The last two weeks have been busy. After the youth retreat, Julia’s grandparents, Stan & Arlene Sizemore came to help out for most of the week. Stan used his carpentry skills to help us check off some items that have been hanging around on our to-do lists for a long, long time. He finished up the bathrooms in (the newly remodeled) Krestan Hall by building shelves in the closets. I’ve been waiting (not always so patiently) for that job to get finished so we have a place to put all the clean towels. Arlene spent so much time cleaning, and she did it well. Sometimes it feels like we have so many different jobs to do that they all get done halfway. I am so grateful to anyone who can put their heart into cleaning and really making a place sparkle. Stan also built shelves in the pantry of “the cottage” which, as of Saturday, is no longer empty.

Justin told me last week that he likes the challenge of getting to do new things. He made that comment while he and Roger were in the process of learning how to lay carpet. They rented a carpet stretcher, figured out how to use it, and got the hallway and two bedrooms in the cottage looking like home. I was very impressed. (I still am.)

This past weekend seemed to be full of nonstop action. Thursday evening a work group came in from Wooster, Ohio, and stayed through Sunday afternoon. That group of middle schoolers got a lot of work done – with much enthusiasm. When I cook for a group like that, I gain new respect for Bill (our summer cook.) By the end of the day, I was so tired I couldn’t think straight – and that was just cooking for 20 people! I don’t know how he does it. Maybe I should drink more coffee – or grow a mustache…

And now for the big announcement… we have another baby! Well, not us personally, but us the camp. Shaun and Wendy Davis and their 4-month-old, Lily, moved in to spend the next year at Bethel Camp. It took me less than 24 hours to realize that I’ll have to set down some rules for Malin and Avery. No visiting at Lily’s house without mom or dad’s permission! It’s just too much fun to have a living baby doll to love on.

That reminds me of a story Ella June tells about one of her girls when she was little – Elaine I think. She loved going down to the cottage to visit Mabel and Martha Maust, but she was too independent, and she had Ella June worried about where she had gotten off to. So the ladies worked out a system. If Elaine didn’t have a note pinned to the back of her dress with her mom’s permission to visit, then she was sent back home. Sounds like a good idea…

Sunday afternoon, just as the work group was packing up to leave, we had a nice surprise. Bear and Opal Noble stopped by to visit! Bear has spent many weeks here at camp in the past, and we’ve missed having him around. Camp’s always open – if you ever want to stop in, we’d love to catch up with what’s been going on in your life. And if you come at mealtime, we just might feed you. Have a great week!

I love the way spring arrives here in Kentucky. I look forward to each coming “winter” that leaves us with another work of art blooming on the hillsides. It used to drive me crazy to get used to the warm weather and then have to suffer through another week of cold. But it keeps our lives interesting, doesn’t it? It keeps us from taking spring for granted – at least for the first month or so.

Spring also brings with it the beginning of activity here at camp. This past weekend was our high school youth retreat. We couldn’t have had more perfect weather. Well… it did rain a lot on Friday evening, but Saturday was beautiful. It seemed to be a weekend of refreshment for many people. There was a good group of campers here, some talented musicians, excellent cooks who enjoyed working together, and staff members who we just love to have as a part of camp.

We had a few “worried” parents call us before the weekend retreat this year. They were remembering last year’s spring retreat when we got so much rain that we were flooded in on Sunday when it was time to go home. That was definitely a memory for everyone involved. But this year was a different story, and departure time went smoothly. Except for the fact that everyone had to go home. These high-schoolers never seem to want to leave camp. They could happily stand around all afternoon and talk. We’re glad they want to be here.

We supremely appreciate the 6 women from Turner’s Creek and Bowling Creek who came out Wednesday before the youth retreat to help us clean and get ready. They weren’t able to make it out for our scheduled Work Day, so they chose a day that fit into their schedules – we’re grateful.

We’re doing something a little different this spring. In the past, we’ve always had a youth retreat for 7^th-12^th graders. This year we decided to split the group up and have two different retreats. April 25-27 will be our retreat for 6^th-8^th graders. We hope to see all of our middle-school campers here that weekend! If you need more information, just give us a call.

