Taconic Retreat and Conference Center

This camp is near the Hudson River Valley in upstate New York - just East of the beautiful Catskill mountains. We were privileged to work there during a lovely time of year- October 2009.

Over the course of the month, the camp hosted large groups each weekend visiting the camp for spiritual and physical renewal.

Our work consisted of construction for Scott, and a little kitchen and housekeeping for Cynthia. Scott replaced and stained damaged hollow core interior doors in the camp's Miller lodge and Guest Cottage with solid raised panel doors. He also added chair railing, door and window casing, and various trim work where needed. One day he replaced porch railing for an elderly resident who lived on the camp property. He enjoyed working with Pete Demarest, the camp's maintenance director, who also drives a large tractor-trailer hauling sound gear for large auditorium concerts. He joined Pete on one trip to Madison Square Gardens to set up for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show.

Sadie and Emma enjoyed that fact that other kids lived at the camp. Director Todd Hoffman and wife JanElle have 5 children. Office manager Veronica and husband Rob have 2 children at home (2 are grown). We all enjoyed a special time of fellowship with these families.

During the month, we attended Valley Community Church - a lively and growing church of about 150. They have a beautiful sanctuary and fellowship hall. As a family, we did 2 songs one Sunday. Then the following 2 Sundays, Scott joined the praise band. Pastor Mike and Dawn Ginese have a recording studio in their basement. Their son Jonathon helped us record 6 songs onto CD - something we'd been hoping to do all year.
Thanks be to our Lord who provides all we need!

Preston, Connecticut

While working at Windsor Hills Camp in New Hampshire, we got acquainted with Rev. Rick and Sherry Nason and family. They came up to camp over Labor Day weekend. We enjoyed campfire sing-a-longs, daytime hikes, and a casual Sunday service in the woods. When we left New Hampshire, we drove to Preston, Connecticut and parked at the church where Rick and Sherry are pastors. They live in a home behind the church. We had a great time eating together and singing and playing instruments. On Sunday, the Prowell family sang and played a concert during the worship service at Preston Church of the Nazarene.

Here is Sherry and Rick by their van. They are packing up after the weekend in their camper.

This is Kristi Hoover and children at their camper. Kristi is Rick and Sherry's daughter.Sadie with Tori canoeing at Windsor's pond.Not far from Preston is Mystic, Connecticut. They have a seaport there and we stopped and looked around.

Singing at Hillsboro Baptist Church

While working at Windsor Hills camp, we visited the Hillsboro Baptist church on Sundays. The pastor and wife invited to sing our last Sunday there. Scott played mandolin, and Cynthia played piano for congregational songs, then we sang "Offering" by Paul Baloche.

Windsor Hills Camp in New Hampshire

Windsor Hills Camp in Windsor, New Hampshire was the site of a ROAM project this September. We worked with Jake and Carole Ellyson, David and Darlene Bone at the New England’s district camp. Here we are in front of the entrance sign.

Projects included the removal of a back porch on a mobile home, attaching and painting new skirting and roof repairs. The ladies worked on landscaping 3 of the homes at the camp, and some cleaning. The men also worked to repair one of the cabins used by campers each summer. One of the floor joists had deteriorated and had to be repaired and jacked up. They also repaired the steps to the cabin.Sadie with "Tripper" the Bones' cute papillon dog.

Emma and Caleb, atop one of many large boulders scattered around the camp.

Our work at Mt. Chestnut District Center

Mt. Chestnut is located just outside Butler, Pennsylvania, 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. We had a great month there working with camp staff and exploring the area.
There was office work for Sadie, Emma, and Cynthia. Here is Cynthia working with Glenda Dillman, district office assistant. We worked on organizing shelves and files.

Another task during the month was getting hundreds of letters ready for mailing. Here is Sadie sealing envelopes! Emma enjoyed her job of shredding old documents. Every 20 pages or so, the unit would get overheated and need to cool off for awhile. Then Emma would start it up again!

Meanwhile, Scott worked on the future Staff cabin. He did sheetrock and electrical. Hope he got all those wires in the right places!!We celebrated a wonderful month of work with a steak dinner for staff a few days before we left. At the far end is Director Phil Heckman and his wife Linda. Glenda Dillman is next, then Chef Ed is across from Scott. It was a wonderful time of food and fellowship.

Concert at Victorious Life

We were invited to sing and play at Victorious Life Church of the Nazarene in Indianapolis, IN on July 26. We participated in congregational singing, then sang and spoke our testimony to the folks present.


After church we went out for lunch with Pastor Kirby and Susan Popplewell, and the Stantons.

