Sunday, July 26th, 11:57 pm
Today was a fairly low impact day, which was nice. I certainly needed the weekend to recharge. This morning some staff went to Chipman to church with Kevin and Marcia, while the majority went to Cumberland Bay Baptist. I had the opportunity to give a bit of an update at the church about how the week went.
Any staff remaining for this coming week remained and we spent some quality time together. It was great to be able to get to know some of the gang a bit better. Today new staff arrived from Sussex NB, Coldbrook NS and Gory ONT. We went through some of the training. We will be doing some cultural awareness tomorrow morning with Venus.
This afternoon Phil Welch and I took the drowned boat to Chipman to a small engine repair shop. He said he should be able to get us back on the water before the end of the day tomorrow (pending there are no parts needed).
I had a wonderful surprise tonight when I came up from one of the training sessions I was greeted by some family. Dave & Shirley Corkum, Sarah and Beth stopped in to see me and make sure I was working hard :0) It was so great to see them and show them around the facility. It's so exciting to receive encouragement and see the enthusiasm of friends! Anyone is more than welcome to stop by and visit... we love company!
Monday, July 27th, 10:46 pm
I woke this morning to a less than pleasant surprise. As you may know - I've been suffering with some sort of allergic reaction the past few weeks. I've been to the medical clinic in Minto twice prior to today and have been taking a range of antihistamines. This morning, to spite taking prescription Reactine and Zantac, I was covered in hives. I am still baffled as to just what I might be allergic to, but I'm working on dietary things for a start. I am now taking Benadryl every 6 hours, on top of the previous prescriptions. The doctor also gave me two puffers and an Epi-pen. I've been a little concerned about the implications of the epinephrine, and hopefully I'll never need it!
As an aside, I fell down the lodge stairs on the weekend... other than my pride... I wasn't really hurt, but our paramedic removed part of my toenail this evening... it was traumatic... and I may have shed a tear... tell no-one.
To spite these things, I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that this is where the Lord would have me be right now. This small opposition that I've been facing is an obstacle, and I am trusting the Lord to provide for me physically. The allergy has slowed me down, and the medications have slowed me down, but my heart is still here and I am so blessed to be a part of the camp!
We had nearly forty campers arrive today from St. Mary's, Burnt Church and Eel Ground. The bus pulled in around 3 and we got a start to the day. Our guest speaker for the week is Pastor Gary Countway and he does an amazing job of presenting to the children. He began the epic of 'A Pilgrim's Progress' tonight... I am looking forward to hearing more from him.
On doctors orders I'm heading to bed early tonight... no 3 am bedtimes this week. But I have to try to give my immune system a chance to fight this allergy.
Tuesday, July 28th, 11:36 pm
Another eventful day. I've been a bit sad to not be as closely interacting with the kids this week. I really enjoyed getting to know all of them last week. But because I'm supposed to be taking it easier this week I have not been working at Archery or on the dock with the boat - both of which gave me great opportunity to work with the kids directly. I'm going to sleep in the maintenance building with Ricky and Ben tonight... it's much cooler there and the heat seems to aggravate whatever it is that's plaguing me.
It was a good day, Phil and I went up to Chipman this morning to run some errands and pick up the boat. A huge blessing, the bill was not very large and we now have a functioning boat in the water. This afternoon I took pictures and video and got to see what happens at some of the other afternoon activities. I ran out to do an errand in the afternoon and returned to find the camp in upheaval. It so happened that while I was out... a game had been planned in which some paint was required - the kids were to put their hand in the paint and make hand prints on paper... However, a small lack of foresight into details led the organizers of the game to use oil based paint. What I found when I returned were 40 children coated in paint and canola oil. I proceeded to the lakefront and began doling out healthy doses of Sunlight for the kids to wash with.
This evening I made a run for some tuck supplies and we held campfires for the campers on the beach and at the main campfire pit. It was a nice way to end the day... especially after all of the excitement!
