SST: Update #5

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow marks the start of the last two weeks of youth camps here at LLBC. It is literally insane how fast time flies by here! I wish this summer would slow down...but who doesn't?!

Anyway, last week was my last week being worship leader. It's a little bittersweet, but I'm super excited to counsel again for the last home stretch we've got here! Leading worship was such an awesome opportunity and showed me a different way that I can impact the campers without being directly involved in their lives. It was a very humbling experience and made me realize that the most important thing about that role was that I would simply bring glory to God and not myself in any way.

If you're at all curious, a really popular song that has been requested over and over again by the campers here is "Lifeline" by Hillsong Young & Free. It's so fun to lead and the lyrics are great! You should all check it out. :) My favorite version of the song is by Hannah Kerr. Back in March I was actually able to see her perform in live at the Cup O Joy! I miss that place a lot actually, but I'm excited to get back in the open mic groove this fall. Come visit me!! :D (www.cupojoy.com)

So this next week we have our oldest group of campers...9th-12th grade! And I'll be counseling?! Yup...Pray for me! The SSTers joke that the teen weeks always scare us...especially if you're a counselor...but am I afraid? No way, man! I am trusting that God will use me in whatever ways He desires this week. I'm super excited! Teen weeks are always a lot of fun. Friday night we're going to have a party here at LLBC... black light 9-square, light up Nukem, s'mores, and more! I can't wait.

So TBH, I just scrolled through all my pictures on Facebook. Keyword: all. Now I'm getting all emotional just thinking about how fast our time here on earth goes. It's NUTS!!! I just want to take it all in...but is there really a right way to do that?! Even here at camp when there's like 0 data on my phone and we're all stuck out here in the boonies with no Spotify connection time still finds a way to fly by faster than ever. It's so important to realize how urgent the gospel message is and that our number one purpose here on earth as Christians is to spread it and spread God's love in every way, and in every day of our lives.

Let me repeat that...

Our number one purpose here on earth as Christians is to spread God's love in every way, and in every day of our lives.

No matter how we're feeling, no matter how close we think we our to God....we are called to fulfill this one purpose.

The past few weeks I was actually feeling very dry. I felt like I was just very used to everything...used to the routine, used to the staff, used to praying, used to the gospel, and even used to God. And let me tell you...this is not a good feeling. It's hard to describe to others and it's hard to get through dry patches in life like this. But did I? Eventually, yes. And here's how. :)

So while I was worship leader this past week, I had the opportunity to teach the Bible Study activity class. For the first half of the class I gave the campers just some tips on how to study the bible and stuff like that. For the second half, we went through the first paragraph of James and practiced studying it in depth. Here's how it goes:

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
-James 1:2-8

I gave the kids 10 minutes to dive into this passage and discover something about it that they didn't know before. With popular passages like this, it's so easy to overlook important phrases or words that show up. When I was reading it, I noticed that in the first verse it says "when you fall into various trials," meaning that as a Christian, we're all going to fall into various trials. My trial at the moment just happened to be my loss in awe of God and the gospel. Man, but God is faithful and He will bring you through it.

Last night I spent 2 hours just looking at the stars and it was almost scary to think about how big our God is, and how powerful He is. Like, woah! We say it all the time like it means nothing, but it means everything! Maybe that's the problem...we need to just stop talking about God so casually all the time. God is...God. He is the Creator, the Ruler of all things, the Maker of you, of everyone, the Supreme Being that holds everything...EVERYTHING... in His hands.

That is not something to say to just say something.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, when you talk about God or the gospel, talk about it like you mean it. Don't just say stuff about God with indifference in your heart. You will cause yourself and others to stumble because they won't see the awesomeness of God in You....their impression of God will be their impression of you, which is boring and bland. Christian friends, promise me that you will try your best to never, ever, ever let the cross lose its wonder in your heart, because what's in your heart will be reflected in your words and actions.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for sticking with me this summer through these updates. I'll probably give ya two more after this, so keep checking in! Also, if you would still like to support me financially, I'm not stopping ya!! Go to www.llbc.org, click "give", then "donate now," and from there you can send support to me and/or other SSTers if you feel led.

