Keeping with Summer's End...

Hi friends,
Sorry that it has taken me much longer to update you this time around!  Our summer at Eagle Lake is officially over and a new chapter of the year is about to begin ... the fall and working full-time in the office!  But don't worry, the summer isn't completely out of mind yet.  Shortly I will be sending out a newsletter sharing some of my favorite highlights from the last several months.  On that note, if you've moved since last year (or if you're not sure I have your correct address) it would help me out a ton if you sent me your current address (kelsey.destree@navigators.org).  Thanks so much!
One last (very important) thought ... thank you to everyone who has supported me this summer, both in financial and prayer support!  None of my work and ministry could be accomplished without your faithful love and support.  Thank you so much!
With Love,
Kelsey

Keeping with Mid Summer and Other Events...

Hello friends!

Here at camp we have officially passed the halfway mark of the summer!  5 weeks of camp down, 5 to go!  Here's some picutres and happenings from the last couple weeks:

Shock week- Two weeks ago was Shock week at Eagle Lake.  Normally at camp we have kids ages 8-14 (so through middle school) camping with us.  During Shock week we have all high schoolers!  Its a super fun week and these teenagers have a great time doing some crazy activities.

Getting messy- Shock week campers participated in "messy games" which is exactly what it sounds like.  These counselors got painted from head to toe!

These campers also enjoyed the craziness and mess!

On Wednesday, Shock week campers had a festival that included free snow cones, which I got to make!  Rainbow flavor was quite popular.

Goodbye Crew:
Our Crew program here at Eagle Lake is a 5-week camp that high schoolers attend and they service us by cooking our food, cleaning, maintaining our trails and yes, even cleaning the toilets.  Without the Crew kids, Eagle Lake would never be able to operate.  Last week we said goodbye to the Crew kids that were here for the first 5 weeks of the summer.

Some of the kitchen Crew kids and staff, along with myself (back right, with the long neck) had some fun in the kitchen one of the last days they were at camp.

Our new Crew arrived last Saturday!  Please pray that they would have a wonderful time at camp growing and serving with us!


And the other news:
As most of you know, Trey Tippie (who I met at Eagle Lake) and myself have been dating for almost a year.  A week and a half ago he asked me to marry him and I said... YES!  We are overjoyed and extremely excited for what God has done in our lives and what He will do as we become man and wife!  Please pray for the coming months of engagement that the Lord would work in mighty ways and prepare both of us for marriage!

My future husband and me.

As always, please continue to pray for the salvation of all of the children and adults who visit Eagle Lake property!  Thank you so much for your love and support!

Keeping with Promotion...

Hello Friends!
The last few days have been a time of spending a lot of time off the mountain and away from camp!  As we plunge into the third week of camp, a small team of eagle lake people are going out to promote Eagle Lake Camps this summer at various events.  Our hope is to draw more campers to Eagle Lake and thus have a greater opportunity to the love and truth of Jesus Christ with them!
On Sunday the Navigators (Eagle Lake's parent organization) sponsored a Sky Sox baseball game in Colorado Springs and some Eagle Lake staff (myself included) got to hand out information to interested fans.
The next day, Monday, Eagle Lake got to sponsor another Sky Sox baseball game and give out even more information especially to kids as it was "Kids Day Matinee."

Two of our counselors, Emma and Jon, tailgate before the Monday baseball game... it was a bit cold out!

Four of our counselors came with on Monday to promote Eagle Lake.  Sox the Fox was very welcoming!

Praises:  This is a cabin of girls who came to camp last week.  In talking with their counselor, Robyn (third from left), I found out that her whole cabin heard the Gospel and received Jesus in their hearts and lives!

Thank you for your continued love, support and prayer!  A few things you can continue to pray for:
*Sickness- a few people have colds, including myself.  Please pray for health and rest for our staff.
*The children who found out about Eagle Lake at our events this week.  Pray that they will be drawn to come to camp and that we would minister to them while here!