One of the pleasures of being a camp director is having the opportunity to work with so many different people. Every week of the summer brings a new group of campers and a new (at least partially) group of staff members. Throughout the rest of the year we meet family groups who come to rent the campgrounds, church groups who come to do work projects or have a weekend retreat, people who used to live in the area and want to see how things have changed and many other people who have their own reason for hanging around camp for a few hours or days. Because of our camp connections, our Christmas card list is quite a bit longer than it would be if Roger had stuck with being an electrician…. or a woodworker. 
       To be perfectly honest, I should also say that one of the discomforts of being a camp director is having to work with so many different people. If you’re not a “people person,” the process pulls you out of your comfort zone, whether you like it or not. And when you’re in charge of all or most of those different people, you find out fast that not everyone communicates the same way you do. (Some of us are lucky to meet two or three in a lifetime who really understand us.) 
       Last weekend, I’m happy to announce that it was a pleasure (not a discomfort) to host a group from Arthur, Il. Their church has been sending groups of people out to do weekend work projects most of the years that we have lived in Kentucky. In the group of 13 who came this time, we made some new friends, and we got to meet back up with some old ones who we just don’t get to see often enough.
      They made good headway on painting the chapel… dragged fallen trees out of the creek and split them… jacked up Shaun & Wendy’s porch/laundry room… and lots of other manly things that I wasn’t a part of. The ladies in the group did some cleaning and organizing in the kitchen for us, and they made and froze 1480 cookie dough balls. Now Bill can make homemade cookies any time he wants without getting a mixing bowl dirty - and he has a choice of four different kinds. We figure that it might be enough to last us through the whole summer.
       Our friends from Illinois made a nice big dent in the neverending stream of work and cleanup projects here at camp. This Saturday (April 5th) we’re having a work day for our local friends from 8:00-4:00. If you want the satisfaction of helping someone in need and you’re free on Saturday, come on over - for all or part of that time. If you do come, you can bring along something to eat with the big pot of chili we’ll have ready for everyone at noon. We look forward to spending the day with you - and getting this place ready for campers.

 This past week Bethel Camp hosted the Bowling Creek Mennonite Church for their annual campout. They had a good turn-out. I think they fed between 35 and 40 people most meals. Kenny Miller, a pastor from Trinity Fellowship in northern Ohio, was the special speaker. Mary Eash said, “There were just so many little blessings during the entire weekend that added up to a big blessing overall.” They enjoyed the fellowship of the Turners Creek Mennonite Church for the Saturday evening service. A Christian brother (Pastor Peter) from India shared about the work he was involved with and the obstacles they faced. He challenged them to become involved in helping grow the church around the world. The Lord provided beautiful weather and brilliant fall colors set off by a bright blue sky as a backdrop for the weekend. It was even warm enough for a hayride up Little Buckhorn on Saturday to enjoy the fall scenery.

I’including a picture one of the campers took during the fall youth retreat. One of the afternoon activities on that Saturday was photography, and there were some really beautiful pictures taken. Another group made a Bible story video during that activity time, but if you want to see that you’ll have to make a trip over to camp so they can show it to you. Their video was out of an obscure passage in Isaiah – leave it to creative young people to search out a passage like that.

I sure like the good prices I can find on meat at our local IGA grocery store. Good meat too. My wife Ruthie makes a delicious “harvest stew” made with butternut squash, apples, and pork roast. It makes my mouth water just to write it down. I know that it doesn’t sound like it would taste that good, but you’ve got to try it to believe it. And, seeing that our garden produced about 25 butternut squash, we’re all set for some good eating. We’ll just have to get over to IGA to get some more pork. Speaking of IGA, do you all know about their e-scrip cards that can help local charitable organizations and schools. If you register one of their cards, and then give it to the cashier before you check out, they will donate a portion of each purchase to the charity of your choice. If you haven’t got a card and you shop at IGA, you can sign up and choose to benefit Bethel Camp when you shop there.

Phil Swartzentruber and the Teens for Christ group from Breathitt High School came here this past Tuesday. They came to spend an evening talking, planning and enjoying a campfire in the cold. We are encouraged as we see these young people standing strong for Jesus in their schools. Pray for them as they come to mind.

