Halfway Point

Summer camp continues to move forward and we have now just crossed the halfway point.  Here are a few numbers for you.

23,400 - plates of food will be served from our kitchen this summer
1,163   - total number of children and family campers registered to date
267      - significant faith decisions/spiritual growth we have seen through  
               the first four weeks
111      - Bibles given out to campers
90        - more summer campers than last year
66        - volunteers have joined us through the first five weeks
47        - seasonal and permanent staff
2          - number of hospital runs so far this summer

As with every summer we are not immune to challenges and stress.  As I write this blog we are wrestling with our lodge hot water system (again).  We disconnected a sensor and are hoping and praying it will now last till the end of summer!  It seems that every day we work with challenging situations.  However, at the same time campers are learning skills, meeting new friends and experiencing the life transforming Gospel in chapel and in their cabins.  One of our goals is to make sure our campers week at Evergreen is the best week of their summer.  For the vast majority of campers we accomplish that goal.

 Here are a few thoughts from our campers.

"I'm going to take my Bible everywhere.  I'm going to take it to church, I'm going to take it to the swimming pool..." - from a camper who received a Bible

"By showing people love, you can be like Christ to them"

"I learned not to dwell on my past or my mistakes, but to move on and rely on God"

After all these years in summer camp ministry its still exciting to see God at work each summer.

I mentioned in last weeks blog that there was some progress on the two staff homes.  It's been a while since I could post about progress so I'm excited to update you where we're at.  We were waiting for the homes to settle their downward trend and we believe they have hit rock (clay) bottom!  Jacques and David started boarding the homes Wednesday morning and finished both homes well before lunch on Saturday.  It was obvious that they have worked with a lot of drywall.

Kevin, Kurt and a couple of their guys worked two very (very) long days getting the garages ready for concrete and finishing up the grading around the homes.  Both garages are now ready for concrete and Kurt needs one more day to finish preparing the basement stairwells.  We're hoping to see concrete sooner than later!

It's exciting to see progress and the homes have a new feel with the interior walls now having drywall.  We're looking forward to seeing more movement in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks again for your continuing support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director