the green spot blog

Last week our landscape changed. In truth, our landscape has been consistently changing for the last few years due to our cabins getting rebuilt. This summer saw all 10 new cabins house campers. Cabins Six through Eleven still stood on that back row beyond the bathrooms (called The Lost Cabins by some...or so often - The Boys Cabins). One by one, the cabins have been moving out. First eight, nine, and ten. Six made its way next. Eleven and Seven took the longest as the trees that have grown up around them made quite the challenge and puzzle for Rolf. Koda is sitting where Cabin 6 used to be. Finally, last week, Seven and Eleven were carefully moved out from their homes. This seemed, at least for me, the most significant of the changes that I've seen over the last few years. These little wooden cabins that had housed thousands of summer campers full of memories are almost finished their work here. As I watched Rolf haul Cabin 7 past the Welcome Centre last week, memories ca...

...we had two story nights in two weeks.  The first was in Edmonton, at Sunrise Community Church and the second was in Calgary, at Dalhousie Community Church.  The goal was simple, to tell stories.  Stories about how God is working at and through Camp Evergreen.  A secondary goal was to have some good dessert together.  Let me tell you there was some good dessert together!  There was a young boys table that really liked dirt and worms! At both nights we interviewed some campers and asked them several questions including how many years have you been a camper at Camp Evergreen and what advice would you give to someone coming to camp for the first time?  Jesse proved to be our longest attending camper as he pulled seven different Camp Evergreen T-shirts from a backpack including the owl T-shirt from 2012.  Some of the advice given to new campers was to bring a lot of bug spray and lots of socks! We heard from recent and past staff. Stories abou...

Our fall season here at Evergreen is coming to a end but it has been jam packed with all sorts of groups and awesomeness. From youth groups on the weekend to school band camps during the week, it has been two months full of fun and enthusiasm as we continue to zip kids down the zipline and jog the jugs across the playing field. With a scare of snow in September we were not sure what fall had for us however it turned out to be a beautiful season with clear skies and sunshine. This year we were even able to keep our canoe pond open until late October! Wahoo! We had twenty-one seasonal staff stay on to serve with us this fall. Adam, John, Josh, Julia, Kailee, Maddie and Mitch have been here with us since May (6 months). Ashley, Bekah, Daniel, Harold, Joseph, Katrina, Marcel, Mirjana, Paul and Toshi started out in Summer (4 months). We even had some awesome new people come and join us for just the fall season, Jonah, Judith, Kendra and Nina. They have all been such a blessing to cam...

I skipped out of the office to take a walk earlier this week and took some “quiet” pictures. By quiet I mean that usually the picture would be full of activity, campers, staff or even horses. It was good to be reflective. It was good to walk slowly through the fallen leaves listening to the crunch crunch under my feet. It felt good to breathe the fall air. Although we are still busy here at camp with guest groups, that afternoon I met only one other person on my travels. Having been here now for just over two years (time flies when you're having fun!) I still keep forgetting how busy we are from the beginning of May until the end of October. As a staff we give of ourselves daily. We serve our campers and guests often putting in long hours. When we hit this time of year we can't help but think about the slower pace of winter. We're not necessarily looking forward to the long, cold aspect of winter (that goes on and on and on) but we are looking forw...

Well folks, There is only 12 weeks until we drop the puck at our major fundraising event of the year! We are excited for our 6th annual Pond Hockey Tournament on January 9 - 10th, 2015!  Last year we had ten teams participate from all over Alberta. Together we raised just over $20,500! This years tournament will be Camp Evergreens major fundraiser and we would love if you came out as a player, a spectator or as a family to cheer on others and look around at our silent auction. So dust off those skates and start making a team. More information will be released soon! Have a wonderful week! - Taylor 

We just finished an amazing weekend here at camp. Rise Up 2014 started on Friday with a bang and I don't know if many of us stopped moving until after lunch on Sunday. We were joined by Mulhern and Sons, who led us in worship and this guy: Danny Mackay Danny came to us from Winnipeg, Manitoba and who works with an organization called I am Second . It was an amazing weekend filled with hilarious stories and moments from Danny's life. He Good News'd us (remember - it's a verb), reminded us about what we have to hope for, who God is, and as the weekend wrapped up on Sunday - we learned how to Gospel (remember - verb!) people we come in contact with...like Carl . Danny reading through who God is through the books of the Bible The day was full of adventures and fun. Almost 90% of our retreaters played Paintball for the first time ever at Rise Up and it was a huge hit. We had a chariot race that Highland MB Youth won (shown below)...it was a race of very epi...

Leaves are falling all around, cold crisp air in the morning, strong gusts of wind blowing in each direction, Autumn has begun. Summer has come and gone, fall is here but not for long. The busyness of summer has died down and camp has settled into the routine of the fall season. Though there is a completely different feel to the fall season, we still get to enjoy God's creation. As different guest groups come, we get to love them through the way we act and treat one another. It is so beautiful to be outside in God's creastion each day, enjoying eachother's company as we work together in ministry serving God and other people. We can relate each season to different seasons in our lives. Sometimes we go through good seasons and sometimes we go through hard seasons. One thing that remains true through every season is that God is faithful to us. He remains constant when life is up and down. God's steadfast love is always there for us. So remember that during this season of ...