If any of you campers from this past summer left something at camp, a pair of your favorite jeans, shoes, a shirt, a disposable camera, or anything else, call us up or come over and we’ll try to find it for you.

Have a great week and make sure you get outside early in the evening just as the sun sets and breath 5 deep breaths of cool air. It will make you appreciate your warm house and will probably relax you and give you some fresh perspective. Try it and tell me what happened.

–Roger Voth

Well, we’ve had a busy weekend here at Bethel Camp. Friday evening 62 campers, 23 staff members, and 7 “camp kids” converged on the campground. Lloyd and Pat Burns (Lloyd is the father of Bill Burns our camp cook) get the award for traveling the farthest. They came from southern Michigan. Duane & Desiree Ramey get the award for traveling the shortest distance to camp (They can see camp from their house and have only about a half mile trip in the car to get here.) There were campers here from Ohio and North Carolina, and campers from Lexington, Buckhorn area, and of course Breathitt County and Perry County.

With all that combined energy we were in for an exciting weekend. Darren & Kendra (Miller) Fisher led us in some great worship. We sang some good ol’ camp songs as well as some really meaningful songs of praise. Victor Shiro did some neat “magic” tricks (or illusions) that first evening and his wife Linda used chalk to draw an incredible picture illustration of Christ’s payment of sin’s penalty (see Romans 6:23). She even sang some songs while she was drawing the picture! If you want to see her artwork you’ll have to come to camp and see it in the chapel some day. We (along with the angels) rejoiced when one of the young people asked Jesus to be their Savior that first night.

However the night was not done when chapel was over. After a time of reflection on the evening message, everyone put on dark clothes to play capture the flag. There were a lot of flags (glow sticks) taken from behind enemy lines and safely brought back across the line without being caught or captured in the process. When the game was over the west team had 4 more glow sticks than the east team did. And there were a lot of stories told about some amazing captures and stealthy sneaking through the woods to get into position to get a glow stick without being discovered.

The weather was perfect for a fall retreat. Cool mornings and warm afternoons allowed us to really experience the out of doors at its finest. I (Roger) took a group of 9 hikers on an optional sunrise hike at 7:00 Saturday morning. We left the campground just as the sky was getting light and reached the top of the hill about 10 minutes before the sun peaked over the eastern ridge of the mist covered mountains. There are some talented artists in this world but no one can paint with light like God can as he creates a unique new sunrise every morning.

Victor and his son Evan did a bunch of juggling with everything from balls and bean bags to flaming torches at the campfire. They had some little things like a giant open yo-yo that was controlled and caught on a string, I think they are called a diabolo. The one they used at the campfire was burning while they spun it around. At that campfire, Evan had all of our attention as he spewed flames out of his mouth. At the evening chapel on Saturday Victor escaped from a straight jacket to illustrate the need for us as Christians to not remain in bondage to the will of the Devil but rather experience freedom in Christ. At each session Linda drew a different picture to illustrate the lesson from the Bible. She even had her son Nathan help her on the picture about a prophet who talked to a donkey. If you’ve never had the privilege of seeing them minister the gospel, you’re missing out on a treat. You can visit their website at www.otbusa.org or call them and find out about their schedule (606) 464-3481.

But with all the fun and activity of the weekend, I bet if you ask some of the youth who were here for the weekend what their favorite part was, I’ll bet that their answer goes something like this: “I really enjoyed hanging out with some friends.” As a camp director, I really enjoyed seeing a bunch of young people interacting. Friendships are powerful. The relationships we make with those around us have a lot to do with the quality of life that we experience. One of our prayers is that time spent at Bethel Camp will make each of us better able to communicate with those around us. We pray that it will make us more mindful of the needs, feelings, and emotions of those people we meet every day. By our attitude each of us has the potential to encourage someone to do more than just endure life. We have the opportunity to challenge each other to rather make every day an investment in eternity.

Remember to live life to the max. It is possible if you understand what grace is all about.

