Camp was a big part of my life growing up and our team at Schools of Hope wanted to provide the same experience for our ChildCARE Plus sponsor kids in Honduras. After 8 years, Hope Camp has now become something our kids look forward to as well. With over 300 kids in our program, camp continues to grow and expand each year. Between July 10-14, we took over 200 kids to a beautiful camp about 45 minutes out of our city of Tegucigalpa.

The students live in a mountainous area, without any ‘green spaces’ for them to play, so camp provides a wonderful experience for students to play, run and have fun. Our Schools of Hope staff is able to build relationships and teach the children more about God. It is an experience we do not take lightly, as many do not get the opportunity to be kids at home. They have a lot of responsibilities and, sometimes, even provide financially for their family. Our goal for Hope Camp is that they get to be kids – even if it’s just for a few days.

Our theme this year was IDENTITY, because we wanted our students to know who God says they are and equip them with the tools they need to find the truth from God’s Word. The world wants to tell our kids who they are, but I truly believe that if a student can know who they are in Christ it can literally change their life! Our service times were amazing. We had great times of worship, some of the youth even led in worship! A dream come true for me! The teaching was intentional and focused on our students, and we had some solid small group discussions where several kids accepted Christ for the first time!!!

Camp is where God spoke to me to go into full time ministry and be a missionary. I experienced God in new and awesome ways and that was my desire and prayer for our students, that God would do the same for them. Life can be hard, especially for children living in poverty, and I don’t want them to give up, commit suicide, get involved in gangs, get pregnant or worse. I want them to live a life of purpose, because they know that is what God has for them.

Thanks to your generous support towards Hope Camp every student also received a t-shirt with a thumbprint (Identity) and a cross (Christ). We had them write the words that God says about them, that they are loved, valuable, treasured, a Child of God, brave, strong. It will be a great reminder of who God says they are and what He did in their lives at camp!