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One camp season ends, plans for next begin

Well it has happened. By the time you read this all the summer campers will have packed up their belongings and headed for home. They will have brushed the trail dust off their clothes, squeezed the last gasp of air from their floatables and snuck “just one more” cinnamon roll for the road.

Even as they pulled out of the drive, we knew it was not possible for them to shake off the impact camp has had for them. The memories will continue long after the sunburns have faded. The relaxed atmosphere that came with every incredible sunrise will come back into focus at just the right time as life becomes real again.

One only needs close his or her eyes and breathe, and let the serenity that is N-Sid-Sen flow again.

Yes, it’s possible to take a piece of camp home, because camp is bigger than one person, one age group, one site. N-Sid-Sen is alive and thriving thanks to members of the Pacific Northwest Conference UCC churches.

With that in mind, I want to thank all those who helped make N-Sid-Sen all that it is. There is not space or words enough to be able to thank each and every person who needs to be thanked personally. Most folks who deserve a thank you, would simply shrug it off with “Ah, it was nothing. I didn’t really do anything special.” Or, “It needed to be done.” Or, “I am just doing what anyone else would have done.” My favorite is, “Thank me, no! Thank you for allowing me to come to this incredible piece of God’s greatness and give back a little bit. It is the most important week of my year.”

So, Thank You!

Thank you to those who came for Work Camp in June. With your help we remodeled the girls’ old bathhouse, put in trail lights to Syringa, built new picnic tables, installed windows in the craft room and Forrestor Lodge fireside rooms, trimmed trails, put new room numbers on Spirit Lodge, sewed new aprons and did many other much needed tasks.

Thank you to those who came for the Director/Counselor retreat in June and built the new giant swing in the cove.

Thank you to those who came for Family Camp 1 and rebuilt and repainted the N-Sid-Sen Cove sign, created the large Jenga game and built the new table for cabin 6.

Thank you to the quilters for providing new quilts for our beds.

Thank you to two young women from Plymouth Church for sending us a couple of new inner tubes to replace our rapidly depleting old tubes. Thank you to the folks from Plymouth who put the new dock bumpers on and tightened up the chapel benches.

Even with all that amazing work and gifts, there is still the most important thank you of all.

Thank you to each and every one of you who came to camp. Whether you were coming to camp yourself or dropping someone off, we so greatly appreciate it.  Because of you and through you, our camps are here and doing well.

Our camps are doing well. They could be better, as could most things. We could use more folks at each camp. We could use more clergy at camps. We have plenty of space to play and plenty of room to relax. So come to camp!

Within the camps themselves there is always the question of how do we increase participation. That can best be done from within.  I believe that it is by inviting your friends, neighbors, family members and of course those sitting next to you in the pews.

Both Deeg Nelson at Pilgrim Firs and I would love to help out. We can visit your church and talk it up.  Just give us a call and say, “Hey come to our church!” Our camps grow when we share our delight and excitement.

So the next time someone asks you what you did this summer, tell them.

I mean really tell them. Tell you how much fun you had at camp. Tell them why camp is so important to you. Tell them what camp means to you, to your family and to your church. Tell them with all the excitement that you experienced at camp. Tell them about the laughter, the quiet evenings, the amazing sunsets and, of course, the food.

Then be sure to take your calendar out and check off the dates for next year.  We don’t want to miss you.

Come to camp!

Copyright © September 2013 - Pacific Northwest Conference UCC News

 

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