Changing Seasons Update

PO BOX 277
Cameron, NC 28326
mkldrs@gmail.com
910-246-7108
616-828-1366

Hello Beautiful People!

I wanted to send another thank you for all you who sent me support in prayer and finances for my past year, and I wanted to give you an update of the end of my year at Wildhorse Canyon Washington Family Ranch Young Life Camp in Oregon. The summer for me was an amazing experience of leading high school and college friends that volunteered a month or more to do the different maintenance projects around camp. We fixed toilets, emptied trash cans and dumpsters, power washed paths, built and moved furniture, dug trenches, hung drywall, painted walls, and many more other random things that needed to be maintained around camp so that kids could have the best weeks of their lives. Just as important and fun for us as a maintenance crew was the time we got to spend every morning at around 7am; while meeting together we got to share different stories and talk about different questions and Bible passages. We started mornings this way in prayer to get to know more about God and ourselves. Also, throughout our time together over the summer we all got to share our life stories to each other. We made great friendships, many that I know will last for the rest of our lives.
Life in the summer was a lot different from the rest of the year. It was a lot busier in good and bad ways. With between 600 and 700 students at camp every week there was always things going on and always things to fix. Many people had too much to do and during those times we saw the greatest in people, both in their serving through the hard times and in how many others joined in, on their time off, to help keep things running smoothly. All with the attitude of giving the kids the best weeks of their lives.
After the summer was over I had another month of different groups coming to the Canyon for different retreats. As a group of interns we seemed to grow closer together, spending many moments together recollecting all the greatest memories from our year together. It is always amazing to look back on our lives, and for us at camp it made us appreciate our year together all the more. It also made it all the more difficult to leave. So again, thank you so much for supporting me at camp and supporting the kids that got to come to camp and get to know Jesus in a way they have never experienced before.

Changing Seasons:
I am now in North Carolina, I started working Nov 10th at a different camp; which is a very different experience from Oregon. Here I am working directly with at risk kids in a wilderness group home setting. It is called Cameron Boys Camp and is part of the Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina, Inc. I am very excited about being here and I am already learning way more than I could have imaged. As the website describes;

“Baptist Children's Homes' Cameron Boys Camp is a wilderness camping program for school aged boys. Camp provides behavioral change for boys in a highly structured, wilderness environment. Three staff members called Chiefs supervise each

group of ten boys. The well-balanced, licensed alternative education program teaches discipline and self-worth.
The program provides boys and their families an opportunity to work out problems. From arrival at camp through follow-up visits in the home, social workers focus on all family members.” (http://www.bchfamily.org/helping/service/119/125/124)

My expectations for my counselor/teacher experience here is that this will be the hardest thing I have done in my life so far. I will be challenged in the extreme structure, ways of discipline, and having to speak out all the time. As the kids are learning also, it is hard to get past our troubles and weaknesses in order to keep learning, but the best things don’t come easily.
With this new season of my life which I have made a 2 year commitment to (which they will give me 6 years worth of work) I would really appreciate your prayers. I know that I will not be able to love these kids without God’s work in all of our lives. Again, thank you for all of your support and love. I am overwhelmed with how many of you have never stopped praying for me on a regular basis. If you would like continued updates from me I am hoping to send out email updates every once in a while. Send me a email at mkldrs@gmail.com and I will add you to a list. God bless you and so that you can continue to bless others.

With peace and love,


Mike Elders