From the Jr. Mentors

“Aloha! This is my 8th year attending Camp Agape and my last year as a Junior Mentor. What camp has done for me is given me a reason to continue to stick close to God and just be in His word. Camp Agape has taught me many things other than the five main themes at camp, which is love, forgiveness, trust, hope, and prayer. It has taught me how to be responsible. And how to be committed in what I do, how to do devos and seek God always.

Currently, I attend New Hope O’ahu and I serve in the multimedia team- filming the services. Also, I am now a senior in high school but am attending Leeward Community College as a full time student in an early college program. I will be advancing my career pathway in Auto Mechanics. Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you.”

• Nic Bartolome

“Aloha, I’ve been a junior mentor for 2 years now. The first time I went to camp I was really shy, and somewhat scared because I didn’t know how to act and how people would treat me. I saw how rebellious these children were and how some didn’t like to cooperate with the leaders. But once you really grasp the reason behind their behavior it’s really tragic. Most of the children come to the camp broken with unhealthy backgrounds and guidance. But another very important thing that I saw at Camp was God’s unconditional love. Like it says in John 3:16, also our camp motto, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son, and whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I saw that there, the love that all the leaders and aunties and uncles would pour out onto the kids. And I can just see the way their lives are transformed by the end of the camp, they’re so full of joy and hope, and they just emit this light, and you can see it on their faces. You can see God in them. One of the most touching things that the kids show us during camp is when we share our devotions. We teach the kids how to do devotions and how to pray to strengthen their relationships with god, and to increase their faith, and every time they come to camp you can just see how much they’ve grown every time we do devotions, including myself- I’m still learning but I can see how much I’ve grown. Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you.”

• Anela

“Aloha! This is my 9th year attending Camp Agape. I was 6 years old when I first attended Camp. Camp Agape has given me opportunities to be able to go out and minister his word through dance and my testimony. Camp Agape has taught me many things. I got to learn about what Love, Trust, Hope and Forgiveness is about. It has taught me how to be responsible and make my own decisions on what I would like to do in my life. Currently, I attend New Hope O’ahu and I serve in the multimedia team. I also love to do photography, dance and I attend a high school on Oahu. I will be advancing my career pathway in Graphic Designing. I know that God will go before me wherever I decide to go. He is always with me and for that I will always praise and thank Him. Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you.”

• Deidre-Ana Maluyo-Gilman
  
  Volunteers from Moanalua Gardens Missionary Church

“Camp Agape has been great! You experience God’s love for His children of incarcerated parents. Pastor Roy is an inspiration. One of my greatest pleasures is being able to pray destiny over so many kids. There are a lot of tears and heartache, but God’s love shines through. Every teacher or anyone who works with kids needs to go to Camp Agape. It gives you a deeper understanding and love for each child because we never know the hurt or challenge a child might be going through. One of my greatest memories was seeing the impact of my then high school daughter on a seven-year-old girl whose dad is serving a life sentence. They cried as they said their goodbyes at the bus. As I watched from a distance, I saw the grandmother of this little girl rush over to the buses to check on her granddaughter.
Later she told me that her granddaughter did not want to let her new big sister go. My daughter and I prayed, shared and cried all the way home. I don’t know if she ever saw that shy little girl again, but her impact is eternal. It brings tears of joy to my eyes. Camp agape has changed our lives as mentors and leaders as we learn to love like Jesus!”

– DOE Teacher

“I got to witness broken children become whole from the love of God. Seeing those kids learn how to worship and read God’s word was what made camp an even more amazing experience. These became values that the children a.k.a. ‘angels’ keep with them for the rest of their lives.”

– Anthony, UH Student

“Seeing all these kids broken and angry on the first day and seeing the transformation of their hearts within 4 days is something only God can do! The last day is always the most joyful day because so many of the kids go home with a new relationship with their Heavenly Father. One of the biggest things that I learned from Camp Agape is the importance of being intentional. This has helped me so much with reaching out to others, but even more with my future aspirations on being a teacher. You never know where someone is with his or her circumstances. But as you intentionally show unconditional love and support, God will open many doors for them to flourish.”

– Cody, UH Student

“One thing that stuck out to me was the extent that New Hope put out to make these kids feel loved. There was an endless supply of snacks for them. Free bags, free water bottles, and for some lucky winners, free surfboards. The amount of prep they did just to make these kids feel special was amazing. At the end of the weekend you could see that the kids had totally changed, and it was all because of love. It impacted my life ‘cause it was real proof of how powerful love is, and this was from total strangers.”

– Nate, UH Student