TVLC has come and gone.

Even though we didn't do our program, it was a LONG week.  (TVLC, a Lutheran youth group from Tuscon, Arizona, was here.)  Here are some of the highlights:
- Pharoah, Pharoah.  I love Lone Tree's worship music, but we don't sing typical camp songs when we run our program.  TVLC brought such favorites as "Pharoah, Pharoah" and "I Love You, I Love You" (with lots of hugging) onto the Lone Tree scene.  It was great.
- Lunch-songs.  TVLC reinstated the tradition (for TVLC's group only) of singing to people with elbows on the table (instructing them to run around said table) and of selecting individuals to sing a song to the rest of the dining hall.  And, as always, we ended each lunch with karaoke.
- Troughing.  I managed to avoid the Lone Tree Ranch swimming pool for yet another week, but a handful of other people went in - including Forrest, Zach, and Chris (all having birthdays this week) and two of TVLC's leaders.  (Billy, their youth pastor, made the fatal error of enlisting Steve, our camp director and a die-hard Huskers fan, to back him up in a cheer for Kansas.  Billy later went in the trough.)
- White Sands!!!  On Saturday, after the kids left, some of the staff went to White Sands to watch the sun set, eat charred beef/Boca burger, and throw sand at each other.  If you've never seen it, think: BIG beach, without any ocean - and extra-breathtakingly-beautiful.  (I took a LOT of pictures... I'll post those at the end of the summer.)

So TVLC's back home in Tuscon, and we get a fresh batch of campers tomorrow afternoon.  (In other words, it's a good time for prayers.)  Here are some specifics:
- TVLC gone home.  Pray that the campers from last week wouldn't forget whatever God showed them while they were at camp and that they continue to grow in Him as they return to their normal lives.
- Back to our program.  This week, we're back to full-capacity, and we're starting the first of a string of weeks where we run our program.  So things around here are about to pick up significantly.  Pray that we would have patience with ourselves, with the kids, and with each other, that we would let God use us for His work, and that we would have the energy and endurance we need to stir up these kids.  Also, pray that no one gets seriously hurt and that the kids are open to our program and to our teaching.
- RAIN!  It's been raining A LOT lately, but pray that it keeps up.  Word on the street is that the forest might open this week.  Pray that it will.

Here we go again.