's challenges in the preparation stages. A couple weeks after the school term started, the school where we had camp was officially closed by the Ministry of Education until repairs could have been done. The only other school in Point Fortin which could have been an option as a venue was not available, so in faith we printed banners and flyers but held off distribution until we got official word that the venue was approved. Two weeks before camp began we got the approval from the Ministry - God clearly had a hand in that.

Flyers printed in faith

Two days before the camp started, one of my friends who was serving for the first time, and was very excited about coming down, having already completed all her preparations, was faced with her son experiencing high fever and a painfully swollen arm due to vaccinations he received some days before. That night all who were staying at my house gathered together and agreed in prayer for his healing and the next day, he was fully recovered so they were able to make it down to camp!

Putting my house guests to work cutting up materials

and making posters for the 4 and under class

We had met two weeks before camp to go through the lessons together and allocate responsibilities. My desire was to complete my preparation the following week. However, every time I sat down to prepare it was as though there was a block and I could not make any progress. It wasn't until the Thursday before camp that things finally started to fall in place as the thoughts began to flow and materials were completed, that I knew that I would actually be ready in time for camp.

The worksheets help to reinforce the lessons taught, and also

serve as a medium to share the truths from the lessons

with the parents of the children who attend

The theme for this year was God's Medallists, which was inspired by the Olympics to be held in Japan this year. The idea is that everyone is born on the track of life, running a race from time to eternity. The campers were challenged to consider whose team they would be running on, and what would be their reward based on the choice they made. They were encouraged to resist the temptation to run outside of their lane by pleasing themselves rather than pleasing God, and to overcome whatever obstacles they may face along the way instead of giving up. At the Expo Center, where we use the physical to portray spiritual truths, the focus was on the evolution of the Olypmics, as well as Olympians from Trinidad and Tobago.

Learning about the modern Olympics

This year I taught the four and under class. Many people are apprehensive to work with that age group, because they are unsure of how to approach teaching young children, but I love it! It takes hours of preparation, because you have to ensure that you have enough activities to keep them so busy that they forget about crying for their parents. Also, because of their age, you have to do most of the preparation for each activity, so there were hours spent in cutting out crowns, making name tags, punching holes and preparing folders.

Using the fruit of the Spirit to illustrate how we

run the race of life for Jesus

In the midst of all the tears that had to be dried and snatty noses that had to be blown, it was a joy for me to hear the children recite the memory verse at the end of the two days, and also to hear them talk about the stories we had taught them, which showed that learning took place! I was also happy to see the transformation of children who were having their first ever classroom experience without their parents, progressing from crying long tears at the first lesson, to not even wanting to leave the classroom by the end of the last lesson.

My beautiful nieces with their "crowns of

righteousness" which is the reward for those

who finish the race of life faithful to God

One of the highlights of camp this year was having Cherelle Thompson, who qualified to represent Trinidad and Tobago in swimming at this year's Olympics, come and share her journey with the campers. She told them how she had almost given up swimming but preserved despite the obstacles, which included major shoulder surgery, and was now on her way to the Olympics. She highlighted the role that her faith in God played in strengthening her along the journey. The cheers of the campers and the attention they gave while she was sharing was testimony to the fact that she was a huge inspiration to them.

She is so humble despite being a national 

record holder

For the past couple years we have organized a maxi to take the children from Bible Club down to Carnival camp. In previous years the maxi has been full, but this year not many chose to attend. I thank God for those who did though, especially the young man who chose to attend camp over Jouvet celebrations in his community, and the one who overslept and missed the bus so he travelled to Point Fortin. At the end of the two days, they declared it to be the best camp ever.

Some of them medalled at Camp Olympics

We thank God for the opportunity to sow God's Word into the lives of so many children, teenagers and adults over the Carnival weekend, included two Venezuelan migrants. Aunty Carol had to dust off her Spanish skills to be able to present the lessons to them, and one of them gave their life to Christ! We pray that the seeds of God's Word would have fallen on good soil where it can take root and grow and bring transformation to the lives of all who would be obedient to it.

Keon demonstrating which lane he is going

to run for