Camp Bighorn Day 41 7/30/2010

Camp Bighorn Day 41 7/30/2010

My Camp Bighorn adventure continues. I woke up at 7:15 am. We all gathered in the lodge for group devotions at 7:30 am. We went through the reading for the day in our devotional books until 7:45 am. We met in our family groups until 8:15 am. In our family groups we caught up with each other and talked and prayed about how our week had gone and what we were struggling with. When we finished meeting in our groups we all gathered in the lodge for announcements. After devotions and announcements I talked with Beth for a little while. I had a bad morning because my back was hurting really bad and it was frustrating me. It was nice to talk with Beth for a little while. I felt really bad for complaining to her about my back trouble. When we finished talking I headed to my cabin to get cleaned up and ready for the day. I decided I wanted to be extra comfortable today because my back was really bothering me, so I wore my sweats all day. After I got cleaned up I got the mail out and headed to the lodge to get some breakfast. We all enjoyed some great food and fellowship around the tables. It was fun to hear about what people had planned for the day. After breakfast I headed back to the office. The mail came just as I was getting to the office. I got the mail sorted and distributed. After I finished with the mail I came back to the office to put some more pictures on the camp hard drive. When I finished with the pictures I gave the hard drive to Mindy and Garret. They put together a slideshow of the pictures from the week to show at the last chapel later that night. I sat in the main part of the office for a while covering the phones and talking with people in the office. I was around the office until lunchtime. We all gathered in the lodge for some great food and fellowship. After lunch I came back to the office. I used my computer to check a few things on the internet. I checked e-mail and facebook. I helped Nancy find some music she need for a slideshow she is putting together. We found the music she was looking for but I had no way to get the music from my ipod to a different computer. I moved my computer back out to the main part of the office. I decided I wanted to work out there for a while. I listened to music on my computer for a while. I covered the phones. I typed up my blog entry for the day before. When I finished typing and posting my blog it was almost time for dinner. I headed out of the office and talked with Andrea for while. We had a really great talk. She helped me to think about why I am here at camp and what my purpose is while I am here. I always feel a lot better after talking with Andrea. We headed over to the lodge to get some food. We had barbeque chicken sandwiches. They were great. We all enjoyed great food and fellowship around the tables. It was fun to hear about what people had been up to all day. After dinner we had ice cream for dessert. I had a combination of chocolate chip mint and cookies and cream. I enjoyed every bit of it. I finished my ice cream and got a soda and headed upstairs to the last night of chapel. Chapel was really fun. They talked about and showed how the group had united during the week. It was cool to see and hear how God was working in the lives of the entire group. We all watched the slideshow that Mindy and Garret put together. The group really enjoyed that. When we finished upstairs we all headed downstairs in the lodge to watch some of the girls do some Irish and Scottish Highland dancing. They are danced very well. It was fun to watch them. At about 9:40 pm everyone gathered outside the lodge to play capture the flag. I came back to the office to listen to my ipod and type up my blog for the day. Jen came in and commented on the fact that I was listening to Celtic music on my ipod. I told her I was listening to my Chieftains collection. She thought that was cool. Jocelyn came in a little while later and we talked for a few minutes. I am just about ready to rap up my blog entry and head to bed. I will check out what is going on around camp. Then I will head to my cabin to get some rest. I wonder what adventures are in store for us in the next few days. More on that later…

