Red Rock Camp

 It feels weird sitting in front of a computer at my desk again. It's been two weeks since I was here. I spent one week in Las Vegas for work. Then I spent the second week working at Red Rock Bible Camp. I can't begin to express how much that camp means to me. This year was my 29th year of attendance, crazy how time flies. I started as a 3rd grader and now help run the camp as Dean of Women and Assistant to the President.

Mouse and her Counselor Em

But what really made me feel old this year, was that my daughter was finally in the Jr High group. She had been waiting for this year since she was just a toddler. It was so great seeing her involved in the Bible study, games and worship.

If you want your kid to experience the Love of Christ, send them to a Bible Camp. These kids were so great! They are amazing at including everyone. To give you an idea, Mouse was able to try her hand at two-hand touch football. This was a game between SR high boys and adults. Then a few small ones like Mouse asked if they could play too. The boys immediately said yes. It was so fun watching her play against her Dad.

~ Cassi

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Red Rock Camp Recap

Another year has come and gone at Red Rock Camp. I am the Dean of Women there which means I am in charge of Jr Sr High programing. But Red Rock is so much more than just Jr Sr High it is one of the few inter-generational camps around Minnesota. This makes it so unique to be able to spend it together as a family.

Here is just a sampling of what camp was to us this year. Above is game time with the Jr Sr high group, they were awesome and participated whole-heartily.  

Mouse and her new friends this year right before leading actions to a worship song. They were so excited to get up in front of 200 people in the tabernacle and help lead. They are future leaders here.  

Our annual counselor picture for Jr Sr High. This group of people were amazing this year. I am also so blessed to lead such an "on fire" group. Their heart for God and the kids is like non-other.  

Steve and I did sneak away for a bit of quiet time out on the paddle boats. Though with the rain and winds this past week, I wasn't sure if it was the safest activity for us to choose. But the sun felt great and it I am so glad to have him here at my side during the week.  

Steve also took part in a late (midnight) game of Giant Jenga. The guys were so proud of themselves with they decided they beat the game (meaning there were no moves left). The tower was over 4 feet high!

We also listened to Jason from Worldview Warriors talk about the "Narrow Gate". His messages through out the week was inspirational and moving to so many.

I know there is lots that Steve and I are praying about from this week.

It was a great week.

Now it is time to take what we learned and "Engage Community"

~ Cassi

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To be a Messenger

Today is Five Minute Fridays There is no link up today just a prompt.

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

 

Topic: Messenger

I leave in a few days to help run a inter-generational bible camp. My job is managing the Junior Senior High Programing. The days leading up to camp and the first day are always crazy and stressful. There are many decisions and last minute changes that happen. Its easy to forget why I feel called to camp ministry in the chaos around me. 

How easy it is to forget that God calls us to be messengers of his word. To share the "Good News". In camp there is a time for that this is like none other. To live in fellowship with these teens means we get to know them not just superficially but to really get down deep.

But that only happens when we are there for God and not ourselves.

Oh how easy those words are to write but to live it becomes hard. To truly be a messenger of God Grace to these kids is a job is hard work. Because it is fun to focus on the fun we have, because man we have fun. But when we focus solely on the fun, or on the camp for ourselves we loose the focus of what God is calling us to be there for.

To be a messenger of grace and love is such a blessing.

I am thankful to God for the chance to live.

~ Cassi

 

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Remembering Lora Jean

I met you, LoraJean way back in Jr Camp. We looked like the Von Trap family following our counselor around camp singing. And the pictures of you and Sarah Gabel giving me the look of enough already with that camera. Back in those cabins everything was easy and simple still.

Then we slid apart during the Jr Sr high years. You took the good girl route, I wish I had. You always seemed to laugh at life. That the world was a such a happy place to you. I remember your positiveness just seemed to bubble forth in everything.

Finish reading over here.

~ Cassi
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We're back

Amazing that is the first word that comes to my mind when I think of last week at Red Rock Camp.
I am the Dean of Women of Red Rock Camp.  This means I am in charge of the Jr / Sr high programing. This was my 10th year in this role but my 26th year or so of attending camp. I am so glad I can share this place with Steve and Mouse.
Lets start at the beginning, the first night we (as in the whole 200 person camp) had to cram into the basement of the main building due to a tornado warning.
Next we started with Becky teaching from the book Crazy Love. I haven't read the book but her message was so powerful on how we need to really focus on our relationship with Christ. She finished the week out by talking about how we need to show God's love to others.

We also played some great games thanks to Megan. My favorite was paper ninjas. Any game involving duct tape and crazy ninja moves can make you laugh. We liked it so much we played it twice.

It was also Mouse's first year as a jr camper. This means she got to stay in a dorm by herself and her counselors. She was excited and sad to change over into her own group. But she ended up having so much fun that we had to seek her out for hugs. One of her exciting moments was going sail boating for the first time.

I think my favorite moments of camp are the quiet times when the campers just gather in spontaneous worship. Thank you Zach for playing for us.

And a thank you goes out to all the counselors from this year. They do such an amazing job of working with kids. They just shine God's love to all. I am so blessed to work with them.

Thank you all for making it all so amazing. God did amazing things and I can't wait to see what he does through out the rest of this year. Until next year.

~ Cassi

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Fellowship and fun

This past Sunday we had a group of friends over to the house. We planned the event when we were at Red Rock Camp. It was so great to get us all together outside of the camp setting. There was twelve of us including the kids (OK thirteen if count the one couple who has one on the way). This group was refreshing; the conversation was positive and laid back. The day started at 1:30 and before we knew it, it was 8 o'clock. Words can't express how perfect the day was.

