the green spot blog

The Willsonball Pit Josh built for his youth group in Berlin Hannah S. getting hitched! I recently returned from a trip to Germany. As you might expect, it was amazing. I love history, architecture, coffee, and bread and there was a lot of all of those things. Jogee was a pretty happy bear! The reason for this trip was Hannah S' wedding. Hannah was part of our Generation One German volunteers from our partner organization in Germany. It was a great reason to finally make the trip across the pond to celebrate with Hannah and see the place that a good chunk of our staff come from. Our German Volunteers have become a integral part of our staff team. In so many ways - I can't imagine what it would be like to not have Germans on our team. Back in 2012, when Christoph, Jessica, and Hannah first arrived - we didn't know what it was going to be like. Even though we had had international staff in years past - this was going to be consistent. We knew that it would change o...

We have a lot of favourite days around here. A little like when Bacon or Geico also talk about their favourite part of chapel. Warm Ups are their favourite. MTWI Games are their favourite. Worship is their favourite. The speaker is their favourite. Basically...there are a lot of favourites. In fact...the whole entire thing is their favourite. So when I say that Seniors Day is my favourite just know that I have a lot of favourites. Seriously though - Seniors Day is amazing. This year, Seniors Day happens on Friday, May 20th. Can you imagine what might be better than having coffee, cinnamon buns, coffee, cookies, lunch made by Ken, opportunities to shoot bows and arrows, visit the horses, share stories about camp, have community with our staff, speak German with some of our Germans, and have more coffee and cookies? I think my favourite part of Seniors Day might be the stories about camp. Like that one time a black bear got into the kitchen (not the current kitchen - the ki...

I had a bit longer of a blog written and decided to delete it because something a camper wrote in a Pit Crew application is better than anything I could say today. Pit Crew is part of our Junior Staff program. It's the first program you can go into (grade 9,10) to train to be staff here at Evergreen. It's a two week program where campers learn what it means to follow Jesus, to be a servant, and to start experiencing and serving camp from behind the program. Signing up for Pit Crew (and Internships) is more than just a registration form for parents to fill out. There's an application where we ask about the camper's testimony of faith and why they are wanting to be part of our Junior Staff program. Here's how one applicant responded in their 2016 application: "When I was in grade 6, my friend told me about this camp that he heard from his friend called Camp Evergreen. We asked our parents to sign us up, and they did. I had no idea who Jesus was or God. I he...

I've always liked the New Year.  As a kid it was the one night a year I could make an attempt to stay up till midnight!  More often than not I didn't quite make it. (on a side note I did make it to12:01this morning!)  If by chance I made it to midnight as a kid, I could rummage through moms cupboard, find the biggest pot and a wooden spoon, head out the front door and make as much noise as I could.  How fun is that?  In the middle of the night, running around acting like an idiot – legally!  I do remember breaking at least two spoons in the process. I've never been very good at making or especially keeping New Years Resolutions.  I've tried eating healthy.  That typically lasts only a short time before having another Root Beer Float or “having” to finish all the Christmas baking.  How about exercising more?  Today is great.   Its only -3 and sunny.   But when its minus 40...somehow its hard to get out for a walk!...

Camp Evergreen was blessed by a Missions Trip from Sunrise church in Edmonton this past week.  Pastor Dennis Wiens brought 11 people from his church to serve Camp Evergreen for a week.  Sunrise had the goal of building a stronger relationship with Camp Evergreen and building a stronger bond as a church.  Their goals were accomplished! One of their main projects was to re-stain our Welcome Centre which had not seen stain since it was built in 2007.  They did a fantastic job.  They also helped out in the kitchen, served meals and as a team took on supper dishes and cleaning the dining hall all week. Sunrise was definitely a blessing to us!  Thank you very much for your hard work and serving attitude.  We hope to see you next year again!