In Closing...

What an amazing week. It ended in tears for me as well as many others. The campers, the laughs, the staff, the games, the movies, the bible classes, and who can forget canteen, are just a few of the things that made Intermediate 2 2005 a wonderful week. 20 new souls were added to the church this past week, and a countless number of seeds planted in people hearts. God's love swept throughout Camp Manatawny this week in ways we may never understand. To the parents of the campers I would like to say thank you and you should be proud. Your children are what made camp what it was, thank you for allowing them to be there.

~~Robbie Warrell~~
Loudog212@aol.com

Boy's Athletic Director Update

Camp this week has been full of energetic and wild young men ready to play any sport thrown their way. We've had a lot of success this week with participation and with all the guy's willingness to step it up and support their fellow campers. In fact we've had so much success that I'm happy to announce that I had 100% participation from every single guy camper this week in terms athletics. This is a feat not often obtained in a week of camp. It has been a priviledge and an honor to have worked with such a fine group of young men. All you parents out there need to be extremely proud of your children and the work they have done here as people and as soldiers for christ. I look forward to the rest of the day and I can only pray that every single camper makes the decision to come back to this beautiful sanctuary of love that we call Camp Manatawny.

In his love,
Nathan Winebarger (Boy's Athletic Director)

boys cabin 2 friday

the week is almost over and it has been a good one. all of boys cabin 2 has at least done half of there memory verses and scored above an 82% on there tests. parents will be happy to know that cabin 2 had no problems with discipline all week. all of your little ones have behaved in ways that would make you proud. each day they served the girls cabin behind us in line trays to get there food, and on occasion (probally when they weren't hungry) allowed them to get infront of them. this is a rather impressive feat for 5 hungry boys. also midway through the week when lunch tables were rearranged and girls cabin 8 (the other half of our team titans) was placed next to us, the boys took up all the girls trays and cleaned off there table while cleaning there own trays and messes as well. in closing i, josh, and sean had a good week with the kids, especially for our first week ever of counseling. im sure everyone looks forward to seeing you tomorrow and getting a good nights rest in there own bed. God bless, josh

Friday-the last full day

Everyone knows that things are starting to wrap-up.....we have all been dreading this simply 'cause we don't want to go back "out there"....it is so safe and loving here....away from the world.
Nonetheless we will be leaving tomorrow but before we leave we will have strengthen God's army by many souls.....so far we are at 10 baptisms...I am expecting this # to really grow by day's end. We have also been planting seeds in all of the children...many of them "get it" and will never be the same again. Every single counselor this week has been here for the kids and not for themselves. They have given every thing they have to the children.
We are all tired and some of us are hurting from physical exertion that is beyond our normal routines BUT we remain steadfast in His love and we will finish strong.
Cabin 5 (boys) has promised to give everything they have to give to this day!!

Love- Tate

Young Men's Cabin #1 - Day 5

What a day! I have personally never taken more Ibuprofen in one week. Nevertheless, an amazing week continues to get better as more and more are brought to know Christ and his love. Today was highlighted by a game in which the kids learn what it must have been like for Christians living in the first century--to know that sharing your faith meant probable imprisonment, and often death. It is basically a really complex and very cool game of tag. The kids love it and they learn a ton.

Today, Logan proved to be very useful to us as we had to write a song about our camp team--the "Supers"--and how we can change the world for Jesus. The song had to be sung to the tune of the Brady Bunch theme, and Logan was the only boy in our cabin who knew the song (I felt very old). Chadd had a great time today and wins the "Real Men Sing Real Loud" award for his participation in chapel singing. When the week began, I made them sing, but now they sing on their own. Progress. :)

Tim has had a full day as well, both leading a water balloon ambush of a neighboring cabin's counselor and also being the first in our cabin to complete all of his memory verses for the week. Nick once again was very helpful, picking up trays for girls cabin 9 (no mention of who the crush might be on). :) Nick also performed admirably in the freestyle swimming race today. Drew and another camper made me proud by managing a tie in an egg throwing conteszt against Tate, another counselor, and I. How in the world he caught an egg from twenty yards away without it busting I don't know, but kudos to Drew.

