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The Musser Family Returns to Bethany Birches

By: Aldine Musser

In July 1984 we (Jim & Aldine) moved to Vermont with our two young daughters. Crystal was not quite 3 and Sheri was 11 months old. Our third daughter, Melody, arrived 4 years later. Bethany Birches Camp was a special place for our family for 17 years. We eagerly looked forward to spending the summer at BBC with staff and campers, many who were our friends and neighbors.

For Jim’s 76th birthday we decided to return with our children, their spouses and children.

We walked around the grounds to every shelter and shared the memories of staff we knew who had been counselors in that shelter or memories of our daughters being a camper in one of the shelters. The paths from one shelter to another were much the same as 40 years ago.

We have memories of cooking over the fire and also singing at firesides with the words written on a posterboard. Reconnecting with folks from Taftsville Chapel, Bethany Mennonite and friends from the village over a picnic lunch was a great way to end our memory visit.

James and Aldine Musser were the executive and program directors. Learn more about their tenure, and other camp happenings with The First Fifty Years sold here: www.bethanybirches.org/50

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.

Come join us to volunteer!

Ready to Climb…Climb On!

Ben “Flapjack” Hershey

These words were heard consistently throughout cabin challenge and adventure times during the 2024 summer program season. In the past they could only be heard outside as 2-3 campers climbed the rock holds on the outside of the pavilion chimney. Thanks to generous donors, and climbing wall staff, these words were also heard inside on rainy days as more campers climbed more often thanks to the completion of the indoor climbing wall.

As one of the final remaining loose ends of Mission Possible: The Pavilion Project (2014) it was long past time to install the climbing wall. Designs, styles and colors were researched. Bids received from various companies and finally Eldorado arrived for a week of work back in April of 2024. (insert the time lapse videos?). The group of 3 guys worked diligently to erect the BBC indoor climbing wall complete with ? # of holds, 4 “panels” 2 auto belayers and mats for the bottom. Generous donors helped us purchase additional harnesses and climbing shoes. Bring on a summer of climbing!

Recruiting and training additional staff was a key to utilizing the indoor climbing wall. Ben “FlapJack” Hershey was coming back for a third summer of counseling and was asked to be one of the climbing wall managers for the summer. Managing includes teaching campers about the wall and the equipment we use to climb, keeping children (and staff!) safe, and helping campers to improve their climbing skills while encouraging their appreciation for the sport. He accepted the challenge and offers some reflections on his experience.

“Running the rock wall quickly became one of my favorite activities of each week, and something that I looked forward to doing. However, it was not just my mastery of a new activity that made the rock wall a highlight of the summer for me. Getting to witness the campers’ enjoyment of the new rock wall each week from my role was truly what made it stand out at camp for me.

In examining the core values of BBC, I find that the activity of climbing the indoor wall rests on each of these values in a unique manner. While the wall itself may be man-made, scaling it successfully and making the transition from easier to more difficult routes requires the boldness to step outside of your comfort zone. I believe that this boldness extends beyond the wall and is present in the challenge of living outdoors in nature at camp that campers take on for a week (or multiple weeks in some cases) and that staff take on for a summer. Those of us who have had that experience to any extent know how wonderful it can be, but it requires us to go beyond what we know to be comfortable and familiar to appreciate nature in that way. Similarly, climbing the wall is based on a principle of faith. When you begin climbing, you have to trust that your equipment, the ropes, and your belayer on the ground will keep you safe and will catch you if you fall. Though it may seem trivial, this exercise is analogous to trusting in God and His promise to carry us through every storm that enters our lives. The wall also embodies a certain sort of community. Climbers have to be able to work and communicate with their belayer (and vice versa) and to be able to accept the help of staff in making sure that their equipment is functional and safe, and it was not an uncommon occurrence this summer to watch campers who had already climbed the wall give advice and tips to their peers who had yet to reach the top. If you’ve ever climbed a rock wall, it is almost challenging for it not to be fun. There is nothing quite like the feeling of hearing cheers and encouragement from an audience of campers below, or the sense of accomplishment that you receive once you reach the final hold.

