Camp Hunt/ Central New York

Greetings everyone! I had a lovely two weeks in New York. I arrived at DFW Airport a little bit after 9 PM Central Time last night. Let me tell you all about it.

I got to be part of Senior Week at Camp Hunt and work with teenagers. I was able to work in the kitchen serving food several times and helped teach a couple of classes. There are two Bible class sessions during the day. One class in the morning and one class in the afternoon. I helped our great friend Steve Singleton (deeperstudy.com) teach a class on biblical archeology Monday through Thursday. On Friday I got the opportunity to teach a class for Rob (the gentleman I stayed with in Utica the second week I was in New York). His class was on being a counter- cultural in our Christian lives. He showed me his material he wanted to cover in the morning class and I went to his morning session to get a good feel for what he was covering. Then I was more confident in covering his material for him in the afternoon session. Rob had gone to Syracuse for a rehersal for a wedding he was going to officiate the following day. I think all of Steve’s and Rob’s classes went well. Camp Hunt is a wonderful camp! I could see why so many people there love it so much!

The next week I went back to Utica (in Central New York) with Rob and Cassie Shaver. Rob and I got the chance to talk a lot about life and church. We had several great conversations. We got to visit with two church leaders. Wednesday we had a great visit with a church leader in Rome, NY and another great visit with the preacher in Cooperstown, NY on Friday. On Tuesday we went to a nearby city to visit with an elderly man who needed to sell his house to move to an apartment. He wanted to go through his possessions to see what he wanted to keep and take with him in his apartment and what he wanted to sell. He had several books he let me look through and let me have any I wanted. Rob plans to go back to this man’s house with someone who will look through his stuff and his house and tell them how much his house is all worth.

After our visit with the minister in Cooperstown, Rob and I went to tour the Baseball Hall of Fame. Wow! I felt like a little kid in a candy store. It was a great time! I have been a HUGE baseball fan for a long time and was very blessed to get to visit the Hall of Fame!
We met up with this couple at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rob knows them from his days as a college student at a church of Christ college called Ohio Valley University in Vienna, West Virginia. This couple’s names are Matt and Richel. They and their three children currently live in Altoona, PA where Matt is one of the ministers of Pleasent Valley Church of Christ. He and Richel started doing parenting workshops. Rob met up with them at the recent Ohio Valley Lectureship and they told Rob of their plans to do these workshops. So Rob asked them to come to Utica to hold a workshop for the Utica church. They met us at the Hall of Fame and we went back to Utica and we got everything ready for the workshop. Rob and I had spent two days in the early part of the week passing out fliers throughout the community about the seminar. I was disappointed no one we talked to in the community went to the seminar. Several church members attended.

The seminar is called Fullcontact Parenting. Check it out on the web at fullcontactparenting.org. The seminar started on Friday night and went through Sunday morning. I felt the seminar was outstanding! It was very biblical and very lovingly yet firmly presented. It is for every parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, and anyone else who is around children on a regular basis and cares about them. I think this seminar should be presented to and heard by every church throughout the US. Matt and Richel both did a fantastic job!

Matt and Richel also do campus ministry at the Penn State University campus in Altoona. Check out this ministry at lionsforthelord.org.

I had a great time in New York and am definitely praying and thinking about moving to the Northeast after finishing Sunset in May 2010.

Thank you to all of family and friends who made it possible for me to go to Camp Hunt and to Utica to check out the possibilities of moving to in living in the Northeast.

Thank you again! I love, cherish, and miss you all! God bless. Grace and Peace.