My name is Camille Hadlock. I was born on August 25, 1949,
in Long Beach, California, USA. I am considered part of the “baby
boomer” post WW II generation.
My parents were born-again Christians, and I was carried to church
from the time I was a baby. As I grew, I loved to go to church and
joined in all the activities offered. I sang in the children’s
and youth choir, enjoyed the active youth group and went to camp each summer
in the high Sierras. It was at camp that the Lord showed me my sinful
nature and need for a Savior. I was nine years old when the camp speaker
invited those who wanted to receive Christ to come forward. I went
very willingly and gave my life to Christ. When I met my parents after
the camp, my first words were, “I got saved!”
Throughout my youth I was active in Christian ministry even at the
secular high school I attended. I had many opportunities to attend seminars
and conferences where I was taught scriptural truth and how it should
apply to my life. I had good Christina friends and a good youth group
to keep me accountable as a Christian.
I attended George Fox College in Oregon, but I didn’t have much direction,
and found college life very exciting socially. I met my husband, Bob,
there, and we married after I had completed two years of college. After
a few temporary jobs we received a call asking if we would work with Youth
for Christ (YFC)/Campus Life in Yakima, Washington. We told them that
we weren’t sure if we were qualified, but would be glad to go there
and meet with them. They received us as we were, young and immature,
and they said that we would receive training after we came. I was eight
months pregnant by then, and our first daughter, Tracy, was born a month after
we moved there.
We spent four years working with YFC/Campus Life doing weekly clubs
for teenagers in several different schools in the Yakima Valley. During
that time, we grew spiritually and in maturity. Two more daughters,
Carrie and Jodi, were born to us during our time there. The Lord led
us to Grants Pass, Oregon, next, where we began YFC/Campus Life ministry in
the high schools there and our fourth daughter, Heather, was born. After
only two years a call came from Walla Walla, Washington, asking my husband
to fill a position in a church as youth pastor. From there the Lord
took us back to Grants Pass for another 10 years. Altogether, we served
YFC for 18 years.
In 1984 some friends of ours went on a summer missions trip with
Teen Missions to Mexico. They came back and talked about their experiences
for months, and we were interested enough to attend a leader seminar to see
what we thought about it ourselves. I was impressed by the spiritual
principles they were teaching, and the emphasis on prayer and faith and spiritual
disciplines. We had an interview with the staff members who taught the
seminar and we agreed to try it the next summer. We could take a sabbatical
leave of absence for the summer months. We decided to make it a family
affair, and our four daughters began to get excited when we shared the plans
with them. The older two were old enough to go as team members. So
they chose the places they wanted to go, and we waited for Teen Missions to
tell us where they wanted us to go as leaders. We would take the younger
two girls with us as leader’s kids. That was another thing we
like—it was family oriented.
We were asked to go to Norway on an evangelistic bike team. We didn’t
see how this could be a “real” mission trip, but we agreed and
went to the Lord’s Boot Camp in Merritt Island, Florida. There
were many “first” during that Boot Camp and on our different teams,
and it was a bit overwhelming, but we saw the power of God change lives and
do incredible things in answer to prayer. We also shared our experiences
with others when we returned home, though we weren’t sure we would do
another trip. Teen Missions sent us an invitation to lead another team
and we prayed about it seriously, because we believed in so many aspects of
the ministry. The Boot Camp was absolutely necessary for training and
experiencing culture shock before taking the teams of teenagers overseas. The
length of participation time was also a benefit. Several weeks were
necessary for changing bad habits and implementing good ones. Daily
quiet times with God and memorizing scriptures each day were also life-changing
practices. We led a team to Kenya that next summer, going without salary
for the months we were away. It was well worth it. We were drawn
very definitely to the continent of Africa.
In subsequent years we led teams to Tanzania, Malawi, and Uganda feeling very
much “at home” in the African culture. We also led team to
Guatemala, the Philippines, Nepal, Austria, and to several countries in Europe
with a choir team. Each team was unique and precious, and each country and
missionary were very special. Uganda was where the Lord seemed to be directing
specifically, and in 1992 I helped establish the Overseas Boot Camp(OBC)
there, and have continued up to now. It has flourished through the
years, and well over 10,000 Ugandan teens have participated on teams.
In early 1988 the Lord impressed on my heart that we should join
Teen Missions staff on a full-time basis. Shortly after, Bob had the
same impression. The Lord led us to go through First Step, the potential
staff training. After raising support we moved to Merritt Island, Florida,
and began working at the headquarters. Each summer we led teams.
In 1995, my husband, Bob, died suddenly while we were in the country of Nepal
with a Teen Missions summer team. It was a traumatic experience to go through,
and the Lord was very comforting and helped me to go on. Because I was
called to the ministry individually, as was my husband, I had no thoughts of
quitting. Since that year, my life has been a roller-coaster of losses
as well as encouragement from the Lord, and the direction he showed me in 2002
was to go to Uganda full-time to coordinate the Teen Missions BIBLE, MISSIONARY & WORK Training Center that had begun in 1999.
I am extremely blessed with the family God has given me. Tracy, and
Dwight Hensler, are missionaries with Wycliffe SIL in Tanzania, East Africa. Their
son, Andrew, was born in 2003. Carrie and Thomas Davis and daughter
Hannah Beth are missionaries with Frontiers, serving the Lord in a Muslim
country. Jodi went to be with the Lord on January 1, 2001. Her
husband, William, works for NASA. Heather served with Infinity Sports,
going to countries with sports teams and the Gospel.
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