 Hello again! There have been lots of things happening lately. A church in Ohio (United Bethel) sent a group of about 40 people down to camp for a week to do a bunch of work projects. They painted the chapel, re-shingled and painted Miller Hall, built a really cool addition to the creative playground (my kids call it the “tree house”), built shelves to organize rec equipment, built a fence out by the road, and poured a concrete pad for a porch. They were a good group to have around. We’re thankful for all of their hard work!

We’re also thankful for the safety of our neighbors, Eldon & Ella June Miller. Last weekend they were in a car accident that totaled their vehicle. They were in Pennsylvania, on the way to a family reunion, and not far from the home of some friends when it happened. They made it safely to the reunion and even found a relative who offered to drive them home afterwards. They’re still unsure about how they will replace their car, but they are safe and sound, with only a few bruises and scratches from an incident that could so easily have ended in death.

And now there are just a few days left til our big fundraising auction at the Jackson True Value. Becky Stoltzfus and Mary Eash put so much time into getting everything ready for it, and they (along with everyone else who helps) do such a great job of keeping things running smoothly. The auction starts at 12:00, and lunch will be served starting at 10:00. There will be baked goods tables (full of good Mennonite baking…) and treasure tables (where you can purchase some smaller items without waiting around to bid.) There will be lots of doorprizes throughout the day – have you seen the final doorprize on the counter in True Value? Some lucky person will get to take that beautiful basket home at the end of the day. The food is outstanding. Wendell Kurtz comes all the way from North Carolina to smoke chicken for us on auction day. And as you pick up your auction number Saturday, you’ll be tantalized by the aroma of John Yoder’s burgers, sizzling on the grill.

The list of auction items is a varied one. There are full-sized quilts, baby afghans, furniture, a 5’x8’ drive-through trailer, baby quilts, book shelves, a toaster oven, quilt stands, 2 apple stack cakes, and some beautiful items to decorate your home with. The list is too long for me to write everything here – you’ll just have to come and see for yourself. And if you can’t come, maybe you could say a little prayer for a cool day with no rain.

Congratulations to Darren and Kendra Fisher!! We’ve enjoyed watching your relationship grow during the time you’ve spent together here at camp – your wedding was beautiful. May the Lord bless your marriage richly.

 Well… one day we’re asking ourselves, “How did camp time get here so fast?” and it seems like the very next that we’re saying, “What? Is camp already over with? Where did the last 8 weeks go?!” I don’t know where they went – the same place that every week goes, I guess – but I could tell you what they were full of: campers. Campers moving into cabins, cleaning them every morning for the mysterious cabin inspector to score, gathering together after lunch and just before bedtime to goof off and (hopefully) have some more meaningful moments of drawer closer to the Creator together, and collapsing into their bunks at night to sleep off another day full of activity. Campers on the ballfield— running and dodging in games of ultimate frisbee, bucket ball, dare base, and the intensity of a mud struggle or the weekly shaving cream fight. Campers in the chapel— jumping around to active songs, raising their hands in worship, listening intently to a Bible speaker, or taking a 30-minute slot in the “12 hours of praise and worship.” Campers in the rec hall, loading up on sugar and caffeine, or trying to make the highest score in the hoops game – or just hanging out with friends. Campers in the dining hall— drinking gallons of Kool-Aid, saying Bible verses to receive a piece of mail, ganging up on a staff member to try to force them to sing a song, determining who has the longest fingernails or the most alliteration in their name to decide which camper has to scrape the plates.

The weeks were also full of staff members who poured their lives into these kids for a week at a time. There were so many kids who gave their hearts to Christ during these 8 weeks of summer camp here. We’re so thankful to Christian Word Ministries who gave full scholarships to 48 of our campers, even provided them with sleeping bags, pillows and Bibles – we’re thankful that they were able to experience a week of camp that they might not have been able to otherwise.

With camp over, the pace doesn’t really seem to slow down that much. There’s a youth group from Ohio due to arrive on Monday the 6^th – 30 people who have no idea how many projects there are waiting for them! And we’re getting down to the last few weeks of planning for our annual fundraiser auction. On August 18^th, hordes of people (we hope) will be gathered in the True Value parking lot (probably praying for clear skies and a cool breeze) enjoying tasty food and spending our money on a cause that we believe in. All of the money that’s raised on that day goes towards providing eight fun weeks of summer camp, plus a couple of weekend retreats, all planned specifically to bring kids closer to Christ. I hope you’ll come join us.

