When I finished high school in 2010 I knew I had to take a
gap year in order to earn some money for my studies. I also needed a car and
some time to sort out my matric paperwork from overseas. I found a job I really
liked even before I was finished with high school. I applied for the post I
wanted and got the job on a two year agreement.
The name of the company where I worked is Camp Discovery. It
is a leadership and adventure centre for school, team building and other
similar groups located 60km north of Pretoria, just into the bush of Limpopo. I
became a facilitator there, my responsibilities among other things included
writing programs for groups, basic maintenance on activity equipment and taking
groups for activities such as game drives, obstacle courses, archery and air
rifles. It is a really well managed place with incredibly high standards in
service and product delivery.I was forced to adapt to living away from home and my family for these two years (I had around eight off days a month). I also had to conform to the high standards and uphold them and improve upon them to the best of my ability. I had up to that point had hardly any responsibility compared to what I had there. I managed, by God’s grace, to excel there and I became the head training facilitator and for the last four months of my career there I was the assistant manager. Through all of this I learned and grew more than ever before in my life. Added to that I met literally thousands of people and was able to share God’s Word to many of them. Camp Discovery will always have a special place in my heart because of my experiences there.
But there was one thing I left behind for those two years
which was difficult for me. I left my church family behind. I was hardly able
to attend one Sunday service a month with my off day situation and I also
missed out on many young adults meetings, bible studies and other church
events. Whenever I did visit my church I just felt as if it was the best place
to be.
I have been attending Free Grace Baptist Church since 2000
and although it has never really been a large church in numbers or one about
which you always hear amazing stories, I still love my family there. Every week
I have my ‘spiritual batteries’ recharged and I am always blessed by the
meetings and ministries. Having missed out on all of that for two years I was incredibly excited to return at the end of my Camp Discovery career. I have been back since February this year and I have never been more excited about it. I feel like I missed out on a lot during my two years at Camp Discovery so now I attend eagerly as many meetings as I can. Added to that, I have my fellow members of the body of Christ around me all the time to pray with me, to share burdens with and to fellowship with in Christ.
The local church is the centre of my life as it is the core
of my service to and relationship with God. I am truly blessed to be a part of
the loving family of the body of Christ which will one day worship Him
forever and always in heaven.
