N x W

New for us this year was having our sister camp - Redberry Bible Camp - join us for most of our spring training week.  Redberry is located about an hour north of Saskatoon and about seven hours from Evergreen.  It was a lot of fun playing, worshiping and learning together.  We spent about a third of our time together and it was great sharing new ideas.

The GPS coordinates to get you not only to Camp Evergreen but more specifically the front porch of Moose Junction are N51`40'49" by W114`37'31".  Moose Junction is our General Store and if you haven't been inside - you should put that on the bucket list.  We're always very excited when our new clothing arrives.  A big thanks to Rolf for getting up early this morning to go pick up the pallet piled high with boxes!  (I wish I had a picture because he brought them to the store with the Skidsteer.)  We also got a brand new hanger organizer for those clothes.  I was "reaching" for a way to tie the organizer to Reaching Higher - but I'll admit I was stumped!

The staff are very excited about the red plaid shirts.  Our camper T-shirts have arrived as well and if you haven't heard, each of our summer campers will get a T-shirt this year.  It's a good thing we bought a lot of T-shirts because we reached a milestone today.  854 campers are currently registered for summer camp.  Why is that a milestone?  Our total number of summer campers for last year was 854!  If we add our family camp numbers we are currently about 975.  How cool is that!  (very cool)

Are we ready for summer?  Not quite.  We would really like six more (18+) male cabin leaders.  One would think that out of an Alberta population of 4 million people, and let's say half are guys, we should be able to find six solid men!  If you can't give us the entire summer consider a week or two.

A big thanks to our friends Bob and David for delivering our Gator back this week.  A group from Lendrum church not only donated the cost of a new engine, but installed it as well.  Our program staff started using it the day it arrived.

I was blessed to have several very (very) encouraging conversations with seasonal staff today which reminded me again why we are here and why we do what we do.  It's been a very busy couple of weeks for me and if you were to see my desk you would think either I'm very busy or very messy.  (It's most likely a bit of both - just ask Bev about my side of the bed.)  It was very uplifting for me to pause in the middle of my  "to do" list and just listen to my staff.  The conversations were deep and meaningful.  They shared different, and yet similar stories about how camp is changing their lives.  As we continue to reach higher, I'm very (very) excited about all the ministry that we can be part of!

Thanks for your continued support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker

Reaching Higher Times Three

Reaching Higher pulled us three ways this week.  First - Last weekend Camp Evergreen hosted the directors from seven of our eleven Canadian MB Camps.  Camps from B.C. (Camp Likely and Gardom Lake Bible Camp), Alberta (Camp Evergreen), Saskatchewan (Redberry Bible Camp and West Bank Bible Camp), Manitoba (Simonhouse Bible Camp), and Ontario (Camp Crossroads) joined us for two days.  Three more camps from B.C. (Stillwood Camp and Conference Centre - Camp Bob - Pines Bible Camp) and our Quebec camp (Camp Peniel) were dearly missed.  How many of you knew we even had eleven camps?

Ron Toews the Canadian Interim Executive Director led us as we shared together, encouraged each other and prayed for each other.  Paul Loewen our own Alberta Conference Pastor shared Sunday morning about the call we have as camps and how powerful camps and churches can be for God's Kingdom as we work together.  It was a good reminder that we are not alone and that we need each other.

 

Second - As a permanent staff we were blessed with the opportunity to join 200 other camp staff from across Canada at the Christian Camping International Canada conference in Banff.  The conference ran from Monday night until Thursday morning.  For me personally it seemed that some of the things we talked about as MB camp directors on the weekend were hammered home.  Am I praying enough for our camp?  Am I leading camp from my own strength?  Most days my "to do" list is long and I'm anxious to get going.  I need to take the time to hear from God each morning.  The theme verse was Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,”.  It was a good reminder that we serve a great God as we continue to move forward as a camp. 

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Third - In spite of super cold temperatures, our house build continued to progress this week.  One morning we woke up to -36!  The exterior and interior walls are up and we will start with the trusses next week.  Remember my quote from last blog?  "There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer."  Walt Loewen stayed through the whole week in spite of the cold!  The guys even had to leave the Zoom Boom running all night to ensure they could use it the next morning.  Looks like we have a good volunteer group lined up again next week.

 

 

Thanks for your continued support as we work together to see lives transformed by the power of Jesus!

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker

Executive Director