To prepare for the BBQ, I got some inspiration from Pinterest. I decided to put together some picnic cans.
Taking a soup can, (Of course I washed it out) then wrapped it in scrapbook paper. I then added a ribbon around the top. To the ribbon I added hand printed name tags. In each can we added all the items each family would need with their plate. I also added a straw for the kids.

 Aren't they cute! The names have been blurred to protect the innocent. Alright, I just never asked them if I could post their last name out on the web. And since I don't post our name I thought it would be bad taste to show theirs. Except for one I wanted to show the tags. One of the families that came has the last name of Johnson which is probably the most common Minnesotan name. So here is the none blurred cans.

I am not sure how efficient these were but they added a nice touch of whimsy to the day. I hope all of you had as good of a weekend as we did.

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Sunday Faith Sharing

This Sunday I will be doing the Faith Sharing part of our worship at church.  I am excited to do this.  My topic will be my experiences at Red Rock camp.  Our pastor was at camp and after asking him a question about a sermon he gave around Easter he asked if I would share my experiences at Red Rock to the church.  I may have hesitated for a second or two but then said Yes!

Writing the Faith Sharing has been harder than I thought.  It would be easy to write a promo for Red Rock but after talking to Cassi about the format I decided to write a more heart felt, here is what happened to me at Red Rock story.

Check back Sunday to read my Faith Sharing.

~Steve

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Steve's week at Red Rock Camp

This year was my first full week at Red Rock Camp.  What did I learn?  A tabernacle full of things.

I learned while I watched Cassi work as Dean of Women.  I watched from right beside her and from a distance.  I am so impressed with how she runs the camp and councilors. 

I learned about the Prayer of Jabez and will be looking for the book to finish. 

I learned more about prayer and praying with others.  Cassi and I prayed deeply for our marriage.  Friends prayed deeply for us.  I am very humbled by the people who came up to us and stated they are praying for us. 

I learned from a husband and wife who have been married for over 40 years on making a marriage last.  I personally took a lot away from that discussion.  Learned that marriage is not always easy and it is a constant work in progress and that prayer is very important in a marriage.

I learned to sing during church service.  I am not a singer, bad voice, no training.  I know the songs and started singing, maybe not in a loud voice, but still I was singing.  It carried over to our home church service.

I learned that Cassi and I can sleep in a single bed together for a whole week!  It was actually quite comfortable and within a day my shoulder area had stopped hurting!

I learned that for years I let Cassi down by not going and participating in Red Rock Camp.  A camp she dearly loves and works hard every year to make run smooth. 

I learned that I can't wait to go back next year!

~Steve

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OM~ Missionaries

OK so maybe they had me at OM, which reminded me of Odyssey of the Mind. That OM I was in during elementary and loved the advance programs for students. But this OM was completely different.
Every year at camp we have missionaries come and speak to the camp. I will fully admit that I barely listen to this. I am not sure why but I since adulthood my ears seem to be closed to this field. But this week was so different. From the minute they introduced themselves I felt connected.

Ty and Carolyn brought missions to the camp in the same way others have but this time God had opened my ears. One way they were different from other missionaries was they belong to a global group called OM, Operation Mobilisation. They were able to talk about so many different areas where we can get involved. Also loved my talks with Carolyn and the support she gave Steve and I. I pray that our budding friendship is able to continue to grow.

Now a few weeks back Steve asked if I could start my own business what would it be. He thought I would have chosen a vintage show (which is a close second) but I knew in my heart that a bookstore would be my calling. Then just two weeks later the Stewart's come and rock my idea of what mission are. They talk about a boat. I know real exciting, oh but it is, this boat is a floating bookstore. My heart sings.

OM's Logos Hope is a ship that brings books to those nations where books are not readily available. Bringing knowledge and dreams and God's love, what a combo! God has opened up my ears and my heart to this mission. Just look at these statistics:

• Since then OM's ships have visited over 500 different ports more than 160 countries and territories and welcomed over 40 million visitors on board
• Volunteers from over 50 countries serve on our ships. All crew and staff are volunteers. No-one – including the captains – is paid a salary (what commitment).
• The floating book fair offers over 5,000 titles, providing many visitors their first-ever opportunity to purchase quality educational and Christian literature

You can help, they have the normal donations but they also have an online bookstore with amazing prices. I am not sure how to give to Ty and Carolyn if you are called to do that their email is on their blog.

 ~Cassi

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Red Rock Camp

"God is good...All the time; All the time... God is good"

This past week we have been at a Red Rock Camp. This camp has such a long history within Minnesota and me. Red Rock has been around for 143 years it was one of the (if not the first) Methodist camps. The camp has moved three times and now resides at Lake Koronis. This is where I have always attended. It's my 26th year at this camp. I started when I was just Mouse's age.
In those years, I have attended as camper, then counselor and now am dean, which means I am in charge of the Jr / Sr high program. I am also a board member. It is an honor to be able to work with the other board members to grow the camp and work with them to keep the camp focused on God's will.
But the biggest thing about this year is that Steve came! It was so great to show him this camp that has meant so much to me. Mouse was excited to show it all to her Dad.
The week it's self could have been better with the weather. It rained from Sunday to Wednesday night. But I was soo impressed with the teenagers they handled the weather so well. Their speaker did a great job, his focus was on teaching the kids how to tell others about Jesus. The counselors did an amazing job.
All in all it was a great week. Both Steve and I can't wait to share with you this week all that we learned.

~Cassi

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