Meet Our 2009 Staff!

Current Full-Time LWBC Staff

(Top, L-R: Tim, Chris, Andrew, Aaron, Ray, Dennis; Bottom, L-R: Tim, Joy, Rachal, Missy, Dan)

Male Summer Staff
(L-R: Tim, Andy, Jesse)

Female Summer Staff
(L-R: Caolae, Abby, Kristen, Brittney)

Group Shot of 2009 Summer Staff

Current Prayer Requests

As we kick off summer camps, we have lots of prayer requests! We appreciate your prayers. Here is a list of a few current requests:

Campers

• That their hearts are ready.
• We have a lot of room for all camps – we need more campers!
• We combined Family Camp #1 with/into Family camp #2 and still have room for many families!
• Safety for all.
• We are encouraging families struggling with the current economic state to not be afraid to ask for help so they can be encouraged form the Lord.
• Pray for Work Week and helpers. We have lots of shingles to put on. We have lots of staining and cleaning to do.
• Foundation camp started Saturday, June 13th.
• Boy's Camp starts this weekend.
  

Staff

• That they come filled with the Holy Spirit and “ready to give an answer”.
• That they come rested and ready to give their all.
• We are all have full schedules but are enjoying serving together – pray Satan stays out of the way!
• Pray for the staff as the fall will be just as busy or more than the summer months. We will need help with food service and activities. We have 7 new groups scheduled between this spring and fall that have signed up since asking the Lord to fill some spots in the schedule.
• Pray we find a replacement for Missy.
• Ray and Kelly started the beginning of this month as part-time Marketing Manger. We hope they can be of help to inform people of where they can be involved at Living Waters Bible Camp.
• The Seeleys start the end of this month.

Finances

• Were holding steady until this month when the impact of less campers signing up meant less registration fees coming in. We are at over a $20,000 drop in fees.
• The staff worked real hard this winter and we just received an $11,000 return from our pre-pay propane account. This is a praise to help with the other shortfall.
• Pray we don’t run worried or fret but are careful with all the Lord brings in.
  

Thanks for praying!

On behalf of all the staff,
Dennis

Letter of Praise: Helping Hands for Christ

The following excerpt is from a letter from the co-director of the Helping Hands for Christ ministry, that brought a group of 2nd – 8th graders to LWBC in early June:
____

Dear LWBC,

I wanted to send a quick note of thanks for the amazing experience you and your team provided for the children and parents of our ministry. From the second the children got off the bus until we arrived home, I didn't hear a single child complain of being bored or cold, even with the constant rain on Saturday, because they were continuously learning and having new experiences.

The manner in which you provided the message of Jesus Christ to these children and their parents was absolutely Spirit-led. I was very impressed with how each activity had a message within it about our Lord. This is exactly what I was looking for as I prayed for a camp for these children. Originally, I tried to find a camp closer to our homes, but just didn't have a good feeling about the camps I had contacted. Immediately upon our first emails, I felt that we were supposed to come to your camp. I do believe that was the Holy Spirit letting me know this is where the kids were supposed to be! I cannot emphasize enough how the delivery of the message of salvation was perfect for where these children, and their parents, are in their lives.

Thank you so very much for all that you and your team did to help these children on their journey!

Sincerely,
Helping Hands for Christ, Inc.

A Note from Missy

Dear LWBC Community:

Two years ago almost to the day the Lord laid it on my heart to move back to my hometown. I spent a lot of time in prayer and searching out His will, mostly to my shame, because apart from God’s prompting it was something I had no desire to do at all. I talked to Theo, Dennis, and John L. about the process of what I needed to be doing to really search out if it was His will. God was really showing me through things I was reading and through prayer that it was what He wanted me to do, but He never worked out the final details.

Over the last two years, the desire has never left and I continued to pray about it and I often wondered if I missed something. The last time I went home I came back with the desire being even stronger. The Lord allowed this desire to come back right before I was starting my 20-day fast (through The Lord’s Table course). I started the fast wanting to commit this to prayer during this time.

Half-way through my fast the Lord answered me in such a clear way that there was no ignoring it. I talked to Dennis on Friday and told him I wanted to take the weekend to seek some confirmation that it was what He truly wanted me to do. Well, He spent the weekend confirming that it is what He wants me to do.

This is a very exciting and scary step for me in my life. I know this is a desire God has given me because - apart from that - the desire is not there. I LOVE camp, Westby, the chapel and those of you who have really become my family here - it will truly be heartbreaking to leave you all.

