Hello friends and family!
Summer is just around the corner! This is the moment in every camp’s calendar when the tightrope between “I must prepare,” and “God will provide,” is at its thinnest. And we walk it while we continue to serve camps in the present!
Camp News
The months of February and March usually include a lot of school camps scheduled at the beginning of the week and adult retreats on the weekends. This means that camp may run nonstop for several weeks on end! Our staff was grateful for a quick ‘breather’ on Easter weekend to recover from a very full schedule and to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
Though April wasn’t packed, it wasn’t boring either! We hosted three different Ironwood retreats that are specifically tailored to women: RefresHer, Mother Daughter Retreat, and Women’s Retreat. Around 120 ladies came to the last one, including a group of 40 from our home church. It was especially neat to serve the ladies of our church family because we knew that they brought a few who are new to the faith or unsaved. What a great testimony of a church that uses the tool of camp effectively!
Ironwood is in summer planning mode from now until the end of May. Menus are being put together, games are being brainstormed, schedules are being built, and cabins are being spring-cleaned. But the most important resource is one we can’t manufacture, buy, or control at all. Our summer staff is a huge part of our ministry during the next few months. Right now, most of the operation and program staff positions are filled, but we still need several counselors. If you know of a young person who loves God and wants to share that love with a cabin full of kids, send them our way! If you don’t know any such people, then please pray for God to provide the workers we need to be good stewards of this harvest season.
Palkki News
Gabe is in the thick of the Camp Prep leadership transition. He has mastered the basics and is working towards gathering information to improve the processes and procedures for the future. This involves a lot of brainstorming and evaluation, so he’s spent a good bit of time in his office. In his other work area, he’s been able to keep the fleet running without too many major incidents. He even had time to work on his welding skills and helped install a new Ironwood landmark. (Check out the Gallery if you want to know what it is.)
I’ve stayed busy running meals and getting ready for the Defined graduation coming up in May. Graphic design is not my strong point, but I do my best to put together a yearbook and two slideshows to commemorate the year for our students. I’ve also been working on sewing a series of cart covers for the kitchen. My other big project has been spring cleaning the Little Blue House, which took up most of my Easter break.
At the end of March, both of us got to enjoy an overnight backpacking trip with a few friends. We hiked in on the wings of a storm, woke up to frost on our gear, and hiked back out under a magnificent blue sky. It was a grand display of God’s creative power and a sweet time of fellowship with His children. Gabe and I look forward to exploring more of California’s trails in the future!
The moment right before the harvest is perhaps the most appropriate time to pray to the Lord of the harvest. And the Bible says, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (James 5:16b) But too often, I find myself acknowledging the factual truth of this verse while thinking, “I wish I could do something though.”
God has been revealing my underestimation of prayer recently. When I pray (and when you pray) things do happen!
First of all, things happen to me. I experience a fuller, richer relationship with God when I’m talking to Him on a regular basis. “The LORD is near to all who call of Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18) This is reason enough to pray for anything and everything! God gets more glory from my own heart when I’m praying.
Second, things happen because I’m talking to the God Who makes everything happen. The Bible contains many examples of people who prayed and saw God act as a direct result. Did their prayers control God’s actions? Of course not! But it’s clear that prayer is designed to involve finite man in God’s infinitely wise plan for the universe. So I pray, trusting God to answer in ways I can not comprehend.
And things happen!
Love in Christ,
Gabe and Cheyenne Palkki
PS: Have you ever wondered how tall a stack of 140 and some odd pillows would be? Explore the Gallery to find out! And don't forget to check the Pray page for some specific requests and praises!
PPS: Don't worry if you don't hear from us for a while! I'll be posting a mid-summer update and an after-summer update before resuming our regular 6(ish) week schedule in the fall.
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