Almost time to send them back home, but still another whole day of God's mercies and grace to glory in. God is so good.

Adam Hill (Counselor)
Taylor Perazzelli (Co-Counselor)

Complete camp update

Boys 5 challenged girls 7 to a jello eating contest on Wed nite and all people involved may NEVER eat jello again. It was a bit over the top but if the only cost is not eating jello then so be it. This contest was NOT for the tame of heart or weak of stomach! Boys 5 now has a deep respect and understanding for girls 7. Even though the boys were declared a winner the participating cabins saw each other as winners just for participating....we tried to eat over 1.5 trays of jello between 7 people---WARNING---don't ever try it!

We did take a creek walk today and went with girls 4 and we all had a blast. Zaid cannot wait to tell his father what he did. Thomas really enjoyed it although his feet did not until I gave him my sandals to wear. Zach wanted to skip bible class and "do it again" but we could not miss class and we might get another chance later :)

Hey!!! IF ANYONE CAN HELP US BUILD THE LOW ROPES COURSE LET ME KNOW @
tate1963@gmail.com Large donations of cash and or time are gladly accepted!!


Camp has had 6 baptisms with 2 more planned for tonite and several kids are giving baptism serious thought. This is what camp is really about--expanding God's Kingdom!!
It is a beautiful thing!

Love-Tate

Girls Cabin 4 :)

All of us in Girls 4 are having an amazing time! Yesterday we got all wet during all of the water activities, and today we went for a little creek walk with boys 5. That was a whole lot of fun. We tried to catch some minnows, but instead we caught some crayfish. They were so cute. After the creek walk, the girls ran to bible class dripping wet and slimey. haha, but we had a great time. We just finished up our rest time, and all the girls said some memory verses. I'm so proud of them, they are a great cabin. I am so sad that it's already Thursday, but as Jeff said in chapel today, I'm going to make these last few days the best ones yet. :)
-Aryn

Sugar High...

Intermediate 2

Hello, from the Canteen! Wow- What a busy week we've had. The candy has been flying off the shelf, and we can hardly keep the slushie machine filled. As a matter of fact, we sold so much stuff on Tuesday, that we nearly ran out of almost EVERYTHING, and our motto became, "What you see, is what we got!" Hah, Hah, Hah! Thank goodness for Deb Brothers who swooped in to save the day with an early morning Sam's Club run. She keeps our campers happy, and they appreciate her! The chocolate bars are once again running out the door...

The campers and staff are filling our donation jar with contributions for the new LOW ROPES course. The plans are moving along, and we in the canteen are doing our part to help make that happen. The course will be cool, and the kids are going to love it. I might have to try it out myself...

Gotta go fill up the slushie machine again!! Happy camping!

Ms. Benja

Boys Cabin 2 (Water Events)

Yesterday was the wettest day of camp but it was also the sunniest... No, these aren't rain showers I'm talking about; I am talking about all of the water-related activities we had. First a bunch of the staff had to spend HOURS filling up water balloons. We ate our lunch entirely drenched from head to toe. I think we left pools everywhere we went.

Then we played a number game that involved dumping water on the heads of campers and they got to return the favor to us x( Freddy dumped his freezing cold water on me and I in turn got to dump it on Tyler! Josh had chosen Brandon and Tyson to do the game with him. As soon as "Water Wonder Bucket" ended we immediately got to have a huge free-for-all water balloon fight!

With all these activities and our daily pool time we were wet all day. Worried Parents: I hate to regret it but all of your kids have turned into prunes. Hopefully they will unshrivel by the time you pick them up on Saturday...

-Sean

Girls 8!!!!!!!

Hey! Finally a post, just wanted to update you guys at home on whats been going on here at camp. On sunday we found out that mary would not be able to counsel due to a family problem. At first i was a little nervous, however all of the girls have been well behaved, which made the week a lot more fun!!!!! Tuesday the girls had their first bible test and today we got the scores back. All of them did exceptionally well, Raina was the only one in camp to recieve a 100%. Everyone else got above an 80, many got high A's. Yesterday we had the water wonder bucket which was a lot of fun for both the staff and campers. We also had the water ballon battle which was awesome! On tuesday we also had talent night, it was a bit of work convincing the girls to participate, but finally they agreed and we had a blast! Post again later!

