Oromocto Week!

This past week we've had campers from Oromocto. It was a wonderful week. It wasn't without it's struggles, but the Lord worked in the lives of campers and staff. It was a real blessing to be a part of it!

After all of the staff arrived on Sunday we made it a fairly early night and were up bright and early Monday. Everyone pitched in on some chores and we got to it. I was greeted on Monday at breakfast by some somewhat disconcerting news about a flood in the basement of the main lodge. I called a plumber and we found that it was both of the 60 Gal. hot water tanks. They had simultaneously given up the ghost.... and leaked all over the floors! The tanks belong to NB Power, so they weren't long in replacing them for us! We had hot water by days end.

Also on that first night we found we still were having problems with bears. We have been having a Bear making a mess of our dumpster for a week or two, but the 80 plus people banging around the property didn't deter her (them). And to compound the problem, the garbage collection company had two trucks out of commission and our garbage was piling up. After several calls to the Dept. of Natural Resources we received a bear trap - it's been parked next to the dumpster all week.... and since it's been there we haven't heard a peep out of the bear... The garbage collection people... after some encouraging phone calls sent a pick up truck and trailer for our mound of refuse. So by end of day tuesday all seemed to be improving on that front.

We had a group of people from Lisbon Falls Baptist Church come to help us with camp. They are a puppet troop and have huge hearts for sharing the gospel! As well as the puppet troop, they worked as counsellors, kitchen staff (those ladies worked very hard this week) and even helped with running the boat. we certainly could not have run the camp without them. The gospel presentations, songs, verses and stories that Linda Audie and her team brought were amazing and clearly presented the gospel of Jesus Christ to the kids. By weeks end we had roughly 18 professions of faith, Praise the Lord. Mrs. Audie was able to give bibles to the children and I think they will be keeping in touch with the kids via mail! We were so encouraged to have them with us - and grateful for some wonderful new friends!

This weekend we have been recharging and preparing for a new week. we have a team coming from Gory, Ontario late tonight... if I hurry I may get back to the camp in time to greet them.

Pray for us this week, we had the boat sink last night and it will need to be serviced in order to be used again. I've been struggling with a allergic reaction, it doesn't seem to be all that serious just yet, but I had some swelling in my lips today, so I may need to go back to Minto Health Center again tomorrow for something a little stronger. The thing is I have NO idea what I'd be allergic to, the allergy started before I left NS... I've narrowed it down to one of two possibilities, it's either some licorice that I've been eating or possibly my new contact lenses (if you can even be allergic to those?) but other than that I can think of nothing consistant that'd be bothering me like this.

Please Pray for the staff and the campers this week, I'm sure the week will have it's own set of struggles, but the Lord provides as we need. The prayers of our friends and supporters will certainly help to carry us through! Blessings and I'll talk to ya soon...

Waiting on the dock for the boat, the kids sure love to swim!

Venus Coté was our chef this year in the kitchen. And let me tell you... it's takes a master to cook for nearly a hundred people and still have it taste like mom's home cooking... and Venus rocks that kitchen like a pro!

Mrs. Audie and the Lisbon Falls Puppet Troop!

In the afternoons the kids rotate between Crafts, Canoeing, Tuck shop and Archery! This week I manned the Archery field!

Staff Training

This afternoon our staff will begin to arrive for this evening's staff training. Our paramedic is
coming from St. John, our lifeguard from Sussex and a large team is coming from Lisbon Falls, ME. We're really excited to see everyone and are prayerful for a wonderful week of ministry! Please keep the staff and campers in your prayers throughout this week. Pray that the Lord would be glorified, pray for safety and a great week of camp! The campers arrive tomorrow morning, registration is at 2 pm.

I'll try to post an update once through the week, but it will be a busy time, so I may not get back to the house to an internet connection. But stay tuned for pictures and tales!

Canadian Tire Caper.

For a glimpse of the fun we had shopping with the Canadian Tire Money...

