Week 4 - Calvary ABQ

Wow. What a week! We had some pretty awesome kids come rolling thought camp this week and I find it save to say that they were rocked by God all week long. What stood out to me the most this week was the leadership. They were all CRAZY, each in their own way but all for the Glory of God. these leaders were able to minister to these kids on the kids level and were able to break some of them out of their shells a little bit.
It never ceasses to amaze me how God can work through a miss-matched group in just a few days to bind them into a seamless group that continually increase their glorification on Him. By the end of the week, all of the kids knew all of the kids and any 'clicks' had been broken up and forgotten. Its so cool to see that, especially in a church the size of Calvary.
As a staff, we have been going through Ephesians 1 and in verses 9-11 it says "9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. 10 and this is the plan: At the right time he will bring  everything together under the authority of Christ - everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan."
Because we have been reading about this awesome plan and studying it every day, I have been seeing this plan more and more and it is just so exciting to me that there are hundreds of little and older brothers and sisters that come in and out of camp. OUR FAMILY IS HUGE!
Some prayer requests for the week ahead
1. The kids
     - let them not forget what they learned this week and for God to help them in every aspect in their lives
     - That they will take what they learned this week and apply it to their lives
2. The leadership
    - Calvary has been blessed with some great leadership, let them be continued to be blessed
    - For my boss, Justin. He has been doing an amazing job running camp and he need to be remembered in all of our prayers
    - The summer staff, we are feeling the affects of 17 hour days in the over 100 degree weather without shade. Pray that we are kept safe and that we can find rest in Him and in any other place we can. Also for some of the other things that come with being at camp, cant see our friends, family, dogs, you know. Stuff like that.
3. The water
    - The water level is falling like crazy. PRAY FOR RAIN!
    - Being a water camp, we need some water to play in.
4. Next week
    - We will be moving our dock sections and possibly the entire marina next week into some deeper water. So, Safety and efficacy and the ability for us summer staff to know what needs to be done when it needs to be done. None of us has ever done anything like this before so let God give us the ability to know what to do.

Thanks so much for your continued support!
chris

Week 3 - the first week of campers

Well. The first thing is that  I am plum tuckered out! Today alone I worked for 11 hours and I got off at 3:15ish. This group was great! It was an Albuquerque middle school youth group from Christ the King Anglican Church that brought about 20 kids.
Man did these kids have some energy! Even after playing hard all day on the water they still worshiped with all their might! Taylor and I had the privilege of sitting outside of the pavilion (where they had worship) to just listen to the kids sing and to the teachings. There was also a smaller service right before bed that many kids jumped into.
One of the cool things that I get to do here at camp is to get to know the kids. One in particular is John. I got to know John and his sister fairly well, especially yesterday. Yesterday had a weather report of high winds in the afternoon so we just closed the beach and hung out up top for the afternoon. While I was just hanging out with the kids I some how got mixed up in the sibling rivalry between them, like sitting between them. So, they did what any 15 and 14 year olds would do, team up on me. Lets just say that they play rough and you can see what I was in the middle of. Anyway, John, took it just at little to far with me by the afternoon and I told him that I was going to get him back. Little did I know that Justin (boss) told him the same thing for messing with him earlier that day. After we found out that he had been messing with the two of us we started a plan against him.
At 4:55 this morning we got our pay back. One, it was really early (we had to get up to set up for a sunrise service anyway) and two we "antiqued" him. Don't know what that means? Well, you take a hand full of flour and through it in the face of your sleeping victim. Brilliant, I know and yes, I did record it and it will be posted in this blog soon.
Well I hope you injoyed this weeks blog. I am planing on taking video or pictures soon so that all of you can see what the Lakeshore looks like sometime but for now just think of about 500 miles of beach surrounding a pretty cool shade of green.

Pray time
1. For the kids this week
     - That they will remember everything that they learned this week
     - That they will do what they learned this week
2. For the kids coming next week
     - They they will open their hearts to God so that he can bless them in ways they didn't know were possible
     -That they will have a safe week as well as a fun one
3. Staff
     - We are blessed to get a new staff member next week!
     - Taylor, Justin and I are worn out  so rest for us this weekend so we can pour it all right back out!
     - Taylor smashed her finger pretty good while we were moving the beach so pray for that to heal fast.

Remember, you are make perfect in Him
Chris

Week 2 (sorry its late)

Hey everyone! Week 2 is done and staff training is officially over! yea! I am so pumped about camp starting up next week on monday! I cant wait to pour into these kids!
This past week we had a work group come in for a few days to help us get ready for camp. They did things like paint some of the dorms and finish up the blob tower. They also were our guinea pigs for the river float. After they left on Tuesday we finished up the blob and finished up training on the boats.
Some things that I need prayer about this week is for energy. I feel like I have been wearing down from all of the wind and sun that never seem to be in short supply here at the lake. Also, pray for the kids that are hear this week (week 3). They are full of energy and are really excited about camp this week! Thank you for the prayers (especially my hand), I can feel all of them working so dont stop! You really have no idea how much it means to me. I am truly blessed for having so many of yall praying for me each and every week! Well, its off to bed so we can get those boats in the water at 6 for the kids.
May He continue to bless!
Chris

Week 1 - A little pain and a lot of fun....i mean hard work

Heck yes! Summer has officially started at the Lakeshore! Week one was filled with work projects and training secessions that dealt with just about everything there is to do with camp. Taylor Tvede is now here and she has been amazing in just about everything she helps out with (more on that to come). One of the major things that I have been dealing with this week has been injuries. Lots of them. I feel like every day I have a new cut/burn/bruise someplace on my body. The worst of them was a pretty bad burn that I received after leaning on a fresh weld. It wasn't enough to make me want to go home and cry but it defiantly left its mark on my week, and hand.
The majority of the things we focused on this week was cleaning up camp and getting the dorms ready for campers to live in. That involved welding a new hand rail on the house boat dorm and using a snow shovel to clean the bathrooms, yes a snow shovel. As it has proved over the last week and a half or so, it is really windy here. And with that wind comes the blowing sand. That sand gets into everything; shoes, hair, showers, bunks, sealed boxes, etc. You get the point. You know, its funny how God works himself into every aspect of your life if you just stop and look to see where he is. Just like the sand, God is everywhere and he gets into the cracks and crevasses of your life and before you know it, you are constantly walking though the deepness of God (and his sand).
Tomorrow we get our practice group. I mean a work group is coming in. As far as I know they are from Tulsa, OK and are on their way to a conference of some sort. Anyway, they are going to stop in and help us out with all kinds of work projects to help us get on track for camp. We will also be doing a few actives with them so that we will be ready for our kids to come. They are going to be a huge blessing to us and I ask that you pray for them in all of ways you can think of that has to do with work projects and traveling as they start out tomorrow and take off from here Wednesday morning.
Some other things that I can use prayer for is my hand. I really did get a good burn on it and I need it to do a lot of the manual labor that is involved with camp prep work. Also. keep praying for the kids. God is going to rock them this summer and I just want them to be ready and willing when it happens. Finally, for the staff at both the Ranch and the Fort. As a staff we traveled to Lone Tree Ranch yesterday for the "Meet and Greet" between all of the camps in the Lone Tree family. The staffs at both camps are amazing. Pray for the kids that they will get to impact through God this summer and pray that they will have the energy to keep loving on those kids as they so Christ's love to them week after week after week.
Well thats all I have for now. I need to get to sleep so that I can go to my friend Jace's wedding tomorrow afternoon!
Sleep well and may God continue to bless you!
Chris