If you have prayed for the people at Bethel Camp this summer –a single time or on a daily basis– thank you. We have felt the effects of those prayers; we’ve needed them and still do. I wonder… could the ministry of Bethel Camp be effective without the quiet prayers of people behind the scenes?

 We’ve been waiting for this weekend for awhile now, and I’m not sure we’re ready for it! But ready or not, we’re celebrating Bethel Camp’s 50^th Anniversary over Memorial Day weekend. We’ve got lots of activities planned, good food on the menu, and quite a few people registered who make up some of Bethel Camp’s history. One thing we’re working on that we’re excited about is a Camp Memories booklet. We’ve gathered stories from past directors (and people who played other roles in the running of camp) along with an overview/history of Bethel Camp, and Wendy has put them all together into a booklet form. We’ll be giving them out to everyone who attends this weekend. If you’re not able to make it but would like a copy of the booklet, please let us know. We’d love for you to have one.

One day last week, 5 women from Turners Creek and Bowling Creek came over to help us get the campgrounds ready for the anniversary weekend. They cleaned and cleaned, got rained on, and cleaned some more. I thought it would be interesting to add up how many years of housecleaning experience they have between them. I’ll go with a low estimate. Between the 5 of them, they’ve cleaned homes for well over 200 years. That’s the kind of people that I trust to get our buildings ready for guests. J

As I sit here in my room and type, I hear the hammering of rocks being broken into the right sizes to fit in the chimney that Roger and Shaun are working hard to finish before guests start arriving. When the old boys’ dorm was remodeled, a fireplace was added in one of the new guest rooms, and Roger had the dream of building a beautiful rock chimney outside. That dream is so close to completion. It won’t be long until we can back our van out without having to watch out for a pile of rocks. It’ll also be nice to be able to use the wood stove in the basement to keep that building warm this winter instead of paying for the electric heat.

Roger and I had several invitations to Breathitt’s graduation this year, and we wish that we could have been a part of that. But Wesley graduated from Kindergarten at Riverside that same night. It’s not nearly as big of an accomplishment as finishing 12^th grade, but we couldn’t miss seeing that curly-haired boy of ours shake Mr. VanSkyhawk’s hand and get his diploma! Thinking about Wesley graduating from kindergarten brought back vivid memories of my own kindergarten graduation. Until then, I didn’t know I could remember anything from 25 years ago.

Congratulations to all the graduates. May you have a summer of peace and relaxation, before the next level of responsibility that life brings to you.

 Wet. That’s the first adjective that comes to mind when I think of how to describe this youth retreat weekend. The second one, following closely behind, is - cold. When Micah Parkerson stood up to speak during chapel on Saturday, he asked everyone, “How many of you think this is the fall retreat?” It did feel like a wet autumn weekend, but somehow the weather never seems to take the fun out of a weekend at camp. Youth retreats are always more or less memorable, but this one will become a part of history: “Remember that youth retreat that we all got flooded in at camp?”

Friday evening was really nice weather and after a hot dog roast and the chapel service that evening we all enjoyed a game of capture the flag in the dark. (Actually two games since one team captured all the flags in about 15 minutes the first game). When I went to bed on Friday, the mist was just starting to come down, and I don’t think it stopped misting and raining until sometime Sunday.

Saturday after a super breakfast of pancakes, baked oatmeal, and bacon, Keith Byler led us in a time of worship and Micah shared a message titled “You are here.” He challenged all the campers to look at where they were spiritually just like you look at a map at the mall with the big “x” showing where you are. Then after taking a good look at where you are, follow the example of Isaiah after God touched his tongue with a burning coal from the fire – say, “here I am, send me.” God has some really cool plans for us if we are just ready to follow him.