-ashley

Girl's Cabin #1....a post FINALLY

Hi All! I have to say I have been incredibly blessed by Girl's Cabin 1 this year. They immediately were all friendly and working together and of course, as any great girls cabin does, gave each other nicknames! Let me list them for you...

April Winebarger (Counselor) = SUGAR MAMA
Rachael Robertson (Co-Counselor)=REESES
Toria Davis = TAFFY
Jessica Broyles = M&M
Lana Radczenko= LOLLIPOP
Sarah Howell = SKITTLES
Johnna Beth Dixon = JELLY BEAN
Alisha Moloobhai = APPLE JACKS
Joclyn Gaghan = JU JUBES

And just in case you're wondering, yes, the girls truly do call each other and their counselors by their nicknames more than they actually call each other by their real names. Its great fun!!!
Jessica has had a very challenging week due to the fact that she is wearing corrective casts to fix a problem of walking on her toes. And boy has she risen to the challenge! From saran wrapping her legs, getting lifts everywhere on the golf carts, to having to miss out on every water activity this week (which has been a lot), she sure has kept an wonderful attitude. We were so happy to find out that she was allowed to come back to camp after her doctor's appt yesterday. She even got her casts changed to pink on the right leg and green on the left leg after our cabin requested it!
We were so incredibly happy to witness our own Joclyn Gaghan get baptized and become our Sister in Christ on Monday night after lights out. It was an amazing 11pm baptism in the pool with our cabin and her best friend Amanda from Cabin 3. Joclyn has been doing so well to seek the truth this week and we ask for your prayers as she begins her new life!
I'm proud to say that Johnna Beth Dixon was one of the first girls in all of camp to memorize all 12 of this week's Bible Memory Verses! Johnna worked VERY hard and learned them all in only about 1 day! The other girls are trying VERY hard too. I often see them staying up late at night with their Bibles and flashlights learning verses and doing the extra work in the notebooks for Bible classes this week.
Alisha made did an excellent rendition of American Idol's Randy Jackson at our talent show last night. Yo Dogg! She followed the skit up with an short lesson on how American Idol is fun and all but promotes the worship of ungodly things. Read Exodus 20:1-4
Toria has been an amazing help and friend to Jessica all week. What a selfless girl! She has been carrying Jessica's belongings and waiting with her for the golf cart to pick her up when the driver has accidentally forgotten. How sweet! She even put her fears aside and acted with the rest of the cabin in the American Idol skit!
Lana is probably the most quiet but still an important part of our cabin and a great girl! She was our special BIRTHDAY girl yesterday and the whole camp sang for her at dinner. She also acted in the talent show and sang an interesting version of the National Anthem.
Finally, Sarah has been a great help with getting the girls going this week. She's a sweet girl and always has a positive attitude. Just ask her sometime to sing her operatic style Oops, I Did It Again for you...its amazing! HA!
Well that's about it for now mid-week from Girl's Cabin 1! We're looking forward to finishing this week out STRONG! Love you all!

In His Love,

SUGAR MAMA (Counselor)

Young Men's Cabin #1 - Day 4

Today, Wednesday is usually the toughest day, because it is one of the most demanding, but the kids are just about worn out completely (Maybe because of our late night poker game--no real money, just animal crackers on the line). I am glad to report that other than a little sluggishness in the morning, the guys have ecome through with great attitudes.

We just finished our "Water Water Everywhere" spectactular. Part of the deal is that Taylor and I are doused in buckets of cold--and I mean really cold--water. This dousing was delivered by Tim and Chad. They cruelly executed their duties, exacting their revenge upon us for early wake up calls and forced cabin cleaning. Nevertheless, this was all worth it as we were then able to pour the same freezing water onto two campers--namely, Drew (what a facial expression) and Logan (who somehow managed to stay composed enough to rally cheers while being doused). Taylor and I were not so lucky--we just looked cold. Ah...but where was Nick? Nick was not too into being frozen with water (can't blame him), but instead relocated his missing camera (which was crammed in his bag) and got some great pictures to remember the joy.

