The Rose cabin project has proven an amazing success thanks to the preparation of our work crews. All of the exterior and interior walls are in place and all of the roof trusses are set. Setting the trusses was an exceptionally difficult job. Each truss was carried by more than 20 students and team leaders from the staging area to the front wall of the cabin. Each truss weighed several hundred pounds and had being lifted hydraulically onto the building where it was further positioned and nailed into place. The most noticeable thing about the new cabin is its size! It is twice the height of the other cabins on the lake walk. Today the teams have begun siding the cabin, and when it is finished later this summer it will be ADA accessible and ready for use during our Congregational Retreat in October!

Much preparation work, including a work team of nearly 30 adults during Memorial Day weekend, made our success on the Rose cabin possible. Doug McCoy is especially to thank for his countless volunteer hours preparing materials for our students. He and his colleague Jeff Johnson have done a phenomenal job leading our students in very significant and challenging work. Where else do teens have an opportunity to experience these opportunities?

Three teams are working on "The Three Little Pigs," which are the three small cabins that have not been in use for over 30 years, lifted the roof off one of the cabins and jacked up the floor of another. Some of the adult leaders worked late into the night to ready the cabins for siding, which the teams are accomplishing today. Another team has built a septic tank for the plumbing system of these cabins. They dug a square hole roughly 7x7x6 feet and have lined the interior with cinder block walls. In addition they dug the trenches for the drainage to the tank and installed the pipe.

It is impossible for me to describe the amount of work we have accomplished without going on for pages and pages. We have worked on six cabins, established a plumbing system, built elevated boardwalks with vertical rise of more than 15 feet, prepared roofing materials, removed and replaced facia board of the dining hall, demolished and rebuilt a large program porch, and several other projects. When a wayword volleyball accidentally broke one of the windows in the dining hall (the volleyball court is adjacent to the volleball court), we replaced the window and installed new glass in every window that had a crack or problem. We want to leave the camp in excellent condition.

Last night we celebrated worship at the newly completed Kema work site. Tonight we will pray over every work site as part of worship and conclude with communion. This evening's worship will be held on the beach where we will wash the feet of graduated seniors as a way of sending them into the world as servants. Tonight we'll roast marshmallows and party at the bonfire!

We can't wait to see you all soon! Please check out the new video!

Chanon

On Monday our students continued working on their various sites. Two of our teams are working in an area called "Kema," which is about .25 miles away from the center of camp. This is the most remote area of camp where campers (including many of our male students and adults) are sleeping in large canvas army tents. The camp is built into the side of a very steep sand dune, and the tents are situated on raised wooden platforms. Because of the steep topography of this area, our main task is building an elevated board walk that connects the dining hall with the tent platforms, campfire area, and shower facilities. This means building stairs and platforms several feet off the ground, which involves much planning and engineering. We thought this would take all week to accomplish, but the students and their leaders have proven remarkably productive. They will finish this project today, so we must find more projects!

At the Rose cabin project, the interior walls are in place and the teams are currently setting the roof trusses. This will be the most challenging part of this project. The students and leaders will lift each truss into place, hold it and secure it on the walls they have already set. The task is made even more challenging by the size and weight of the trusses and the surrounding trees and buildings.

At the Robin's Nest and Oriel cabins, our teams have worked to restore the porches including reframing windows, scraping and priming exterior walls, and building new railings along the presenting face of the cabin. Today they will continue priming and painting both of these cabins. It's messy work!

The students have proven very resilient despite challenging weather. Today is much cooler -- just right for working -- and we hope to have a break from the thunder storms. Today is also called "hump day" meaning that it is the middle day of the work week. We are as far from the beginning of our trip as we are from the end. Students and adult leaders are tired, but we still have much work to do. Tonight we will take a refereshing trip into downtown Saugatuck for dessert. It's a short walk from camp to the hand trolley, which will take them across the bay to the various ice cream shops and venues in town. Later tonight we will have worship, meet on the beach in small groups and enjoy another bonfire.

Click the links at the top of the page to see video of our work (& play!) You'll definitely want to see them as they are very good and show our progress and all the fun we are having.

Please pray for the students as they continue to work. Thus far everything has gone very well and they have accomplished a tremendous amount of work.

Our Go & Serve team arrived at Presbyterian Camps in Saugatuck, Michigan at 11:30 am on Saturday. The kids were excited and laughing but they were also very hungry! We were greeted by our skilled cooking team who had already prepared lunch for everyone. The students' luggage was also ready and waiting for them to move in to their cabins. After lunch, students met with their team leaders and began preparing their sites. They also received safety training and went on a camp tour.

Our evening plans were drastically changed by a severe weather system that moved in from Lake Michigan. We had been monitering this system very carefully for several hours, and when it became clear that it was going to hit us, we moved all students and team leaders to the basement of the dining hall where we remained until the storm passed. Thunder and lightening continued throughout the night until we finally lost power early in the morning. A little wet but in good spirits, we set up generators at every work site to run power tools until the electricity was restored. We made great progress during the morning and early afternoon, but we were stopped by another thunderstorm that arrived about 1:30 pm. As the sky turned dark, we moved everyone into shelter where we played games and waited for the storm to pass. By 2:30 pm we were back on our worksites and the sky was beautiful and clear. By the end of the afternoon, all of the exterior walls of the Rose cabin were built and set in place. Facia board was removed from the dining hall, the program porch was completely gutted, three small cabins (which we call the "Three Little Pigs") had been gutted and prepared for renovation, and much, much more. You will be able to see the kids at work when we post one of the daily videos to this website -- check back later for more updates.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner followed by worship, small groups, and a big fir on the beach. Kids roasted marshmallows, sang, and had a wonderful time. We awoke early this morning (Monday) and got to work. Check in soon for more updates including video!