Well, my name is Andres Chinchilla Araya, I am going to tell you about my experience at Camp Brittney. As a camp participant I learned many things the first week. One of the things I learned was that if I did not have Christ in my heart I was going to perish and have an eternity of pain. Another thing I learned was that I must first have Jesus Christ in my heart so that everything I do will have a positive result.
In fact I am thankful to God and to those that invited me, because if it had not been for their invitation, I would not have had this opportunity to receive Christ as my only Lord and Savior. It was a very beautiful experience. Now as part of the team, it is very special to assist in God’s work, to receive God’s power and to receive Christ as my only Lord and personal Savoir. I hope to repeat this experience by being a part of the team.
My life before coming to the Camp Brittney I was a person who was not interested in the lives of my dearest friends lease of all mine. I was gone from my house at 10 am and returned at 3:30 am after 3 days was going to me to take with my supposed friends. Thanks to my “friendships” many times I had to sleep in the street because they threw me of my house and thanks to my true friends who told me about Camp Brittney and helped me to reflect and to go y the correct way. Rev. 3:8
My name in Karen and I am 17 years old. At the age of 12, I began to consume all kinds of drugs due to the abuse I received in my house. As a result of the abuse, I began to experiment with different things that damaged my body every day and I did not like to be in contact with anyone. I hung around with people like myself. I did not have a relationship with my family and I began to think of myself as trash, not worth anything. I tried to kill myself several times. I was admitted to the Hospital San Juan de Dios and soon after ran away. Unfortunately, I returned in a month and was admitted to a psychiatric unit and I ran away from there as well. I then had many problems with my family. So I left and went to Jaco, a beach in Costa Rica.
There I spent 2 months as people say in prostitution, but then I decided to return home. When I returned home, people were pointing at me and saying: “there goes so-so. All of this was very difficult. Whenever I spoke about anyone my mother would ask me, and you, what are you? I did not want to know anything else and I began to drink every day. For this reason I began to have many problems and often found myself in a detention cell. The second time I was placed in the detention cell for drinking. While there I called my brother who spoke to me about Camp Brittney. This is where I am now trying to do better every day. The first day was very difficult because I missed drinking alcohol. That day I spoke with Nany, my counselor, and she made me understand how bad off I was. The day that I accepted God in my life I felt like someone had struck me but it was an unforgettable experience. Sincerely I feel very happy here, so much I want to give my life to God and help my friends who are leading terrible lives. I would be the happiest woman in the world if I would be able to see them experience what I have experienced in this place. I would like them to know that what we were involved in was evil. I would like them to feel as free as I now feel. A person that no one or anything is going to knock down again because I have God on my side.
For this reason I am going to be praying for all those that like me are sinking in that dark lake so that they can be released with the aid of God. But a very important step was that I could forgive all those that humiliated and that despised me; even my mother who was ashamed of me. That is the reason I thank God for allowing me to have the opportunity to organize my life and to spend one wonderful week at Camp Brittney with so many people who want to help me. Thank you Lord!