Camp Bighorn Day 40 7/29/2010

Camp Bighorn Day 40 7/29/2010

The adventure continues. My day began with active devotions at 7:30 am. Everyone piled on the camp bus to go to the activity for the morning. I stayed at camp because my ankle was giving me trouble. So I went through the reading in my devotional book in the lodge. The title of the reading for the day was “Oops!” The main scripture for that day was Psalm 135. The reading talked about the fact that God is never surprised by the events in our lives. He never says oops. When I finished my devotions I prayed for a while. When I finished praying I waited in the lodge for everyone to get back to camp. When everyone got back I went back to my cabin to get ready for the day. When I was ready for the day I came into the office and met with Jeremy for a few minutes. We agreed that I would work on sorting and organizing pictures on the hard drive. He also wanted me to make a mailing list of some new camp contacts without e-mail addresses. After we met I got the mail out and headed to the lodge to get some breakfast. We all gathered in the lodge for some great food and fellowship around the tables. It was fun to hear about what people had planned for the day. The mail arrived before I finished my breakfast. I was sitting next to Dianna. She saw the mail arrive and proceeded to give me the play by play of the mail drop off. It was really funny. When I finished eating I sorted and distributed the mail. When I finished with the mail I came back to the office. I moved my computer out of Jeremy and Sarah’s office because the senior staff was going to meet in there. I sat in the main office for the morning working at my computer. I downloaded some pictures onto the camp hard drive. I typed up the mailing list Jeremy asked for. I was in the office for most of the morning. I answered phones and checked e-mail and facebook. Then it was time for lunch. We all gathered to get something to eat and enjoy some fellowship around the tables. After lunch I came back to the office. I moved my computer back into Jeremy and Sarah’s office. I typed up a blog entry for a previous day. I got some receipt letters ready to mail. I wrote some thank you notes. By the time I finished all of that it was time for dinner. We all gathered in the lodge for great food and fellowship around the tables. We had tacos. They were great. It was fun to catch up with some people and hear what they had been up to all day. After dinner I had a soda and some dessert. After dinner I came back to the office and worked on my computer for a while. I put more pictures on camp hard drive. I typed up my blog entry for the day before. When I finished typing and posting my blog I went down to the library to do my exercises. When I finished my exercises I came back upstairs and called my parents. My mom called me back and we had a good talk. I had a good talk with both my mom and dad. We talked until about ten minutes before curfew. When I got off the phone I shut down my computer and headed to my cabin to get some sleep. I went to sleep thinking about the adventures that were in store for us in the next few days. More on that later…

Camp Bighorn Day 39 7/28/2010

Camp Bighorn Day 39 7/28/2010

My Camp Bighorn adventure continues. My day began with devotions at 7:30 am. We all gathered in the lodge to go through the reading in our devotional books for the day. The title of the reading for the day was “Empowered by the Holy Spirit.” The reading talked about what it means to be empowered by the Holy Spirit while working at camp for the summer. The scripture reading for the day was Ezekiel 36:22-32. After devotions and announcements I went back to my cabin to get cleaned up and ready for the day. When I finished getting ready I got the mail out and then headed to the lodge to get some breakfast. We all enjoyed some great food and fellowship around the tables. We had pancakes. They were great. After breakfast I came back to the office and waited for the mail to arrive. I checked some things on my computer. I checked e-mail and facebook. When the mail arrived I sorted and distributed it. After I took care of the mail I went back to the office. I was going to be out taking pictures of some of the events around camp but my ankle was hurting really bad. So I spent most of the morning in the office covering phones and working on my computer. Then it was time for lunch. We all gathered in the lodge for some food. It was nice to catch up with some people and hear about what they had been up to all morning. After lunch I came back into the office and checked my e-mail and covered the phones. I worked on my resume for a while. I am feeling stressed about not having a job lined up when I get back to Spokane. I got an e-mail from my sister in law about things I need to fix on my resume. She was very encouraging. However after I read her e-mail I suddenly felt really stressed. I talked with Sarah, Beth, and Andrea about what I was feeling stressed and over whelmed about. They all help me to calm down and relax about the situation. It was good to talk with all of them. When I was done talking with them I made some copies of a couple of applications and resumes for Luke. Then it was time for dinner. We all gathered for great food and fellowship at the tables. It was fun to hear about what some of the campers and staff had been up to all afternoon. After dinner I had a soda and some chocolate cake. I sat out on the lodge steps and watched the thunderstorm. It was really fun to just sit out and watch the rain and lightning and listen to the thunder. I joined a group of people sitting on the lodge steps. We talked and watched the storm for a while. While we were talking Dianna told us part of her life story. It was fun to learn about her life a little bit. She told us about a plane crash she was in when she was 17 years old. Her mom died in the crash. Some parts of the story were hard to hear. Dianna is a survivor in every sense of the word. God has protected her many times in her life. We talked for a while longer. Then I headed into the lodge to see what was going on in there. It is really great to be around people who are having fun just being together. I hung out in the lodge for a while then headed to my cabin to get some sleep. I talked with some of the girls in my cabin for a while. Then I got ready for bed and lay down to get some sleep. I went to sleep thinking about what was in store for us in the days ahead. More on that later…

