Oh yeah, that's why.

This last week we had over 300 kids from six different schools. And this weekend we have 600 plus guest. It has been crazy and stressful around these parts to say the least.

Below is an email sent out from our secretary. The teachers mentioned were not a part of the school I worked with this week. But it was a timely reminder of why I do what I do.

God is definitivlty at work here at camp.

I know we are all running around preparing ourselves for this doozy of a weekend, but I had to share an experience with you all regarding one of the schools that just left our campsite.

I have been working with this school for the past three months to even get them to come to camp. There were two teachers that were signed up to come and one teacher had almost her whole class signed up while the other teacher only had 5 students. One teacher was coordinating and getting all excited about coming to camp while the other was calling try to cancel. These two teacher refused to talk to each other and the described themselves as oil and water. It was an interesting few weeks leading up to this Tuesday when they arrived. I had no idea what to expect from what I dubbed the “feuding” teachers and I was in for a surprise. The first day one teacher made her class stay on the bus because she didn’t to get wet, while the other teacher had her class out splashing in the water and getting sandy while it poured at the beach. As the week wore on there was a marked change in the attitude of the two teachers. The quiet one who wanted to cancel was Smiling and there were occasions that the two teacher were sitting together talking. This morning they stopped me and we had a lengthy talk about their week. The quiet teacher was all grins and couldn’t stop talking about how much fun this place has been and how she has found a peace here. (Hum….coincidence? I don’t think so!)

These students from this school had a rough time getting here. There were a few students who didn’t think they could come because they didn’t own two pairs of shoes or pajamas. The school worked so hard to raise extra money and they were able to purchase 6 pairs of shoes, towels for every kid, pajamas for one girl who didn’t have any, ODE shirts for every kid, ponchos, and cameras for each student. A few kids mentioned that it was nice to go somewhere that they could eat as much as they wanted and that there were always seconds. The teacher wrote this on her evaluation about blessings her group received:

“Many 1^st timers to see the ocean, cross a stream, climb on rocks, see Redwoods, see wild deer, be at a campfire, zipline and tree climbing, be away from home overnight, build a sand castle, see a raccoon, play ping pong, have as much to eat and repeated trips for food, play in the rain with permission, have their very own camera, sleep in dorm style, and be trusted to behave as they know best.”

I am blessed to work in a place where we can encourage kids to be kids. This will be an experience they will never forget and it makes all the frustrations worth it! My two “feuding” teachers came here, found peace, and are ready to come back next year!

How amazing is that?

--Jesse "Gonzo" Letourneau
Serving Him alongside all of you, just from a little farther away.

a little late

From my Grandmother's service earlier this year

click for the full album

Cannonball Sunday

Sunday was Baptism Sunday at RCC (Redwood Covenant Church). After a really cool Children's lesson:


I went to "big people church" and was blessed beyond measure. The sermon started with a video of a child jumping into the baptismal. Hence the name of this blog and the Sermons title today.

Pastor Doug spoke on having an eagerness to get into the water. At RCC, we practice family baptism. There was a father who was baptized as a sign of his faith in Christ along with his children as a sign they where under his roof and would be raised in the faith. After the service, there was an invitation for anyone who wanted to baptized and hadn't done so to come down. No one came, the service ended, the worship team played, people chatted, and the sanctuary began to empty. Until more people came down to be baptized. Among them was the mother of the family who had been baptized earlier in the service. When asked why she wanted to be baptized, she said, "I am tired of fighting what has always been." It was amazing to see the faith of the father and the faith of the children used by God to bring another daughter of his to a public confession of her faith. To allow her to "stop fighting, and accept what has always been."

Serving Him with all of you just from further away,
Jesse "Gonzo" Letourneau

a few quick words on the Muppets

Yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of the passing of Jim Henson. Anyone who knows me, knows that the Muppets have a special place in my heart. I am not sure if I have every spelled out why that is, and at the risk of repeating myself, I am going to talk briefly of why the Muppets are so important to me.

December of 1989 my father contracted Leukemia. July of 1990 my father went home to heaven. The seven or so months in between are some the most memorable and impactfull of my childhood. One memory I have is watching The Jim Henson Hour with my family in Stanford.

