Monday, January 31, 2011

Old Boots

The snow keeps coming a little bit at a time, but it has been adding up.  For the most part I've mentioned that our work is indoors at Crosscut over the last couple weeks, but with all of that work we've been neglecting the fire wood around camp.  So this week we spent a lot of time splitting wood, then moving it where it's needed, like the West Side Dining Hall and the East Side Chapel.  We also cut a lot of wood down in the woods, and with all this snow that means I need my heavy duty boots.
I've had these boots for something like 12 years.  I think my dad bought them for me one winter when I was in 8th grade.  These boots have been with me through all kinds of sledding, snowshoeing, and now woodcutting.  I'm baffled that any kind of shoes could last this long for me.  Most of my shoes are destroyed within a year.  These boots keep me warm and help me to ignore the deep snow while we fill my truck to the brim with fire wood.  I know it's kind of weird to talk so much about an old pair of boots, but I do thank God for a good pair of old boots.

Retreats keep going along strong.  This week I wasn't scheduled for the tubing hill at all, opening me up to play the boxdrum in chapel a couple times.  After another full weekend of hockey and dishes I woke up on Monday morning with frozen pipes in the trailer.  I couldn't find anything obviously out of place, but we definitely didn't have any water coming through.  Hopefully we'll figure out what's going on in the next couple days.

We're through with 4 weekend retreats and we'll see the first ever Father/Daughter Winter retreat this coming weekend.  Other than that, I just keep busy almost every night, but I'm still missing some of my friends from Battle Creek, and Summer Camp. 

Monday, January 24, 2011

Snow and Work

It snowed!  A lot.  So much that they cancelled school in Fairview, and we had plenty for our tubing hill.  This weekend was our last Father/Son retreat and many of our guests on both sides of the lake were familiar faces from over the summer.  They were able to enjoy the most snow of all the retreats this year, and also the coldest temperatures.  I don't look at a thermometer very often, but when I'm getting cold while playing hockey I know it's in the negatives.  This weekend I was even able to play some broomball with one of the Father/Son teams.

Before the weekend came we were able to accomplish a lot on Crosscut Lodge.  Dan Haines has been down there working on the tile for weeks now, but this week he had company.  Mike Alchin has been installing lights and fans throughout the lodge, and Mike Baker has been setting up the bathroom partitions.  I've been able to help out a little with all three of them, but most of my work this week was with the partitions.  While the Mike's plowed the snow all over camp, I unboxed and sorted all the materials for the bathroom partitions.  By Friday we we were well into the shower stalls for our first bathroom unit.

Throughout this work I've picked up a cold/fever sort of thing that really jumped me Sunday night, and most of Monday.  I'm praying that the symptoms would fade, and I wouldn't miss any work for it, especially on the upcoming weekend.  More importantly I pray for the work that we've been doing here on the weekends.  I enjoyed going early to a chapel service on the East Side and listening to the musicians play.  From the balcony I can get a good look at what the weekends are all about as fathers and sons gather around fire places, preparing to hear from God's word.
So here comes another week.  Time continues to fly by during this busy Winter season.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Snow Required

This week was a little bit different than normal for me and Mike Baker.  We've received very little snow and what we did get was really powdery, so we took the mission of trying to groom the tubing hill.  It's something that camp has tried before with some success, but at the cost of a lot of cold hours with the "Backyard Blizzard".  So Mike and I started out by just watering the hill to ice it up a little, then dragging snow from all over the valley to layer the snow.  We were thankful for help from 3 of the other folks on seasonal staff because moving snow can be pretty grueling stuff.  
Our efforts seemed to be helping firm up the snow, so we kept at it while considering more options.  We had decided the Backyard Blizzard should at least be tested, but that turned out to be its own adventure.  The cover of the machine has 7 easy steps for starting up, and it even says after the steps, "You're Making Snow!".  It turns out that after sitting for years the snow machine was frozen up pretty good, then we had issues with the hoses freezing.  We finally got it spraying a slurry of snowy/icy/watery stuff on Thursday evening.  Just then we tried to move it to where we needed the snow, and the connection for the water hose broke off.  It was pretty much the last straw for us.  We fiddled with it a little more, but couldn't get it to work very consistently.  So it turns out it doesn't make snow necessarily.
It's funny how we can spend a straight week coming up with all kinds of ideas to make snow and firm up the snow we already have, but then the weather changes and it so effortlessly drops from the sky.  Kind of a humbling experience as God dumped about 3 inches on us Friday night and the hill was successful all weekend.  So now I think I'll have a different perspective as I see the air full of thick and fluffy snow.  I also was able to spend some time down in Crosscut one afternoon.  We may have to rename the building "Dan's Hermitage" as our newest Full Time Staff has spent about 2 months straight down there. It's time well spent though, as he's doing a marvelous job laying tile in the bathrooms.
So I'm thankful for all the staff that we have here.  It makes it possible for us to get a lot of work done throughout the week at camp.  In other news I've been participating in a Bible study that Randy Harris has been hosting for some of the local teens.  I've enjoyed gathering, praying, and studying with these guys for 2 weeks, and I'm looking forward to this continuing throughout the season.  Camp saw another Teen Retreat and a Father/Son retreat pass through over the weekend, with Don Jackson and Tom Harmon preaching. 

