Well summer is fully upon us in every way except the temperature. Our summer staff have all arrived, we have finished three fontier village camps, and have hosted numerous guest groups on our main campus. It definately feels like summer... other than the fact that the temperature has not risen above eighty for the past several weeks.
With all the craziness that goes into this time of year, the support of those who partner with us in ministry is more crucial than ever. We have already had 15 kids come to salvation at Frontier Village this year and we are blessed to once again to partner with the Word of Truth Ministries, who conduct bible study correspondence programs with all these kids to continue their discipleship and growth once they leave camp.
We recently received a letter from Kathy O'brien, the director of this ministry telling us about a camper from last year who has faithfully been doing their bible correspondence program this past year. Kathy writes:
"She had been invited to come to camp by a friend and didn't really know what to expect... Her favorite part of camp was chapel times. She wrote me, "I learned so much about God and Jesus and all that. The best thing I learned was that God loves me. Imagine God loving me when so many people in my life don't even like me. I talked with my conselor a lot about why God would love me and I cried a lot just thinking how wonderful it was that God loved me. At the end of the week I didn't want to go home. I was having too much fun and learning so much. But on Friday I asked Jesus to be my Savior... Then I was told about a way I could learn more about God after I left camp. I wrote to you and you have been kind enough to send me Bible lessons in the mail. I have learned so much about God. Now I love him back. Jesus is wonderful to know too and to know that He died for me and took the punishment for my sin. He is such a good guy. Thank you for helping me learn all these things and more"...By the way, she is saving up her babysitting money and doing little jobs around the house to earn money to be at camp this summer."
It is such a blessing for us to partner with this ministry to provide continued teaching for our campers once they return home. Please pray for this ministry and for the campers who will come to know Christ this summer.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
The Next Billy Graham?
You never know who you might meet at Prescott Pines Camp. The rumpled kid with shoelaces untied and missing a sock (where do all those socks lost at camp go?), galloping past you to be the first in line at the dining hall, might just be the next Billy Graham.
We love to hear stories about camp, and today we heard a fantastic one. This week a group of volunteers from Trinity Baptist in Mesa came up to camp to help us out with some landscaping work. Pastor Vince was working outside the chapel, when he started talking to a 11-year old boy named Jay who was up at camp with Faith Community Church. After asking the normal questions about fun activities at camp and school, Pastor Vince asked Jay if he had made anything at camp, and what had he learned.
Not realizing that Vince was a pastor, Jay proceeded to witness to him. During the week, the campers had learned about witnessing, and were given the million-dollar bill tract to help them remember. Jay went over the ten commandments with Vince, establishing that he was indeed a sinner, and told him Jesus was the only way to get to heaven. Wanting to see how much Jay had learned, Pastor Vince asked him if he could be good and make a large donation to a church instead. Jay honestly replied that money really didn't mean much, and the only way is Jesus. They ended the conversation with Jay telling Vince that he should go home and read his bible.
These kids coming up to camp each week, will be the leaders of the Church... ten... twenty... thirty years from now. It's amazing to be a part of God's work here on earth.
Laura
We love to hear stories about camp, and today we heard a fantastic one. This week a group of volunteers from Trinity Baptist in Mesa came up to camp to help us out with some landscaping work. Pastor Vince was working outside the chapel, when he started talking to a 11-year old boy named Jay who was up at camp with Faith Community Church. After asking the normal questions about fun activities at camp and school, Pastor Vince asked Jay if he had made anything at camp, and what had he learned.
Not realizing that Vince was a pastor, Jay proceeded to witness to him. During the week, the campers had learned about witnessing, and were given the million-dollar bill tract to help them remember. Jay went over the ten commandments with Vince, establishing that he was indeed a sinner, and told him Jesus was the only way to get to heaven. Wanting to see how much Jay had learned, Pastor Vince asked him if he could be good and make a large donation to a church instead. Jay honestly replied that money really didn't mean much, and the only way is Jesus. They ended the conversation with Jay telling Vince that he should go home and read his bible.
These kids coming up to camp each week, will be the leaders of the Church... ten... twenty... thirty years from now. It's amazing to be a part of God's work here on earth.
Laura
Friday, May 22, 2009
Blessings from God
For those of you who don't know, we have a fake mine here at camp for kids to learn about gold panning, but somehow we've stumbled onto a real gold mine with SOWERS "Servants On Wheels Ever Ready". This organization has numerous members who travel the country in RVs helping out at Christian camps, schools, churches and other ministries. They are all retired and pay their own way to get from project to project. They bring to us the expertise and skills that they have acquired throughout their lives such as carpentry, plumbing, sewing, electrical and office work, and the best part is... it's free!