Camp Bighorn Day 38 7/27/2010

Camp Bighorn Day 38 7/27/2010

The adventure continues. My day began at 7:30 am with active devotions. We all gathered in the lodge to read the passage for the day in our devotional books. When we finished reading our personal devotions we headed out to the field to get some exercise. I went outside for a while and then headed back to the lodge to finish the devotional reading for the day. When I finished my reading I prayed for a few minutes. They everyone came back into the lodge. We gathered for announcements. When we finished I went to the office for an administration meeting. We went over what was happening this week. We got caught up on how things are going for everyone. We talked about what events we would be involved with during the week. I would be taking pictures of the ropes course and rock climbing. I was excited to get out and get pictures of what is happening around camp. After our meeting I went back to my cabin to get ready for the day. Then I came back to the office and got the mail out before heading to the lodge for breakfast. We all enjoyed some great food and fellowship around the tables. It was fun to hear about what people had planned for the day. After breakfast I came back to the office and typed up my blog entry for a previous day. When I finished my blog entry I collected, sorted, and distributed the mail. When I finished with the mail I headed out to take pictures of the ropes course and rock climbing. I took a few pictures of the guys on the low ropes course. I headed over to the rock climbing area to take some pictures. Then my camera ran out of batteries. So I had to go back to the office to get different batteries. When I had new ones I walked back to the ropes course and took a few more pictures. Then as I was heading to the climbing area again the same thing happened with my camera. I went to the office again to get new batteries. When I got new batteries for my camera and a helmet for myself I went back down to the climbing area. I decided I would try to take pictures of the climbers first. Just in case my camera broke down on me again. I took some pictures of the climbers. I hiked up to where they were climbing so I could get some better shots. After I was up there for a while I headed back to camp. I got back around lunch time. I was pretty much done for the day when I came back to the office. Then it was time for lunch. We all gathered in the lodge for food. We all enjoyed great food and fellowship around the tables. It was fun to hear about what everyone had been up to all morning. After lunch I was in the office for the afternoon. I went down to the ropes course again to take some pictures but when I got there no one was around. I walked back to the office and decided I would not go back down to the ropes course because my ankle was giving me trouble. It was hurting so bad I was having trouble walking. So I hung around the office and worked at my computer for a while. I checked my e-mail and facebook. I responded to some e-mails. Then it was time for dinner. We all gathered in the lodge for some great food. After dinner I had a soda and some dessert. I talked with Janelle for a while. We had a good talk. After we talked for a while I headed upstairs in the lodge to go to chapel. I took some pictures of the chapel service. It was fun to see how the group was bonding after just two days. It was cool to hear how God is working in their group. After chapel I came back to the office and typed up my blog entry for the day before. When I finished my entry I called my parents. We talked for a while. It is always good to talk with them. They are enjoying their summer. After we talked for a while I got off the phone and headed to my cabin to get some sleep. I went to sleep thinking about the adventures that were in store for us in the next few days. More on that later…

Camp Bighorn Day 37 7/26/2010

Camp Bighorn Day 37 7/26/2010

My Camp Bighorn Adventure continues. I woke up at 7:15 am. We all gathered in the lodge for staff devotions at 7:30 am. We went through the reading in our devotional books for the day. After devotions we gathered for announcements. Luke announced what jobs everyone would have for the camp that began later that day. Everyone is always very excited to find out what they will be doing during the week. After announcements I went back to my cabin to get ready for the day. When I was ready for the day I got the mail out and headed to the lodge for breakfast. It was nice to catch up with some people around the tables. After breakfast I came in to the office. I checked some things on the internet while I waited for the mail to arrive. I checked e-mail and facebook. When the mail arrived I sorted and distributed the mail. When I finished with the mail I came back to the office and sorted and organized pictures on my computer. I was mostly in the office until lunch time. I covered the phone. I checked some things on the internet. I talked with some people in the office. Then it was time for lunch. We all gathered in the lodge for some great food and fellowship. After lunch I came back to the office. I worked at my computer for a while. Jeremy showed me how to use the camp database. He showed my how to add people to the camp mailing list. I worked on that for a while. I enjoy doing things like that. I had some trouble reading the hand writing. I added a few names to the list and then I was done. I intended to finish the stack I still had to go though later. When I finished with the mailing list I left my little corner of the office and went out to the main office. I sat in the office and cooled off a bit. I talked with some people in the office. I covered the phones. I finished typing up my blog entries from a couple of days before. When I finished with my blog entries I hung around in the office until dinner. We all gathered in the lodge for dinner. Adventure camp 5 officially began at dinner. It was great to have a big group here for camp. Everyone was very excited for camp to begin. We all enjoyed great food and fellowship around the tables. After dinner I had a soda and some dessert. After dinner I walked around camp and talked with some people until chapel began at 8:30 pm. We all gathered for chapel. Everyone had a great time at chapel. They went over some of the camp rules. Then they played some games. Everyone had lots of fun. After chapel I came back to the office to shut down my computer for the night and call my parents. I called my parents using my phone cards. I asked them to call me back because I am running low on minute on my phone card. They called me back and we had a good talk. It sounds like things at home are going well. It is always good to talk with my parents. We talked until it was almost time for me to get to bed. When I got off the phone I headed to my cabin to get some sleep. When I got to my cabin at abut 11:15 people were still up talking. I was glad that people were still awake. It took a while for everyone to calm down and go to sleep. I went to sleep thinking about the adventures that were in store for us in the coming days. More on that later…