Still, he was not left out of the water balloon fight that followed. The counselors and campers went through over two thousand!!! water balloons in about five minutes. No one left dry. Wet hugs were a very successful attack.

Changed and Dry we are heading to dinner. Nick may help girls cabin nine carry their trays up again, or Logan and Chad and Tim may try to do the dishes again, or Drew might start another game of cards. We'll see.

Always having fun in men's cabin one!

Adam Hill (Counselor)
Taylor Perazzelli (Co-Counselor)

Boys 4 Update

The boys are really enjoying themselves. They are on a team with girls cabin six called Wonka's Winners and have gotten along well with them. The other night we played To Tell the Truth (three staffers told a story and we had to guess as a team which one was telling the truth), and we tied for first!

I've heard a lot of good from the Bible teachers about James. He's done at least seven memory verses and will be leading our cabin devo tonight. Sammy also got a Bible award just yesterday. Michael tied for first in the pull-up competition, and I believe he also won the 50m dash. Brendan received an award for underwater distance, and Bobby placed third in push-ups with 54. All of them have been participating in every event.

They just finished swimming which they really enjoy. The boys love to wrestle with the staff in the pool though they don't stand a chance!! Right now, they're in athletics doing the mailbox run (a race all the way from the mailbox at the camp entrance to the cabins).

We've gained a reputation as the messy cabin, but we're working on changing that. The boys are learning to work together and "shine like stars" for the Lord.

Mike & Andrew

Boys Cabin 2

Josh and I are counseling for our very first time and are having a blast. Three out of five of our kids are first-time campers and they are all enjoying every minute of it! In order of their arrival we have Christian, Tyson, Freddy, Tyler and Brandon.
For competitions we combine our powers with Girls Cabin 8 and form the mighty 'Team Titans.' We are moving adhead strongly and trying to keep our focus on using everyone to help us win; we are real team players.
There have already been multiple baptisms and that is such a blessing. x) All of our campers have completed a few memory verses and 3 of them have already finished all 12! All of them have already "shined" like stars and gotten pins to prove it. And I think the most important achievement we have so far took place today: BOYS CABIN 2 GOT THE FIRST 100% OUT OF ALL THE OTHER BOY CABINS ON THE CLEANEST CABIN INSPECTION!!!
Alright, so maybe the baptisms are really more important than having the cleanest cabin but that is still a mighty feat we accomplished as a team. More (in shorter posts) later..
-Sean

very quick highlights!

cabin devos are a highlight ev ery nite before lites out. Talent show was awesome last nite---our cabin boys 5 stole the show and will never be the same because of it.

Mike's baptism last nite was awesome. I have known Mike for about 6 years and watching his dad baptise him and his mom looking on and all of us knowing our true purpose as another soul (Mike) takes that purpose on......well......speechless.

tate

Photographer check in

It's almost lunch time on Wednesday, our half way point, BOOOOOO!!! I don't know about anyone else but I don't really want to leave. For those parents wondering how things are going or if their children are having fun take a look at this picture and decide for yourself. Campers and staff are all making new friends and meeting new members of our family.


Last night was proof that God is at work here at Camp Manatawny. Michael Coscia was baptized late last night.


~~Robbie Warrell~~

Cabin 10 Girls

We are having a great week!!!!!! The girls in cabin 10 are full of energy and life. So far their favorite thing was the staff laugh and the talent show. All the girls are learning their memory work and enjoying bible classes. Today they are a little less energetic...due to lack of sleep. This afternoon they are thrilled about the water all activity. All they can think about now is getting me wet! I am being truly blessed each day by this girls. We wish we could all be together another week.
Girl's cabin 10 :)

Boy's Cabin 4 & camp's eating habits

I asked the counselors to post and I do not have time to check if they did or not. I found out (by asking) that both Sam and Bobby in Boy's 4 are doing fine and really enjoying camp! I know that Bobby has won several athletics awards and that Sam has won some bible awards or shinning star awards. I asked them if they had a message for their moms and they both said that they missed everyone but were loving camp manatawny...they will see you on Sat.