So far this year we've had SOWERS every month and they have been such a blessing to us at camp. They pick up the slack when our maintenance department needs help, doing anything and everything that is asked of them. In January they completely remodeled our kitchen office and did a fantastic job. February's crews was small, only one couple, but that didn't slow them down one bit. There were so many little things that "we just couldn't get to" that Bob (the sower) accomplished for us. He built cabinet doors, touched up paint in every cabin, replaced electrical outlets, and the list goes on and on. Then in March we had four couples and they literally tore the place up... in a good way! There were two heavy equipment operators and we put them to work on our new backhoe. They fixed the drainage on our ball field, added parking up at the Hilltop cabins, enlarged the area around the sand volleyball court, and a lot more. Also, while the men were busy tearing up the camp grounds, their wives were hard at work sprucing up the cabins. They painted and sewed new valences for Acorn meeting room, and sewed new curtains for the Hilltop cabins.
Last month in April, we had four new couples come and serve here with us, and just so you know, that's exactly how we look at it. These men and women are coming along side of us to serve as part of our team. Even though they are only here for a short time, their work and impact will last a great deal longer. This past month they finished up the new Hogan that was built in Frontier Village in March, re-roofed the Hungry Bear Cafe, continued sewing and hanging the new curtains for the Hilltop cabins, made new parking spaces for spruce cabin, repaired chairs for the Chapel and widened the road behind the Hungry Bear Cafe. Next time you are up at camp, be sure to check out the new landscaping and flowers around the grounds that this group worked on.
I suppose our only real challenge this year regarding the SOWERS is going to be..."How do we keep them busy?" We all know that the economy is hard right now, and trust me, it's no different at camp...money's tight! But so far God has given us the right people for the job at hand. We've been able to keep them busy doing things that cost little to nothing, but make a big difference. Working at camp is sometimes like floating down an unfamiliar river. You're not sure where you're going all the time, but you're still moving ahead. As long as God continues to send us SOWERS we're going to assume that He has a plan for them here. It's kind of exciting knowing that God has a plan... it makes out life a lot easier, and we can just enjoy the ride.
Paul
So far this year we've had SOWERS every month and they have been such a blessing to us at camp. They pick up the slack when our maintenance department needs help, doing anything and everything that is asked of them. In January they completely remodeled our kitchen office and did a fantastic job. February's crews was small, only one couple, but that didn't slow them down one bit. There were so many little things that "we just couldn't get to" that Bob (the sower) accomplished for us. He built cabinet doors, touched up paint in every cabin, replaced electrical outlets, and the list goes on and on. Then in March we had four couples and they literally tore the place up... in a good way! There were two heavy equipment operators and we put them to work on our new backhoe. They fixed the drainage on our ball field, added parking up at the Hilltop cabins, enlarged the area around the sand volleyball court, and a lot more. Also, while the men were busy tearing up the camp grounds, their wives were hard at work sprucing up the cabins. They painted and sewed new valences for Acorn meeting room, and sewed new curtains for the Hilltop cabins.
Last month in April, we had four new couples come and serve here with us, and just so you know, that's exactly how we look at it. These men and women are coming along side of us to serve as part of our team. Even though they are only here for a short time, their work and impact will last a great deal longer. This past month they finished up the new Hogan that was built in Frontier Village in March, re-roofed the Hungry Bear Cafe, continued sewing and hanging the new curtains for the Hilltop cabins, made new parking spaces for spruce cabin, repaired chairs for the Chapel and widened the road behind the Hungry Bear Cafe. Next time you are up at camp, be sure to check out the new landscaping and flowers around the grounds that this group worked on.
I suppose our only real challenge this year regarding the SOWERS is going to be..."How do we keep them busy?" We all know that the economy is hard right now, and trust me, it's no different at camp...money's tight! But so far God has given us the right people for the job at hand. We've been able to keep them busy doing things that cost little to nothing, but make a big difference. Working at camp is sometimes like floating down an unfamiliar river. You're not sure where you're going all the time, but you're still moving ahead. As long as God continues to send us SOWERS we're going to assume that He has a plan for them here. It's kind of exciting knowing that God has a plan... it makes out life a lot easier, and we can just enjoy the ride.
Paul
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Gladiator Games
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. That's the focus of this year's youth camp - Gladiator. A common practice for ancient cultures was to have a champion from each county fight to decide who was the victor. We are locked into a battle against the forces of darkness with no hope of succeeding on our own. But God has provided us with our own champion - a gladiator who cannot be defeated. Jesus Christ is the only way to achieve our victory over evil. All we have to do is let him fight for us. Join us this summer at youth camp to see this epic battle played out.
