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(Mennonite) Disaster (Service) at BBC

The Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) van could be seen in the camp parking lot from April 6-10. Each spring a group of volunteers from Salford Mennonite Church travel in this van to an area that has experienced a natural disaster. The group serves for a week by doing whatever needs to be done to minimize the physical effects of the disaster. This spring there wasn’t an option to head towards a natural disaster on the East Coast so they drove the van to BBC!

A number of the guys in the group joked about bringing the MDS van to BBC. Clearly, this is NOT a site of a natural disaster. And yet something about having the MDS van at BBC last week was so fitting. At times this project has felt like a disaster…

…Attempting to build a large building from start to finish in VT during the months of Sept – June is a bit disastrous…Utilizing as many volunteers as possible to build a commercial building has the potential to be a scheduling disaster…Going 50+ days below freezing when attempting to complete outside construction work feels like a disaster to each worker who can’t feel their fingers/toes most of the day…A spring thaw turning the parking lot into a huge mudpit has the feel of disaster.

The Salford MDS crew did what most MDS crews do. They brought encouragement in the face of discouraging facts. They smiled as they climbed ladders to shingle the roof. They shrugged off the April snow that pushed them to insulate inside. They asked questions about the mission of BBC and worked all the harder. When they finished on Friday the building had more siding, shingles and insulation. The van pulled out early Saturday morning. The parking lot was still muddy. Much of the building is left to be finished. There still isn’t enough money in the bank.

On Monday Ken Hershey, Larry Derstine (Bridgewater, VT), Roy Snell (Woodstock, VT) volunteered time to continue working on shingling and siding. Andy Bird (Bridgewater, VT), Harold Bergey, Will Bergey, Marlin and Neil Bergey (Hatfield, PA) are volunteering all week to continue the rough in electrical work. Today Russell and Nancy Pejouhy (Bethel, VT) came to stain interior boards. Margaret (Lebanon, NH) is here keeping the office in order. A group from Make it Rain will be here this weekend to volunteer their skills and on Sunday a group from Blooming Glen Mennonite Church will start a week of service.

At BBC we normally experience God using people to bring encouragement in the face of discouraging circumstances all summer and this year, all winter. Experience first hand how God does this by volunteering time or giving money to help build the pavilion or sending a kid to BBC this summer!

The MDS Van

Salford MDS Crew

Larry Derstine adds shingles

Marlin and Neil of Bergey’s Electric Volunteer to do the high ceiling work.

Nancy (OSO) and Russell (OWO) volunteer to stain.

International Flare

My camp name is “G” from Goliath. I am from Indonesia and I came to US with MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) in the International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP) in September 2012. BBC was my second placement during a year with MCC. Working at BBC was so meaningful to me because I worked in nature a lot! I really felt God working through nature and camp activities. The summer theme “Mission Possible” fit with me, since in the US I worked as a volunteer far from my real “world”, but I finished the assignment because it was possible #WithGod.

Working at BBC really opened my heart and mind to God. I enjoyed both work as a maintenance support and counselor assistant. In my sight, I believed that kids were not wasting their time at BBC, surrounded with good counselors, staff that are really energetic and full of passion in sharing about God’s love. I was excited to play guitar at fireside when I was there, hear the kids and all staff singing together to make a joyful noise and powerful praise to our God.

G (David Ardiles K Hadiyanto)

Summer Intern

Dale’s Homes in White River Junction: Spiritual Saturday

This is the last post in our Excited for Camp Campaign. You can find all the posts in the campaign here.

But, back to this post – some of you know Dale’s Homes in White River Junction. Dale and Darlene Snader are the owners and have made significant contributions to the camp… one of those contributions was the Director’s Residence that Cheeks and I currently live in (pictured here):

Well, earlier this week Dale came up to help with the Cardinal cabin. It’s foundation needed work or else campers couldn’t stay in it! While we’ll have to do the excavation in the fall, he was able to secure it for the summer. Thanks Dale!