Thank you so much for all your prayers! You can continue to pray that I will just be able to focus on God these last few weeks, and that the awe of God will be shown in my heart whenever I talk about Him and what He has done. You guys rock!

-Mackenzie

P.S. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you're probably wondering who the dude is in almost all my recently posted pictures. Well, his name is James and we make a great pair of goofballs together. That's all for now. More on that later. ;)

SST: Update #4

Hello everyone!

I apologize for the delay in blog posts...camp life has just been so busy lately! I'll try and catch you all up as best as I can. :)

So some of you may know that the fourth week of camp I was the fishing instructor. Now, those of you who know me are probably thinking, "What?! Mackenzie...fishing?!" Your thoughts are valid. If there's anything that I can't do, it's fishing. However, God surprised me once again and it was an awesome week!

Before I started my new position, my friend Daniel took me and James out fishing for some "practice." I didn't catch anything (woohoo!!!) but James caught something! Dan took a picture of him holding the fish and then when we looked back at the picture, we could see a fountain of pee coming out of the fish. It was hilarious! We all laughed so hard.

Anyway, that week I really enjoyed getting to know the campers that came down to the fishing shack. They were all boys, which was an interesting transition (going from interacting with girls all the time to interacting with boys all the time). It was so fun just chilling out in my camp chair watching them fish and interact with each other. There was one time when I had two brothers down there fishing, Robby and Julian, and Julian caught a fish and Robby was freaking out at him and said something to him that made the "Camper Quote Board." While Julian was trying to get the fish off the hook, Robby said:

"Julian! Just yank it off! It's gonna squirm but you gotta squeeze it like grandpa does!"

I then started to laugh to myself, and they all were looking at me like I was crazy. Luckily Julian got the fish off eventually! You may be surprised at this, but that week I didn't have to take a fish off a hook at all (PRAISE THE LORD). However, I did have to put some worms on...but hey, it wasn't too gross...

That week was also my first time being on program staff at camp. I had a lot more free time than I did counseling, and so it was very nice to relax and reenergize. I also was able to participate in the staff devos at the end of the night. It was great reconnecting with everyone in that way and learning more about God.

Anyway, this past week of camp I was the worship leader! I've been leading worship all summer, but that was my only role this week (and it will be next week, too). I love it so much! For me, it's a little stressful to play in the band, just because the songs that we do are SUPER fast and upbeat, which is awesome, but if you know my style of music it's a lot more acoustic and soft. So that's definitely been something to get used to!

Thursday nights we have campfire chapels, which means that we do chapel and worship down by the campfire circle. It's one of my favorite nights! The campers are able to sing to God while looking out at the lake and the sky and the trees. This past Thursday during one of the songs I was thinking to myself how I wanted to see the same view as they were seeing- all of God's creation. But then, God gave me the realization of how I was seeing something even more cool...all of these kids worshipping God! Once I realized that I teared up a bit. :') Man...

This is the best job ever.

I definitely have days where I am just not feeling it, and there are days when I want to cuddle up in bed and stay there for hours, and there are days when I want my dad's grilled chicken more than anything...but let's be real. Being at camp the whole summer and working with awesome people and having opportunities to lead kids to Christ?!! AWESOME.

So yeah! That's how it's been here at camp. If you would like to contact me more, feel free to shoot me a Facebook message or even better, send me a letter!

Mackenzie Johnson

N18250 Lake Lane

Pembine, WI 54156

Also, I still haven't reached my financial goal for the summer, but I'm trusting that God will provide! if you would like to be apart of my mission here at camp, please visit www.llbc.org and click "give", then "donate now", then "give to LLBC", and from there you can scroll down and find my name. Thank you guys so much! Also, please pray that I would continue to find my strength, joy, and energy all in Christ. Pray that I would be able to carve out time in my day to spend with Him. Thank you all so much!

-Mackenzie