An added incentive of the rock wall for campers this summer was a reward of “cabin points” in the weekly Crazy Camp Cabin Competition for climbing to the top of the wall. One of my own campers this summer was determined to get to the top of the wall, despite never having done it before, to earn those points for our cabin. He didn’t make it all the way on his first attempt, and nearly resigned himself to the conclusion that it was too difficult of a challenge. But with some encouragement from myself and his cabin mates who were also participating, he gave it another shot. From the ground, the other campers and I tried to direct his attention to good handholds and footholds, all while encouraging him to take his time and trust in his abilities. After a few minutes, he found himself looking down at us from the top of the wall with a smile on his face, satisfied with the feat he had just accomplished. Throughout the rest of the week, he continued to talk about how his ascent of the wall would be one of his favorite moments from camp that year. The wall only adds to the wonderful camp experience at Bethany Birches that I have had the privilege to be a part of as a counselor for three summers and that campers come back year after year to enjoy. I am grateful that I was able to witness this new aspect of camp in the role that I did this summer, and I have no doubt that climbing will continue to bring camper smiles for many years to come.”

Thanks to the many people who helped make the rock wall a reality. Consider a visit to BBC to try out the indoor climbing wall for yourself!

Local High School “Unplugs” at BBC

Amber “Cheeks” Bergey & Hartford High Teachers and Students

In March of 2024, 27 Hartford High schoolers and 3 teachers arrived at the BBC Cabin and planned to stay for 3 nights. Dropping their phones in a basket was the first event of their stay. The devices would stay in the basket for the duration of the 3 days and the group was officially unplugged. Students, teachers and parents of students on the trip shared reflections that demonstrate the value of inviting young people to disconnect from technology and focus on making other connections. BBC is happy to provide that space for young people to connect with God, creation and each other.

Following the trip a lovely thank you note came to the BBC mailbox and included some of the following reflections.

“Our goal was to take a contingent of our students out into the wilderness to remove the demands of their digitally connected lives with the hope that they would connect deeper with themselves, each other, and nature… We could not be more excited for how this endeavor positively impacted our students on so many levels. We feel incredibly grateful for your willingness to allow us this opportunity to “Unplug.”

One of the teachers in the group shared “In my observations the students who participated in the HHS Unplugged retreat at BBC had a transformative experience. I feel that the trip opened the scholars’ eyes to how much fun and how impactful life can be when we can “figure it out” without the distraction of the internet/cell phones. Shortly after arriving in nature, it did not take long for the students’ creativity and sociability to kick in.”

A student from the senior class noted that “The most beneficial part was learning how to cook and taking a risk and being out of my comfort zone.” Another senior commented, “For me, this trip revealed the difference between real personal connection and the ways I try to connect through my phone.” The thank you note abounded with similar comments from students.

Parents even noticed the difference. A mom sent a note of thanks including, “When I picked him up after the retreat, he was more at ease, more communicative, and more himself than I’ve seen him in a long time. He almost immediately expressed relief from not having to tend his phone all the time and shared that he’d like to curb his use of it moving forward.”

Another senior felt the “experience gave us the chance to grow and learn how we can communicate and build bonds outside of the technological ways we normally would. On behalf of the students of Hartford High-School, I want to thank BBC for allowing us to build those bonds.”

Bethany Birches continues to be a place to connect with God, nature, and have fun while living in community.

Book space at BBC to host your own gathering

Rhythm of Life: What’s Next?

The life of an organization can be similar to the life of a person. There are seasons of growth, stagnation, seasons of vision and hope, and times of challenge and fear. This is likely so because organizations, especially camps like Bethany Birches, centered on community and relationships, are filled with people! Just like many people, the camp did a little less at the beginning of and into the pandemic. Turns out that doing anything at all during the pandemic felt harder than doing a lot in a normal year. While we are a bit worn out, we are energized by the signs of campers on site (more than 400 total camper weeks summer 2021), meeting with supporters, and other normalized activities. We are energized enough that we even scheduled 8 winter weekends of programming this December – February, are invested in the counselor in training program (CIT), and working faster than normal to find summer 2022 staff and volunteers. Now we just have to pace ourselves.

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We have to pace ourselves so that as we work toward our current goal of winter camp growth, we can see that task to completion. The Bethany Birches mission, while stated in different terms over its lifespan, has long been to help young people connect with God and others in nature. Providing a Christ-centered camping experience is at the core of what we do. We feel that if a camper can be at camp more often their growth in faith, maturity, and strength can be accelerated. It’s a little like starting your plants in a greenhouse during the late winter and early spring.

