A Fun Bunch

The pic above is from our last Work Crew gathering as a team. All week we worked together, met together, laughed together, prayed together, and made all sorts of good memories. Every night, at the end of our day, we would drive them all up the hill to the house where our family is living for a snack and a short little devotional time. It proved to be a highlight for everyone on the team, as we sat in a little circle and goofed off over pizza rolls or ice cream or brownies.

On the last night we played some Work Crew Charades, and then gave out goofy awards to each of the team members. The awards were all based on inside jokes and funny things we had done together, and everyone was very proud of their silly award. It was a recognition of a week spent together, enjoying each other and making some great memories.

In the daytime, in downtime between our various work tasks, we would meet in small groups and go through chapters of the Gospel Formed devotional book. At night we would talk together about one of the songs from chapel, linking it to God’s Word. We had many good discussions and we have reason to hope that good discipleship happened among that group during Junior Camp 2.

There are many camp pics and videos I could show in person. But here’s a link to a video that my friend Isaiah made of the Camp Staff from this week: Junior 2 Camp Staff Video.

Team from Evergreen Bible Church

It’s always an extra joy for us to welcome a team from our home church of Evergreen Bible Church. It was a team made up largely of adults, with a few teens mixed in. What a huge blessing they were! We had a couple people serving as Camp Cooks, leading and managing the kitchen for the whole week. We had several serve as Cabin Leaders, some who were a part of the Work Crew, one who was the Lifeguard, one Photographer / Videographer and a couple Maintenance Men. The whole team did an excellent job and we were so grateful to have them here. And on a selfish side of things, we are always blessed when more people from home get to be alongside us in this ministry!

One Last Camp

Our last camp for the summer starts Friday, when we welcome families here for Family Camp. We expect around 40 people to be here, and we look forward to seeing how we can love and serve those who come. Four of us UIM Missionaries (Doug Anderson, Daniel Koster, Stan Nicklie, Ryan Donovan) will take turns speaking at Family Camp, going through the Lord’s Prayer in segments. I get to close things out on Sunday, talking about the very end, which says “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Between now and then, I had better do some thinking and get some things written down!

New Departure Date

Our plan had been to leave this coming Tuesday and arrive home late Wednesday. But those plans changed, and we are now leaving Sunday night. We may get home late Monday night, or we might stretch it to early afternoon on Tuesday, depending on how much energy we have for the drive on Monday. But either way, we are really excited that our kids will get to participate in some portion of VBS this year. Rosie gets to be a VBS kid, and Estelle and Mabel get to be VBS leaders. Most years we will not be home until mid-August, but because of our plans to go to Nebraska, we have an early home arrival before we turn around and head out for the UIM All Staff Conference the first week of August. So hopefully we will be able to catch up with many of you who live in Vancouver during our 5 days home.

No Woodpecker – Yes Mosquitos

The woodpecker has largely vacated the premises. In other news, we’ve had quite a few more mosquitos in the house. It’s not quite a thorn in the flesh, but we look forward to being away from them!

Prayer Needs

• Pray for opportunities at Family Camp to share the gospel clearly to any who come who don’t know the Lord, and for opportunities to encourage and strengthen the believers who attend.
• Pray for safe and fun travels as a family starting Sunday night.
• Pray for our Camp Team (Daniel & Geneva Koster, Vance Christophersen, Ryan & Leanne Donovan) as we look for opportunities to evaluate the summer, understand what went well, and make plans for next year.

Conclusion

Thank you for praying for us this summer. We are blessed to have such an incredible team of people who are with us in this ministry. Sometimes even with us physically here at Rock Nest Ranch, and always with us as you pray.

I will say it over and over, but please know you are invited to come serve for a week or longer with us. You don’t have to come with a team. You could just come on your own, come as a couple, come with all or a portion of your family. We love serving alongside our friends and inviting more people into the Rock Nest family!

Ryan and Leanne Donovan