The rest of the day was filled with activities like making a Bible story video, playing basketball and volleyball in the rain, hiking through the woods, eating Bill’s wonderful pizza, making raffia baskets or a leather key fob in the craft room, archery and riflery, or seeing how high you could build a “water tower” out of 100 coffee stirrers and a roll of tape. One of the highlights for me (Roger) was a wet and muddy game of Ultimate Frisbee. Even though my team lost, I enjoyed the exercise and challenge of the game. Seth Showalter (son of Jon Showalter who lived here with his family in the 1960’s) was the high scorer on his team making some awesome catches in the end zone.

During the Saturday evening service the Big Rock Players entertained us with some poignant skits challenging us to be ready for Christ’s return and be involved in reaching people with the good news of God’s love and hope for salvation.

The hard rain hit Saturday night after midnight and like many of you, we woke up to high water in the creek. In our case we were completely blocked in and started calling parents to let them know that they wouldn’t be able to get here to pick up their kids like they had planned at 2:00 PM. (The water finally went down below the bridge around 6:30 PM). We had a super worship service Sunday morning. The worship time was awesome – we truly felt the presence of Jesus in our midst. As a response to the message, the kids were asked to write a letter to themselves which will be mailed to them in a month. The letter was their chance to write down some things they wanted to remind themselves to keep on doing after they leave camp and get back into the routine of life.

Our kitchen staff did an impressive job all weekend, but they had the added challenge of fixing a totally unplanned meal for everyone Sunday evening. They took what we had on hand and fixed a fine meal and I know none of us went hungry. We probably ate too much all weekend – what with 3 good meals a day and two times to buy stuff from the snack shop on Saturday we had more than we needed.

Looking back on the weekend it is amazing to me how much fun a group of kids can have. Rain may have changed some of the activities, and caused us to have to wash a few loads of clothes to keep the campers dry and warm, but the rain added a new element that made this spring retreat memorable. It seems we remember better the times when we are faced with a challenge and overcome it. Why in the world do we spend so much of our time trying to make ourselves comfortable when 50 years from now we will never remember the times we spent in an air-conditioned room watching television and drinking a pepsi.

Have a great week! -Roger & Ruthie

 We have new (old – but young) friends at camp for awhile! Last Friday, Justin and Julia Kurtz moved up from Asheville, NC to spend 5 weeks helping out while Julia does her nursing clinicals in Hazard. They met for the first time here at Bethel Camp when they were young, then got to know each other better over several summers while they were on staff together. It’s good to have them here.

We are so grateful to Martha Stoltzfus and Pauline Yoder who, earlier in the week, spent most of a day cleaning Miller Hall so it would be ready for Justin & Julia to move into. At one point during the day, we were talking about the idea of an “age factor.” Everyone has an actual age, but there’s another “age” too – the age that you look or act; the age that other people may think of when they see you. Those two ladies must have a pretty low age factor. Either one of them could be a grandmother to my girls, and yet at suppertime, Malin referred to them as “the girls that came to Miller Hall today.” And earlier in the day, after spending time with Martha & Pauline, Avery came up to the house and asked for a snack to share with her “good friends.”

And that was just the beginning of the spring clean-up process… This past weekend, a youth group from Delaware – about 30 people – came down and got all kinds of stuff done around here. They have kind of a tradition of coming down every other year – doing work projects around camp on Friday and Saturday, then doing an Easter program at the Turner’s Creek Mennonite Church. We didn’t get to see their program at Turner’s Creek, but we had the chance to watch one of their practices. Excellent.

I spent most of my weekend in the kitchen preparing food and catching glimpses of progress from the windows. The camp pick-up and golf cart were kept busy hauling leaves, trash, tree limbs and workers who were efficient enough to catch a ride. A couple of girls were kept busy all day Friday feeding a fire that consumed tree stumps and fallen limbs. Another group cleared a trail through Larkin Holler to the top of the hill. They cleaned leaves out of ditches, emptied out the wood shop and moved everything to another building, hauled rec. equipment up to the old wood shop, set posts for a fence, cleaned out gutters, and put shingles on a roof.

With all of the work that’s gotten done, we feel ready for the spring youth retreat that will be going on this weekend. It starts at 6:00 with registration and a hot dog cookout. There’s still room – if any of you (in 7^th-12^th grades) have been wanting to come but forgot to preregister… come on over!