Camp Commitment II

After a week of recovery from all of the events I finally have time to write about camp.  And what an amazing camp it was!  I just hope I can remember all the details. :-)

This is the third year that Bible Baptist Church has done it's own camp.  This year we were hosted by Bibleway Camp, close to Mt. Baker.  The facilities were beautiful!  A lovely lodge for the ladies, a beautiful chapel and a quaint little pond with Mt. Baker in the background were just a few of the delights. 

This year I was asked to be a counselor over the Junior Girls (ages 9-12) and we had a blast!  Monday started off with arrival at camp.  We were given plenty of time to settle in then explore the grounds.  They were quite extensive so it was fun to see what was "over the hill and through the woods". :-)  After a game of softball we enjoyed a delicious dinner provided by the camp hosts.  The evening message was great.  He asked the question "Where Are You?" forcing each of us to examine ourselves in our walk with the Lord.  I was really blessed to see how the Lord was already working in hearts due to the tenderness in the campers. (The week's preaching was brought by Bro. Chris Gable.)

Tuesday was jam-packed full of activities from Capture the Flag, Cabin Games, and Relay Races.  Whew!  I got tired just watching the kids! :-p  The day started off with a Mountain Run....and I do mean MOUNTAIN!  At 7 am we all met at the bottom of the trail.....the trail that constantly went up!  It WAS a race...but I wasn't racing. lol  Christopher got first place out of all the campers with a fast 6 minutes and something seconds.  YAY!  Go team Honest! (I have to say that I was a ban-wagon team mate.  I had campers on both teams so I always cheered for the winning team.  Hey! Wouldn't you do the same?? hehe )

Wednesday was our second full day at camp.  After grabbing a hot Caramel Machiatto (graciously made available by the camp host) I took my campers off to chapel.  The Question for this morning message was "What's stopping you?"  The answer could be....Partial Commitment!  Great message!  After lunch we played more Cabin Games (which involved things such as Target Shooting, Ping Pong, Volleyball, Bolo Ball, and others) and had a pie eating contest.  In order to encourage my girls to get involved, I did participate in this contest.  To my shame, I came in second!

The Wednesday evening service was perhaps the most memorable.  The Question was "What's Your Problem?"  Bro. Gable brought out in the message that if you aren't saved it's not God's problem, it's yours.  Immediately, when the invitation started, campers were flocking to the altar.  I couldn't hold back the tears as I saw young people being taken out to be dealt with.  Even after the first three, I knew it wasn't over!  We dismissed and started to head back to our cabins and the Lord was STILL working!  That night, we had a total of 9 campers get saved!  Praise the Lord!  It was so obvious that the Lord was working, and it was by nothing we had done. One of the most encouraging things was to see campers standing all around in groups praying for those being dealt with. By about 10:30 we concluded that we should have another service.  It was during this service that a camper tugged on my arm and asked to talk to me.  She too accepted Christ!  Never have I seen the Lord work in such a wonderful way!  It was a major faith builder and I look forward to seeing how the Lord continues to change lives.  By 11:30 we officially headed to bed....well the campers....we counselors still had to tally up scores from the week's competitions....however, the scores didn't seem to matter anymore.  In fact, no one had even touched the campfire that had been started during the first service.  Everyone had a diffferent focus.

On Thursday morning we were all wiped out from the evening before, but very much alive by what the Lord had done!  Mr. K got up to announce the winning team....and no one even cheered.  A stark contrast from the last two years!  After announcing the scores, he said "and the winner is....the Lord."  Everyone said "AMEN!"

Praise the Lord for His mighty hand working in so many lives that week!  Please pray for these nine souls.  We have established a discipleship program for them, and it is my prayer that they will go on to do great things for the Lord!  All in all, Camp Commitment II was the best camp I have ever been to!

Camp Counselors

My girls checking out their reflections in the pond

All the Senior Campers

Linnea and I

My girls with spoons hanging off their noses....part of the picture scavenger hunt.

Me and my girls

All the girls

"I Can't Believe We Fit In Here!"

Silly Picture

Christopher and I

Student Sues Over Religion

While reading on foxnews.com I came across this article telling of a Georgia grad. Student who is suing her University.  Why is she doing this?  Jennifer Keeton, a christian, stands very strongly on her views against homosexuality.  She makes her views well known not only outside but inside the class room as well.  Keeton has been pursuing a Masters degree in school counseling and has now been told that she will be dismissed due to her discriminatory views unless she changes what she believes. 

Keeton says that she believes that sexual behavior is the "result of accountable personal choice rather than inevitability deriving from deterministic forces". 