Wednesday, July 29th, 11:54 pm
Today it was sweltering hot. We held the traditional Wednesday BBQ in the big field and spent the afternoon in the water. Ben drove the boat all afternoon and Ricky, our program director, (terrified of the water) actively sought to stay out of the water. I had another visit today from some friends... it was great to see John & Shannon Blois and their family. It gave me the opportunity to show them around and for them to see the camp in full swing. We have really been enjoying the chapel sessions with Pastor Gary Countway, he has a wonderful gift of story telling and the kids are quite taken with him.
It has been suggested that perhaps I have not been suffering anaphylaxis, but perhaps just some sort of reaction to the heat... it seems plausible... we shall see.
Saturday, August 1, 9:34 pm
Well, the week is done and the campers have gone home. It was another great week and we saw three or four children make professions of faith. As you can see, I was unable to make a journal entry on Thursday night. It was a busy night and I found myself sleeping in a chair in the main lodge at about 3am. Todd Hill and I spent the night in the lodge to keep an eye on things, as it turned out, I sent some campers who were on a fridge raid back to bed at about 4am. Friday morning the kids went for a swim and did a cabin clean up. Pastor Countway gave one last devotional and gave a clear presentation of the gospel. The bus came for the campers at about 1pm and the camp was once again quiet.
Our team from Gory, Ont. had come prepared to stay until Saturday morning. Partway through the week, Jamie began a welding project for us. He worked tirelessly all day for several days, to build for us a rack for the truck. The new rack will make it so that we can easily transport canoes and a multitude of other items. But as wonderful as this gift is, it is only the tip of the iceberg among all of the things, Jamie, Isaac and Mr. Hayden did. Mr. Hayden worked with Todd Hill and wired up the chapel with wall jacks for mics, speakers, plugs and video. It eliminates our need for wires taped to the floor and makes it much easier for us to prepare for various activities and events. The group also donated a sound board for the chapel as well, bringing up the quality of our sound system and expanding our capabilities. Mr. Hayden put in a new sensor light outside the main shop, installed some of the air conditioners that were donated last week and replaced the bulbs in the shop.... just to mention a few things! The team headed out fairly early this morning... oh yeah ... and they donated the arc welder when they finished with the welding project! Praise the Lord.
Today several of the staff and I made a trip to Fredericton for a bit of a day out and some shopping. It was good to recharge a bit.
We had a huge blessing late in the week. Our lifeguard, Larissa, has been doing a fantastic job and is really great with the kids. She had originally planned to work for us for two weeks and go to a sports training camp herself while we operated Teen Camp. She approached Kevin on Thursday and said that she decided to stay with us for teen camp instead, We certainly appreciate her sacrifice and are really excited to have her stay with us.
We are expecting approximately 20 teens for teen camp this week. Nine of them are coming with Lori from Cape Breton on the bus. We were concerned that they may not be able to attend camp as the band they are from had said they wouldn't pay for the camp and the families couldn't afford to send them. A huge blessing, someone donated enough money for them to come and money was provided for their transportation. They will arrive with Lori by bus on Monday evening. There are teens coming from St. Mary's, Oromocto, Eel Ground, Kingsclear and Cape Breton.
I hope to be able to give an update mid-week, but I can't make any promises. In any event I'll keep you posted :0)
The Corkum's popped in to see the facilities.
Kev & Marcia watching the campers swim.
Water Ballon Volleyball the first night of camp.
Craft time with the Hills. This year the kids worked with paint and wood.
Isaac, Todd and Mr. Hayden working on the wiring in the chapel.
The Blois family!
An object lesson with Mr. Countway.
Jamie beginning to cut the steel stock to build our new canoe rack for the truck.
Pastor Gary Countway finishing up his lesson with an object lesson.
Some of our dish crew.
Mr. Hill with Mr. Simon, a Christian man from Eel Ground, he brought several of his grand children to the camp this week. He had been here for some of the first days of Arrowhead and even donated the materials for our current Tuck Shop.
Here's a shot of James on the night of the big paint mishap, helping to clean the oil paint of some of the campers with Canola oil.
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