Keeping with Camp Starting...

Hi friends!
Counselors are here, orientation is over and kids are officially here!  Last week marked the official start of camp and our first week of campers!  The two week previous that was our orientation for the summer when counselors arrived and learned what their summer would look like and how they would work to impact children's lives for Christ.  It was a great time of bonding and getting to know one another as a staff and now they are out having fun with kids and being light to them.  Our first week of camp was very encouraging as we saw eight children receive Christ for the first time and countless other seeds were planted!
Here are some pictures from orientation and week 1 of camp!

Three of our Crew counselors and myself on a hike during training.  Crew is one of our programs which speciffically ministers to high school students during the summer.

3..2..1..DIPPY!  Dippy club is something our campers can do when they come to camp.  Basically, they get up early in morning and go jump in the lake.  Yes, it's as cold as it looks!

Yarrrrr!  This year's theme for Rez (resident) camp is "Voyage to the New World."  It's not entirely about pirates, but two of our summer leadership here entertain the kids by guarding their treasure.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers!  I promise more pictures from camp soon!

Some things you can pray for this week:

*Safety, rest and health for all of our staff and campers.  It's easy to get worn down here.

*That God would work great things at Eagle Lake for His glory!  Pray that kids continue to learn, grow and that those who don't know the Truth of the Gospel come to a place of trusting in it.

If you ever need to get ahold of me at camp one of the best ways is through the old fashioned way of mailing letters!  Our address at camp is:

PO Box 6819

Colorado Springs, CO 80934

In His Love,

Kelsey

Keeping with CAMP...

After months of waiting, praying, and looking forward to moving back to Eagle Lake, the time is finally here!

This last Sunday I officially moved to camp for the summer!  The first week there was designated as "work week," meaning we spent a lot of time cleaning, fixing and making camp ready for counselors and campers.  Only a handful of staff were here this week, but those of us who were got lots of good work done (thanks be to Jesus!).

My good friend and Eagle Lake cook, Abby, enjoys a laugh with me in the kitchen before we begin the day's work.

 We got a surprise dusting of snow this week at camp!  Hopefully things warm up before the campers arrive... brrrrr!

                    Pikes peak looked absolutely beautiful with snow!

Very soon all of Eagle Lake's staff will be at camp.  Half of our summer staff arrives today (the Crew and Excursions counselors) and the rest arrive next Wednesday (the Rez counselors).

Please pray for:
*Safe travels for all of those coming to Eagle Lake this week
*Good relationships to develop between our summer staff and unity within the entire staff
*Clarity, understanding and excitement during the orientation and training before campers come

My hope is to update you at least once a week with pictures, praises and prayers for the summer, so keep checking back!

Keeping with Praise...

I want to quickly update you on the Eagle Lake Carnival, which was about three weeks ago...

Thank you so much for your prayers!  The event was a HUGE success!  We were expecting a maximum of about 1000 people to show up and we estimate that around 2000 people attended and found out more about Eagle Lake!  This was an amazing act of God, especially because the weather was supposed to be terrible for that day.  But God's mighty hand was in control and He answered our prayers by holding the bad weather until after the carnival was over.  Praise to Jesus and thank you for your prayers for this event!

Here are some pictures to enjoy...

We had a great turn out! The inflatables (in back) were quite popular!

Like any good carnival, we had cotton candy!

And face painting of course!

Eagle Lake friends Bethany (left) and Jen (right) filled balloons for us!

Keeping with Carnival...

Greetings!

I wanted to let you all know about an exciting Eagle Lake event that you are all invited to! Eagle Lake is hosting a carnival day in Colorado Springs on April 30^th at Glen Eyrie. The day is free and will include carnival games, inflatables, face painting, arts and crafts, guided hikes and more! There will also be free popcorn, cotton candy and snow cones! If you will be in the Springs that day or know a family who might be interested in coming you can get more information here.