My question is: how can a University force a student to change their beliefs on the grounds of dismissal?!?  ( For more on this story, click link below.)
Student Sues Over Religion

Ferries, Hay and Lavender

The title of this blog pretty much sums up the week.  It was full of excitment and adventure!!!  Let's start with Monday....

Anna and I have been planning for some time to make a visit to Pelindaba Lavender Farm in Friday Harbor.  We both have Mondays off so we figured that July 5 would be the best time to go; we didn't have to work and the lavender would be in full bloom.  Somehow...it slipped my mind that the busiest weekend for the ferries is 4th of July weekend.  I should know that since last year on July 3rd I spent several hours in the ferry lane.  Anywho, I guess I was thinking that since it was the day AFTER it wouldn't be so busy.  But it seems that it was considered a holiday.  Well, I am jumping ahead of myself.  The day started out wonderfully!  A little early....but great!  We (Deborah, Nicki, Anna and I) arrived in Friday Harbor and headed straight for Pelindaba. (Linnea was meeting us there an hour later)  Everything was just beautiful!  A lot of the lavender was at it's peak and it was really neat to see all of the different varieties.  I came away with some lovely pictures, videos of "lavender frolicking" and a small bottle of lavender hydrosol. (A life saver!)

So after Pelindaba we met up with Linnea at Downriggers for some good lunch.  I definitely branched out and tried some fish, which I was sorely dissapointed with the lack of flavor.  Oh well...I'll just get something different next time.  Next came some shopping.  Serindipity, the used book store was a must!  We found some good buys in there then perused some other little shops.  We planned to take the 4:40 ferry and decided to park the car at the ferry landing at 3 just in case.  As we entered the lanes we were handed a reservation card for the 10:00 ferry which would get us home at 12!!! That was the next available boat!  So through Linnea's ferry expertise we hopped on a ferry to Shaw hoping to catch a sooner boat from there to Anacortes.  Well....we arrived on Shaw only to see the insanely long line.  People had been waiting in line since noon for the 8:00 ferry!!  We thought we might not even make it back that night!  However, the Lord worked and we were able to make it home on Monday night instead of Tuesday morning.  What a day!  I think we made it back around 1 in the morning!  Made the week pretty exhausting but it was definitely an adventure. :-)

Deborah and I at Down Riggers

The hat tradition at King's Market

Playing a game of Sorry Card Revenge in the car.

So the next few days were spent just the normal everyday life.  I went to work, made cullotes, did piano lessons, etc.  Thursday brought on a whole new adventure!  Anna, Joel and I were asked to go out to Shaw to help bring the hay in. YAY!  I was most excited!  Anna and I stayed at the Holly Farm so we could get an early start on Thursday morning....the 7 am ferry!   So just as we were about to head out, I was going to put my stuff in Anna's car and I accidently locked the keys in the car!  AHHH!!! So we sent Joel on ahead...there was no way we could make the ferry.  So we drove to her house to get the extra key, grabbed some coffee, and went back to the farm to watch a movie and wait for the next ferry.  By the time we made it out to Shaw it was 11.  But after eating some lunch we were able to just jump right in there!  Again, this year I was barn crew.   As exhausting and miserable as hay is in the moment, there is a certain bonding experience within.  I always look back on it with fond memories.  After a loong day of doing hay we were ready to hit the sack.  It was pretty warm so we three girls chose to sleep on the trampoline, which meant driving down to Gratzer house to pick it up....After much deliberation after arriving at the trampoline we realized that it would not fit through the gate. DUH! But instead of wasting the trip we took advantage of the trip and made a jumping party out of it!   the party included Linnea, Anna, Myself, Levi and Joel G.  We then headed down to the dock and realized that the water was FULL of little phosphorescent (sp) creatures!  They literally look like stars in the water that move when you disturb them!  It was very fun to move our hands in the water to make it glow.  We threw in giant rocks and it looks like fireworks!!  Amazing!!  The night finished off with a walk to Picnic Point in the dark...scary!  Yet beautiful!  The sky was so clear!  Sparklies above and below! LOL

So the plan was to harvest lavender this coming Thursday and Friday after camp, however the lavender decided it didn't want to wait so that was on the agenda for Friday.  It was very tiresome especially after being so sore from hay....but I put it in the same category as hay.  It's a fun experience that I think everyone should have the chance to do.  Well, I have barely scaratched the surface of the week, yet it's a book!  Headed to camp tomorrow, so I'll update you on that when I get back.

Bringing in a load of hay

Part of the lavender field that we harvest

Anna harvesting lavender

The van FULL of lavender!!!

New Lavender hanging in the shop.