Eleventh Hour

It was a full day. It all began bright and early at about 7:30, Jeff White (my friend from Windsor who stopped in to visit) helped me finish the garden around the sign, it was nice to have the extra help! Jeff's morning began a little earlier than that... sometime in the pitch black he heard a rustling outside his cabin. He peered out into the night and caught glimpse of a bear sitting on the lid of the dumpster and chowing down on the garbage... the sneaky fellow has been making a mess for a couple of weeks now.

After lunch Ben, James and I worked on tidying up the workshop. We made quite a bit of headway, there's still a bit left to do.

Before we came home Kevin and I set up the chapel and James set up the electronics. We have just one day left to get everything into ship shape for staff to arrive on Sunday! It's gonna be an exciting week.

The new sign is complete

Somewhat more organized tool shop

Truly Canadian

Today Kevin and I went on the big Canadian Tire shopping spree. Several months ago, as a fundraiser, we sent out the request for Canadian Tire Money. The response that we received was phenomenal, we received as little as 5¢ and as much as $254 from individuals and churches, in the end we had $1,117.15 and a $40 gift card to spend on some very necessary items for Arrowhead. Every single cent was greatly appreciated and has been put to good use! We purchased 10 life jackets, a wake board for the boat, tools and supplies, 4 x two way FM radios, a cordless phone for the main lodge, heavy duty hose and a hose cart, just to mention some. We were told by a man at the cash that we were True Canadians to have that much Canadian Tire money!

When we first arrived we presented ourselves to the manager to allow them time to count our bag of cash. While we were chatting with people it turned out the two ladies in the accounting office were both pastors wives, a man in the electrical department is a pastor and actually attended some NCEM training. Another man had been on a cross cultural short term trip with his church. The staff were all very friendly and interested in what we are doing. It was an exciting shopping trip.

We shot quite a bit of video of our day, so I'll be posting a short video in the next day or two of our escapades at Canadian Tire Sussex for those who are interested!

This evening I had a surprise visit from my home pastor Jeff White. It was really exciting to be able to give him a tour of the camp and spend a few hours with him. Liz and I will certainly miss Windsor when we move to Cumberland Bay!

Big Ol' Bag of Canadian Tire Loot!

Parade of Carts!

Pastor Jeff White and myself ... and the four little Hostas (to be planted tomorrow)

Conquering the Serpent!

Today we were sorry to bid our new friends farewell! We certainly enjoyed getting to know them. Silent Thunder is a band from Bear River, Nova Scotia who's ministry objective is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ through song. They spent several nights with us and were an invaluable help in many of our pre-camp projects! Thanks again! Before they departed we shared a few minutes together in the word and in prayer, it was an encouragement to all of us to be able to share together.

Afterwards, Marcia and Deanna headed into the city today to pick up the remaining groceries for camp! Meanwhile back at the ranch, Ben and I spent the day putting the finishing touches on the sign and beginning work on the garden at it's base! We built a stone wall around it's base as a border for the garden and will plant some Hosta's tomorrow! While piling rocks, Ben was attacked by a vicious serpent (pictured below)... but take heart... he is well.

Tomorrow promises to be a fun day, Kevin and I will be heading to Canadian Tire for the big shopping spree. Thanks to everyone's generous donations we have over $1150.00 to spend on necessities for the camp... watch for a video coming soon to a blog near you!

Ben defeats the serpent...

Our new friends depart (back L to R): Pastor Nathan, Todd, Tina, Rose, Grant, Ben, James

(front L to R): Kayla, Kevin & Hannah

Signs, Sun, Surgery and Benadryl...

Lizzies surgery went well. Tracy took her in to Dartmouth this morning and they returned to our dentist back in Windsor in the afternoon. She has some stitches and the implant is in - she will have to be on anti-biotics for a while as she heals. But everything went well and she is home on the mend.