On another note----I apologize in advance that several cabins have totally stopped using utensils and hands during meals...this would be Girls 7, some of girls 5 and most of boys 5. This is not for the tame of heart...they have also started speed eating which is very hard to watch (considering they do not use hands/utensils). This saves on dishwashing!

People are really "gelling"...camp is like family.....in fact we are one big happy family...all loving Christ and praising Him. When awards were given out tonite we almost had all of the campers up there at one point!! You folks have great kids!

Tate

Jessica Update

Jessica's back! Her checkup went really well, so the doctor gave her two new casts (one green and one pink, as requested by her cabin) and sent her back.

The whole Camp gathered around Jessica and offered a prayer of thanksgiving when she made it back. This is exactly what we had asked God for ealier in the day, and we're so thankful he answered our prayers in this way...

Director Jeff

Girls Cabin 3

Girls cabin 3 is doing great so far this week!! We're all having an amazing time and learning so much. Marilynn has been doing a great job of giving inspirational thoughts for our devotionals and to leave for our cabin inspectors. Lauren is a friend to everyone in the cabin and was the winner of our millionaire game last night. Lexi has been great at following instructions and is having a great time. Dajae, Amanda P. and Adrienne have provided laughs for our cabin all week. Amanda K has done a great job learning many of her memory verses and always has a smile on her face. We're all growing closer to each other and closer to God. It's been a great week so far!
-Sarah (counselor of Girls 3)

Girls Cabin 11

This week has been amazing!! I have been blessed with an amazing group of girls. They are willing to do anything for anyone.
One of my girls got hurt in the pool and had a hard time walking. All the girls in my cabin wanted to help her get to and from places. The all encouraged her and helped her whenever she needed to be helped. That is just a taste of the group of kids we have this week at camp.
I am blessed to be here and get to know the girls in my cabin and all the other kids. I can't wait to see what is to come for the rest of the week!!

Steph
Counselor of Girls Cabin 11

This has been an awesome week so far here at camp manatawny. Jessica had to go to the Philadelphia hospital to have her legs checked up on..(she has 2 corrective casts on her legs). If all goes well she will be back shortly! So remember to keep her in your prayers.

My cabin is doing so well, I'm so proud of all of the girls. They are always on time, and they pay attention to the lessons. Maybe by the end of the week one of the girls in my cabin may be baptized, which is extremely exciting to me! So just keep on praying for all of us here. Everyone is have a great time!!!

Aryn- girls cabin 4 counselor

A note from a director

What an AWESOME week we are having so far. The campers are doing extremely well and having a great time. The staff is EXCEEDING our expectations.

But most importantly of all - God is working here this week. The Lord's body has 3 new souls after last night and He continues to work on the hearts of us all here at Intermediate 2.

To the parents - thank you for sharing your wonderful kids with us ! We are blessed to work with them and blessed to know them better each day !

God Bless !

Andy (Director)

Lives Are Being Changed

Monday was an incredible day, 3 new members have been added to the body. As the camp photographer I have been very blessed to get a front row seat for most activities and most important the baptisms that have taken place. Caleb Robertson, Catherine Leeds, and Joclyn Gaghan, have all given their lives to Christ. It's amazing the power God has revealed to us in the past 3 days. Praise God!!! Thanks for checking in.
~~Robbie Warrell~~

Young Men's Cabin #1 - Day 3

Well, good news. If we are involved in an armed attack and our cabin is under seige, and we only have two guns around (okay...so it's not so likely), we know who to give the only two guns to--both Logan and Chadd were excellent at the rifle range. The rest of us feel safer around them and are now trying not to cross them. :)

Tim has found a new favorite thing to do, and go figure, it's washing dishes. Really. Are you listening mom? He really enjoys helping wash dishes. I made the cabin do it once and now he and Logan and Chad all help with it voluntarily every meal. Maybe this will carry over into the rest of the year. You can always hope so.

Nick and Drew are still palling around together but have really done a good job of mingling and playing hard. Nick is all heart in the free time athletics. He fell and scraped his hand going for a volleyball, but after a band-aid and stained shirt, he was completely fine and back in action! Don't worry mom, he's okay, but the shirt may need some bleach! I want to comment that although all of the campers are being respectful and participating, Drew has been an absolute blessing to our cabin devotional time each night. He always has a comment that is right on.