Working at Camp Camby

Here is Camby's director, Marvin Stanton. He made sure no one ever went hungry at camp. He would buy the food, and bring it back to camp and even cook it up!!! (also taking care of all the other things directors have to do)

I worked in the kitchen with many wonderful people - here are just a few of them....

Here is head cook Betty Popplewell using the tilt-fryer. This amazing thing cooks large quantities of food. One day they boiled 100 ears of corn in this.

Scott is painting 4 of the wooden targets for a game played by tossing bags of corn into the holes. This is a midwest thing.

Camp Camby in Indiana

In July we worked at Camp Camby near Indianapolis, Indiana. It's a lovely camp and we got busy....Scott worked on construction projects in the barn...
Sadie, Emma and Cynthia pulled weeds and spread mulch around the flower beds. The weather was pleasantly mild for July!!

People to know at Pinecrest

Here is Scott and Jerry - pictured here with the infamous red killer golf cart. They worked on the pump house and the new duplex together. Jerry is the gardener and has planted the beautiful flowers all over camp.

Next up is our next door neighbors - Richard and Jeannette. Richard is an electrician, but spent a lot of time on the tractor trying to clean up all the fallen trees. Jeannette works in town at Wal-mart. They hosted the fish fry after Richard took Emma and Scott fishing and came back with 34 bluegill and bass.


Here is Naomi and Noel, who had us over to their RV and taught us to play the card game "Play Nine". That was fun! Noel drives the big truck around camp - moving dirt.
Taking a walk along the beautiful Pinecrest central road - Alice and Debbie with Debbie's dog Lucy. Alice worked with us in the Pit Stop filling candy and drink orders - we are the "A" team, Alice!!

Four Fine Folks From Pinecrest

Here we are in the Pinecrest Dining Hall after a great lunch (thanks Debbie). From the left are Debbie and Fred Yates, who are the directors of the camp. Next is Karen and Wayne Riggs who come and volunteer at the camp on their days off. Karen and I worked together in the gift shop. It is never a dull moment with these guys!!

Pinecrest Person of the Week

Meet Marsha King - the Queen of Clean at Pinecrest Camp. She is an AMAZING woman, wielding her mop like a Jedi's light sabre. Dirt and grime are no match for Marsha. Even when she's whipping a messy cabin into shape, she's one of the nicest people you'll meet in SE Missouri. She does a great job for Pinecrest, and we're very happy to have gotten to know her while we're here.

Working at Pinecrest

Here is Pinecrest's concession stand - called "The Pit Stop".

Emma is ready to serve snacks to hungry campers.

Across the road is the Gift Shop. The outside reminds me of a mountain cabin.

Sadie learned how to use the cash register and is getting experience in the retail business!

Pinecrest Camp

We're here at Pinecrest Camp, Fredericktown, MO. On the day we arrived, 470 teen campers had checked in for their week of church camp. Three weeks before, a land-based hurricane (yes, there IS such a thing!) had checked in at camp and pushed over 500 large trees. The camp was out of electricity for 13 days. They have been busy dealing with the fallen trees and the damage caused to roofs.

The camp has installed a larger water storage system and built a pump house near the RV park. Scott's job has been to finish the inside. This week he finished taping and mudding the sheetrock and sprayed texture on the walls before painting. He also installed bathroom light fixtures, because the pump house will also house laundry facilities and 2 restrooms for RV guests.

Here is Scott working with Harold and Jerry.

Farewell to Salyer Lake

The dorm is nearly complete as the team works on the roof. The camp plans to have 12 of these dorms to accomodate youth camps and retreats starting summer 2010.



We were sad to say good-bye to Salyer Lake Conference Center. Ken Hembree, director, gave us all T-shirts with the camp emblem. THANKS for everything!!

Salyer Lake Retreat Center

We arrived at Salyer Lake Conference and Retreat Center on April 2. It is a camp in development, a new project for the SW Oklahoma Nazarene District.
Scott is working with director Ken Hembree, retired director Paul Stroud, and others who volunteer their time to the camp. The main project for April is constructing 2 dorms.

Emma helped Chad Hembree clear away the brush on camp clean-up day.

Camp Arrowhead

In March we worked at Camp Arrowhead, near Glen Rose, Texas. The ROAM volunteer group also included Jean and Jeannie Brown, , Jack and Kay Grover, and

Gaylon and Carolyn McMurtry.

The main project for the ladies was re-upholstering 2 couches and chairs. Here we are cutting out the fabric.This is Carolyn McMurtry at the sewing machine.


Here are the guys building a pump house. That's Scott peeking over the top.
Another big project was adding to the sidewalks around the tabernacle.