Ryan
Ryan
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Day of Reckoning
The theme for this year's Frontier Village is Round-up: The Day of Reckoning. Campers will experience camp in a whole new way as they try to make sense of an unfair world. Why would God allow the "bad guys" to win? Why doesn't good always have the upper hand? The lesson is simple - God is always in control, and sooner or later, there will be a day of reckoning. The only question that remains is, which side will you be on when that day comes?
Ryan
Ryan
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Like School Only Better!
Some people know it as Science Camp, others refer to it as Outdoor Education, but either way you look at it, it's a great time for kids to experience hands-on learning and have a fantastic time in the process.
We are currently in our forth season of running these educational camps for schools across Arizona. What started as an experiment has grown into a mainstay for our camp. We have developed a program where we do all of the teaching and programming... and teachers love it!
We teach a variety of subjects from Orienteering to History Hikes, and offer a lot of fun classes as well. Interestingly, a lot of schools choose Zip Line over the more educational class choices (I guess we are all just kids at heart :) At night we offer hay rides and camp fires, along with skit nights and visits from our local zoo. This year we actually had so much snow one week, we added an igloo building class! Our list of choices keeps on growing and so does the list of schools that keep coming year after year.
Guy
Check out what some of our Outdoor Education campers have had to say about the program:
"Thank you for letting us stay at Prescott Pines Camp. It was really fun. I liked everything. I liked the food, the drinks, gym, human foozball, gold panning, low ropes, zipline, archery, and even the hayride. Me and my friends really liked it. The beds were really comfortable." - Carter
"I should have payed more for you guys. I think Ryan the rookie and Ron are the funniest. I loved cleaning the cafeteria room with you guys it was fun. I got an award for best cleaning." - Christopher
"The trust fall and the other activities were really fun. The trust fall and zipline seemed a bit scary before I tried doing it." - Nicholas
"I loved the trip. I liked the zipline the best. The history hike was my second favorite. In my free time I would like to play Human foosball." - Anika
"My favorite activity would probably be the Challenge course. I loved the smores. The hayride was AWESOME! So was the food. My favorite part of the Challenge Course was probably the Trust Fall." - Misty
"I can't even stop thinking about your camp." - Alexis
We are currently in our forth season of running these educational camps for schools across Arizona. What started as an experiment has grown into a mainstay for our camp. We have developed a program where we do all of the teaching and programming... and teachers love it!
We teach a variety of subjects from Orienteering to History Hikes, and offer a lot of fun classes as well. Interestingly, a lot of schools choose Zip Line over the more educational class choices (I guess we are all just kids at heart :) At night we offer hay rides and camp fires, along with skit nights and visits from our local zoo. This year we actually had so much snow one week, we added an igloo building class! Our list of choices keeps on growing and so does the list of schools that keep coming year after year.
Guy
Check out what some of our Outdoor Education campers have had to say about the program:
"Thank you for letting us stay at Prescott Pines Camp. It was really fun. I liked everything. I liked the food, the drinks, gym, human foozball, gold panning, low ropes, zipline, archery, and even the hayride. Me and my friends really liked it. The beds were really comfortable." - Carter
"I should have payed more for you guys. I think Ryan the rookie and Ron are the funniest. I loved cleaning the cafeteria room with you guys it was fun. I got an award for best cleaning." - Christopher
"The trust fall and the other activities were really fun. The trust fall and zipline seemed a bit scary before I tried doing it." - Nicholas
"I loved the trip. I liked the zipline the best. The history hike was my second favorite. In my free time I would like to play Human foosball." - Anika
"My favorite activity would probably be the Challenge course. I loved the smores. The hayride was AWESOME! So was the food. My favorite part of the Challenge Course was probably the Trust Fall." - Misty
"I can't even stop thinking about your camp." - Alexis
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
All New Dead Things
Remember the old Hobby Hut that looked like a shack about ready to fall over? Well, we got our wish and have turned in into a Nature Den full of all new dead things! Over the last few years, we have had a number of donations towards our collection of taxidermy animals, and it is starting to look like a museum. Recently we received a donation that enabled us to add a skunk, chipmunk, rattle snake, raccoon and jack rabbit to the displays. The new Nature Den is used primarily for Outdoor Education classes, but we are planning on using it for Summer Camps as well. We are still working towards completion and are planning to add a few live reptiles, a video projector and such. Next time you come up to camp, ask us for a tour, we would love to show it off!
Guy
Guy
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