I am so proud of these young men, who also learned today the importance of a strong handshake. All of them picked it up very quickly. It is a joy spending time helping them grow up into good Christian men.

Adam Hill (Counselor)
Taylor Perazzelli (Co-Counselor)

for the mommissingson comment

for the "mommissingson" comment/ let us know who or give us some hints and we will try to get him to post...
we are really busy here....baptisms are happening (three and counting) and everyone is getting the true message of our purpose here---Jesus!
what a great crew of counselors and kids---we just finished a game of ultimate frisbee and it was great. The cooks are doing an awesome job the directors are great---this is what life s/b like! People loving each other,caring for each other and sharing (Acts 2). Everyone is walking around happy and content- God is awesome!
wish you could all be here-tate

Baptisms= the simple life

wow! what can i say...camp is awesome! we just got done a game of ultimate frisbee that was second to none! Courtney can catch anything thrown her way! Shea can also catch anything thrown his way and they were not on my team.

More importantly...the baptisms. these kids wanted to be closer to God!! I talked with them and they knew what they were doing. I asked Joselyn...who do you want to baptise you...you know what she said? I don't care I just want to know God better!! Amen?? Amen!
The cooks are doing an awesome job as usual....this norning for breakfast I ate my meal w/o utensils...pretty cool...huh? then one girl (counselor) from cabin 7 showed me how she had totally ate the orange off her peel....well I one upped her.....peel and all...not bad either.

Overall-this is a spirit filled week. everyone is getting Him, they are all understanding His purpose for us and the ultimate prize- Eternal Life!
thanks for listening----miss you all! Tate

Great Week at Camp Manatawny

This is my second week of working up at camp. Ihave a really great cabin this year. The one girl was baptized last night so pray for her. Her name is Jocelyn. Another girl in my cabin has corrective casts on for her feet and she will be leaving soon to get new ones on and I pray that she comes back because she is a great girl and is very encouraging. Her name is Jessica. Hope to finish out a already great week.

Rachael Robertson
Girl's Cabin 1

My Great Week At Camp At Camp Manatawny!

This has bin one of m y best years in this great learning camp. I have made many friends and have done many knew things.

Jessica Broyles

boys cabin six

This week has been great. I have four great kids in my cabin. Brett Hower, Anthony Mignona, Ben Gallagher, and Paxston Haies. The week is going great with lots of fun activities. I got t he privaledge to baptize one of my close friends Caleb Robertson. It was my first baptism that I got to do and it is definitely encouraging. Great week.

-Ben Lindsey,
Boys 6 counselor

quick update

Jonathen Powers was slide-tackled during a kickball game but remains in excellent condition!
I think Jonathen also may have taken 1st place in the underwater contest.....Justin Henderson continues to do an excellent job cleaning the dinning hall!!

Please comment and let us know what you want to know!

Monday Afternoon

Tate here from Boy's Cabin 5, we are having a great time. Last nite we won the Goofy Relays with Girls Cabin 5 and we got to go 1st for canteen but more importantly we learned that we should work at everything as working for God and we also learned to persevere!
Everybody is showering every day which is a very good thing.
Brandon my co-counselor is doing a great job and all of the cabin is working towards being like Jesus! Zaid has been showing some leadership qualities and Thomas is also thinking of some incredible ways to be like Christ. Zach has been the comic in the cabin and it is a joy to get to know him. Both Mitch and Caleb are doing a great job in keeping the entire cabin orgainized.
This morning we woke up late for flag raising mainly because we were really sleeping good.
We are all having a blast and wish you could join us?!

Young Men's Cabin #1 - Day 2

This has been a fairly soggy day but we have still had a tremendous day! This morning our cabin was responsible for the raising of the flag, the pledge of allegiance, and the morning prayer. I am happy to report that our cabin successfully honored both God and country. Chad led our camp in the pledge, and Drew lead an amazing public prayer. Both stepped outside of their comfort zones and were both relieved and rightly proud of themselves for doing so. I was very prooud of both of them.

