Miriam Rutzen's Blog: Wow. Day........23!!??

Unreal. The past two weeks have been absolutely crazy. In a very good way. Challenges faced and worked through, homesickness, laughter, joy, sharing the Gospel, sharing about David (my brother), sharing life, looooooaaaaaaddddsss of food. And very little time where I am sitting down at a computer and can write an update. Again, I apologize for those who rely on this to get updates. I have focused much more on posting photos on social media sites and have neglected this due to the reasons stated above. I promise you that there will be a great youtube video recap to fill in the gaps of this trip :).

Last time I wrote we were only two days into the camp in Nice. I want to emphatically state here: your prayers made a difference in that city. The Gospel of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was clearly presented and we had time to break into small groups to help make it more clear. During those small groups a few of the questions the kids asked were:

- If Jesus was so great and perfect, why did everyone hate him and want to kill him when he was here, and why do people like him so much now?
- Is it true that if you commit suicide you automatically go to hell even if you believe in God?

Holy. Smokes. Kids are learning, they are observing, they are listening CONSTANTLY. I am always amazed at the intensity of their questions once they are given a chance to speak in a comfortable environment.

While in Nice, I made some amazing friends from Denton Bible Church located in Denton, Texas. They will definitely make the highlight video as many of them are extremely musically gifted and simply wonderful individuals. The camp consisted of around 45-50 kids and then around 15 counselors (some coaches, some helped with snacks, some helped with supervision)

This is the last big stretch for me and I need to make sure to get rest, so sadly I cannot fill you in now as much as I would like. Just know that your prayers DO make a huge difference and that I am so very thankful for the prayer warriors I have in my life!

It is a beautiful to experience worshiping our Maker and Risen Savior in different languages and in different cultures all around the world, especially in a church full of the joy of the Spirit--God is Great. All the time.

Here's a cheers to my final basketball camp of the summer for a grand total of SEVEN. Whewee.

Good night, sleep tight, and sweet dreams (for whatever evening you may read this :) ),

O&O,

M