Dec 6, 2024 5 min read Ministry Update

The Work Goes On

We've already snow that will last the winter!

Hey friends! I want to share a quick update, & some news. I will be home for Christmas from December 19-January. I would love to visit with you while I'm home! I've already started reaching out to people, but if you want to get together while I'm back in PA, shoot me a message and let me know!

November at Frontier Lodge has been a time to slow down, plan, organize, & rest up for the next year. I want to share some of the many tasks I've been working on here - no two days are the same!

We've been working on the program team's Vision, Mission, & Values statements. It's an all new team, & we hope to align our various personal goals & backgrounds in our work by clearly defining why the program team exists, & why we do what we do. Since my arrival in Canada, I've admired how important vision & values are to Frontier. Clarity around purpose can shape your work life & create confidence in the significance of your work. It also bolsters positive & healthy communication between staff. When you know the "why" behind a strategy, you can stay accountable to the bigger picture in all the small details. Now it's so exciting to be learning and developing these important statements with my team.

I've also helped train newer staff in some rope skills and activity leading. It was a little surreal to think that just last year I was being trained how to be a Tyrolean Leader and now I am the one training staff! So cool! I see this as a big part of my new role - helping others become better outdoor leaders.

I've also had a couple days working in the kitchen. I don't get the opportunity to do this often, which makes it a fun time for me & nice change of pace. I love make meals like BLTs & grilled cheese (with creamy tomato soup of course) for lunch, & I have a creamy pink sausage pasta sauce that's super delicious. Of course, I also love making burgers & fried chicken too.

Frontier has moved an old cabin down to the lakefront & a friend of the camp has been renovating it for us & turning it into a sauna. This is a great add for the winter season when temps get below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-18C) often. We have tons of firewood from the many trees we cut down every year, so a wood-burning stove makes this an extremely energy efficient sauna. I helped put together the sloped to drain floor, cut concrete boards to size for it, & helped design the stairs (not pictured here).

I also helped make a new orientation video, providing voiceover & some acting with some other staff. This makes sharing camp rules a lot more engaging for campers.

We've also been doing an office cleanout of old files. I helped go through old computers & will be recommending some easy upgrades we can make that will make them last for a few more years. We've also sorted through at least 10 boxes worth of old waivers, financial documents, and other assorted stuff. We have three huge trash bags of a old papers to burn.

On a weekend, Weston & I visited the Explore students in Prairie. We've got some friends there, so we stayed in their apartment. Thanks to them for a fun & restful weekend away from camp!

We also had the fun project of re-setting the climbs in the bouldering cabin. It's a bit cramped and short in there, but I think we came up with some really fun climbs for the Explore students for when they come back. I set three climbs, names above.

I'm also excited to share that I am taking on the role of SALT coordinator this coming summer. The Summer Adventure Leadership Training camp has historically been a 3 week summer camp for high school students interested in developing their leadership skills through adventure. The last two years, Frontier has been unable to run it without enough staff for it but now we have the capacity and resources. I'm super psyched to develop & lead this program, & I'm also really humbled. I will need to trust God more than I ever have before. I know that I have gifting, skills, & maturity that He has developed in me, but I also know that I can't rely on these alone. I need the Holy Spirit to be the key part of this process. Thank you to all of you who prayed for me as I made my decision. I see God's hand in this new step in so many ways.

I've also had some good calls with potential new ministry partners, but I am still sitting at the same place in terms of my monthly donations.