The true and exuberant account of the experiences of Andruw Martinez at Campamento Armadillo

WOW ! ! ! SOOOOO CRAZY ! !

Crazy fun that is! Praise God for such a wonderful and amazing experience! Also! I'm gunna stop using exclamation points now, because I think you get the picture. Youth camp was a blast and many seeds have been planted as well as some great words and lessons on God's word. Because of some constraints the camp was smashed into a day and a half, which was Saturday and a portion of Sunday.

Everyone arrived at church to load onto the big yellow school bus at approximately 5:30a. We somehow (only as Hondurans can) squeezed around 60 people along with all their luggage, set of drums, guitar, keyboard, all necessary cooking items and food . . yeah you read that right . . your eyes are fine, all onto one school bus! After arriving to camp we immediately started in on activities, forming groups and getting down our group chants and song along with dance or whatever it is you would call it. Now keep in mind everything is in spanish. Saturday we heard two lessons by two pastors at the churches here. One was in the morning and the other in the afternoon. We were fed so good by some amazing ladies from the church who are delightfully amazing cooks, i mean to cook that well for nearly 100 people (includes counselors, pastors and others). We played some crazy games, which can only truly be described in person. Oh ok a small taste of one game, which i was blessed by the Lord with an allergy to watermelon rendering me exempt.

Brief description: Two teams pitted against one another, Line up in single file with half a watermelon lying on the ground at the front of the line. the person in the back of the line crawls underneath their teammate's legs to the front of the line then taking a bite out of the melon and eating. They then must immediately stand at the front of the line while the line shifts backward, as not to crowd the melon, and spread their legs so the next teammate can pass through. first team with the watermelon completely eaten, WINS! Oh yes! it was a nasty good time!

We did get about an hour and a half free time between games, activities, conference, and stuff in which we all went swinging in the pool. This was a blast. Then off to dinner for some of that super delectable and delicious cookin i previously mentioned. Fried chicken, with rice, salad, tortillas and yummyness. Then we all met for the evening concert put on by some of the counselors and in the middle of the concert it began to rain, you know the typical tropical type rain that Honduras has right now, were the rain drops are like water balloons and the thunder like giant falling pots and pans. Well tents had been set up as sleeping quarters, however the majority of them had issues with water leaking or rather flooding due to the severity of the rain. So we took a break to retrieve (in the rain) our things and bunk up in the dormitories. Then back up the mountainous stairs (oh yeah the camp was at the bottom of a small mountain) so Seth and I could share our testimonies followed again by more music (: A quick snack time before going off to bed which was a sweet and aromatic cup of Honduran coffee along with some sort of sweetened roll. On my walk down from the conference/concert hall a young girl shared her testimony with me, which is something she said she hadn't really done before. she told me that she could really relate to a portion of my testimony. After snack it was off to bed.

Sunday morning we awoke to the sound of the familiar whistle blowing at about 5a. We all got ready, put on our "dirty cloths" and went for an insane hike up the mountain, which was muddy and slippery and tremendous amounts of fun. At the top we sat among coffee bean plants and jagged grey rocks where we memorized a verse and spent some time in the word with a devotional. Then sang a few songs acapella in spanish and began the treacherous trek back down the trail. Some of us mud skied with our shoes others trotted like mountain goats and the majority of us slipped and slided on our backsides. Then one last conference with Carlos Montoya who is very insightful in God's word as well as entertaining. Breakfast time in the mess hall or um hut . . yeah hut sounds more accurate . . followed by games at the pool. A simple one to start and a much more difficult one to finish. Hand fulls of Honduran change was thrown in the pool and teams had to dive and collect a certain amount of money in an allotted amount of time. Several rounds of this where played, with me being the most desired member of my team to be diving for the change. this all started because i could nearly swim the length of the pool underwater twice, so i was the apparent choice for this game. I was exhausted by games end. Then free time again in the pool and lunch was shortly served there after. That pretty much concluded camp, so with full bellies we packed up, announced the boy and girl team winners for the weekend, crammed back into the bus, arrived at the church and the rest is history. Amazing amazing history!

Under, in and with His love

Andruw M