Tonight's Show and Tell is a conclusion to the series of posts I have had on one of our church ministries,  Camp Ranch Shekinah.

.

.

The vision for a camp here at Ranch Shekinah began over a decade ago.  But similar to when God told Noah to build an ark, it took a while to see the end result. 

 .

 Although we had the land and the facility to build our "ark", we lacked someone to navigate the way.  Like Noah, we told everyone that we were going to have a camp, year after year, but it never happened.  We didn't have the know-how to do this, and although we had a strong desire, we lacked the ability to put a camp together.

 . 

 This all changed a year ago. 

.

An old friend of ours that we hadn't seen in a long time, Curt Swank, dropped by our home.  He had some friends that were missionaries to Romania coming to the U.S. on furlough. They would be on an extended stay, and were desiring a place of their own to stay, in contrast to their previous custom of staying with family members or supporting church families.

.

.

Curt knew our church had a big pole building that had shelled out a future kitchen and apartment.  As we walked through the building, it looked just like it had the last time he was here, years ago - except - now the the rooms were filled with junk.  It had become a storage room.  Wall to wall, it was filled with stuff.  Curt told me he didn't think it would work.

.

.

When Robert and Jodi arrived in the U.S., Curt brought them by anyways.  They walked through the room that we once used for our company office, and the shell of the kitchen (no drywall, no lights, no plumbing, nothing.) 

.

"This is great!" Robert and Jodi said enthusiastically.  

 .

 Robert and Jodi were used to living in circumstances such as this - having spent considerable time in a country such as Romania.  They would move into an apartment with similar conditions, and when Robert finished fixing it up with working plumbing and electricity, the land lord would evict them so the rent could be raised to the next tenant.  This happened to them a multitude of times.

 .

 They moved in, and the shell of a kitchen began to transform into a big, beautiful kitchen.  Robert, with his son William, drywalled, put a drop ceiling in, wired the electric (Robert was an electrician by trade before becoming a missionary), put plumbing in, and installed cabinetry  (our church provided the material needed for all of this). They also partitioned the "office" and made it into an apartment, complete with a bedroom, a living room, and a full bath.  In addition to all of this, they  transformed  a previous storage room into another apartment.

..

They were thankful to have a place of their own to live, and we were blessed at the same time.

 It turned out that Robert and Jodi's ministry in Romania is having youth camps for Gypsie children.  God had sent us a Camp Director in His timing, and in His way.  We seen this as straight from the hand of God to us.

 . 

 The children came from Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky.  The cost was $0.00, as our church sponsored each camper.

We rented port-a-potties, and some portable hand-washing stations. 

As we don't have all the sleeping accomodations we plan for yet,  the campers lodged in the old cobblestone barn, the crib barn, and the small cabin by the lake.

.

In addition to Robert and Jodi, we had a special speaker, Keith Murray, a pastor from Booneville, Kentucky. 

 . ,

I could not conclude these camp posts without mentioning Mike Vale and his family.  God sent them to us, in the same way that He did the Frye family. They came to Ranch Shekinah every single day for weeks and weeks, prior to camp, to help in the prepartion of the grounds.  They built our outdoor chapel by the lake from timber found on the property; fought mosquitoes to build a long bridge over to the island; built outdoor showers; and helped in every area of the entire camp. Only God could have placed it in their heart to contribute in the huge way that they did.   

Everything we could have hoped for, happened.  There was morning and evening chapel; boat and bicycle races; tug of war; a "swim" in the mud; crafts, and a day-trip to the dunes at Lake Michigan.

Robert and Jodi, with their two children, William and Randy, have now gone back to Romania.  Although were seperated by an ocean, we are close to them through prayer.  

.

.

Take a minute and scroll down the below posts and look at our camp pictures.  I think you will see that although this was no "fancy camp," the kids had a lot of fun just the same. 

.

 Maybe you'd like to join us next year?