We are also looking for people to come down and help run the carnival that day.  We could really use as many people as we can get so if anyone is at all interested in volunteering that day please click here.
(you'll get a free t-shirt, lunch, and good old fun time!)


Please be praying that this event goes well and that we have a good turn out! I will update you afterward about how it went and hopefully have some pictures!

Keeping with Spring Break...

Hello friends! Sorry it has been so long since I've updated you! The last couple months have been mostly consumed with substitute teaching and working on ministry partner development (aka “support raising”), but I wanted to share a bit!

Although I haven't been able to do much at camp these last couple months, I did get to go up to Eagle Lake two weeks ago! A small group of students from CSU and myself (seven of us all together) spent 5 days of spring break serving up at camp. Another group of college students from the University of Arizona came to camp to help get it ready for this summer and we helped take care of them while they were there!

A few of the CSU students awaiting departure to camp over spring break.

Riding up to Eagle Lake in the van... always a fun experience!

A few of the Arizona folks staining doors for some new housing at camp.

I spent my time making meals for everyone serving around camp!  Don't forget the oven mitts!

Making brownies.  An Eagle Lake must!

Trey and I enjoyed doing some dishes at the end of the day.

The week at ELC was very productive and camp is on its way to being ready for this summer!

A few things you can be praying for me right now...

• I will be heading to Eagle Lake around the middle of May! Please pray that the Lord would prepare my heart along with the hearts of all those who will be at camp this summer (the counselors, leadership and campers!)

• Please pray that I can get everything done in the next month that I need to for support raising. Along with this, please pray for the funds to come in so that I can continue to work with Eagle Lake after this summer.

Thanks for all your love!

Keeping Current...

Happy New Year (we're only a month in!)

Hello from lovely Colorado! Thank you so much to all of you who want to know what is happening with me! I really want this blog to be a way for you to stay in touch and for me to be able to share what God is doing in my life and others and through the ministry at Eagle Lake. I also want to be able to share stories, pictures and prayer requests as God works day by day!
  

So what I am I doing right now...

Currently I am “support raising” so that I can work full-time at Eagle Lake Camp! This is the camp I've worked at for the last two summers and will be at for at least the next two summers (through the summer of 2012). You might wonder what I mean by “support raising.” More eloquently put, this part of my ministry is called “ministry partner development” (sounds much more sophisticated!). This very accurately describes what I have been doing since last September and will continue to do until May. Simply put, I am contacting friends and family and inviting them to partner with me in ministry through prayer and financial support. The work I will be doing at Eagle Lake is part of my ministry, but so is what I am currently doing. God has given me the wonderful opportunity to invite people into my ministry and impact the next generation through their support. God has truly blessed me through this time by letting me share with others about what He is doing in the world and how He is working and will work at Eagle Lake. Hopefully this brief synopsis helps some of you understand what I am doing right now. My goal is to be at 100% of my funding goal by May!
  

What else?

I am presently living in Denver, Colorado. Besides ministry partner development, I have been substitute teaching for the local school district. This has been a huge blessing! Not only has God provided for me financially right now through subbing, but I have been able to continue to minister to and interact with children (the people the Lord has given me a passion for!). Although most students I only see once, God has challenged me to see each day of subbing as an opportunity to serve others to the best of my abilities. When I first started subbing it was easy for me to complain about hard days and feel like I wasn't making any impact in the schools. One day last month God challenged me with several verses in Philippians:
 

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” -Philippians 3:7-8
 

I began to see subbing as a wonderful chance to give myself fully to those children, even for one day. God challenged me to see it as a place to give myself away in service and not expect anything in return. So I continue to work and serve with what the Lord gives me!

I will try to stay current with sharing what is happening and how you can be lifting me up in prayer! Once again, thank you for your support! If you would like to talk to me anymore about anything please shoot me an e-mail: kelsey.destree@gmail.com
 

Also, please, please let me know how I can be praying for you!