the green spot blog

The winter season is coming to a close here at camp. In just a few short days, we will be welcoming a number of amazing individuals to join our team. There is a mixture of emotions amongst the staff. We are excited to begin this new season and ready for change, but change is scary and transition can be hard. So I want to take some time to reflect on this past winter season.   The Winter Staff One thing Taylor Jenkins has said to me from day one was "Slow Down and Smell the Roses." In spring, summer, and fall, we have guest group after guest group. We are running from the kitchen to activities, from activities to the kitchen, from the kitchen to cleaning. It is busy, busy, busy! Often times, you feel like there is no time to slow down and really take it all in. But Winter is a very different story. Weekends are still busy, but for the most part guest groups are smaller in number. We are ever so thankful for all the volunteers who helped us out on the busier weeken...

Volunteer - noun - a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task.  verb - freely offer to do something. Colter and Tia helping out at the barn.  Nice hoodie Tia! I asked Bekah to give me a list of volunteers that have helped us out over our winter months.  I was expecting a few names, I was not expecting a list of over 50 names!  It's been a real blessing to be able to share our ministry load with our volunteers.  Some of our volunteers are previous staff members.  Some of our volunteers come on a regular basis - thanks Jeanette!  Some of our volunteers come from Sundre, and others as far away as Edmonton or Lethbridge - just for a weekend.  Some of our volunteers have only joined us once.  Some volunteers drive tractor, wash dishes, teach activities, scoop horse poop (which really isn't as gross as you may think), clean wash rooms or cook meals.  Some volunteers are young and some a little older....

Jug 'n' Jog. If the world could just play more Jug 'n' Jog - I think it would be a happier place. It is quite possibly the number one, most singularly enjoyed game at camp. In fact - there are times when I think kids could come to camp, only play Jug 'n' Jog and leave being the happiest kids on Earth. In fact, we could almost be renamed Camp Jug 'n' Jog. And it's also funny - my computer or iPhone doesn't even recognize the words or phrase as being a spell check. That's when you know you talk about something a lot. You might think that those opening statements are strange or even foreign - maybe you don't even know what Jug 'n' Jog is...well, let me tell you! It's epic, it's fantastic, and it's played with recycling (we have to be good stewards, you know). The concept is quite simple - the field is divided into two halves, each team has a square on it with recycled jugs in it. The goal is to get the other team...

Last week was an adventure! If you didn't catch it on our Facebook page, we took our German Volunteers to Vancouver Island. And we're back! We number the same as when we left for Vancouver over a week ago so I guess that means we didn't lose anyone! You would think that keeping track of them is an easy job but when you've got three or four staff of any kind going different directions, jumping in oceans and mountain lakes, climbing trees and exploring the big cities...I will admit - there were moments when I questioned if we were going to come back with the same number we departed with! It was a very fun trip full of thousands of kilometers, lots of swimming, and beautiful weather. That's right, after spending a couple days trying to prepare our Germans for rain and clouds...we got beautiful blue skies nearly the whole time. I guess we brought the Alberta sun with us! As you can tell from some of our photos - it certainly wasn't dull travelling wi...

  Why do I do what I do? Hmm, thoughts to ponder I am sure for everyone of us. But I am not talking about everyone else, just myself. At this present time in history I am the Food Services Manager here at Camp Evergreen. I get to plan, cook, order food, make sure I am somewhat close to my budget (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and to generally make sure that anything pertaining to food and the kitchen is running smoothly. Especially the part about the food. Which most people seem to like, at least according to John's blog post. I do love what I do. I have been cooking as a career for close to 20 years. During that time I have had opportunity to work in some good spots, I wouldn't necessarily say top of the line places. But good places to learn. After finishing some time at Bible school, I felt God calling me to finish my cook training. I finally finished my training in 2002 and was certified as a Red Seal cook in 2003. My first time cooking at Camp Ever...