prayers & praise--High school camp/mission trip

Just returned w/55 high-schoolers for our summer camp & mission trip.

praises:

• A superb week. Our kids rocked! They stepped out and served. Many were key leaders in their groups (composed of many Christian kids from many churches). Several shared their faith for the first time...and four got to lead someone to the Lord. Our kids learned a great deal about servanthood, adaptability, and stepping up in a leadership vacuum. Good lessons for all.
• Safety. We aren't a church that has many van/bus/mechanical problems (we maintain ours very well), but we made up for it this year. 230 miles from home today, on our oldest van (our "luggage hauler," our fuel pump quit working, and we had a year-old, well-maintained trailer tire blow. Then, we developed a major oil burn (looks like a blown head gasket). This van is worth $1,000 tops...so we kept going (what were we going to do...further injure it? We kept it full of fluids, and did not shut it off.) Well, besides killing mosquitos with the smoke, this van made it home. Shouldn't have, but did.

For the prayer needs:

• That God would give courage to those who were led by the Lord to begin that "faith conversation" with several close to them. Please ask that God will help them talk to their loved ones about where they stand with Christ.

And now: I'm taking a break. The last three weeks: Junior High Camp (6 days); VBS prep and VBS (5 days); and Sr. High Camp/mission trip (5 days). I'm tired.