During the illness my dad was an out patient at Stanford Medical. He stayed in an apartment with my mom, while my brother and I lived with our Grandparents. Children weren't allowed in the apartment as it was a part of Stanford Medical and was occupied solely with their patients (kids being carriers of all kinds of germs and such). The ritual was this, Mom drives down on Friday, picks us up, drive back to Stanford, spend Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning visiting at the apartment, drive back to Auburn, got to school on Monday.

Friday nights the family would be in front of the television tuned into TGIF on ABC. Among the programs was the aforementioned Jim Henson Hour. Things were for that hour like they had always been.

With my dad's condition worsening, Saturdays were often spent with my mom and brother in town, to give dad some rest. Sundays were spent driving. One of the precious few times our family was all together and things were normal were on those Friday nights.

Jim would pass in May, my father would return to his heavenly home in June. 1990 wasn't a good year for my childhood. Three or so years back I was at Disneyland talking with a good friend of mine. I shared with him how even today watching the Muppets takes me back to being a kid. He summed it all up nicely. "Everything is right with the world when the Muppets are on TV." We then went to go watch the Muppet 4-D Movie in Disney's California Adventure Park.

The weird thing is last year at this time I found myself reflecting on the Muppets more than usual. And the same thing happened this year. The last two weeks or so, I have had Muppets on the brain. It is probably coincidence as the date May 16 wasn't really on my radar until last year.

Rambling Road

Time for another not so regular, not so structured edition of what has been bouncing through my mind.

Last month, I heard a sermon on Luke 24, The Emaus Road. The analogy was given of when Jesus opening the eyes of His traveling companions to the plan of God to standing on a peak and looking back on the trail you have just walked. This is where it all becomes clear. This is where you can look and see every twist and turn and understand why they are there. This is where the path you just walked makes sense.

Fourteen years ago I sat in the bleachers of Forest Lake Christian School's gym and argued with God. Roughly six weeks ago I sat in an airport shuttle and tried to argue with God. The gym was my point A and the shuttle my current point B.

Way back in 1996, I was a high school senior who thought he had learned it all, seen it all, and done it all. Only I knew something was amiss. There was more to this God I served, yet it was just out of reach. And so I prayed. I prayed a prayer that I would have never prayed I had I known how it would have been answered, and yet have never regretted.

My prayer was simply this: "God I want to experience you in new ways. I want you to become real in my life." Like an incredibly slow mantra, this was my daily prayer for months. Then I met a man named Tom Ives. Tom was from Royal Servants, a short term missions organization. He was there to give the talk for our weekly chapel.

I have never felt the call to be an overseas missionary, so why would I need to go "practice"? (I have been on four short term trips, and am considering a fifth.) I had no real desire to listen to what Tom had to say. It wasn't going to apply to me. Besides "these guys" come and yell and scream and say the only way to be closer to God is to raise money and go on their trip. I wasn't buying what Tom had to sell. I sat down convinced this chapel would have nothing for me.

The first words he spoke were, "Do you want to experience God in a new way? Do you want Him to become real in your life?" The next 25 minutes were spent with me trying to convince God that He was mistaken. That this was not the answer to my prayer. I whined about schedules and money and languages, each time I thought I had outsmarted God, Tom's next sentence answered my exact "problem."

It was on this trip in 1996 that I first began Children's Ministry. I played with puppets, told stories, and saw kids make decisions to follow Christ. The next fourteen years were spent volunteering in one form of CM or another.

Then the lunch and the shuttle ride were the final pieces to the puzzle.

So here I stand, perched atop a vista, looking out over the last 14 years.

I see a whale lip syncing DcTalk. There is CEF and Good News Club, picking up helium tanks, and debating whether Santa Claus should be invited to our Christmas Party or not, frosting sugar cookies without the aid of a knife, songs and games and stories, verses and water fights, learning and teaching, and sometimes learning as I teach, adding shading to cartoon houses, and complaining about Ma's "cooking", there is a commissioning service involving a jester, a cake, and the title of Ambassador of Grace Kids to Alliance Redwoods. And there is singing Baby Shark and having lunch with Scott.

Very little of that means much to anyone but myself, but it is the path that has carried me this far. As I look back I see God equipping and guiding me. As I look up, I see a path not yet taken. One if I knew what it entails, I would never have asked for. A path that I am sure I will not regret.

Serving Him alongside you, just from a little further away,

--Jesse "Gonzo" Letourneau