Thanks for following!  Glory to God for all the work we've been able to do on camp and more importantly, with the campers.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Tis the Season

Tis the season for campers.  I've mentioned that I've been missing campers and it's been nice to see them at camp, especially kids.  It would be the first kids to camp since about September.  It's also the season for hockey.  My first impression of many of the staff kids here is on the ice.  It's right down the hill from my trailer, and we're able to play hockey all weekend and a couple times along the week.  We play a pretty simple version of hockey, but any of the kids that can skate end up down there for some fun and exercise.  I'm also taking part in a Bible study with some High Schoolers from Fairview.  Our first meeting was Sunday night, and I'm looking forward to studying the book of Job and getting to know some more local folks.
In other news the work continues throughout the week.  Our maintenance crew is laying tile in Crosscut Lodge and cutting up dead trees around camp.  We also had to tidy up our cabins before the campers came up on Friday.  I even saw a couple of the maintenance guys helping to make some Cheerio Treats in the dining hall Friday morning.
This weekend we welcomed a Father/Son retreat along with a Teen Retreat.  One of our speakers, Don Jackson, came up early to talk to the staff about the generation of teens that we minister to throughout the Winter.  One thing he mentioned was that camp had a lot of safe thrills, which is a good thing when we're inviting teens up every weekend all Winter.  The big news at camp was that we didn't have enough good snow for the tubing hill to open.  It could have been a disappointment, but instead we opened up Thunder Express and everyone that wanted to could swing over and get a snowy thrill. 

So camp is on again.  I'm back to the work I've been looking forward to and praying about.  Please pray with me as we trust God to bring the right kids to camp at the right time to make an impact on their lives. 

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Driving in the New Year

2010 saw a lot of adjustments in my life.  I've been committed to working at Camp Barakel as seasonal staff for a solid year now.  Over that time I've been part of insulating, paneling, shingling, fixing, cleaning, wood cutting, tubing, dish washing, counseling, programing, babysitting, driving, drumming just to list off a couple.  Now I'm looking forward to starting the cycle all over again with my commitment to another year of camp.

To celebrate the New Year I made it to my first Ultimate Frisbee tournament in quite a while.  The Grand Rapids indoor tournament is a blast whenever I've participated and this year was no exception.  I was able to hook up with some of my Michigan Tech friends and we made a team that did really well throughout the tournament.  What didn't do so well was my legs.  They haven't been beat down like this in a long time and they showed it in some bad cramps in my calves, quads, and hamstrings that spread out throughout the tournament.  By the end we'd won 3 of our 4 games, and we had a lot of fun along the way.

As soon as the tournament was over in Grand Rapids I blasted off for a New Years Eve party in Auburn Hills, north of Detroit.  We played a lot of games, watched a couple movies, ate a lot of food, stayed up late, and participated in a fantastic talent show.  As the party finished winding down on Saturday night, I drove out for Battle Creek so I could play drums at church on Sunday morning.  The miles keep piling up in my car.  After church I was able to help take Rob and Elizabeth's engagement photos.  (Side note:  Three of my best friends have been married or engaged.  To three Elizabeth's.  We'll have a McAdam's, Moody, and Murphy).  Here's an unauthorized sneak peak off my phone.
So another busy week, but now I'm pretty much in the clear to return to camp.  I'll be able to catch up with a couple more people in Battle Creek, but other than that it'll be pick up, pack up, peace out.  It's been a challenging year, but through the struggle I learn to depend on God to support me more.  Please pray for our campers over the next 10 weeks as they are presented with the Gospel and a good time.