And so it begins...

John Vandervelde - Program Director   

There really is no official first-day-of-summer here at HoneyRock.  For some, summer starts the first day winter programming ends.  For others summer starts when the first campers arrive on June 21.  I suppose the start of summer depends on which area of camp you are in.  For me, today officially marks the first day of summer - the Unit Leader Team has arrived!  Over the past week we've had a handful of our summer staff arrive and the excitement for the official "summer is here" feeling has been building in my heart and mind.  But today is special because it marks the day our Unit Leader team begins their summer of ministry.  Throughout the day yesterday, and into the evening, this group of 10 Wheaton College students, or recent Wheaton Graduates, made their way to camp and moved into their housing.  They were all at breakfast this morning and they are heading out for a 4 day wilderness trip today. 

The Unit Leader Team is a special group of people.  Working with Dan Elsen, they serve as leaders for our Summer Leadership School (SLS).  This summer we have 64 SLS students who will be learning how to be ministry leaders and will then serve as camp counselors for our Residential and Advance Camp programs.  Each Unit Leader will serve as a mentor, coach, teacher, and guide of a unit of 8 SLS students.  While camp is in session the Unit Leader team is in charge of nearly every aspect of camp and making sure our program runs smooth and is effective in the lives of young people.  Unit Leaders have a big job! 

I ask that you join with us in praying for this amazing Unit Leader team that God has assembled for this summer.  Pray for Rachel, Joanna, Robin, Christie, Julie, Jeremy, Dave, Marty, Sam, and Tyler.  We thank God for their service and for bringing us a team of great leaders and we pray that they will have a powerful summer of service!  

The Pamper Pole

Liz Henderson--Program Team Assistant

At the beginning of last summer we added a Pamper Pole and Wild Woozy to our high ropes course elements.  The Pamper Pole in particular proved to be quite a popular activity, and throughout the summer we had over 750 jumps from it! 

During the adventure challenge training last week, we captured a few photos of Rick Masters, the Adventure Ministry Program Manager, as he experienced the HoneyRock Pamper Pole for the first time.  For the record, getting yourself into a standing position on top of a telephone pole is not as easy as it looks! As evidenced by the final picture, Rick was totally committed when he jumped for the flag.

We are excited to continue to develop our Adventure Challenge program at HoneyRock and we look forward to having many of our staff, students, and campers participate on our courses this summer.

Down With the Old, Up With the New...

Liz Henderson--Program Team Assistant

Last week we began to dismantle the old high ropes out at the Stillwaters course.  HoneyRock had some of the very first high ropes course elements built in the country, but it was time to take down the old, unsafe elements to create room for new things.  In order to safely remove the old course, we hired a professional tree climber to come in and help us. 

Then, on Monday and Tuesday, we completed construction of the new giant swing
and vertical playpen.  Matt Ulrich (pictured below) is finishing up the final touches on the giant swing. 

Brad Robertson, who helped with construction, was the first person to use the giant swing.

Matt Ulrich and Steve Higgins (from Expeditions Unlimited) were the first participants up the vertical playpen.

 

We are excited to add these new elements to our adventure challenge courses and anticipate that they will get a lot of use this summer and in the years to come.  We're thankful for everyone who worked hard to build under the direction of Greg Robinson and Scott Eppler.

Moms

John Vandervelde - Program Director   

My wife Kari is amazing.  We have 3 children, 6, 4, and 2 and Kari's main role in our family is primarily a stay-at-home mom.  Did I mention she's amazing?  She's a doctor, therapist, tailor, bike repairer, fort builder, tea party organizer, artist, scientist, coach, and cook - all at the same time.  I've made the statement, on more than one occasion, that I think she is really a super-hero.  Oh, she's amazing too. 

Just like my mom's role in my life, Kari's role in my kids' lives as "mom" is so special.  The love and care she gives, the organizing of their lives, the teaching, and the fun is an amazing gift to them.  What's crazy is how for-granted they take all she does for them.  It's not like my kids are some awful, unappreciative brats; they're just too young to really "get it". Sure, of course, they regularly thank their mom for things she does but I know someday (like when they have their own kids) they're going to realize how truly amazing their mom really is.

A mom has a special role in a child's life.  Moms are remarkable, aren't they?  It's an honor and privilege to connect with so many mothers here at HoneyRock.  I'm amazed at the things mothers do and how much they love and care about their children - sometimes in the midst of great trials and terrible heartache.  It is inspiring!

So this weekend let's tell our moms (and our wives) how amazing they really are and show them how much we appreciate who they are and all they do!  

Don't worry, we'll write about Dads on Father's Day...

Meet "Zeke"

Don Kerns - Site & Facilities Manager

We were grateful to receive the gift of a Red 1996 F-450 truck from
Elliot Construction last Fall.  In January 2010 Alan Scales and I combined it with the bed-ter (pun intended) parts of an
older truck that we would now be able to retire.  We received the old truck, a Blue 1986 F-350, as a hand-me-down from Wheaton College's main campus in
2001. We removed the beds of each truck in the Elsen Operation Complex (another great blessing- heated work space). We mounted the good dump
bed on our "new" truck and scraped our old truck as well as the worn out bed
from the newly donated truck. This process let us end with one solid
usable dump truck. We had the bed sandblasted and painted then we
repaired a few rusty panels on the truck. We are now set up to
pull our wood chipper and can collect and dump chips. This rig (we named it
"Zeke"- short for Ezekiel) will be a blessing to us here at camp and to the
local community.  This truck will be used regularly on DTP and Passage service projects that take place in Three Lakes, Eagle River and the surrounding towns.

Up next for the Auto Shop Crew:  We're hoping for a "work-van" to be donated soon so that we can put into service this summer with our site and facilities team.  Contact Don if you're interested in helping with this:  715-479-7474 x 233  or dkerns@honeyrockcamp.org

Off to Mexico

John Vandervelde - Program Director

This morning we loaded up some program equipment that we are donating to Rev. Tim Wood and his camp in Ometepec, Mexico.  Tim is going to drive this back to his camp 38 hours South of Chicago.  Tim contacted us this week and we're happy to have donated some items to help him run a great camp ministry to young people in Mexico. 

We receive so many blessings here at HoneyRock.  It is fun to pass those blessings on to people like Tim.