A Summer for the Books

Laura “Roon” Church

This summer was special for our family. One for the books. My kids and I got to do a lot of traveling, spending time with people we love and doing things we love like going to the beach, visiting family, and exploring new places. But the highlight for us was our time at Bethany Birches. What made it so special? An opportunity to be in God’s beautiful creation, meeting new people to love, and being able to both enjoy all the highlights of camp while also giving back. 

I have been to Bethany Birches as a Camp Shepherd several times over the past 16 years. After I got married and started having children I knew I wanted my family to experience the peace, beauty and loving community that camp has to offer. They came along with me as I spoke several times and they too could feel and see how special this place was. This year, when I was invited back to be a shepherd, I realized that all my kids were finally the ages that they could attend as campers, although not the same week. Since we live out of state, and had a busy summer, traveling up twice didn’t make sense. So, we decided to take turns volunteering and attending camp as campers and me as the Shepherd. 

Jericho, my daughter, was up first for camp. I was so thrilled to see her and her fellow cabin mates seem to instantly be comfortable with each other and their friendships were  definitely the highlight of the week for her. She also enjoyed Mission Impossible, the food, and being able to be silly with activities like Pig Trough and Iron Chef with Pepperoni Peggy. 

My three boys and I spent the first week as volunteers mainly helping maintenance by stacking wood to be used in the winter. This was a physically demanding task but the  boys put their whole heart and soul into their work. They spent several hours each day getting crates ready for wood, loading wood into the crates, and organizing and stacking wood in the woodshed. Our family has spent several Christmases with extended family at BBC and know how important the wood supply is to keeping all the buildings warm during winter. They could see tangibly how getting the wood ready for winter could directly help the camp’s needs later in the year. 

The boys also helped in the kitchen with dishes after lunch. Again, they were happy to join in the work of washing, drying, and putting dishes away. I appreciated that they were getting the opportunity to see all the different tasks that need to happen in order to make camp run and have a chance to learn to serve. 

After their week of hard work it was the boys turn to attend camp. Shades and Kevin, their counselors, were their favorite part of camp. They made the week so fun and made each camper feel special. I expected the boys to say that all the different activities were highlights as well, but what it really came down to for them was their cabin mates and the time they spent as a community within their cabin that they liked best. 

Jericho spent her days as a volunteer in the kitchen. She helped do everything from prepping food for campers to cleaning and washing dishes. She poured herself into volunteering and said at the end of the first day “I love this as much as being a camper”! She made friendships with the kitchen crew, learned how much time and effort goes into keeping a large crowd fed, and learned the joy of serving others. 

As a parent, seeing my kids make friends and have fun at camp is always wonderful, but being able to spend time watching my kids serve others and serve alongside them was a priceless gift. I will definitely look for more opportunities for us to serve together as a family and give back to communities that we are engaged with.