cabin fever ... there are bunks, folks!

It's been a while since we've blogged about the cabins. Don't take that to mean nothing is happening, because you know what? SO MUCH is happening! The bunkbeds are in the first two cabins; they can be used. Amazing!

You'll notice that the bunkbeds at the front of the cabin, on either side, have a double bed on the bottom.




Back in February, Bob, one of our board members, put together a fantastic Cabin Fever! fundraiser at Lendrum church in Edmonton. It was hosted by Dr. Phil (Gery Schubert). We're so thankful to all the folks who came out and made generous donations! The night raised over $11,000 toward the Cabin Fever! project ... and it was a very funny, entertaining night!

We're now waiting to hear from the Alberta government about a $25,000 grant, which would be fantastic and fundraising for this project continues!

And they look so pretty at night!

rise 'n shine round 2

Well folks, high fives all around. Rise 'n Shine Round 2, on February 24-26, was such a sweet weekend; it went off without a hitch. We had an awesome time with our speakers for the weekend Mat, Mike and Mericha. They came to join us from Prairie Bible Institute, and we shared some good laughs and stories. Along with the gang from PBI, we were blessed to have a worship team from Briercrest Bible College, led by our own Becca M. They were a great addition to the weekend, leading us in songs and a generally fun worship time.



(You can listen to Becca on her myspace page, or watch her singing on her youtube page.)

With youth and sponsors from Dalhousie, Linden, Highland and Coaldale, we had over 60 people on site. We also had amazing volunteers, as usual: here is the shout out: thanks REILLY, Cam, Nick, Sho, Cody H., Sarah, Steph, Julia, Ashley, Bradley, Kim, Amberly and Kathrina!



Thanks to everyone for the sweet weekend, hope that the zip line, archery, skating, tuck, jug 'n jog and the craziness of Collectors' Choice was as much fun for you as it was for us. (Even if it was a little cold ...) See you all soon, since the count down to summer is on!





And to get your lovely selves ready for summer ... start reading yourselves some 1 John.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:10-12)

Post submitted by Emily.

Pictures thanks to Bradley.

rise 'n shine round 1

Last weekend we hosted our first of two Rise 'n Shine junior high retreats. Yeaaah! We had a BLAST. We had an amazing team come down from Peace River Bible Institute. They lead us in worship, performed some super funny skits, and told us their stories. Shane (PRBI's Dean of Men) spoke. His talks definitely encouraged laughter, lots of questions, and great conversations.

Youth & sponsors joined us from Bergen, Gem, Rosemary, and Crestwood. We had 40 people out, plus our staff and volunteers, to make it a wonderful and exciting weekend.

Here's what some of our retreaters had to say about the weekend ...

"The whole weekend is well organized with some free time. The focus is on God and getting to know him better and learning to follow him better. That's awesome!"

"Great speaker, awesome and funny personal stories to lead into scripture and talks. Simple truths of God's love."

The PRBI team "... prompted great discussions & challenged our kids to walk deeper in their faith."

Transitions.

This is a BIG news blog post because Camp Evergreen is going to have some transitions this year! Two of our managers are moving on to new horizons ...

Kerry, our Executive Director, is heading back to the city after nearly four years at Evergreen. While we're sad to see her go, we also know she's excited for the future and that she leaves Evergreen with a lot of love for the ministry and its community. In her own words, "I'm going to miss you guys! It's been a real privilege working in this community: with our board, managers, and amazing seasonal staff. But I'm also confident that this is the right time for a transition in this role at camp."

The board of directors is searching for a new director. You can contact Andrew at andrew.baerg@gmail.com if you would like to recommend someone, or to submit your own name. Kerry will transition away from Camp Evergreen when she finds a new position, or when the board finds a new director ... which ever happens first!

Dave, our Site Manager, resigned at the end of January. He is staying in the area (Colleen, his fantastic wife and our fantastic Office Manager is staying on ... yeah!) but after six years of faithful ministry at Evergreen, he's moved to a new job as a partsman at a local heavy duty truck shop. We are so grateful for the difference Dave has made on our site: improving facilities, making things safer, cleaner and more efficient, and pouring heaps of energy and time into the camp.

We invite you to pray with us as we search for a new Executive Director, first, and then for that person as he or she hires a new Site Manager.

Third Annual Pond Hockey Tournament

We had the great pleasure of hosting our third annual Three-on-Three Pond Hockey Tournament on January 14, 2012. We had nine teams, up from eight in 2011 and six in 2010, and we also finally had perfect pond hockey weather! We also had The Golden Skates: an actual, kissable trophy. (We know it's kissable because that's what Eric and Kyle did when they won, see?)


