With outdoor education and retreat groups coming in and out of camp constantly, the people of spring staff are rarely left alone. Our days are spent working very hard to meet the needs of the groups that come through, and our evenings are often spent trying to recover from the mental and physical drain that each day can be. In no way are we complaining, because we are here to serve and we love what we do, but every once in a while it’s good to have a day off. And on Tuesday, many of the spring staffers were given the day off as it was one of the rare days where we had no group on site.
With no group and no responsibilities for the day, it was time for a field trip.
And since camp seems to attract the outdoorsy types, some of the staff gathered up a boat and a motor, as well as some fishing and climbing gear for an epic fishing/climbing adventure at Horseshoe Lake.
And of course every good fishing trip needs a long and difficult portage. Unfortunately, their portaging apparatus was…this.
The good news is, they were able to get it in the water despite losing all movement in their shoulders. And in true RRBC style, they’re still smiling.
Since the fishing boat wasn’t the biggest ship in the sea, they needed to bring another. It doesn’t seem like Jack has too much of a problem with that. Thumbs up for fun!
Why is Jack okay with this exclusion? Well, as much as he enjoys fishing, Jack and Jayelle had other plans for the day. I guess you could say they had…high expectations. (Please note: Puns will occur in these weekly posts. I have a problem)
Jack and Jayelle have proved to be the most adventurous of all the spring staff, so it came to nobody’s surprise that they decided to climb cliffs instead of fishing. If you’re on ground level, then you’re just not having fun. But with every adventure, there are obstacles. And for Jack and Jayelle, these obstacles were called trees.
Don’t be fooled by those smiles. They’re actually grimacing. But there is a happy ending to this torturous journey for both Jack, Jayelle, and the rest of the boys. For Jack and Jayelle, they experienced first hand the age old saying “At the end of every great climb, you’ll find…a table and kitchen appliances..?”
I’ve been told that it’s important to note that this is miles into the bush. You can choose your own adventure as to how it got there. But like I said, the boys also found success on this day, as they caught themselves a beautiful fish. Or two. Or one and a half? If you look closely, there is a small fish stuck in the massive gills of the larger fish.
But let me tell you, it was certainly not no work and all play at RRBC this week. We hosted the always awesome group from the Winnipeg Chinese Mennonite Church on the weekend, and the very fun group from Island Lakes School this week. The kids at Island Lakes all had team names and team t-shirts, and it sure looked like they had a blast.
And like always, the maintenance crew was very hard at work all week as well.
Okay, I know that doesn’t look like work, but in their defence, the guys have been growing beards throughout the string, and monitoring our progress is very important for staff unity. I was thinking about periodically showing our progress as the spring goes on, but as you can see from Daniel’s face, my camera doesn’t capture enough megapixels to make that worth while.
If anything, this last picture on this post is just for me. Here is a picture of Karl cleaning, and the reason it’s here is because I think it looks like he’s holding his clone up by (spray) gun point. Have I been given to much authority with this blog? Perhaps.
Like always, we really appreciate that you take the time to read the blog. And because people seem to be reading what we have to say, we thought it would be a good chance to express some of our prayer requests for the camp so you all can help us out in that way. We met as a staff and talked about what we needed prayer for this week, and we came up with a couple key things.
1. Cyclathon
We’ve spent a lot of time over the last month preparing for Cyclathon, as it’s one of our main fundraisers that we do throughout the year. We would like you to pray for our preparation, and most importantly for good weather. This event will run a lot smoother if the sun is shining, so if you could keep that in mind that would be appreciated.
2. Summer Staff
This summer will be different than the past few because we are transitioning from six full-time staff to three. Prayer for this transition to go smoothly will be important. It is also important to pray for the summer staff who will be coming to camp this year. As staff, we can have a very high impact on these campers lives, and there are often a lot of heavy responsibilities that we have to deal with. God’s hand in this will be vital to the success of our summer camp.
From the Integration department of camp, we also will be having campers come to camp with special needs. We have this every year and it is in many ways such a blessing, but God’s wisdom in the preparation and the care of these campers will be needed.
3. General Needs
Every day there is something new to fix, something new to make, or something new to plan. Prayer for wisdom in these decisions and practices is something that we really need. In particular, our boats have been causing us problems for a while now, and we’ve really been praying for a solution before summer camp. So if you could join us in that prayer, that would be awesome.
Thanks a lot for your continued support of RRBC. We’re having a blast over here, and God is definitely at work. Check back throughout the week as we’ll continue to serve up some tasty posts for you all, and in the meantime, God bless.
