Oak Forest Center

We had a wonderful trip helping at Oak Forest Center over the Labor Day weekend. Thank you for those of you who prayed that we would have an effective time there. Sam and Roy (Sam’s supervisor), together with a few other hard workers, were able to lay all of the carpet for this new facility. Tawnya worked hard picking rocks out of the future rec field site. That was a dirty job! There are pictures in our photo section detailing our work there. Thanks definitely goes out to Tim, LuAnne, Adrianna, and Kali (site manager family),for hosting us, feeding us and making us feel like part of the family!

Earlier this week (Mon-Wed), we were also able to join the LTD (Leadership Training & Development) students on their canoe trip. Each year Missionary Staff are allowed to join in on this trip to get to know the LTD students better. It was wonderful to hear each student’s testimony which will help us relate to each of them as we work alongside them this year.

This last Thursday was a busy day as it was Ladies Day at Camp Forest Springs. Tawnya helped with the craft project that many of the ladies worked on, and Sam was a server during the special noon meal. There were 160 in attendance which was amazing considering 100 of those registrations came in just one week before the event! The ladies were encouraged by speaker Sandi Bradford with the theme to “Pray without Ceasing”.

Today we’re all geared up for the NU vs USC game….what will tonight hold? Tears? Rejoicing? We will see. We’ve invited some friends over to watch the game with us. Not sure how they’ll react when they see how crazy we get about husker football…..we will see on that one too. We’ve got the hotdogs…the bean dip…the cookies with red frosting…now we just need a serious upset against Southern Cal!

Welcome To Our New Site!

Hello Everyone! Yes – we are alive! Have we been good about updating our website this month? Not exactly, but we’re managing despite the fact that we are still without internet at home. Worse things could definitely be happening, so we’re not too down and out. We are hoping to get internet with out any hassle very soon. Thanks family and friends for all your patience on our correspondence issues! We are thankful for lots of other things though……

Like the fact that we were able to attend Sam’s brother Ted’s wedding back in Nebraska earlier this month. That was a blessing! Since returning from that trip – we’ve really been digging into the activity around camp. Now we are nearly at the end of the Family Camp season! We can hardly believe it, but boy has it been a busy month, so it just makes sense that this month has flown by. Sam has finished the kiln shed and has also completed many finishing touches on the new coffee shop (see pics). The “busy”- ness of campers has allowed Sam to get plenty of experience already in fixing and maintaining many things in the cabins and around the buildings at camp. Sam’s also had the opportunity to drive the tractor for several hay-rides and outdoor education classes (see pictures). In the midst of all of the work at camp, all of the men staff take time out each Friday afternoon for a camper vs. staff softball game. Sam has thoroughly enjoyed this highlight of each week (see picture of him batting).

I’ve enjoyed being surrounded by some of his handy-work as I have been working the morning shift in the coffee shop. I’ve also been involved with cleaning camp’s guesthouse and taking care of the camp laundry in between camper groups. I’ve included some pictures of the laundry room, highlighting the enormous, but helpful dryer camp owns. The “busy”- ness of the campers has allowed Sam to get great experience in fixing and maintaining many things in the cabins and around the different buildings.

We have been encouraged to see some family campers who we remember from 3 years ago during our LTD year, and some of them remember us as well! We’ve been reminded of what a special place this is as we hear back from campers what a special time their family is able to have by being here and reconnecting.

We’re still enjoying our apartment too, though we haven’t done too much cooking in it. We’ve eaten most of our meals at camp so that we can interact with family campers, but don’t you worry, we’ll soon be cooking up a storm and we’ll post some pictures of our lovely meals, (note: for those of you with great recipes using raspberries, check out our forum on the home page ). Last Thursday, on our day off, we took a trip to Wausau, the “big city” an hour away, and stocked up on groceries, so we’re gearing up for meals at home. I guess I’m talking an awful lot about food. I guess that’s because we like food. There’s also a Michael’s craft store, Barnes & Noble, and other common stores in the vicinity, so we enjoyed hopping around that area. I think we’ll spend our next day off just relaxing at home though. Driving an hour away for all that fun is a little exhausting by the end of the day.

Tomorrow is a big day here at Camp Forest Springs. The official Family Camp season will end and to commemorate the end of this season, the day will hold the annual Missionary Staff vs. Contract Staff Softball game, followed by a potluck, (by the way, I’m taking Stromboli for our main dish and Brownie trifle for our dessert…it’s my food debut, what can I say?). We’ll let you know the results of the game! We know you’ll be dying to know.

This was probably too long of an update – many blessings to you who are reading this!

Love, Tawnya (for Sam too)