Pam

Can I tell you the amazing story of how we got to Canada?

Phil went to Camp of the Woods with his church in 1971 & 1972.  In 1973, he was able to spend the summer there on staff. 

Jump forward 32 years…

Phil and Pete Van Dyken decided to go to Canada to fish, and they decided to fish in the area around COTW because Phil loved it so much.  Each year Phil took time to wander around camp to reminisce and take pictures.  He did the same for the next four years.

Pete became mission leader at our church and determined to find John Cofield, one of the members of the family who founded the camp.  John is our age and went to Tennessee Temple with us.  Pete found John & family in MacDonald, Tennessee, and arranged a meeting for us all.  It was an immediate connection. John invited us to come to camp for a couple of weeks is the spring.

We went to camp for Phil to fish and for me to help prepare for camp in May of 2010.  The theme of camp was “The Amazing Race,” and I was able to help develop the race, since I have created several “races” through the years.  We had a wonderful time and felt very much like we had found a ministry to be a part of.

In 2012, after we retired, we began spending the entire summer at Camp of the Woods. Phil continued to serve through taking people fishing, helping with kitchen duties, and assisting in the camp program. I made a strong connection with Adam Kane, the program director. He and I were both teachers, and we had similar teaching styles. I began helping with game times, leading the morning hikes, telling Bible stories, as well as helping with kitchen duties and other activities around camp. It felt clear to me that everything I had done up to that point in my life had prepared me to do what was needed at Camp of the Woods. This is why Ephesians 2:10 resounds with me and is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It says “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

There are many reasons Phil and I love Camp of the Woods. We treasure the beauty of the place. The magnificence of God’s creation is on display all around us. Another reason we love it is that it gives us a purpose in our lives. Sometimes people can struggle in retirement with having meaningful work to do, and camp fulfills that for us.

But the most important reason we love Camp of the Woods is the connections we have made and the relationships we have built. The Bates and the Kanes have become dear friends over the years, and now we add the Jurrens too. There are so many good and faithful supporters of camp that come year after year, and they too have become people we love very much. And finally, there are the young summer staffers that we have had the pleasure of introducing to camp and working with there. We think that the ministry we do with these young people who come to serve for the summer is the most important work that happens at camp. To be able to sit with young adults at such a formative age is a privilege and a joy.

And so, this summer will be our tenth summer to be connected to Camp of the Woods. We are looking forward to the work, and seeing what God will do in our midst. Once a visitor came to camp and in talking to us said, “It’s a really great thing that you and Phil come up here and give up your summer to work at camp.” We both reacted the same way. We replied, “We never feel like we’re giving anything up. We can’t believe that God lets us be here and has made Camp of the Woods such a beautiful part of our lives.”