Where has the time gone?
Believe it or not, there is only one week left of spring staff, which also means we have about a week and a half until staff camp. It’s staggering to think about, but the staff here at Red Rock Bible Camp have their sites on the present, which means that the good times keep on rolling.
One of the coolest parts about settling in here on spring staff is that you have a lot of time to get to know the families of the full time staff who live here year round, which means we get to know the camp kids too. Out of the three families who live here year round, there are six kids in total, and all of them are just precious.
At the beginning of spring staff, a lot of the kids were very hesitant to get to know the new strangers who kept showing up at meal time. But over the last couple of weeks, it’s really starting to feel like one big family over here. Here’s Erik and Karl trying to entertain little Trenton. A common theme with these interactions are that the spring staffers often seem much happier about play time then the kids.
Mike’s been trying to befriend Shaya since the first day he got here. Shaya is a very friendly little girl, however by the looks of it, things aren’t going very well.
Come on Mike, don’t take it personally. The good news is that help isn’t far away. Our Maintenance Crew Chief, Adam Friesen, is also known around here as the Baby Whisperer. At some point in life, Adam developed the skills to entertain babies regardless of their mood or temperament. So what’s his secret?
Wait, what? Is that it? He just sits there?
Alright, you heard it here first, folks. If you want children to like you, just sit idly next to them. No need for peek-a-boo, tickle fights, or baby voices, just pop a squat. That being said, it turns out Shaya has a sweet spot for Mike after all. If first you don’t succeed…go for the tickle. That usually works.
It’s been great to spend time with the camp kids, but with their early bedtimes and our busy schedules, a lot of this interaction has been limited to before and after meals. And unfortunately for the kids, some of us spring staffers have found another hobby for our short time off during the day: batter-up!
I’ll admit, the logic isn’t really there. It’s two on two baseball with a soft bouncy ball, an arms length between first and second base, and one of Mike’s sandals is the bat. But nobody can take away the admirable intensity engrained deeply in the roots of the game. Just look at Mike, he’s willing dive head first into that wall just to reach third base.
Here’s another shot to show you how serious we really are about this game.
Yes! I’m glad you noticed the face Erik is making as he tries to make the play on Adam at second base. I noticed that as well, and as I flipped through my pictures, I was delighted to see that Erik’s outrageous facial expressions are a common theme throughout the game. And absolutely, I will spend the next three pictures posting blurry examples of Erik’s bizarre concentration faces.
Oh yeah.
Awesome.
Beautiful.
To this blog, Erik is the gift that keeps on giving. And I will continue to show off how outrageous he is until the comments on the blog tell me to stop.
But in all seriousness, the degree of intensity and level of outrageousness in these games provided great entertainment for the whole group of staff. All the fans in attendance conducted themselves with such high class with the exception of one unruly fan. Security took care of the situation, and no charges were laid.
In other exciting camp news, our Food and Services Director, Josh Dueck, is a happy man. For those of you who don’t know Josh, he’s a real outdoorsy kind of guy. In his free time he’s either with his family, fishing, or hunting. If you sit down to chat with him he has great stories of his many outdoorsy adventures that will leave you in admiration of the memories he has in life. And as much as Josh goes out hunting, it’s been a very long time since he’s come in contact with a bear. And after careful baiting and patience, he got one. So for those of you who aren’t into that kind of stuff, I’ll give you fair warning that there will be a picture.
Ready?
It’s not very gross or anything, I just want to give warning.
We’re good?
Good.
Ta da!
The reason I made sure there was warning before the picture was because I wanted to make sure there weren’t any reactions like Cloe’s when some of the girls were introduced to Old Smokie.
On a different note, Mike Froese has been eating an absurd amount of freezies, and has been drinking gallons of Coke Zero, so the spring staff held an intervention. It was impactfully hilarious. Erik made a sign. Mike continues to drink Coke Zero and eat freezies. Everyone’s happy.
Also, Jack and Jayelle had a pet frog for an evening. Seems about right. Not sure what the orange is for, but I really hope it was meant to be food.
On the prayer front, we still need prayer in mostly all the same areas as the past couple of weeks. We’re still short a few staff for the summer, and we’re really praying for God to challenge someone to take one of the available spots, even if just for a few weeks.
We’ve also started to really pray for the staff who have already committed to serve here. So if you think of us, please join us in prayer for our future staff, that God will prepare their hearts, and that they will be amazing representatives of Christ to the campers this summer.
God has shown us that he answers prayers many times this spring, so we thank you in advanced for your prayers. Our ministry couldn’t run without them.
Like I said, one more week left of spring staff. Which means the next time you read a weekly update, it will be the last one for a while. But fear not, because in the summer time these updates will be every day (just not as long).
Have a great week!
PS: For those of you who are here for your weekly Daniel Rempel fix, fear not, we have something good coming up later this week…
