Ghost Camp

The Fall retreat season is quite a change of pace from Summer.  We go from having campers 7 days a week, to 3 days a week.  Over the summer a day off is a misnomer, it’s really about half a day off.  Now in the retreat season we get a full day off on Mondays.  In these down times I find myself walking around camp and thinking of the summer.  I can almost see camp humming along around me, even when no one is here.  I see campers playing horseshoes, buses pulling around to drop kids off, and benches where I was able to have sweet conversations with campers.

It reminds me that the summer is the focus around here.  Programers are already working on all the events and activities of the summer, leadership is preparing to staff the camp with an army of volunteers that will work here for a week or even the whole summer like many of the college aged summer staff.  Most importantly the staff and many supporters are praying that God will provide the workers that will proclaim His Gospel next summer.

You also might have heard we had a fire this week.  There was a small fire in one of the bathrooms in the cabin I clean.  God came through as the fire never really got started because there was a fire retardant spray that was used throughout the cabin.  We were able to put it out and quickly clean and remodel the area so it was ready for retreats about 48 hours after it started.  Almost every family was represented in the cleanup and repair.  There are a lot of things to be thankful for, but thank God especially for safety and for providing the workers to clean and fix everything so quickly.

It’s getting cold up here and I’ve been replacing the screens in the trailer with another layer of glass to keep my trailer a little warmer.  Retreats are getting colder too, and you can tell because the coffee mugs are flooding in during snacks and at every meal.  We’re happy to welcome retreats for the rest of the month.  It was quite an exciting week here at Camp Barakel, thanks for following!