As we come to terms with the reality that Covid-19 seems to be here to stay, and we create strategies to mitigate risk, similar to so many other illnesses and diseases, we begin to be free to think about what’s next. Will you join me in prayer, and seeking wisdom for how to take the next steps into the future of Bethany Birches? We are working to envision a winter camp experience that will enrich many young people for generations to come, and introduce them to the sustaining and peaceful love of Jesus. May it be so.

-Brandon “Tuna” Bergey, Executive Director

Family Affair: Father and Sons as Camp Counselors

Last summer I worked for a week at BBC as a counselor. As a parent of three sons who have loved camp for a decade, I was excited to stick around past drop-off and get an insider’s look. When I arrived on Sunday afternoon Meatball handed me a grey staff shirt. The shirt had the summer’s theme – TOGETHER – written in block letters on the front. It has since become my favorite t-shirt because of the great memories connected to it, and also because that word “together”, says so much about what makes BBC special.

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Even before the campers arrived that day, I saw the staff intentionally cultivate togetherness amongst themselves. The final thing they do to prepare for campers is what they call “Prayer Hike”, in which they walk silently as a group to all of the cabins. They stop at each one and say personalized prayers for the cabin’s counselors. This togetherness amongst the counselors continues throughout the week. They have regular, brief staff meetings that are light on agenda, and heavy on affirmation. Every staff member I worked with that week was a tremendously talented and loving individual, and the extra steps they took to work and love together helped them serve the campers even better.

I also watched campers spontaneously come together to help each other and have more fun. At every chance they got, they ran to the gaga pit where there were always campers encouraging others to jump in and play. One night at Fireside, while singing songs after dinner, a few campers swung their arms around each others’ shoulders and swayed back and forth while they sang. It wasn’t long before every camper had their arms around another’s shoulders.

All this togetherness at camp is only possible because camp does it all together with God. The Gospel tells us, “Without me you can do nothing.” The Gospel tells us we have to – and get to – do everything together with God. Whenever I put on my favorite shirt, I think of campers and counselors being together, and I thank God for working together with BBC to do great things for kids.

-Andy “Gumby” Smith, Camp Dad and Volunteer Counselor

Full Circle: From Camper to Counselor

When it comes to long-time campers who love camp Maja is as loved and well known as they come. Maja has been coming to camp since 2014, when she was 7 years old, and has had the experience we hope all campers can have at camp. I asked Maja how she would describe her experience at BBC with someone who has never been here, and she said, “Camp is a place where, either if it’s your first year or fifth year coming, there’s always something new that you will experience and it’s always a good experience. I only have good memories.”

Maja is one of the many campers that remind me of why I love to work at camp. Not only has she come for 6 summers, but this past summer she participated in our two leadership programs.

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During the second week of camp Maja arrived as an LIT (Leader in Training); it quickly became evident, to her counselors, myself, and other staff, that she was someone who would grow to be a strong counselor at camp. Partway through her LIT week I pulled Maja aside and encouraged her to apply for the CIT (Counselor in Training) program happening later in the summer. Maja is a loud and energetic person, but I don’t think I’ve seen her as excited as she was at this moment. I watched a long time camper with dreams of becoming a counselor jump up and down, literally, as she realized that she was a step closer to her dream. When I asked her later what that moment felt like she said “All I thought was ‘I’m going to be able to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time a lot earlier than I thought.'”

When Maja walked up to the registration line on day one of CIT there was nothing but excitement in her eyes. She was ready, and I couldn’t wait to see how she would use her gifts of connecting with others easily, participating to the fullest, caring for those around her, and of course brining pure joy to whoever she came in contact with. To put it simply, Maja did not disappoint. It was rare in her weeks as a CIT that Maja was seen without a handful of campers by her side. When observing her it appeared as though she was already an assistant counselor, rather than a counselor in training. Her campers clearly loved her, and the counselors, leaders, and staff who worked alongside her were impressed by her ability to step up, without being asked, to serve anyone and everyone around her. When it came time at the end of the program to recommend next steps, I did not hesitate to encourage Maja to apply to be on staff.

