In my catching-up mode, I figured I’d better start with our July project – Longview Camp in Arcade, NY. (Especially since today was the first day of our August project!)
Last month went by in a blur – or so it seemed! We loved our time at Longview – where we were working with some good SOWER friends and alongside the staff at the camp. Longview has a very interesting history but has only been in its current configuration (as an overnight camp) since 2015. The two full-time staff members are young (to us!) men with young families, and I don’t think any of the summer staff/interns were older than 26. Youth = Enthusiasm!! And there was lots of that!

Linda and I kept busy with quite a variety of tasks! We started on the serger (a bit of a learning curve on that machine!), moved to staining and sealing some trim, popped over to do some gardening, pulled out the regular sewing machine to make some skit curtains, got started on a mailing, and finished up with filling some gaps during the camp weeks – which included learning the ins and outs of snack shop and some dish pit work (that always included great conversations!)! None of that ‘same every day’ for us! It was fun to do different things as the needs arose. Here’s a little slide show of some of what we did:

Gary and Dick also moved easily from task to task! They started with some concrete work, making entries and equipment platforms. From there they helped out with finishing up some siding and installing the trim that Linda and I had stained and sealed. Gary got the A/C running at the director’s home (lots of happy faces there!), and then they both got started on insulating and hanging the drywall in one of the new buildings. They needed a couple of extra hands occasionally, but those boys worked hard every day. They just don’t have much photo documentation of that! Sorry! But here are a couple of photos from their jobs:

Of course, we were having some fun during all this work too! Another couple was working at a nearby project (Odosagih Bible Conference where we had served last summer) and we got together with them several times. It’s so fun to have SOWER neighbors! We also enjoyed several weekend concerts and Fourth of July fireworks down at Odosagih as well! Plus we had a mini SOWER reunion of SOWERs working or living in the area which was very special! We also squeezed in that trip to Columbus to hang out with the grands, so we were very thankful for the project’s flexibility with our goofy schedule! Such a fun and busy month! Here’s some of our fun:

We love working at “new to us” ministries, and this had the bonus of being a pretty “new to the camping scene” ministry. It was exciting to see what the Lord is doing through this young ministry, and very encouraging to see so many young people purposely serving Him! We might not get back to this area again, but we will surely be carrying Longview Camp (and its folks!) in our hearts and prayers!