THIS is Workcamp

For all that have heard stories about workcamp but have never been, you have probably heard stories of the great music, powerful evening programs, and strong connections with residents and God. This year, the workcamp has been good so far, but it in all honesty has been a sub par workcamp in comparison to the past. The programs just aren't as tight, which directly effects everything else in workcamp: music, connections, and fun. But last night, our youth group came to such a revelation during devotions. During the middle of devotions, the fire alarm went off for the third time this week, and we were all forced outside. Kids were yelling and playing frisbee, firetrucks were zooming toward the nonexistent fire, and we were continuing devotions as a youth group in the parking lot. THAT was workcamp was was. It was not about the program our the music or the people you meet. It was God that mattered, and focusing on him no matter what. I felt like I was the Grinch in How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It was not about the toys and the who-pudding or the who-roastbeast. THIS was the true meaning of Workcamp.

-`Alex :)

WORKCAMP!!!!

hello so it has been requested that i blog today haha.
i miss everyone at home very much and i'm doing good.
my double crew got assigned to a house of a guy named jason hes got a birth defect called muscle dystrophy that makes his muscles not work properly.
his grandpa and grandmother who had raised him had build a ramp for his power chair but it was at a very steep angle and it was falling apart so our job was to build him a brand new one longer and not nearly so steep.
we got held up when we discovered wear we may need to dig post wholes there were possible water, sewer pipes or electrical or gas lines running directly were we needed to be digging.
with that discovered we were forced to hold all progress until we had gone through inspection in all those areas thanks god we passed and were able to get a move on it by wednesday.
today weve got farther than any day and we are very sure that we will finish completely by tomorrow whatever it takes.
i hope everyone at home is enjoying the weather its soooooo hot up here. lol.
prayin for you all.
doing just fine.
was on tv :D
ttyl
from camp
tori

Amazingly Lucky Crew

After 3 days of doing a job that should be for a double crew, our single crew finally got another crew. This crew was so useful that we worked double time and got one side of the house totally done!!! We had 2 ladders up at the same time, and had each side of the house getting started. Now all we have left is to do is paint the other side of the house, and build the new stairs!
-Greg Brower

From AJ (Pepto)

my day was fun. I spent it with my double crew and we got an additional crew that Greg vonwald was in. here's pictures. AJ/Pepto

Red Roses!!!

As I was leaving the worksite today our resident, Mort, came up to me and gave me six roses floating in a small container. Those of you who know me, know I'm a flower/garden addict so this gesture was really cool. Mort is a 86 years young- I told him that he was going to make my friends back home look jealous- he said baloney!! This out reach by Mort was really special as he is a very shy and reserved. Each day we have been at his mobile home painting and repairing he has become more engaged with all of us. I always have a special heart for the elderly-I know we have touched his heart but even more he has touched mine deeply!! Joanie K.

A not so God-Sighting

Hey, Greg Von Wald here. Yesterday at my worksite we had a not so God-Sighting. So our project was demolishing a porch and then rebuilding it. So on Monday and Tuesday, we demolished the whole porch. For the last part of Tuesday, we had started digging the holes for the posts to go in. We had finished 2 of our 3 holes and while working on our third hole, we hit what we thought was a rock. So we took a "rock smasher" and were trying for a good 45 minutes to break this "rock. We were getting fed up with this rock, so we started a new method. We had one person hold the rock smasher and another person took the sledgehammer to try and break this rock. Well we broke it! Then we had to go work on the post and concrete stuff. When I go back to the hole, there is water in it!! I knew this wasn't good so I got our adult leader to come and check it out. Just as our adult work leader comes over to check it out, someone walks out of the bathroom. So we are trying to figure out if this water is sewage or just normal water, so our adult leader starts smelling it and feeling it between his hands. Then I make the connection that another girl from our double crew, Gillian, had just walked out of the bathroom. So I told someone to go flush the toilet to make sure that it wasnt a sewage pipe. Well, it was. Our hole became filled with water and we couldn't work on our site anymore. The plumber had to come and he told us to stop working because they would have to dig around it and fix it. So I really hope that we don't get assigned to a new worksite because I really like my double crew. I'm now being forced to get off because the program is in 7 minutes. More to come later.

-Greg :)

I had a birthday suprise!!!... And its not my birthday...

This is my first time blogging, and up until 5 minutes ago, I had nothing particularly interesting or new to write about. While eating, my delicious strawbery yogurt, I was nearly choked from behind by Kelsey McDonell. When I turned around to notice that it wasn't an assassination attempt, I realized that the rope that Kelsey was using said Happy Birthday all over it. Shortly after, I recieved a card and a "Happy Half Birthday" Sign. I could not have been more happikly surprised. I didn't even know that anyone knew about it and it was touching to know that my youth group cared enough to do this for me! I would trade none of them for the world! These are some of my best friends. Especially Greg Von Wald (who is typing this now as Alex tells me what to write). I would like to thank all of them! Before I go back to my room, I just would like to say I miss my parents and friends who happen to be reading this! Au revoir!