Here in NB, I've been suffering with some kind of allergy. I'm not sure what, but I've clearly come into contact with something that has seriously annoyed my immune system. The doc gave me a shot and sent me off to live in a Benadryl induced stupor for a week... I should recover.

It was another busy day at Arrowhead. We were very grateful to have our friends from Bear River with us again today. First on the agenda was moving back the pews into the chapel. Today with three times the manpower we were done in no time. After dinner I decided it was time to stop whining and file an official complaint with a doctor. While I was away the guys removed the old Arrowhead sign out by the road. It was a bigger job than we could have even considered without help. After I returned, I got busy in the shop building a frame for the new sign. All the guys pitched in to help us finish erecting the new sign... again without all that extra muscle... might never have happened. The new sign looks great, it was hand painted by our very own Carroll Hill and certainly makes a striking welcome to anyone going by or dropping in.

PS - the amazing traditional Mikmaq bread we've been enjoying is called Luski... in case you were wondering.

James and Pastor Nathan made the pews look much lighter than they actually were

Ben... faithful helper in the sign escapade

Again with the heavy...

The crew (L to R): Myself, Kevin, Nathan , and Todd... thanks a million guys!

The Perfect Storm.

Yesterday we had a pleasant surprise, two couples from Bear River, Nova Scotia were passing through on their way home from Montreal. They are a Christian musical group that is beginning to share in ministry. It has been great to meet them and get to know them a little bit, they were very excited to learn about Arrowhead and asked to stay here for a couple of days and help out with camp preparations. We are more than grateful for the additional help.

Kevin and I got a start on painting the floor in the Chapel, after the second coat dries we'll be able to put the pews back. We're happy to have extra help around tomorrow to make the task a bit lighter!

This morning, while everyone else began with mowing, weed wacking, cabin cleaning etc., Ben and I headed in to Chipman to pick up some necessities. We stopped in at a shop where we had been told we'd be able to get an anchor chain for the boat. The shop has gone out of business, but the owner was there packing up - so he helped us out as best he could! We were able to get a great piece of anchor chain for a steal of a deal, and fortunately we caught him while he still has his forklift. Ben and I also picked up some paint and other necessities at Home Hardware and were back at Arrowhead before lunch. Kevin and I put on the second coat of paint. James, Ben and Deanna cleaned out cabins and replaced the batteries in all the smoke detectors.

This afternoon, Nathan (the Pastor from bear River) and I loaded the mooring chain onto the raft, Kevin and Ben pulled James and I out to the mooring spot on the raft and we sank the anchor! That boat is going nowhere!!

And you've probably been wondering just why this post has been entitled 'The Perfect Storm'. Well it was at the suggestion of Ben. You see, while we were just attaching the buoy to the anchor and chain, the winds came up quite dramatically and the water became very rough. The dock became detached from it's anchor and the guys were trying to moor the boat out at the new anchor. Needless to say it was an adventure. I went scrounging for the dock anchor while Kevin and James anchored the boat and swam to shore... Ben stood on shore and giggled... The Perfect Storm, he said...

Tonight we enjoyed some music by our friends from Bear River and some home baked Mi'kmaq bread with Molasses! (it wasn't bannock, but I forget what it was called... either way it was delicious)

Please pray for Lizzie tomorrow. She is going for some dental surgery in Dartmouth at 10:30 am. She had an accident a few months ago and is having to have an implant to correct the damage. The surgery requires her to be anesthetized for two hours, so a friend of ours is taking her. They will then travel back to Windsor to our dentist who will put on a temporary crown while the implant heals.

Kevin & I put on the first coat of paint in the Chapel.

Ben and I went into Chipman and picked up the new mooring anchor for the boat.

Ben, James and our friends from Bear River did a LOT of yard work today!

Pastor Nathan and I moved the new anchor onto our makeshift tugboat.

Tug boating out the new anchor!

Todd and Pastor Nathan singing for us.

Pew!

