Final Week at Fir Point Bible Camp

    We finally have internet again.  For the Fir Point Camping season which is the entire month of July we have not had internet because of all the other people that were connected to the WiFi and since our trailer is so far away, we could not connect.  So now camp is over and we have service again.

    This is our last week here at Fir Point Bible Camp.  We have been here a full three months and have worked on many, many projects.  This previous week has been the most exciting for me as I was the music leader as well as the speaker for the 3rd and 4th grade camp.  I led singing and preached in ten sessions.  The theme for the week was “Look Up” as in look to God for answers.  I taught on ten different men in Scripture and how they went to God in prayer; how they obeyed (or disobeyed as in Jonah’s case).  But my big push was that they had the right to go to God because of their faith in God and how they must have faith.  I taught them a few new songs and their favorite song was “You Got To Have Faith” written by a member of Grace Community Church, Rick Dempsey.

    While I was having a great time with music and teaching, Dayle was slaving away in kitchen.  She worked from sun up to sun down.  Janice the regular cook was away caring for her daughter who was recovering from surgery.  So Dayle and a couple of other ladies prepared all the meals. Needless to say, my Dayle was tired!

    This last week we will be finishing up a few things around the camp including the painting of the exterior of the care taker’s residence.  Then on Saturday we will be heading to Brookings, Oregon to begin our new ministry there.  These last three months here at Fir Point have been a wonderful time of service.  It was a lot of hard work and long days but we are so blessed to be able to serve in this manner!

    Yesterday we said our “see you laters” to our Glendale church family.  It was a joy getting to know them and we hope to see them again soon.

With Pastor Kent Staton

All the Grand Children

      Two weeks ago we had a family vacation at Lake of the Woods.  Our three kids and their families all came and Dayle’s sister, Ellen, was there too.  It was the first time that we were all together.  It was a wonderful few days.  We all talked and played together and enjoyed just being with one another.  Annie had a photographer friend come up and take family photos.  We are expecting the pictures real soon but we only have a couple now.  At one point when we were all together–all the kids, their spouses, and their kids and Dayle and I looked at each other and said, “Look, this is all because of us.”  That was a very special moment for us.  What a joy, what a blessing, to be able to enjoy all our children’s families.  We often thank God for our grandchildren and for the spouses that our kids have chosen.  Our kids often joke saying that we love their spouse more....I don’t think that we love them any more, but we certainly love them just as much.     
             

Our kids and their spouses.

     Next week we will be in Brookings and we hope to work out a game plan on what we will be doing.  We are so looking forward to being part of a church again for a long period of time.  We love doing what we are doing and being available to go wherever we are needed at a moment’s notice, but we greatly miss not being more involved in a church. Once we get settled in at Brookings we hope to take a couple of weeks and head south to visit Neeley, my sister and mom and take a hop over to Lake Havasu.

    Our house in Klamath Falls still has not sold.  We continue to pay all the costs of owning a house and without having any rental income it is getting quite burdensome.  Please pray with us for the house to sell.  Our realtor is still confident that it will sell.
 
   This morning (Monday) we woke up to smoke in the camp and I just figured that there was a small forest fire near by.  I was partially right....it was nearby.  Our burn pile was on fire.  Normally that is not a problem but this is fire season and all burning is prohibited.  We have not burned anything for almost two months but evidently there were still a hot spot deep down in the pile and it decided to flare up today.  I immediately ran and got about 300 feet of water hose and began spraying the pile.  We soon realized that this was going to take a long time and a lot of our drinking water so we called the local fire department for help.  The Glendale Fire Department came and brought a tanker truck and  with the help of a neighbor and his back hoe tractor they totally extinguished the fire.

Mark and his back hoe putting out the fire.

We will miss Fir Point Camp and living in the forest.

   
Check out our Facebook page for more pictures.  www.facebook.com/pastorshelley

Praise:
1.  For the gospel being preached at all four camps and many kids committing themselves to the Lord
2.  For the Lord continuing to provide for our needs.
3.  For continued health and safety.

Prayer Requests:
1.  Ministry in Brookings
2.  For our house to sell
3.  For future financial needs regarding the house
4.  For a small economical car to drive while in Brookings



Shelley for the both of us
Semper Famulus