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The following is a quick summary of my summer (a summery?) If you'd like to share this in your church newsletter, I'd love that- especially if your United Methodist church is in southern Iowa. Feel free to share even if your church is in northern Iowa, or Hawaii, or your living room, or if you're Lutheran, or PresbyQuakeNazarLic, or anything else. :) 

You don't have to include the picture- it probably wouldn't print well- but you can if you'd like. Some nice cape clipart would do the trick too.

I velcroed my cape, hopped in the van, and took off towards a super summer...

This was my 10th summer working with Mobile United Methodist Missionaries. Devoted to making disciples in mostly rural southern Iowa, this organization spends summers working alongside church volunteers in vacation Bible school ministry. This year, we used Cokesbury’s Hero Central curriculum to show kids (and grown-ups!) that when they live with God, they are superheroes. Places I traveled this summer included Randolph, Van Wert, Osceola, Farmington, Orient, Hebron, New Virginia, Council Bluffs, and a park in Oskaloosa. The other two MUMM travelers, Cherie Miner and Paige Jensen, have similar lists.

Highlights from this summer:

• Giving a Bible to a girl who didn’t have one
• Watching local volunteers take ownership- one brought her own cape!
• Having a donkey and his human come share the message about the cross on his back
• Bringing 50 kids who wouldn’t normally have a chance to get to church camp to Wesley Woods for a week of JOY Camp
• Hearing kids echo our theme verse- “Do good! Seek peace! Go after it!”- Psalms 34:14b

For more stories, check out my blog: https://mummstheword-allison.blogspot.com/ or “like” Mobile United Methodist Missionaries on Facebook to see what we’re up to! We appreciate your support and your prayers!

Allison Engel

Senior Summer Assistant, Mobile United Methodist Missionaries (MUMM)

7:47

In a sure sign that summer is almost over, last week was JOY camp at Wesley Woods. It was a full week at camp- we had brought 50 JOY campers!- and it was exciting to see so much energy. The staff at Wesley Woods does an amazing job. Between Bible studies, endless carpet ball tournaments, journeys, fishing, archery, gorgeous outdoor chapel services, swimming, and petting the goats, we certainly kept busy- but it never felt busy. Everything happened at 7:47. (It's camp tradition never to tell campers the right time. It takes some of them a while to figure that out.) Cherie asked me one day what time dinner was, and I didn't have a clue. While I was carrying a schedule around in my backpack, I barely ever looked at it. She commented that I was fully on 7:47 time, and I realized I was.

Why?

A story:

Wednesday was a day when I encountered some things that made me struggle awfully hard to find joy. Our world, in case you haven't noticed, can be a pretty messed-up place. I know my campers deal with difficult things in their lives, but it's still heartbreaking every time I think of the smiling, precious, short humans I've come to know getting hurt, and it just doesn't seem fair.

With these joyless thoughts pounding through my head, I ran into a camper searching through his Bible. "Do you know that sign," he asked me hopefully, "with the verse about why it's always 7:47? Do you know what that verse is? It ends with a 4." Curious, another camper popped over, and fortunately for all of us, he remembered more of the reference. We wound up at Matthew 6:34, and out of his Good News Bible, the first camper read: "So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings." The Message paraphrase begins "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now..."

So what was God doing right then? Using two middle school boys to remind me that there is still good in the world, that's what.

Puppets added a great deal of joy to the service.

Pastor Dale's Easter message involved puppets.

The last day of camp is always Easter. After an emotional chapel service Thursday night telling about Jesus' crucifixion, Friday morning is always welcome as a reminder that God is not done; the story is not over. I got another reminder of this as I joined with one of the group's Bible studies that morning. They closed with a squeeze-around prayer, and here were a few of the heartfelt thoughts I heard:

"Thank you for this group that I was put into," from a girl who had been terribly homesick the first night.
"Thank you for getting me a ride so I could come here," from a sweet girl who had requested the puppet sing her happy birthday at Bible school.
"I love you, Jesus," from a girl who spoke directly to His heart.

So- what is God doing right now? Give your entire attention to it. You have time. It's only 7:47.