- Alex :)

Well, as far as this year goes, things have been very different. Not only with changes in scheduling and timing, but in the work amount and friendships. Although we we're at a challenge camp, my crew managed to finish two days early, as all we had to do was paint the inside of a woman's house. As we were wrapping up around 12 yesterday (30 minutes before we had to leave for our half day), our almost 80-year-old resident named Eleanor realized that we'd soon be done and started to ask us to complete various jobs around the house, along with whipping out photo albums from her past. After calling us her "angels", she explained that she used to be in charge of communication for the county during emergencies, outlived two of her four children, and has lived in four different houses on the same street all of her life. It was nice to grow closer with our resident, but now that we have to leave and help another crew, it's a little tough to imagine not seeing Eleanor for a couple days before we have to go.
With a simple task and a sweet resident, this year has had the most impact on me in friendships both within our youth group and with people at the camp. I haven't met many new people, but instead have strengthened my relationships with a select few from the church (like Sarah) and from the Boston group (which came to the same camp last year). While a lot has changed, this year has been as good as any other.
-Aaron

Cordelia the Amazing

On monday morning, when our crew first got on the worksite, we immediately had one of the Work Camp Famous "God Sightings". My resident, Cordelia, is 98 years old. The very first thing she said to the campers on my crew was, "This is my cat Tinkerboy. KICK HIM!", which she followed with a cackle. She is the cutest resident ever. On the first day, awaiting our arrival, she made us chocolate cake with peanutbutter icing, grapes, and an assortment of store-bought cookies. Cordelia is absolutely a gift from God. She is one of those people who are so fun-loving and life-loving you cant stop smiling when you are around them.
Yesterday, for example, the campers got themselves in a bit of a paint war (and when i say a bit... you know it was more than that) and 'Cordy' was sitting on her back porch watching and laughing along with us. I went back to work on the outside wall and Cordy put her wet hand on my face. At first i was confused until i saw the hand print on the wall. Cordy had stuck her hand out the window into wet paint and stuck a handprint right on my face. She not only laughed a long, she played a long as if she wasnt 98, but 8. She continued to direct us who to hit, and egg us on until our crew leader came out and told us to quit playing, keep working.
Then, when it was time to go, she seemed sad that we had to leave, but when we were leaving I had to wash my painted hands so i went inside and as I was leaving, she said, "Goodbye, I love you!" She truely means it too. She is just so happy to have us around and so happy to see us working for her, she tries to get us to stay the night in her two empy bedrooms organizing us every day, two in the bedroom on the right, two in the bedroom on the left, one on the couch, and the other in the recliner. She loves us, and we just adore her.
- Kallan

We are so very thankful...

Every year - the amazing young adults from the Prince of Peace High School Youth Group are blessed with an opportunity to attend Work Camp. This is absolutely due to the tremendous out pouring of love by Joanne Wolfe - who has tirelessly organized our mission trips for as long as I can remember.

Wow!

I'm a first time workcamper and was a little apprehensive about going to workcamp over the last year. I sure wasted a lot of worry grease. This is fantastic!!! If you have been on the fence about attending--get off the fence. My crew is fun and we are getting along great. We are building a wheelchair ramp. Our residents have a 5 year old daughter with Cerebral Palsy. When she smiles she smiles with her whole body! She loves us and smiles a lot. Will, our resident, even helped us dig postholes yesterday. Apparently there was another house on this lot in the past as we dug through house remains most of the day (bricks, lumber, burned toys, broken glass, etc...) Having a great time. Gregg Claycamp is doing great. Dan Brower

Are you kidding me???

How exciting! Even before "Wakey, wakey workcampers - we were treated to an early morning fire alarm and mandatory evacuation.

On the positive side - at least we'll all have something to talk about today :-).

Underway

We were so excited to get to Elmira - that we were the first to arrive at Work Camp. That is always great fun. We were able to see the other campers arive and help greet them.

Here's a shot of Greg Claycamp - hard at work. Look below the screen and you can see the amount of canned goods donated. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you all!

Some workcampers are "stuck" commuting to their work sites in this luxury coach bus. Here they are on the way to work. Sometimes the air-conditioning blowing right on your face as you wait to get dropped at the house you came to fix. And they don't play any good movies during the ride! We got dropped off next to last which meant we were there

...And this is on the way back to camp at the end of the day. See how hard we worked?

One of our residents and crew!

End of day 1

Hey everyone!

With about 40 mins. left untill the end of day 1, i'm already having a blast. it's so much fun meeting your resident and your crew. you become so close to these people by the end of the week that you feel like you've known them for your whole life. we've worked so hard today that we are almost done and we still have 4 1/2 days left.
besides your crew and working, free time is also so much fun! beating pastor sarah at 4-square, playing guitar, meeting new people and of course eating!
there is so much to do here between working with our crews and the programs (which mr. claycamp is doing an awesome job with the music) "it's a big big house..."
well i gotta get off and let other people blog...that and it's almost bed time :[

White Water!

