Chapel

Here is Johnny Ringo getting ready to play worship for the campers! These kids play the best music, God always blesses us with talented musicians....



This is Panama Jack on the guitar! Great kid!



Sweetpea and Hop-a-long and Nomad!




There is Deadwood and friends doing a skit that is not quite a legend here, but close! The real legend signiature skit that we do here is called the Sin Chair! Anyway, in this skit the kids are supposedly filming a movie. There is an accident where the bus (Deadwood) runs over a pedestrian! The direcot calls CUT and asks them to do it over with more speed, more emotion, more whatever. Over and over about 4 times until it is just right! It gets a little more dramatic and funny each time. The kids just laugh!



As you plainly see (ha ha) she has been struck by the bus and her friends react!





"Did I really do that!"



"cut....one more time.....with more emotion!"



Hope you enjoyed sharing the skit with us!

Today the primary campers leave and there is about an hour and a half where we move tee pees, set up, pray and prepare to start over! This first weekend is always like that. please pray for the staff as they may be more tired this week since there is no off time. Normally, campers leave Friday morning, we clean camp and they are off until Sunday at 1:00. But this first weekend is always different! Later I can let you know about descisions! Until then.....if you felt led to send a note to someone, this week would be a great time to start! Don't feel like you need to send one to everyone, just a few would help! If you were able to send 5 notes, that would be just a couple dollars in stamps and the blessing would be multiplied a
ga-zillion! All you really need to to say is that you care and that you have prayed for them! Simple!

Hugs and smiles~~~~

OUCH!

So this is Maybeline Fox, Jessica West and that is Tulsa Jack on the ground. Apparently he hurt his knee this week and rumor has it it was "friendly fire" from Mustnag Sally! Ha! Pray for Tulsa's kneee okay?!!

Primary camp is going very well. The kids are having a great time, the counselors and staff are figuring things out, it's going great! Tonight is spaghetti for dinner! Yum! Take care~~

Laundry

This is what I came home to today! So funny! I wash laundry for the kids each summer (for a fee of course!) and I made my laundry announcement last night, so this was what was waiting for me this afternoon! They brought it all the way into to the kitchen, and lined it up in front of the laundry room door, in order of who was first! They make me laugh! Just a quick post for ya!

Movie Night

This is currently my living room....full of staff members! There are over 30 kids in here right now! We are watching a movie called Heavy Weights. It is tradition to watch a camp movie before summer starts! I baked some yummies for them and as you can see they are all piled in my small living room! Good thing the TV is big! By tomorrow I will have the current list of "camp" names for you to pray for. When you send mail, all you need is their camp name and the address. Trust me, our mail lady knows how it is in summer! Tomorrow I am getting photo's of them in their costumes ready for campers! It is so fun when the campers arrive! I liken it to Disney Land. Music is playing, everyone is in costume, and having a good time! the difference is that we share Jesus love!

Thanks for reading along!

You may recognize this staff member! Ryan is officially summer staff for the first time this year! He has been haninging out with the staff for 5 years, but now is really "one of them"! Anyway, this is after the mud pit in main camp was filled....I managed to get the mud out of his jeans, but the tank top didn't survive! The mud pit is a huge draw all summer! Ryan's camp name is Deadwood!

Campers arrive tomorrow....hooray! The staff is all excited and ready to go! Today was an off day filled with fun stuff, and they have been banished to bed after the movie tonight to get plenty of sleep before tomorrow arrives! Pray for our campers and staff as we gear up and welcome the first campers of teh season!

A new day!

Sorry to say, I have no photos for you! I have been super busy getting my part of Frontier Village ready today,and I didn't take time to grab the camera!

Many of the kids have chosen their camp names, they are so funny! We have Deadwood, Calamity Jane, Belle Star, Indiana Jane and many more.

The last couple days the staff have been working on preparing FV for campers, training on proceedures and how to best relate to their campers, as well as building team closeness by doing various fun activities. In fact as I write this they are at the courthouse square having a scavenger hunt. It is good for them to get close and get to know each other since they will have to work and pull together so frequently the next couple of months!

I do have a prayer request. For various reasons we have had several staff members not be able to fulfill their commitment and have backed out before they even got here. Most are very legitimate. However, this means we have some positions to fill. We especially need male counselors and crew members. Please pray that God will send just the right team members our way!

I will do my best to get some photos tomorrow for ya! Until then....Happy Memorial Day!

Here we go again!

Happy summer friends! I hope you are as ready for school to be out as I am! Man, what a great but uber busy year ut has been, especially here at camp. It will be good to be back in touch with you and have you praying again for our counselors, service staff, crew members, rec. team and campers!

Today is the day our summer staff members arrive here at camp for a week of training and preparing before campers arrive next Friday! I don't know where the time goes, but then wait, yes I do! Life!

We have roughly 40 staff members that will join the scene today. They come to us from all over Arizona as well as other states. We have college graduates, college students, high school grads and students, and some recent junior high graduates all ready to take on all we do for God here this summer!

The theme this year is Day of Reckoning. You will notice I changed the title of the blog this year to reflect that. I have decided not to delete the posts from last summer so that you can take a stroll down memory lane (I did and it was fun!) and remember all the things we prayed for and enjoyed last summer, if you were a blog reader with me then. If you were not, then this is your catch up course! Here is a description of the theme and how it plays out:

The theme for this year's Frontier Village is Round-up: The Day of Reckoning. Campers will experience camp in a whole new way as they try to make sense of an unfair world. Why would God allow the "bad guys" to win? Why doesn't good always have the upper hand? The lesson is simple - God is always in control, and sooner or later, there will be a day of reckoning. The only question that remains is, which side will you be on when that day comes?


Cool huh! It is sure to be a summer of impact and memories for all!

As this week progresses I will update you with the goings on of the staff members, there are always some! Did I ever tell you the "Orlando Bloom in the Prescott Mall" story? It was a huge prank and so fun! These kids crack me up! They have such a great time together and it is all good clean fun! As the kids choose their western names, I will let you know so you can pray as well.

Last summer, the staff members were so encouraged by the notes and words of encouragement that you friends mailed to them here. I cannot tell you what it means to these kids to receive a piece of mail from a stranger on a day when you are tired, busy, excited about what God is doing, missing home, weary of teepee living, and so on....to hear that they have been prayed for and that someone besides their MOM cares enough to take time to write! It is huge, and God always has the timing down perfect. When God leads you to drop a note in the mail, do it! It will be a blessing for sure.

I would love it if they could recieve notes 2-3 times over the 10 weeks they are here! Last summer I know a couple of you "adopted" one staff member by name to pray for. Super! If you want to pray over the whole lot of them, super! Whatever God leads you to do! If you are struck with an idea, let me know. One gal wanted to know if she could drop by some homemade snacks....you betcha! If you have an idea, email me and let's work it out. If all you have time for is prayer, trust me that is numero uno! I just know that every summer we are under some kind of attack, and, trust me, it has started already. The most important thing to me is that you lift us all up in prayer as God leads!

Okay, that was long! I will let ya go for now, and post more later! As I post new articles, and slide shows etc., you will get an email from me directing you here to read it...okay! Hugs and love.......Shelli (AKA Dixie for the summer!)