So far, we have all enjoyed ourselves. Nick and I (Adam) were both on the same Ultimate Frisbee team, and though the frisbee proved elusive on offense, Nick had several big interceptions on defense. I was mainly winded. Logan won the hardest sleeper award last night, but has since kicked into gear and has taken several pictures of the inside of his mouth (no lie!). Tim gets a nod as the most enthusiastic singer in chapel for our cabin today, but all of them actually sang very well.

Now that the rain has stopped, it looks like the boys will get their turn in the pool...that means I stand a good chance of getting dunked many times. But all in all, that is a small price to pay to provide a meaningful and lasting summer.

More from us tomorrow!

Adam Hill (Counselor)
Taylor Perazzelli (Co-Counselor)

Pictures From Day 2

Today started out a little rainy. This is Jamaul doing his morning excersizes

Weather got nicer as the day went on. Check out this crew.

Later on in the day we got a few celebrity guests.

Ricky Williams of the Miami Dolphins, and Jack Osbourne, son of rock musician Ozzy Osbourne

Day 2 was a great day

We are heading toward the close of our second day. What a great group of campers we have! Jonathan Powers was our first Bible game show winner- way to go Jonathan! All our participants did an outstanding job. The team National Champions was the winner of our Goofy Relays. Congratulations to them. Everyone had a great time participating and watching the Relays, which were a little out of the ordinary.

Boys Cabin 1 - Day 1

After a small excercise in democracy, we voted to change the name of Boys Cabin 1 to Young Men's Cabin 1. We all agreed that this was more fitting.

As the counselor and co-counselor, we feel obligated to let you all know that your children are incredible young men who seem to be bonding well , making friends, and having an absolute blast. Among other things we have celebrated a deodorant party in which all members of the cabin learned the necessity of daily hygiene.

Drew has really opened up and made some new friends. He adds a lot to the cabin as he is always kind, supportive, and obedient. Besides forgetting to take pictures, Nick is doing well and has mentioned, "This is only the first day and I love it here!" That is awesome to hear. We are glad to have added our last camper in the cabin, Logan, who has brought some energy and an extra fan to the cabin--needless to say he has been popular. Chadd is doing a good job of keeping us all laughing, and seems to have a, shall we say, "variant" definition of quiet time. Actually, we are wearing the kids out pretty good and they tend to come right in, lay down, and completely crash. Tim was the first out last night and the last up this morning. Not bad--you can tell he has been here before.

We are all having an amzing time, and I think that it is only going to get better from here. There is a talent show tomorrow and we have to get working on our various "talents." :)

In Christ,

Adam Hill (Counselor)
Taylor Perazzelli (Co-Counselor)

Day 2...

Well, we've been having a few Internet gliches today that have prevented us from keeping our blog updated. But we think we're up and running, and other messages will hopefully follow...

The First Morning

Our first blog entry! I'm sitting in my living room getting ready to leave for Camp. It's about 7:00 AM, and we have to get there early to see the closing ceremonies for my son, who was a camper last week at Elementary 2.

Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Jeff Werkheiser, and I'm one of four Co-Directors for Intermediate 2 at Camp Manatawny. This week has been directed forever by Tom Arnold, but he moved to Ohio this year, and it's taken four of us to replace him. We're sharing Directing duties between me and my wife, Beth, and two friends from our church, Andy and Chris Hower.

We were asked to direct this week way back in January, and it's been quite a roller coaster ride getting to this point. We wanted to take some of the great things Tom had done previously, but we also knew we had to put our own stamp on the week as well--hopefully we've done that. Now, as we're only a few hours from the first Campers showing up, we're eagerly looking forward to seeing how God will use this week. We're anticipating about 110 kids, and we have faith that God will work amazing things in their lives because they've been able to go to Camp...

God has really blessed us with an excellent staff, and we pray as well that each of them will be blessed by their experience this week. We're thankful that a lot of Tom's staff has returned, and we're also excited that there are many new faces as well. Our congregation in particular--the Conestoga Valley Church of Christ in Lancaster, PA--has a number of people working this week who have never spent a week at Camp. I can't wait for them to experience it.

I guess that's all for now--time to go load the car! We'll do our best to keep this updated all week, and we'd greatly appreciate your prayers as we share our experiences with you.

--Jeff