Another beautiful day in Cumberland Bay. It was a great day to be outside and to spite being Kevin's birthday, he threw himself into the work with us. Kev and I moved the eleven church pews, that we use in our chapel, upstairs into the main lodge. We will be painting the floors in the chapel and needed to remove the furniture to do the job properly.

While we were doing that, Ben inflated all of the basketballs, volleyballs and soccer balls. He also inflated some of the tubes etc. for the boat. Later in the day Ben, Johnny and I began to gather up some of the windfall brush and branches around the property. We began near the lakefront and worked our way up - we'll finish that job another day. It has been really great to have the help of these young fellas to get this work done!

Pews are heavy... who knew!?

The boat-master preparing his tools of trade...

The fallen branches were... heavy(ish).

sun, sand & signs...

Today Kevin and I headed up to the Miramichi to visit our friends at River Signs. We had the truck and gate signs detailed with the camp logo. River Signs very graciously donated their work and materials to Arrowhead.

Whilst we were abroad, Ben and James worked very hard back at Arrowhead doing some manual labour. They finished up the path work we had started yesterday, spread out the sand on the volley ball court, and swept the basketball pad. their help before camp is hugely appreciated!

Darren Goodfellow putting the finishing touches on the truck.

Carrol Hill painted some beautiful new signs for Arrowhead at the main gate. Here Darren is adding the camp logo in vinyl.

The signs turned out great!

rocks and trails...

It was a great day! The sun shone, and we got a lot of work done! Today we built walking trails to the girls cabins. We moved rocks from the woods, where they had been piled when the big field was cleared, these we used as edges for the trails. Then we shoveled and raked and shoveled some more and filled the trails with fine crushed rock. It made for some nice trails if we do say so ourselves. It was hot, so we rounded out the day by dangling our feet off the dock!

Before we began the trail blazing!

After: brand new trails at the girls cabins!

The hard working crew! Kevin, Kayla & Hannah, James, me, Ben & Deanna

the arrival.

Liz dropped me off in Stewiacke this morning at 11 am, where I met my buddy Ben and we hit the highway. We arrived in Moncton just after 1, had lunch and did a few errands in town.
It was a great day for a road trip and as with all road trips... good times :0) We arrived at Arrowhead just as Kevin and James were putting the boat in the water.
It gave Ben a chance to familiarize himself with the boat and take it for it's 2009 maiden voyage. Ben will be our official boatman for this year!

Ben, James, Kevin and I will be getting an early start in the morning doing some yard work and landscaping. I'll let ya know how it goes... and if you're around and would like to lend a helping hand... we'd love to see your smiling face :0)

We are still looking for a lifeguard for the last week of camp... so if you know of someone who'd like to come and be a part of an awesome week of camp... just lemme know...

Camp Time!

Well the time has finally arrived! As with all things, it has been an adventure getting to this point, but tomorrow morning I will be off to New Brunswick. It promises to be an exciting summer and I am really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, because our house is as yet unsold and our support is not sufficient for Liz to leave her job - she has to remain behind in Nova Scotia and work while I go to Arrowhead. It is disappointing for both of us that she won't be able to be there this year, but the Lord knows and has everything well in hand. We're continuing to trust Him for the sale of our home and financial support.

Kevin and Marcia haven't been without their share of struggles in preparing for camp this year as well. The majority of the staff for camp surfaced and the positions filled up... all except for that of lifeguard. Those of you who regularly read this blog know that they have been seeking a lifeguard for quite some time. It wasn't until the very last possible day that one was found. Unfortunately it was necessary to cancel the first week of camp, but the lifeguard is able to come and serve for the middle two weeks of camp and we still have a couple of weeks to find someone for Teen Week.

So keep the volunteer teams in your prayers as they come from Maine, Ontario and the Maritimes. And keep the kids in prayer as they come, that the week they enjoy at camp will impact their lives eternally.

Thanks to all of your donations, Kevin and I will be going to Canadian Tire with over $1,000 in Canadian Tire money this week... watch for some pictures and an update on the shopping spree!