We Live At Camp

March Madness

Mike — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:28:41 +0000

Just as college basketball is looking forward to the tournements we are looking forward to summer! The snow is starting to melt and that brings us to thoughts ofÂ getting everything ready for all the campers and staff that will be here before you know it! This month as brought 2 weekends of retreatsÂ including a new group from Muskegon. They left saying “next time we are here…” That is what is great about camp. Meeting new people and using the grounds that God has here to expose moreÂ to the opportunity to get away and recharge.

Pastor Bill and Sandy are enjoying Florida while we are in the mud here at camp for the first weeks in March. We look forward to their return and getting things finalized for staff retreat in May. This years theme is Walkabout in Australia.We are excited to see what becomes of this adventure.

Prayer request;

Â Staff for the summer

Prayer partners for campers and staff (275 needed)

Selling of Jeff and Sarah Karnes house

Monies recieved to complete the septic for the dining hall $50,000 neededThank you for your prayers !

February Fun

Mike — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:44:14 +0000

Boy are we glad that we have had good snow. Even with the “January thaw” and lossing all our snow we have had enough for the weekend groups to enjoy winter at camp. We have just finished 5 weekends of groups. Next weekend is open but we have 2 more weekends.

Â We look forward to having our first simulcast of the Point of Grace Feb 23. It will be a great opprotunity for Jr. high and Highschool girls to be together and worship and be encouraged to be woman of God. Pray that the gilrs that come will be challenged and go home with encouragement to be more like Christ in their everyday life.

Happy New Year 2008

Mike — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:12:03 +0000

Â Another year toÂ anticipate the return of Christ!! As I write this we have a beautiful soft snow falling.Since we had lost most of our snow last week this is wonderful to recieve. Soon winter campers will be coming to enjoy camp which isÂ tota lly different than summer. Retreats are filling in and we are looking forward to no injures and lots of fun! We tell people even if you don’t like snow pray for snow on Stony Lake If you have never been to camp in the winter maybe this is the year that you come and enjoy a different look of camp.

Many of you mayhave heard that Pastor Bill our director is in Arizona for Christmas with familyand had to go to the hospital for arm and chest pain. He failed his stress test and has had a heart cath. One vein was 99%blocked.They were able at that time to put in a stent to correct the problem. He is recuporating at his in-laws until he is cleared to fly home. We are so thankful that he was able to get this taken care of with no damage to his heart. Please continue to pray for the family and Pastor Bill’s complete recovery.

Mike — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:47:07 +0000

Merry Christmas from the Deen’s

We have just returned from a vacation in California.Mike and I had been there for a CCA Conference and the boys were able to join us for five days. The boys flew for the first time and made it safe to SanDiego. It rained one day but we had a good time rock climbing at Joshua National Park, going to the ocean andÂ visited the Wlid Life Park.It was good to be home and see some snow ! Yes, we are one of those families that still like the snow:)Weare looking forward to spending sometime with both our families for the holidays.We pray that you will have a wonderful Christmas as you take special time to remember all that God the Father gave us at Christmas through the giving of His Son.

Bring It On!

Mike — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:00:20 +0000

Spring is right around the corner, and I couldn’t be happier. I love living in Michigan and I do like the 4 seasons. But, now I am ready for the next one, and I think that it is for a couple of different reasons.

1. I like change - Sure most people don’t and they often think of us “changers” as even sub-human. But I like it and don’t apologize for it. I even change the furniture in the house just for fun.

2. It is getting us ready for out new camp season. All the planning and preperation over the winter is finally able to be carried out. Building projects taking off, program ideas coming about, getting outdoors again to re-vamp the challenge course. Things to get us excited!

Pray with us as we get started on program for campers this spring. Pray that the right staff will apply and be ready for God to us them. Pray that campers will register and look forward to a great week of camp. Pray for speakers as God prepares their hearts and His message to bring to campers and staff.

Deen prayer requests would be for health for us all. We are just coming out of the winter colds, seems to have hit pretty hard this year. Also pray for Mike’s grandfather, and Lori’s mother, again health issues. Praise the Lord for the Deen support level being very near 100%. God supplies above and beyond in amazing ways.

Live for Him Alone

Merry Christmas

Mike — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:00:32 +0000

It seems hard to believe, but the Deen family has been at Camp Ao-Wa-Kiya as full time missionaries for right around 8 years now. I don’t think that we really envisioned that when we first came to this ministry, but God has allowed us to be a part of what He has been doing through camp in the lives of boys & girls, and men and women as well. We believe that God has really given us a gift of being able to be here and serving Him and others in this way.

This time of year really causes us to step back and reflect on what has taken place over the past year. The word that comes to mind the most is “transition.” For us as a family it has been one of transition in our boys growing and being active here at camp, in school, and most recently in church. As the boys have gotten older and wanting to get more involved in youth ministries, we have moved our church attendance more locally to us here in Shelby, MI. It was a tough decision to move from a place we loved and continued to grow in. But saw God make this as easy a transition as possible.

Other transitions have taken place through this past year as we oversaw the construction of a fantastic new multi-purpose building here at camp. This combination gym/ chapel/ office facility has already proven to be a blessing to us and the Word of God has been shared here many times with many coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The completing of this building will lead to another transition as well in the coming year. A new full time facility manager will be coming on board with us, Lord willing, in the coming months. This will allow us to really concentrate once again on the Challenge Course ministry as well as reimplementing our off-site programming ministry. More info to come on these things.

Well, I’m sure that this is much too long of a first post. I will learn to do better, I promise.

Merry Christmas to you all,

The Deen’s