Oh my! It's been over a year since I wrote my last blog post, so let me catch you up!
Since August of 2014, Walter and I decided to move off of the mission field and come to live permanently in the USA. There were many factors involved in this decision, but the primary ones were more opportunities for our son as he grows up and the fact that our ministry in Peru was only seasonal and not full-time. Since we came to the US last November, we were unable to participate physically in the third Campamento Extremo in January; however, I did still write the Bible lessons for the week of the camp. We spent our time here visiting some churches and raising support that would go 100% toward the needs of the camp and 0% toward our personal needs/income. Then, we went back to Peru for three weeks in July to work on the fourth Campamento Extremo. This one also followed the Patriot theme. For those of you who are unfamiliar with our camps, let me re-cap...
"Campamento Extremo" means "Extreme Camp". We adopted this name for our camps based on circumstance (namely, we had very limited resources and had no choice but to make our camp extreme). There are no bunk houses, the kids sleep in tents (even in the torrential jungle rains!). Often (since we hold camp at a different property each time) there are no formal bathrooms and makeshift outhouses, or "squatties", are employed instead. Our campers have been known to bathe in the lake due to lack of running water. But rather than shed a tear over the poor conditions, we decided to embrace them, and, ironically, it is because of the "extreme" conditions of the camp that it has gained so much popularity. Our first camp in January 2014 only accommodated 32 campers. But the numbers have gone up each time and the camp we held in July of this year was attended by 84 campers!
The four camps that we have done so far have had a military theme with the name "Patriota" ("Patriot"). Throughout the four camps we have studied from God's Word that there are two worlds (the World of Light and the World of Darkness) and we must decide to which one we will show our allegiance. Once you accept the King's invitation to become a citizen of the World of Light, you must assimilate to the culture of your new kingdom, which requires some life style changes. We also taught that, although being part of the Kingdom of Light will ultimately lead us to live in Paradise in eternal communion with our King, it is currently a nation at war and we are called to be soldiers to fight in the spiritual battle. We must not only fight against the dark forces at work in the world but we must also study the enemy to prepare for his attacks, and study our war manual (the Bible) to understand how our King (God) has the power to bring us victory.
We invite you to come alongside us and support this amazing ministry! Not only is it a blast to work with the Peruvian volunteers who make this camp possible and the youth who joyfully attend, it is so encouraging to see the fruits of our labor! In the camp that took place in July, 17 of our 84 campers accepted Christ! The next camp will be held the last week of July 2016. We appreciate all prayers and donations. If you would like to donate financially, please write a check to Glenrock Baptist Church and put "Peru camp" in the memo. Send to
Glenrock Baptist Church
P.O. Box 151
Fort Mill, SC 19716
If you are unable to donate money but would like to donate items for a future yard sale fundraiser or specific needed materials for the camp, please contact me (Ashley) at ashleywaldmeyer@gmail.com. In the meantime, check out the links below for videos and pictures of our camps. Thanks and have a blessed day!
VIDEO CAMPAMENTO EXTREMO 3 ("AMBUSHED")
VIDEO CAMPAMENTO EXTREMO 4 ("COUNTERSTRIKE")
FACEBOOK PAGE (PICTURES FROM ALL CAMPS)