While interviewing Maja it remained clear that helping campers grow to become counselors is meant to be a part of what we do here at BBC. There is something about a past camper becoming a staff member that helps them connect deeply with our campers during the summer. Campers get to look up to a counselor who was them; that’s special. Maja will get the opportunity to be that example this summer as a female assistant counselor. When I asked Maja what she was most excited for as a staff member she said, “Meal time. Me and the girls in my cabin during LIT week all got to connect in different ways than we would because we were all sitting together. It’s been like that since I was younger. Meal times was that time when we could connect, and were when the funniest moments happened.” I cannot wait to walk up to Maja’s cabin this summer and see her making her campers burst into laughter, watch as she teaches them how to safely cook over the fire, or simply know that she is investing in their lives the same way that so many counselors did when she was a camper.
Maja puts it simply, “Camp has been such a big influence on my life, and that is because of people who have supported camp. They’ve given me that opportunity and they are going to give that opportunity to so many other people. Camp really leaves an impact on your life that you wouldn’t get anywhere else.” Maja is just one example of the campers that have and will experience growth and a beautiful community at Bethany Birches. Here’s to the many campers who have come before Maja and the many who will come after. May BBC provide them with a safe space to experience personal growth, connect deeply with God, and be lifted up by a community of joy.

-Anna “Meatball” Martin

Program Director

Day Camp: No Week Looks the Same!

What do “A Bugs Life”, “Wild Week” and “Splash Week” all have in common?! Each title is a theme for one of the weeks of day camp at BBC. Each week of day camp will include traditional BBC favorites such as, cooking over the fire, swimming in the pond and playing outside. The themes allow each week to be unique from each other.

Day Camp A (June 25 – 29) will explore A Bugs Life. Water bugs, spiders, lady bugs and other small insects. Each day will focus on a specific bug and what that bug can teach us about life. Along with songs and crafts to complement each critter.

Wild Week is happening the week of Jul 3-6 . Campers will spend time exploring the wild around them, understanding what nature can teach them and playing games simulating life in the wild.

Splash Week (Day Camp C, Jul 30 – Aug 3) will round out the 2018 day camp line up! All wet all the time. Day campers will join overnight campers as they explore what we can learn from the properties of water. Day campers will also enjoy day camp specific crafts and activities related to the splash week theme.

Despite differing themes – each day Camp Week will be chocked full of fun, friends faith and the outdoors! It’s a great taste of BBC for young campers. We hope to see you on the hill!

Wonder Woman Returns to BBC Day Camp

Last summer (2017) Day Camp C was the highest attended Day Camp Session to date at BBC. Wonder Woman was one of the counselors for that week and we are excited to announce she is returning for TWO DAY CAMP WEEKS THIS SUMMER! If you’re attending Day Camp A or C Wonder Woman will be one of your leaders. Below she describes why she’s excited to return for 2 sessions this summer:

Day Camp Rocks! And I am so excited to be returning to Bethany Birches Camp for a second summer as a volunteer Day-Camp counselor!

When I think back to last year, I can’t help but smile as I remember all of the fun that was had by campers and counselors alike in our week together. There are so many great memories to choose from – but swimming in the pond, going down the giant slip and slide, and eating ice cream out of a trough immediately come to mind. Each memory involves our whole group smiling, laughing, and just having a downright blast together!

Working with the youngest campers, while of course had a few challenging moments, was overall a true joy! They come to camp so full of energy and ready for fun. They have great imaginations and a wonderful spirit of play and adventure. And most of them had never been to camp before, so everything is new and exciting for them. We had the best time hiking out to the tree houses for a special lunch, singing at Jumpstart each morning with the overnight campers, doing craft projects, playing games, and experiencing all that camp has to offer!

While I admit that I personally enjoyed getting to participate in all of the awesome camp activities just as much as the kids did (who doesn’t love a jumping on the water trampoline?!? ), the reason I am coming back again is because, in addition to being awesomely fun, I found camp to be amazingly rewarding.

I loved getting to know each of the campers, and enjoyed their unique personalities and what they brought to camp each day- just by being them. Sometimes that was a Moana sing-a-long, a game of pretending to be robots on the playground, or a dream of catching their first frog at the pond…it was always a surprise waiting to happen.

And I was incredibly impressed by how great these little ones were at making new friends. While they essentially arrived as strangers, by the end of the first day each camper had a new buddy, and by the end of the week the whole group seemed like they had grown up together. Wow! What an example for us all.

But perhaps the best part for me was getting to help my campers succeed at trying new things. I loved getting to encourage them to go for it, cheering them on while they did, and then celebrating their successes and accomplishments. We had campers learn to swim, kayak for the first time, hike farther than they ever had before, and be willing to overcome fears -like going down the giant slip and slide for the first time, and then loving it!

The smiles on their faces that, exuded not only joy, but pride and confidence in themselves, were simply priceless.