You may recall that Pond Hockey Day 2010 boasted a high of 8C and melty ice, while Pond Hockey Day 2011 was a frozen affair: -24C for the better part of the day and the kind of cold that chills you right to the bone. This year though? 2012? It was heavenly. Cold enough for good ice, warm enough that it was fun to watch the games. Yeah! And we had super awesome volunteers, like Jason and Carissa (below), Leanne (who cooked) and Trenton (who took fantastic photos).


We have to shout out to our amazing, friendly, competitive players, who came from far and wide across Alberta this year: you raised an amazing $18,114.46. THAT'S INCREDIBLE. We are wild with gratitude, seriously. (Our teams raised about $13,000 in 2010 and about $15,000 in 2011.)


The players ...
Baerg (left, as Oilers and Canuck) and Coaldale Giraffes (right, in yellow and brown)


District 5 Slugs (left) and Enns (right, in black-red-and-grey)


Lendrum (left) and Linden (right, in the red, but not the Flames jersey)


Precht & Jones (left ... at least, one player) and Russia (right)


Southern Alberta Pastors (in the dark jerseys)


Wanna see more pictures? This link will take you to our facebook album of photos.

summer tales

Somewhere along the line here, summer 2012 started creeping up on us! It's seriously right around the corner. We're well into staff recruitment and camper registrations are rolling along nicely ... we had more registrations in January than we ever have before!

In anticipation of the coming summer, I have a tale to share with you, submitted by Alyssa. It's her take on her experience as an ARISE camper in summer 2011. ARISE is our learn-to-be-staff camp and it's three weeks of lots of fun, lots of hard work, and lots of relationship and community building. ARISE campers spent one of their weeks in a cabin, working alongside one of our veteran cabin leaders, and they help with games and dishes and cleaning. They also do lots of intensive Bible study time and more!

Here's what Alyssa has to say:

Before summer, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do ARISE but looking back, I wonder why I ever doubted it. It was the best 3 weeks of my year.

One of the biggest things that I learned during those 3 weeks was that God will use the hard stuff that has happened in my life. I saw this through being able to connect with another camper who had experienced hard things. I never thought that the hard stuff in my life would do anything except for make me a stronger person. I had never really believed that God was going to use the hurt that I'd had.

I also realized how hard I had been on my cabin leaders when I sometimes acted up, when I was younger. I gained a better understanding of how hard that is on a cabin leader. I was a camper for Impact later in the summer, and that lesson helped me get on better!

I also realized that being staff is almost better then being a camper ... almost! I was very nervous to be in a cabin full time. I learned a great deal about being patient. My Explorer cabin was great.

Other highlights included when I learned how to do a T-rescue in canoeing ... I would be on canoeing on a day when we had tippers! (I am slightly afraid of canoeing. Still working on that.) I joined my cabin during an off-block when they wanted me to come horse back riding with them. They were elated! My knee didn't like it, but I still had fun. They talked about it for the rest of the week. I am so glad that I choose to give up my off-block....I had way more fun doing something I am slightly scared of. Yes I know that sounds odd but it is so true! As a cabin leader, you are supposed to be there for your campers and sometimes that means doing things that are challenging. But the reward is great, you get to see them happy and smiling and laughing. I think that is pretty great, a memory was made!

saying goodbye to Duke.

Over the holiday season one of our camp horses passed away. Duke, one of our Clydesdale horses, died on Christmas Eve due to an unexpected and sudden illness.

Duke was always a hard worker and a good friend to everyone and especially to his teammate Diamond. When the team pulled the wagon or sled Duke consistently showed his desire for hard work by pulling those aboard without complaint (and often with greater effort than Diamond, whose primary contribution was usually more aesthetic!).

Fond memories of Duke consist of countless wagon rides in the summer, using the team to pull the sled in the winter to feed the other horses, when he was saddle broke, as well as the Sundre parade where Jon (our Head Wrangler) rode him carrying the camp flag. Duke was an extraordinary Clydesdale being both versatile with work and gentle by nature. He will no doubt be dearly missed and not easily forgotten. From all of those lucky enough to work with and have the opportunity to be pulled by him, I imagine we can all agree in saying "thank you and rest in peace, friend."

Practicing for the parade with Jon and Kristy.


Offering a hoof, to show off his shoes.


Pulling the wagon.

text contributed by kim g.; photos contributed by kristy h.