A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Camp – 16 c -- TREE FALLING

Every Orientation Week we had one of the local retired Forest Rangers, George, come up to show the staffers where the different hiking trails were and to identify the different plants and trees.   He hated Smokey the Bear.  He said the reason we have these horrendous forest fires is because we prevent the little fires that burned the under brush from growing so thick.   He told us that the Indians knew how to manage small brush fires and keep the forest safe.  

            George was also our tree climbing person.  Once a week at Logging Camp he would climb a tree and top it off.   We had climbing gear for the campers and we would let them volunteer to put the climbing gear on and go up the tree.  They loved it! George would also fall a dead tree each week.   It was amazing!   We had the campers backed away from behind the tree.   George would start hammering a wedge into the backside of the tree.   George would finish off with a hammer and the tree would fall.   The campers were like magnets being drawn to metal.   The second the tree fell the campers would rush to the fallen tree and touch it.   We would then show them how many rings there were in the cut tree to determine how old it was.  We would let campers take a turn at the two-man saw cutting the tree into pieces.

            One time when George was going to cut down a tree, he hammered in his wedges to direct where the tree should fall.  The campers with their counselors were behind him and the tree.   All of a sudden he yelled to the Coordinator to get the campers away.   The tree was swaying the wrong way.   It looked like it was going to fall backwards where the campers were standing.   He was able to stall the tree from falling and everyone was o.k.   He said afterward that the tree was rotting from inside out and his wedge would not hold the direction of the fall. Scarry!

Choosing to make life work – 15 L -- FAMILY VALUES

We learn our values within our family which in turn contributes to building character.  The love and support we experience within the family enables us to step out into the community and be the best we can.  The encouragement we receive within the family helps us to learn to trust others and to become part of a greater family, a community.   Being part of the family can equip us to grow up as healthy persons.  Our families provide the security we need in a world full of insecurities.

We deal with all kinds of issues.  Among some of them is authority and control, communication and decision making or problem solving, and how to deal with aggressive behavior and anxiety.  Each family develops it’s own style.   The family is where we experience frustration and tension.  This is where we learn to resolve these issues and learn how to show sympathy, understanding and lots of support.  Developing rituals, phrases, secrets, tastes, jokes are ways we identify our particular family.  I encourage you to be intentional about doing things in ways that brings the sense of belongingness to those in your family. 

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Camp – 15 c—SOME BEGINNINGS

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Camp – 15 c—SOME BEGINNINGS

We would have our team meetings that first year in the “sugar shack.”   When we first began at Sherwood, I was the Coordinator and led the singing at campfires. I remember making all kinds of facial antics singing the Austrian Yodeling song and Little Red Caboose.   It was fun for me.   I loved being with the campers.

Every year I would drive our little white VW “bug” to use mostly for going up and down from Sherwood Forest.   It was small and very maneuverable on the dirt roads.  One year when Nancy was graduating from High School, I drove the VW back home to Santa Rosa during Orientation Week.  I was going to go down one day and come back up the next day.   Don MacInnes, the Mission Area Education Consultant at the time, would come up each year to help with the staff training of curriculum.   He was going to take those two days while I was gone.  I planned to be back for the closure of Orientation Week.  My niece, Janet, who was on staff that year, went with me.  On the way back to camp after the graduation, the VW konked out on us in Los Banos.   It would take a couple of days to repair it there.   Ted came down from Calvin Crest and we pulled the VW back to camp.  Obviously, I missed the last day of Orientation Week.  Don closed it up for me. One of our staff men was handy as a mechanic and he got The Bug running again.

            As the years progressed and we added more camps and the number of campers grew, we hired young adults to coordinate the different camps.   We were running several Primary, Junior, Junior High, Outpost, Senior High, AIM (Assistants in Mission) during the summer.   In addition, we had College and Family Conferences including programs for Pre-Schoolers.

Choosing To Make Life Work – 14L – CONTAGIOUS VALUES

       The way we live with one another demonstrates what we believe about ourselves and our values.   What has deep meaning for us governs the direction of how we behave with others and how we react in different situations. Our existence depends on our values.  Who am I?  Where did I come from?   Where am I going?  Who are you?  Who is in control?

        It seems clear to me that the value of our faith and who we think Jesus is determines the way we behave with others and how we respond to different situations.   If we feel deeply about our Christian faith, then those we live with, work with and play with will see the reflection of that faith in how we live.   

Our lifestyle will becomes a contagious visual that others will be attracted to and want to experience themselves.   Do we accept and forgive others as Christ accepts and forgives us?   Do we share the joy of life by the way we treat others?  Are we there for comfort with those who are struggling?  Are we open to share our struggles with others so that we may learn from our experiences?

            As we are intentional in living in ways that demonstrates God’s love, then the Gospel or good news of Christ is a positive invitation to others to join the family of faith.   

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Camp – 14c – STAFF ORIENTATION WEEK

        When we began the new thrust in the camp and conference ministry at Calvin Crest, the summer staff lived in the old Apple Orchard.   These were tent tops over a wood floor.   There was path to the bath facilities.   Later on around 1975, we built new lodge type facilities.   They included single bed size bunks, four to a room, with indoor plumbing.   We also had a good size meeting room for use by the staff in the summer.   This area was available then to outside groups for rental including the break out room in non-summer months and winter snow retreats.

We would hire around sixty college students each summer.   They worked in program, with the different age groups; in the different departments, including grounds, maintenance, food service, office and store.   The Staff arrived at camp a week before the first camp week began.  There was orientation to the grounds, their particular jobs, as well as teacher and counselor training.  

One year an unexpected development happened the first week of camp.   Ted Lyons, the Executive Director, had arranged to have the internal dirt roads in camp watered and have a light tar surface cover the roads.    We wanted to keep the dirt from blowing all over with all the campers and vehicles of the vendors on them all summer.   The work was to be done the week before the staff came into camp.   As it turned out the contractor could not get there until a few days before.   The oil had not dried up and we could not drive our vehicles onto the grounds to unload all of our summer supplies and each staff’s suitcases and items.   It was a mess.  We had to unload off the roads down at the entrance of the camp.   We transported the boxes and suitcases in wheelbarrows and carried them in.   One of those memorable events you do not forget.