12 Hours to Launch
Tomorrow at 10:10, I (Ryan) am scheduled to hop on a plane, fly to Vancouver, BC, and then on to Smithers, BC. There one of my Rock Nest teammates will pick me up, and by evening I will be at Rock Nest Ranch. At least, that is the expectation!
As you may remember from last year, crossing the border is not always a certain thing. Please pray that there are no “fireworks” or “wildcards” to manage as I cross the border into Canada. I’d love to be waved through with little or no challenge at all.
When I previously wrote, I indicated that I would likely be serving as the Work Crew Leader. But we have continued to be short-staffed. And, in fact, we are now shorter-staffed than we were expecting a month ago. One young man who was planning to come serve as a cabin leader let us know that he is now unable to come at all. The result is that I may be called out of retirement as a cabin leader for Teen Camp! As I’ve mentioned to several people, being a cabin leader is a young person’s game, and well, I’m not getting any younger. So I’ll be trusting the Lord to provide the energy needed if that does end up being my role.
31 Day Gospel Devotional Resource
In my previous prayer letter, I asked for prayer as I was putting together a devotional resource. I am so thankful to say that project was able to be completed. In anticipation of filling the role as Work Crew Leader, I put together a devotional resource to use with that team. Originally the idea was small, but it snowballed and turned into a book that is aimed at helping folks examine and know the nuts and bolts of the gospel, particularly it is described in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, which says,
“Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your standand by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
Each of the 31 days has a passage of scripture, a reflection on the text written by me, a handful of prompts for reflection and response, and then some prayer prompts, as well. It’s actually available on Amazon, and you can find it here if you’re interested.
Because I may not be leading the Work Crew, I am not certain whether it will get used as the devotional curriculum, but I will have a copy of the book to give to everyone who comes to camp as a worker, either way. My prayer is that it is helpful, even for a few people. I have hopes to use it at camp this summer, and then also for it to be a resource I can use in my ministry at Evergreen Bible Church.
Donovan & RNR Prayer Letters
Now that camp is drawing near, I expect that I will be writing prayer letters more frequently, to keep you all in the loop for how you can be praying for us and for the ministry at Rock Nest. Additionally, we will seek to send letters from the Rock Nest account with prayer needs for the camp. You can receive the Rock Nest prayer letters by signing up here.
(Pic above from a family bike ride earlier this month on the Banks-Vernonia Trail.)
Prayer Needs
- Pray that there are no complications in the effort to cross the border on Tuesday.
- Pray for our family, as we will be separated from one another for about 3 weeks. We’re thankful that we can communicate by phone, text, and facetime, but we much prefer to be together rather than apart.
- Pray for the me, Daniel & Geneva Koster, and Vance Christophersen, as we work to prepare camp and finalize our plan for training the staff before they all arrive the evening of June 24.
Conclusion
Thank you for praying for us! All year has led up to this point. We are hopeful that campers will hear and respond to the good news that Jesus loves them, and that staff will have great opportunities for discipleship.
Ryan and Leanne Donovan
