Jesus - the original superhero

Our theme for the Summer is "Heroes: then and now, become one tomorrow".


There is a group here from a church in Helena, MT leading our morning chapel services. Yesterday they all dressed up like popular superheroes and were interviewed about the qualities of a hero. Jesus is way better than any of them!











Can superheroes beat a 5 year old at carpet ball????






We're learning the song called Jesus, you're my superhero, by Hillsongs Kids.
Watch a video of it here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-vtflKzeNU)
It's a catchy little tune.



The same church also had 3 ladies wanting to come and cook for the week! I'm available to help if needed. They are doing a fantastic job and now I have some "free" time to work on cleaning and organizational projects (which I really like doing) in the kitchen, and get out to see other stuff around camp.

Catching Up

I just realized that it's been a full week since my last blog. Sorry for being such a slacker with this. It's not that there is nothing going on (because there has been a lot going on here), but just that I have been busy with all the happenings.

Pastor Jim Howard was our speaker last week.

He did some great drawings while telling the story of Pilgrim's Progress.

Here he's teaching the kids to sing "I met Jesus at the Crossroads".

I had an afternoon out of the kitchen and got to visit some of the skill builder classes.

Here is the craft class making tie-dye t-shirts.

They started with white shirts that said Yellowstone Alliance Adventures and ended up with some amazing new fashions.

Here's someone in the rock-climbing class. All the way up this girl was saying she was scared (and that the harness was giving her a big wedgie) but her teacher encouraged her and she made it to the top of the wall and rang the bell. YAY...good job!

The warmer weather finally arrived. We set up a very long slip-and-slide on a hill. Hard to tell who had more fun - the campers or the staff! A water balloon toss followed that.

Thursday was the campers' last night here. The counselors got them all settled into bed, and then the other staff got them back up for a PARTY! The dining room was decorated. There were snacks and games. A lot of the staff got dressed up. It was a late night but a great time!

Parents came on Friday to pick up their kids. Families are always invited to come for the week-end awards ceremony and then stay for a BBQ lunch on that last day. There were burgers, hot dogs, chips, brownies and watermelon. It's a special time for parents to hear stories from the week and for us to show our appreciation to them for trusting their kids to us!

There were 3 kids who made professions of faith this past week. Praise the Lord for that!

Please continue to pray for safety at the camp, and endurance for the staff.

Dodge Ball

Even more fun in the rain!

They're Here!

YAY...16 cute little campers arrived today. It's been fun to see them running around, laughing, and shouting. Right now they are in the middle of a game called volcanos and craters. There are a bunch of these little cone-shaped disc things on the field. One team (volcanos) runs around turning them with the pointy side up - to look like a volcano. The other team (craters) turns them with the wide side up - to look like a crater. It's pretty much a mass chaos of doing that for several minutes. Team with the most discs turned their way wins. Simple fun!

Bozeman Kids' Day

Today was Kids' Day in Bozeman - a chance for local businesses and organizations to set up displays and offer information about their services to families. Yellowstone Alliance Adventures was asked to participate. Here's some of the pictures from a really fun day. Everyone worked hard with great attitudes despite the cool drizzle.

Tomorrow our 3rd and 4th grade campers arrive. Please be praying for health and safety, and that God's Word will go out clearly and effectively.

Our wonderful soccer coaching staff is leaving us tomorrow morning for a day in Yellowstone Park and then driving back to Ohio. Please pray for their safety as well.

Recipe

All of the meals at camp are prepared fresh and lovingly in our kitchen. None of that "heat and eat" stuff here. This is the recipe we used for today's lunch. It was easy to prepare and very yummy. Try it, and enjoy!

Sausage and Potato Bake

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
1 can (10.75 oz) cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp petter
3 cups (1 1/4 pound) potatoes, sliced thin (peeling is optional)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

cook sausage, crumble, and drain
mix soup, milk, onion, salt, and pepper
use an ungreased 11x7x2 pan
layer half the potatoes, half the soup, half the sausage
repeat with another layer of potato, soup, sausage
cover with foil
bake 350 for 1 1/2 hours until potatoes are tender
uncover and sprinkle with cheese
return to oven just until cheese is melted
serves 6-8

(I did this recipe times 10 for our crowd with NO leftovers)

Day Off

This past Saturday I had most of the day off.
Some other staff members suggested 2 places that would be good for me to visit.




First was Lewis and Clark Caverns. It was pretty cool to see the stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, etc (note to self: crack open a geology book this Summer). The guided tour was 2 miles in 2 hours. Of course, there's a huge hill to walk up to get to where the tour begins. Not so easy for me to do in this elevation. But, I made it and had a great time. They only allowed flash photos in certain areas of the caverns because of the bats that live there. This rock has an imprint of a big foot.















Next place was Virginia City and Nevada City. These are old mining towns from the 1800(?)s. Many of the storefronts are in their original condition. It was fun to walk around there until it started raining. Right outside town was a cowboy church. I would definately go there for a service if it were closer to camp!













On Sunday our whole group piled into a school bus and went to Alliance Fellowship for chruch. They had a great message and music. After that we served our "Sunday Smorgasbord" (aka leftovers) lunch. It's the best way to clean out the fridge but there are soooo many dishes to wash.


Last night the Timothy and Joshua groups began a week-long Jericho walk. Yesterday was 1 time around the whole camp, praying for each activity and staff member and future campers. Tonight they will go twice, and so on for the rest of the week ending with 7 times on Saturday night.




This week we have some special guests here from a high school in Ohio. They are leading YAA's soccer camp which began this morning. There are 15 kids participating. Please be praying for their safety. Most of them are from unsaved families so you can pray that we will have opportunites to present them the Gospel.




I think that's all the updates I have right now. Email me if you would like to see more pictures.