A Week of Smiles and Joy

We finished our week of Teen Camp on Sunday morning, and so we have been in recovery mode ever since. My primary role was to lead our Work Crew Staff, but I was still able to sneak in some time with campers. In the pic above, I got to eat breakfast with this table full of girls. I told them it felt a lot like home:). It was a mix of campers and staff at the table, and I am thankful for each of them. All of the campers were girls I knew from previous years, and it is always good to reconnect with campers we already know.

My main role as Work Crew Leader was good, but it was also challenging. Perhaps the hardest part was that I had no idea what I was doing! Thankfully, I have a fair amount of experience managing people and working with teens, so that part was just fun. But learning how to do all the jobs that need to be done while helping others do those jobs was the part that was most challenging. There weren’t written instructions available for the various responsibilities, so I was constantly quizzing Daniel, the Director, and then furiously taking notes that I could turn into checklists. By the end of the week, I was starting to actually understand my job!

We live in a society that likes measurable results, and, in fact, I appreciate measurable results, too. From this last week of Teen Camp, I don’t have any bottom-line measurable results to share, in terms of faith commitments from campers or things of that nature. While we work hard to share the gospel clearly and to invite the campers into a life of walking with Jesus, we also are careful about creating situations for campers where they are pressed to make faith decisions in a way that likely has more to do with an emotional camp experience than a genuine faith commitment to the Lord. If we did, it would make reporting on “effectiveness” easier. But I’m not sure we would be reporting the truth.

What I can say with confidence is that we had a week full of really good Bible teaching from three of us (Geneva was the primary camp speaker and then Daniel and I took turns helping out some, too). I can also say with confidence that the campers had an awesome time. Truly, it was one of the sweetest weeks of Teen Camp I have ever been a part of. We had very few disciplinary problems, and the problems we did have were very minor. We had a ton of smiles and joy and laughing, and the campers were eager to participate in games, music, conversations, and all the other aspects of camp. Cabin leaders reported of so many kids asking great questions about God and about the Bible. It was an excellent week of camp that I believe pleased the Lord.

Our staff, too, did fantastic. It was a rather young staff, over all. Much younger than we typically have, particularly for Teen Camp. And they did great. We were pleased with our cabin leaders, a couple of whom were less than a year older than their campers (we keep ages a secret and the campers tend make wildly incorrect guesses). The four pairs of cabin leaders excelled through the whole week. Our Work Crew was young, too, but I am so proud of how hard they worked all week. We even had a bunch of them helping in the kitchen, and they worked so hard to make good meals under excellent leadership from our head cooks. Sure, there were a couple “teenage moments,” but if you’re working with teens and don’t expect a couple “teenage moments,” you probably don’t understand the assignment. We are so thankful they were here to serve with us, and we trust that they left having had a valuable and formative experience here at camp.

Overall, it was an excellent week of Teen Camp. Thank you for praying! We continue to pray that the implanted word would find root, and that there would be opportunity for that implanted word to be nurtured and watered.

Family Arrival!

After a 3-day journey, Leanne and our girls all arrived safely and happily at Rock Nest last night at 5:42. I was watching intently on the Find My Phone app as they inched closer and closer, and was so glad when they finally arrived. It’s really good to be back together as a family after 3 weeks apart. The four of them had a great time together on the drive, and the kids especially enjoyed that each of the hotels had swimming pools!

Before starting on the journey to Rock Nest, Mabel and Estelle had the chance to participate in a Middle School Camp down at Dunes Bible Camp, along with many of their friends from Evergreen. They absolutely loved it! They had never done anything like that without us or any other family members, so it was a first chance for them to spread their wings in a new way. We are so grateful that they enjoyed that time so thoroughly and had such a fun opportunity for spiritual encouragement with their friends.  

Leanne also had some extra fun a few days before the left home, as she climbed Mt. St. Helens on July 1st, along with her sister, my sister, and a friend. It was her second trip up the mountain, and she again feels proud of the accomplishment, as well as all the work she did to get prepared for the hike. Meanwhile, that meant Rosie got some extra time with Grandma and Grandpa. Being at their house is one of her favorite places to be!

Junior Camp #1

We have an entirely brand new Work Crew this week. We don’t have a single person from last week’s team, nor do we have a single person, other than me, who’s ever done these jobs before. We will also have a very different staff demographic this week. We said goodbye to the team from Sunset Bible Church that was made up of mostly 14-15 year olds, and now the team joining us for the first Junior Camp, from Telkwa Community Church, is made up entirely of folks who are 30-70 year old. We are so thankful to have them on board, as there was a time where we were truly not sure we had enough staff to run this week of camp.

The Work Crew for this week will be divided up into four small teams. One of the teams consists of me, Leanne, Mabel, Estelle, and Ezra Koster, who is the 12 year old son of the Rock Nest Directors, Daniel and Geneva Koster. Usually 14 years old is the minimum age for Work Crew, so this will be a stretch for the 3 kids, but Leanne and I are really excited for the opportunity this presents to work together as a family, and to have some special discipleship opportunities with our girls. And we’re glad to have Ezra tag in as a part of our family for the week, too.

Rosie will be on the 4th team, along with the Koster’s 9 year old daughter Evelyn, and then Daniel Koster’s mother, Karen. They get the distinguished honor of being the Secret Snooper for the week. That means they go to each cabin while the campers are otherwise busy and make a report on the cleanliness of the cabin, which is then shared during lunch. They’ll help with a couple other small jobs, too, but I am sure they will really love being the Snooper. Hopefully they can manage to keep the secret!

Woodpecker Update

The delightful woodpecker is still alive, and he reminds me of this most mornings. He didn’t come by today, so maybe he knew better than to disturb Leanne on her first day here. Also, still very few mosquitoes, so at least he seems to be serving a positive function, in addition to being our unrequested alarm clock..

Above is the team from Sunset Bible Church. We loved having them here at Rock Nest. The Senior Pastor at Sunset is Jay Mosser, who first introduced me and many other to Rock Nest. The pic below is three Sunset kids, plus one local boy who joined in on the work last week.

Prayer Needs

• Our team this week will likely face the opposite challenge of our staff last week. Our team last week was young, inexperienced, and still working on growing up. But this week, we have established adults who know how to work and lead. But the energy required is not for the faint of heart, and that is often where teenagers have adults outmatched. So please pray for good energy for all our team members. And pray that we will work together well, as more experience can also sometimes mean more opinions:).
• Pray that the coming 9-12 year old campers will have hearts receptive to the good news of God’s great love for them.
• Pray for Rosie, who was feeling great when they all arrived, but uncharacteristically put herself to bed for all of the afternoon, and seems to be carrying some kind of virus. Pray that it would run it’s course quickly so that she could fully participate, and so that Leanne and I could both fully participate. You may recall that last year she was out of commission for a week with chicken pox, which was a challenge for her and for us, so we are praying that this one will be quick and easy.

Pic above from Mt. St. Helens on July 1. Pic below was the moment of arrival for Leanne,

Mabel, Estelle, and Rosie. I was waiting on the porch, ready for the big hugs.

Conclusion

We are blessed by you praying for us and alongside us in this ministry. Thanks for praying that Leanne and the girls would arrive safe. It’s so good to be together again!

Ryan and Leanne Donovan