Camp Bighorn Day 36 7/25/2010

Camp Bighorn Day 36 7/25/2010

The adventure continues. I woke up at 8:00 am. I got cleaned up and ready for the day. Then it was time for breakfast. We all gathered in the lodge for some great food and fellowship. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They were wonderful. After breakfast I finished getting ready for church. I went through the reading in my devotional book for the day. When I finished my devotions it was time to leave for church. I drove my truck and followed the vans to the CMA church. We got to church at 10:45 am. I really enjoy the CMA church. A lot of people from Bighorn attend. The service was really great. The message and the music were both very good. The pastor who was preaching that day switched up the order of the service. So the sermon was first and the music was at the end of the service. I liked that a lot. I like having music after the sermon. It closes out the service very well. After church I headed back to camp. I stopped at the gas station to fill up my truck with gas. When I finished at the gas station I headed back to camp. I got back to camp at around 12:30 pm. I headed to the lodge to help get lunch ready. I helped in the kitchen until lunch time. I helped make the dough for the cornbread for dinner. Then it was time for lunch. We all gathered for some great food and fellowship. It was nice to catch up with some people. After lunch Mindy and I got permission to leave camp. We drove to St Regis and wandered around there for a while. We went to some of the shops in town. Then we headed to Missoula to do some shopping. When we got there we went to Best buy and looked around in there for a while. Mindy was looking for a new laptop computer. She talked with a sales person about what kind of computer would work best for her. I looked around the store for a while. Then we left and went to Staples and looked around in there for a while. I found a car charger for my iPod. I have needed on for a while. It will be nice to be able to listen to my iPod in my car. We left Staples and headed to Barnes and Noble. We wandered around in the store for a while. I had not been to Barnes and Noble for a while. It was nice to wander around in there for a while. I found and bought a box of thank you notes. I should mention that Mindy was on her cell phone pretty much the whole afternoon. We don’t get cell phone coverage at camp. So she was returning messages and calling people while she could. When we finished at Barnes and Noble we headed Wal Mart to pick up some things. When we finished there we headed to McDonalds for dinner. I had not eaten at McDonalds since I have been at camp. When we finished dinner we headed back to camp. Mindy called camp when we got to McDonalds to let someone there know that we would not be back for dinner. We had a fun afternoon. It was fun to hang out with Mindy for a while. We got back to camp at about 9:30 pm. I headed to the office to check some things on my computer. Then I went to my cabin to get my phone card. I came back to the office to call my parents. We had a really good talk. My mom told me about a family crisis that came to a head this weekend. Everyone involved is doing much better and getting back on track. Praise God. He is doing a great work in the lives of those involved. After I talked with my parents for a while I got off the phone and headed to bed. I went to bed thinking about what was in store for all of us in the next few days. More on that later…

Camp Bighorn Day 35 7/24/2010

Camp Bighorn Day 35 7/24/2010

The adventure continues. I woke up at 9:00 am. It was nice to sleep in a bit on my day off. I got the mail out before breakfast. We all gathered in the lodge for some food and fellowship around the tables. After breakfast I came into the office and worked at my computer for a while. I waited for the mail to arrive. I checked e-mail and facebook. I played some games on my computer. I hung around the office until about noon. I headed back to my cabin to get cleaned up and ready for the day. When I was ready for the day I went through the reading for the day in my devotional book. I am enjoying the readings in the devotional book. Then it was time for lunch. We all gathered in the lodge for some food and fellowship. It was fun to hear about what everyone had been up to in the morning. After lunch I wandered around and talked with people. I was in and out of the office. It was a very quiet day around camp. I used my computer to check some things on the internet. I checked e-mail and facebook. I played some games on my computer. I talked with the people in the office. Then it was time for dinner. We had dinner at 6:30 pm because a group was going to see Toy Story 3 at a movie theater in Plains at 8:00 pm. It was really fun to go out with a group of camp staff for the evening. We all piled in the vans at about 7:20 pm to head to the movie. We arrived at the theater at 7:45 pm. The movie was great. It was fun to be there with people form camp. When the movie was over we all piled into the vans and headed back to camp. The van ride back to camp was most interesting. Listening to a bunch of teenagers talk about what ever is on their minds is always entertaining. We got back to camp at around 10:00 pm. When we got back I came into the office to call my parents. I talked with my mom for a few minutes. We had a short conversation because she did not have much time to talk. When I got off the phone I headed to my cabin to get some sleep. I went to sleep thinking about what adventures were in store for us in the following days. More on that later…