As he was taking time out of a busy season and crawling around in the mud, I started wondering about what causes someone to give something as significant as a house? What causes someone to give a few hours of their time to crawl around in the mud to help protect children? In Dale and Darlene, I have experienced a generous spirit… the kind of spirit that is enabled by the knowledge that all we have received is a gift from above (including our birth).

Join me in hoping and praying for a summer filled with God’s love and service Dale style.

Tuna

p.s. we just started staff orientation!!

Newsletter 2013: Snow Camp!

A lot of snow + campers + BBC= SNOW CAMP!! Undoubtedly campers love going to camp: to see friends, to see the staff, and at BBC- to learn more about God. We (a group of volunteers) had a great time with the campers in a non-stop action packed weekend, but the focus wasn’t necessarily on snow – It was on God.

Something that stands out in my mind from the weekend was a conversation that a couple of us (volunteers and campers) were having. I remembered one of the campers – he has a brilliant mind but had a hard time processing the existence of one almighty God. He and his family tended to be polytheistic and as we talked about the story of Elijah found in 1 Kings in the Bible, he asked some really good questions – like, “Why did Elijah call upon Baal to bring fire down when that wasn’t Baals ‘gift’ or ‘power’? He wasn’t the god of fire so of course he won’t be able to send fire down on the altar.” Hmm, good point. We continued to go deeper, yet at some point he seemed to reach an impasse, to which he said, “I’m a skeptic…” as if he thought that by saying that I would stop asking questions. We pressed on. He said that it would take a REALLY BIG miracle to prove to him that the God of Abraham is real.

It was a blessing to be a part of that discussion. He was processing the Christian story. He was asking good questions. He has a deeper knowledge now than he had before – whether that translates into a trust in Jesus and eventual service of God’s Kingdom is yet to be seen. At least a weekend at camp filled his heart and mind with knowledge of the truth. Sometimes these conversations can be a challenge, but they’re the ones that can also bring about the most change and can give us the most encouragement to keep going, to keep proclaiming the message of the gospel to a world that so desperately needs to hear it, see it, feel it, experience it – and Bethany Birches IS all of those things to EVERY camper!

Scott Kratz, Volunteer

Cabin progress – loft ceilings – killer ski cabin near Killington & Okemo

I am encouraged at the speed with which Dave Beidler is moving along in the cabin. Larry Wilfong joined in to help him recently and they’ve been putting the ceiling in the lofts.

Fire Marshal stopped by yesterday to have a peek. He was pleased.

I continue to be thankful for the many folks who gave to make this necessary project possible. The cabin is going to be an even better, inexpensive location to host your ski trip in the Green Mountains.

Rent the cabin.

Pictures updated:

Help on Sat. Dec. 8

Greetings!

This Saturday, December 8, we could use your help. Here’s what’s going on:

Painting of the easiest kind – priming a brand new wall with nothing on it!
Installing a sub-floor in a basement
Putting the ice rink boards up if time and weather allow

If you can come, just reply in the comments and let me know your time-frame. Even a couple hours will be helpful.

Tuna

New Arts and Crafts Program

Thanks to one Beth Horst, we are doing a bunch of new arts and crafts activities this summer. She has much skill in this area and managed to put together a set of new activities for us.

Pictured is Cheeks holding the book and a sample necklace.

Thanks so much, Beth and family, for this great gift!

This brings me to another point. Mike, her husband, recently bought us a set of GPS devices that we’ll use to introduce Geocaching this year! And don’t even get me started on the map that Mike has created for us. So sweet!

Thanks to the Horst family (Mike & Beth) for continuing a long tradition of Kingdom building at Bethany Birches which Mike’s dad, Earl started when he came with a bunch of relatives that we refer to as the Musser Woodcutters.

God will provide. Sometimes God’s providence has nothing to do with our desires and that confuses us. How can a father turn away his hungry child when his child asks for bread? And you reply by asking, what about all those starving children in Africa? That brings us to the Bread of Life. And sometimes, the bread that we have been charged to offer our brothers and sisters in Africa is different from the bread God is offering to all.

Tuna