Peniel Bible Camp: 1/1/12

It might be the middle of winter, but it's time to start thinking about camp. Pleasant thoughts, huh? Warm, sunny days. Breeze coming across the lake. Meal time noise in Ashbrook Hall. Ice cream cones from the Snack Shop. Friends. Mr. V's creative games. Challenging Bible messages. Time spent alone in a quiet place seeking God face to face. Yes, that's Peniel Bible Camp!

Don't wait until the last minute to register for this year's camp. The brochures for the spring and summer camps have been distributed to churches. They have also been mailed to those who have attended the Father/Son Retreat, Mother/Daughter Retreat, Pastors' Conference, and Family Camps in the past several years. Brochures are available on the web to print, fill out, and mail. So, don't end up being on a waiting list or miss out on the blessing -- register today to attend Peniel Bible Camp in 2012.

(For a printable version, click here.)

The VanderSchels / Ohio Bible Mission / January 2012

What We've Been Up To Lately:

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year from the VanderSchels! Yes, the busyness of the holidays put us a bit behind in getting our newsletter out, but we’ll do our best to get you caught up.

Kim and the kids are finishing up their first semester of homeschool. Things have been much smoother since we’ve been able to move into our schoolroom downstairs. The girls are especially enjoying their own bedrooms downstairs, while Carson is now able to spread out in the loft room.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving with Kim’s family in Mansfield. Mark Goldfuss and his girls joined us for the Thanksgiving weekend while Mark and Izaac worked on a construction project in the rec hall.

Izaac and Kim both have had recent opportunities to participate in community activities outside of camp. Izaac has gotten plugged in to the area basketball referee association and has been able to ref a good number of basketball games in the public high schools. Kim has been certified to substitute teach in the local public schools and enjoys the varied experiences that brings. Please pray that these opportunities will give us open doors for witnessing.

Christmas brought a frenzy of excitement with 4 different rounds of Christmas gatherings. We had our own Christmas as a family before we headed to Mentor to spend time with Izaac’s family. After the kids were thoroughly spoiled rotten by grandparents and aunts and uncles and Carson and Izaac got to enjoy the Cleveland Cavs’ season opener, we came back to camp to await the arrival of Kim’s family. We put up her parents and her two sisters and their families in the other A-frame cabins and enjoyed a flurry of activities—bowling, snow tubing, roasting marshmallows, swimming, playing games, and fun times with 13 cousins hanging out together. About 18 hours after everyone left camp, we packed up the van and headed to Missouri to spend a few days with family there. We enjoyed a beautiful sunny 65 degrees New Year’s Eve. We had a great time with family, and the kids enjoyed meeting a new baby cousin.

So, here we are on our trip back to Ohio, thinking of everything piled up and waiting for us back at camp—lots of Christmas stuff needing to be put away, emails to go through, a summer camp theme to get rolling on, and more churches to call to schedule presentations.

We thank the Lord every day for the opportunity He has given us to be a part of this ministry. May we be found faithful! Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our family.

What's Going On At Camp:

We are so grateful to the Lord for the desire He gives to others to come serve at camp. We’ve had several individuals come to the camp this fall to work on various projects. Dan Corey is still faithfully coming twice a week to fill in as Interim Facility Manager. He and Izaac have done many things the past several months from consolidating and cleaning up areas around the camp, working on the camp vehicles, resealing the roof of the rec hall, and winterizing buildings. Mark Goldfuss was here Thanksgiving weekend to remodel and reinforce the octagon section of the rec hall. New window openings and wood siding were installed, as well as slight changes on the interior walls. Right after Christmas, Jay Stone came to help Dan and Izaac begin to clear trees and brush from the downslope of the dam on the front lake. This will help strengthen the integrity of the dam and prevent erosion. Several of the large upcoming projects include upgrading the electrical systems in the youth cabins, lowering the snack shop ceiling, clearing the downslope of the back lake dam, and installing ceiling fans in A-frames. If you’d like to give toward these or other ongoing projects around camp, please contact us. We’d also love to have your help. Bring a group from church or come alone to assist us on any of the projects mentioned above.

Springtime will bring our new Facility Manager and his family to the camp. We’re so excited to serve with Nathan and Nikki Fry and are thankful that the Lord led them to this ministry!

Camp Needs:

Funding is still needed for reimbursement of printing costs of the summer staff t-shirts. If you are able to help meet this need, a special offering or gift would be greatly appreciated.

We are in the process of replacing some of the outdated furniture in the lakefront and A-frame cabins. If you've recently purchased some new furniture for your home and have couches, chairs, end tables, dressers, lamps, desks, etc. that are still in good condition, please consider donating them to the camp. Contact us at pbcprogram@gmail.com or through Facebook.

Funding for above-mentioned projects.

Our Prayer Requests:

continued financial and prayer support of local churches

wisdom determining whether to sell or rent our home in WCH

transition for the Fry family to the camp ministry

Kids' Column:

I had lots of fun playing with all my cousins this Christmas. I got two tickets to see the Cavs’ season opener, so my dad and I went to the game. Even though the Cavs lost we still had fun.

School will start again in a couple days. Third grade is pretty easy. I like to try some of the 6^th grade math problems that my mom teaches my sisters.

I hope we get lots of snow at camp this winter so I can play in it. I want the lake to freeze so I can walk and skate on it.

Love, Carson