the green spot blog

Weird spring, right? First the wildfires (our hearts ache for the people of Slave Lake) and now ridiculous amounts of rain? Back in 2005*, Camp Evergreen (and region) experienced a crazy huge flood: we haven't used the lower playing field for anything but rocketry since, and we very nearly lost our canoe pond. Chunks of the old minigolf course turned up in distant woods for ages and ages. (Next time you canoe here, see if you can find hole 4, embedded in the woods by the lagoon.) It's highly unlikely we'll see a flood like that again anytime soon. Nonetheless, some kind of flooding is happening as we speak. Emily and I drove the gator down to check out the action (we kept a very safe distance from the actual water: we would not want to risk being swept away). You can't get to the teepees right now (the road to the teepees has been replaces with a rushing river) and we're about one foot away from the creek overflowing into the canoe lagoon. It's Rain 'n Jog w...

So, our Father & Son retreat is coming up so so so soon! June 3-5. Maybe we'll have less rain by then? Yikes, we've got lots of water around here right now! This will be our second Father & Son retreat: last year was super fun (look how much fun Eli's having in the picture to your left). We are definitely looking forward to this retreat returning for another year! We have crazy fun ziplining, climbing the wall and shooting bow & arrows! Hopefully the pond survives the huge amounts of water flowing in from the creek right now ... I'll post pictures of our almost-a-flood conditions later on. We still have space for registrations so you should consider joining us for the weekend ... Dads, it's a great time to play with your sons and build foundations and memories that will last a life time! Our speaker for Father & Son Retreat is Rob Holland. Rob is one of our neighbours, and a popular speaker at Bergen Evangelical Missionary Church, just down the r...

We're finishing up spring staff training as I write this and I think it's been a pretty good week! Okay, so a couple of brains nearly exploded with all the information we try to cram into them, but in the end, everyone survived. Everyone is ready to roll with outdoor education. We're super excited to use our hosting skills. We're anxious to start arching. Our newly trained and certified Challenge Course facilitators are looking forward to challenge-by-choice adventures on the Balance Beam, Leap of Faith and zipline. We're all experts in the dishpit. We can mop with the best of them. Yes, it's been a good week! They don't all look it in the picture above, but everyone is loving Courtney's explanation of the Program Team (aka, Courtney, Becca, Becca and Evan). Reilly looks worried, actually. Hmm. That's probably because I'm taking pictures. But you can see the smiles on Sarah (blue sweater) and Stephanie's (tan sweatshirt, on the far right) fa...

Prayer Requests & Praise Items It came down to the wire, but as is his way, God provided the staff we need for our May and June team! We're looking forward to a great spring, having lots of fun as we serve together! If you'd pray for Abby, Becca L., Becca M., Chelsea, Cody, Colter, Emily, Erin, Evan, Jasper, Joel, Julia, Kathrin, Luke, Reilly, Sarah, Stephanie and Taylor as they serve here at Evergreen over the next four months, we'd be most grateful! Please pray for us as we seek to raise the funds we need to operate successfully – and that God will guide our financial decision-making. We have guest groups on site almost every single day in May and June. Please pray with us that we can be salt and light in the lives of every student and guest who steps on our site in the next two months. Upcoming Events Fundraising Concert, Edmonton – 7PM, May 13, 2011 With Vicky Berg & Simon Hoskyn, at Sunrise Church ( map ). Tickets are $10 at the door. Fundraising Concert, Calga...

Our annual Ladies' Retreat was three weeks ago, and it was wonderful! I have to apologize for how long it's taken me to write about it; we've been super busy getting ready for spring and I let blogging get away on me. Apologies. Our speaker at Ladies' Retreat was Heather Boersma , from Winnipeg. Heather was fantastic! Here's some of what the ladies at the retreat had to say: "Heather was awesome: would love to have her back!" "Heather was excellent; she shared a personal and Biblically-sound message." "I wish there were more speaker sessions." "Heather was great. I enjoyed the theme and her honesty." "Heather was amazing! And she really spoke to me; I'm excited to go forth and make changes in my life with what she talked about!" "The speaker was exceptional. Heather was very real and the message very impactful." So what did Heather speak about that impacted our guests so greatly? She spoke from Ephesia...