Hey everyone! It's hard to believe it's already been a week since I started this summer journey at Timber Wolf Lake. Each day I am reminded of how blessed I am to have this opportunity to serve in such a wonderful place.
Last week, our camp was hosting an inner varsity fellowship of Christ group from the University of Illinois. It was actually fun being able to jump in to things right away in the kitchen. I have the morining shift each day working from 6am to about 3pm. A quick summary of what my job looks like is putting away the truck load that comes twice a week, getting the summer staff started on cooking breakfast, start preparing meals for the next couple days, get lunch cooking, clean up, etc. I definitely enjoy having plenty to do and love being able to learn a whole new world in food service as well as having a leadership role too!
Along with learning the ropes in the kitchen, the past week has been great being able to build community with my fellow interns. After the inner varsity group left, we were able to have the weekend off from work. Some of the interns decided to take off for home, while the rest of us hung out together in beautiful Northern Michigan. Saturday our group went to Traverse City. We walked down the downtown area, and went to a few stores including a Backwoods outdoor store and Cherry Republic. At the outdoor store, I decided to buy a pair of Chaco sandals. While they are more expensive than flip flops, these shoes are perfect for me as I live the camp intern life for the next fifteen months. They're comfortable yet durable in the everyday camp world. At the Cherry Republic store our group was able to sample tons of cherry items including: cherry salsa, cherry jelly, cherry cookies, chocolate covered cherries, and cherry soda. It was all so good! I definitely recommend the cherry cream soda and the cherry boomchunka cookies!
Also, during the weekend we did not have meals prepared from the kitchen since there were no guest groups here. However, each day the property staff took turns having the interns over for dinner. Saturday we had pizza night courtesy of the Sharps (Guest Services Coordinator), Sunday we had hobo pie night at the Bartlett's (Landscaping/Maintenance), and Monday we hadan amazing pork loin meal with baked potatoes, salad, and strawberry pie courtesy of the Polls (Property Manager). All so good! Right after dinner Monday, we then broke up into teams of four and competed in mini games from the show Minute to Win it! Our team got second place out of four teams overall. Not too shabby.
So, as I said earlier I am continually reminded of God's glory each day at this camp. First of all, the beauty here is remarkable. I've attached a few pictures for you to see that compliment the scripture found in Psalm 19:1. Along with God's creation, I have also seen his glory through the people here at camp. It is such an amazing community of great people who genuinely care for others, have servants' hearts, and want to do their part to allow kids to be meet Jesus Christ. Finally, I have seen God's glory through prayer. One amazing story I would love to share is about my friend Zach, the video intern who is from Eastern Tennesee. Two nights ago he was very discouraged because he just found out a couple of his high school Young Life kids from home who were planning on going to camp in a couple weeks, were eight hundred dollars short of the amount needed. That's a lot of money to overcome in a two week time table to be sure. The only thing we really knew to do was pray. So at our morining devotional meeting, Zach asked for prayer regarding the situation. The next time I saw Zach was around 4pm and I decided I wanted to give ten dollars to help his kids. As I offered the cash, he smiled and said "Thanks man, but it's already taken care of!" It turns out that within 30 minutes of our prayer in the morning Zach had people here at camp giving him the exact amount needed including a 400 dollar check from one couple. Praise God for this tremendous blessing and for the opportunity Zach will now have to take these kids to camp to the exact same place he was led to Christ four or five years ago!
On that note I want to thank all of you for your support as well for my journey here at Timber Wolf Lake and my upcoming journey at Sharp Top Cove in Georgia. I'm getting closer and closer to the amount I need for Georgia and continually feel your prayers here currently at camp. Please be in prayer for me and the other staff as we prepare for our Young Life summer trips coming up in a couple of weeks. There will be a lot of work ahead, so pray for our persistence and patience with each other as we get excited for campers to arrive on June 6! I look forward to sharing more with you next week. Until then, be blessed by the joy of Jesus!
