What an action-packed day it has been so far! We started with "Good Morning Sunshine" a time for leaders and students (who want to attend) to spend some time singing praise and worship then listen to Pastor Tom open up God's word. This is a great time for us as leaders to be encouraged and be reminded of the reason we are here and the amazing God we serve. It was awesome to see how many of the students chose to attend this event as the majority of the students here at camp aren't Christians. Praise the Lord!!!

After breakfast we went to our first "Main Meeting". Main Meetings are the times when all the students and leaders gather together for some crazy fun and to listen to Cory DiCarro speak. This week Cory has been focusing on communication—how we listen, how to think about what we heard and how to respond after we have thought. Following Main Meetings, all of the students break up into small groups and spend time discussing the Main Meetings. Each small group has one American leader and one Estonian leader and the students are encouraged to use this time to feel more comfortable conversing in English. We as leaders use this time to show our small groups that we are listening to them, that we care about them and try to build relationships with them.

After small groups it was time for lunch then outside for some fun in the snow. It started snowing last night and didn't stop all day, it was beautiful!!! We competed in various outside games with our small groups, such as Ice Snowman (building creative snowmen—or in my small group's case snow mermaids), and Texas shoot-out (using a sling-shot and tennis balls to hit targets). Following our outside games, we cleaned up, had our second Main Meeting of the day, dinner, and then our second small group of the day. I think this second small group has been my favorite time at camp so far. Tonight our small group's shared their stories. I had the opportunity to share with the five student's in my group about my life so far and they did the same. I was amazed and humbled that God let me share in that time with them.

I was overwhelmed to hear a 15-year-old girl tell me that her father died when she was 2, after which her mother found Jesus and eventually remarried when the girl was 6. She has since lost a brother and sister and her parents are missionaries in Indonesia while she lives here in Estonia with family friends. The awesome thing about this girl is that her faith in God is real. During a get-to-know-you game yesterday, she had the question, "Would you die for anyone and why?" Her response was, "I would die for my friends who aren't Christians because if they died they would be in hell." This is a story that I don't ever want to forget, something that I know will stay in my heart forever that a 15-year-old girl who has had so much pain in her short life still chooses to trust in God. While this is just one girl's story, there are many students here that have had similar heartaches but with less joyful endings as they don't have God weaved into their stories. We covet your prayers for these students who are here and that because of this camp they are able to take one step closer to the cross.

We love you and miss you all!!

Tara