I would really appreciate your prayers during this time! All that this decision entails is starting to set in and I am so excited... but also thinking I might be crazy. :-) I do rest in the fact that even though this will be hard, He will take me through it and He will supply my needs!

Love,
Missy

New Marketing Manager

Recently, I (Ray Siler, your previously slightly anonymous blogger) joined on our staff here at LWBC as our part-time Marketing Manager! I'll be overseeing the "media side of things". I will be splitting my time between website maintanence, blog updates, email updates, social networking, print media, as well as video/multimedia.

I'll be helping out 2-3 days a week, but will work from home quite a few of those days. I'm planning to be down at camp at least one day per week, but the majority of my work can be done from a remote location, so heading in to camp won't always be necessary.

My wife, Kelly, will be helping me out in a few of the aforementioned areas, as well, so we - as a team - are excited to serve, here at camp!

Help us Help the Needy in Jaurez, Mexico

Dennis Siler’s son Matt is serving the Lord down in Juarez, Mexico at Life Challenge International (LCI). Life Challenge helps thousands of people every month by providing food, clothing, school programs, supplies and labor to repair homes, and helping families start up and find jobs.

Matt is currently at Living Waters Bible Camp and is going to be driving the old LWBC bus to Mexico on June 27; please pray that it makes it there! This is a rare time to have so much space for larger items to get to where the needs are great for a large quantity of people.

What follows is a short list of items that will help continue to assist in how God is using LCI to help transform a community with His truth and love. If you are able to donate any of these items please e-mail Dennis (at) lwbc (dot) org and we will make arrangements. (Please note: the items will need to be loaded into the bus no later than June 27th.)

Thank you!

___

School Supplies

• Backpacks
• Pencils
• Notebooks
• Chalkboards

Office Supplies:

• Commercial copiers
• Fax machines
• Printers

Construction and Building Supplies:

• Tile, Lumber, Tar, Roofing, Plywood, etc.
• Steel - such as: angle iron, channel, tubing, etc.
• Power tools, hand tools, shop tools such as: table saws, joiners planers, etc.
• Plumbing materials - especially water pumps and pressure tanks
• Commercial doors and steel frames 36in.

Kitchen Supplies:

• Any type of stainless steel commercial kitchen appliances, refrigerators, shelving, sinks, tables, pots and pans, utensils, etc.
• Food service equipment – consumer and commercial
• Kitchen appliances, cookware, tables, chairs, etc.
• Dry and canned food

Audio/Visual Equipment

• Amps, Mics, Projectors, Cords, DVD players, Christian DVDs , etc.

Miscellaneous

• Pairs of front bicycle wheels to make carts for starting up micro businesses (street carts)
• Mattresses for the beds
• Shelving for the stores and shops
• Sorry - we do not have any needs for clothes at this time, except for blue jeans or good tennis / hiking shoes
  

Staff Training Videos are online!

For all those who plan to be staff at camp this summer but were not able to come to Staff Training Day in April, we put videos of the sessions online! Now, instead of having to watch them on Saturday before camp starts, you can watch them from the comfort of your home. =)

As a reminder, everyone who plans to be a staff this summer has to watch all the videos if they didn't attend the weekend (as required by law). Also, we apologize in advance for any black spots in the videos and that the equipment is not quite top of the line.

Thanks.

Follow the link to to watch the 2009 Staff Training Videos.

Family Camp #1 Canceled

We regret to announce that we'll be canceling Family Camp #1 (the week of July 5th - 11th), as well as any TST’s who were planning to serve during that week at camp.

For this summer, we've decided that it would be best to combine Family Camps #1 and #2 in order that both the campers/families and staff are able to get the most out of their time at camp. However, we are still planning to host a full week of family camp in July next summer (and those thereafter).

Please note that there is still is room for more campers during Family Camp #2 (August 8th - 12th), so be sure to tell those who you think would be interested in joining us for that camp! We want to make sure that families with financial needs are not hindered by the cost so, please let us know if you would be interested in a scholarship.

We are sorry for the inconvenience and are very thankful for your understanding.

God Bless,
LWBC Staff

Meet our New Baby Bison!

If you follow us on facebook you may have already seen our newest camp animal addition - Tilly, the baby bison. She arrived at camp last Sunday and was only three days old when we got her. She is still pretty small right now, but she has a spunky little attitude.
At the moment she is living in the investigation station, sharing space with the peacock, while keeping an eye out for the other animals that live in there in the summer. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to fence in a more permanent home for her up on the prairie, so you will have to look for her there next time you come to camp!