Nice Day if You're a Duck!

Bucket Wars

A few days before (old post)

Hi - Pastor Sarah here - a last minute switcheroo of vans etc is going on. As Joanne said - what would workcamp be without last minute changes!? It's amazing to me how much of themselves the adult organizers give for this workcamp experience. Joanne especially is working so hard to make this happen, and she doesn't even get to go, except in spirit.I'm excited for my second workcamp. But it comes on the heels of some very busy weeks and it still feels early in the summer. I don't think it's hit me that at the crack of dawn on Sat morning, we're on our way. Time to start really mentally getting ready. Thanks Jon for this blog! Other workcampers, please add your thoughts. Peace - Pr Sarah

Good news

We are all here safe and sound. The boys are all in the same room. The girls are split into two room. We're about to go into our first big worship service where we get our work crews. We're all thrilled to hear our very own Gregg - the musician of the whole camp! Of course, many of our kids are into the drama groups and music. Should be a great week. Also, we have internet access, so we'll be able to update regularly. Peace all - Pr Sarah

Workcamp - Day 2

Everyone has been so busy at workcamp, with whitewater rafting and a quick trip to sonic. I wanted take some time to say HAPPY FATHERS' DAY DAD!!!


-Keyton...and everyone else :)

POP Work camp

Work camp is fun so far and hopefully will continue to be fun

Look for the OTHER PoP Blog

Somehow - there are 2 blogs to look at with similar titles. As if this weren't confusing enough already. Look for both blogs - they have the same title - but one IS SPELLEF IN ALL UPPER CASE - and one is Spelled In Initial Caps Like This.

If we figure out how to merge them - we will.

OOPS!

White Water!

OK - the computer provided by the hotel in NY is FREE but really slow. SO uploading images is incredibly tedious at 12:24am. But take my work for it - we all had a blast, we all got completely soaked, our faces hurt from smiling a lot, Pastor Sarah started the mother of all Water Fights, the hot dogs and Birch Beer were wonderful and we still can hardly wait to get to Work Camp - Elmira, NY (later today).

Off we go...

Departing is such sweet sorrow - NOT!!! We could hardly wait to get on the road to start doing the Lord's work! All present &

accounted for ('cept for Kyle who would meet us at the hotel later).

Nice "Friendly's" Lunch

OK - so lunch was really fantastic - but when we were all parading in to take our seats - one waitress was overheard to say to another: "I don't think we even have 27 menus!". We thought that was hilarious!.

Glad to report that we got the vans loaded with all the gear and tools and campers several hours before the torrential thunder storm that rolled through Gaithersburg around 10:30 this morning! The sun is now shining and it's beautiful -- I really hope that the campers had a great day of rafting in PA and that the weather was not too much of a problem. Hope to hear from them real soon!!

Xportation

So - vehicles have by now been retrieved and I'm sure packing is occurring at a fevorish pace. But has anybody seen my aqua shoes? And I know I have one of those stretchy things for my sun glasses somewhere. I should have just put everything in a box last year when we got back and labled it "Work Camp" - then packing would be a breeze - HA !

First Ones Packed?

So Greg and I finished packing this morning at exactly 12pm and we're guessing we're the first ones completely ready (toothbrush and everything!). So if our breath smells bad it's because we haven't brushed our teeth in two days (just kidding, we have two toothbrushes =] ). We're so excited for workcamp; the fun with new and old friends, the hard work, the god sightings, and the chance to get away from our parents for a week! It's Greg's first time and he is asking me questions every two minutes about everything!! There have been so many e-mails about what to pack and what to wear that we both are confused! Especially the part where they recommend we wear wool sweaters, spandex pants and aqua socks for rafting? (and I just put my last pair of aqua socks in the laundry. I still have some turquoise socks, would those work??) But the free snacks, "comfortable heated changing rooms", "hot showers", and free hotdog cookout make this Jim Thorpe River Adventure seem better than the school we're staying at in Elmira! Overall we're really excited for the amazing experiences we're going to have this week!

4-Square

I'm icing the arm and I'm ready for some 4-square. Pastor Sarah is going down this time. No embarrassing video of her beating me this year.

I'm icing the arm and I'm ready for some 4-square. Pastor Sarah is going down this time. No embarrassing video of her beating me this year.

Es-car-go!

It's 1:15am on Wednesday morning and I (along with Aaron) am hard at work figuring out the car arrangements. After knocking out the hotel room assignments and small groups for devotions in no time yesterday, placing people in cars should be a piece of cake, right? Riiiiight. And what better time to start working on this than one o'clock in the morning three days before we leave!

Well, better get back to my white board and color-coordinated lists! (Making these arrangements would be a whole lot easier if all the siblings could just get along...!)