And yes – I was gloriously exhausted at the end of each day, and thankful to go home to sleep in my own bed each night (a day-camp perk!).

But you really can’t beat camp, and I feel pretty lucky to get to be a part of it again.

Counting down the days till summer,

Courtney Hollingsworth (aka Wonder Woman)

Day Camp Safari

Treehouse lunch hike

Post Pig Trough

A Counselor’s Experience at BBC

Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Working at camp involves a lot of repetition, and as someone who generally revolts against rigid routines, sometimes I felt like I was going crazy. But somehow, beyond all my expectations, God met me in the repetition.

I came to camp expecting that I would meet God in some life-redefining way. In fact, that was one big reason I initially hesitated about working at BBC this summer ― I expected that I would meet God in some big way, and I was afraid of finding him like that. Because finding God meant that I would have to own up to a lot of things, and I did not want to spend the emotional energy, I guess. But I did not meet God, not in the way I thought, anyway, which fit in so well with our theme of “Expect the Unexpected.” No, he did not revealed himself to me in some flashy Damascus road moment. Instead, he pulled me gently back to him, one small moment at a time.

Every week, I repeated the same advice to my campers, heard the same Bible stories, sang the same songs, cooked the same food, did the same activities.

I knew what was coming next. In the logistical sense, I knew exactly what to expect.

Now, when you do something over and over again, and know you will keep doing it over and over again, you have two choices: you can either jade yourself to what you are doing, or you can look for new threads of meaning within the repetition.

I found myself handing out the same advice to my girls this summer, different campers, different ages, different situations. I told them how important it is to learn to love yourself, because if you dislike yourself, then loving your neighbor as you love yourself quickly derails into a nightmare. And by the fifth or sixth time that I heard those words coming out of my mouth, I realized, hey, maybe I should give my own advice a try.

And maybe after the 50th morning of singing that all God’s critters got a place in the choir, I could remember that that meant me, someone who has felt on the outside for a while, not sure of her place in the choir or if she wants to sing at all.

And maybe by the seventh time hearing that God’s best friend Moses killed a man would it actually sink in that, hey, God might want to be best friends with me, too, someone who has not killed anything but maybe some mosquitos.

I usually look for God in the strange, unfamiliar places. I can see him working best when I am outside of my comfort zone. I like to go on adventures, push myself, find weird new places to explore, and hope to bump into God along the way.

But this summer, I learned to look for him in the small, quiet moments, in the spider crawling up my leg, in the curious eyes of children, in the encouragement of fellow staff, in the silly song lyrics.

God knows what we need more than we know for ourselves. He knows I can be skittish, he knows I am stubborn, but he also knows how much I delight in small moments of beauty, and he used that understanding to give me what I needed: a gentle push in a better direction that, with enough encouragement, will eventually lead me home.

As I have settled back into the repetition of my life away from camp, into my college routine, I catch myself thinking about camp a lot. I find I am craving the outdoors, craving rain showers and cast-iron griddles and grease fires and charcoal hand prints on my legs, craving the company of children, craving the peace I found on the hill ― these things that separately I can replicate anywhere, but that all together create something beautiful, something powerful, something unique to Bethany Birches.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to work at Bethany Birches, and I am looking forward to returning next summer, ready to embrace the unexpected from day one.

Liesl “Kiki” Graber

2017 BBC Summer Counselor

This summer was the most attended summer in the history of BBC. Praise God! We had well over 400 camper weeks throughout the seven weeks of summer. These high numbers required that we also have one of the largest staff teams in the camp’s history. Many different marketing events, individuals, and advertisements helped to make this summer’s registration so momentous, but I also believe that campers wouldn’t come (and keep coming!) if it weren’t for the ways camp impacts them.

Camp is uniquely powerful in the lives of children for many different reasons. One of the most important reasons, I believe, is the connection between camper and counselor. During the school year children spend 99% of their time with peers (fellow students) and with older adults (parents/teachers). Peers are easy for them to connect with, but often not much of a role model. Adults can be great role models, but difficult to make powerful connections with. Young, maturing, 20-something counselors help bridge that gap. They are fun to be with and people the campers can look up to. Many campers, in fact, realize that they too can grow up to be like these counselors some day. Liesl was an excellent example this summer. In the paragraphs that follow she shares her experiences this summer and you can see that while she made a real impact in the lives of her campers God also used BBC to make a real impact in her own life.

– Dan “Chick” Laubach, Program Director