Frist week gone by already..stop time!

Time is going by so fast, it's hard to believe a week of camp is over - we only have 13 days left. It may seem a long time for parents and spouses waiting for your loved ones to come home but here I look at the calendar and basically see just next week left :( I am looking forward to the time when we will all be together. PYC really gives me a taste of how that will be -working together, playing together and learning from each other.

In the kitchen I learnt to make a roux (?) today. That was a lot of stirring over a hot stove but it sure tasted good when the cheese sauce was done. By lunchtime, I was pretty tired having only got 3.5hrs sleep - went to  bed late and awoke before alarm so my camper shots are limited to a volleyball class (album 6).

At 6.30pm 5 of us kitchen workers and Mrs Burns went to see the new Spiderman Movie. I had a lot of fun hanging out with the ladies and the movie was ok (a bit slow to get going and predictable storyline). Afterwards we went to Cherry Berry self-serve yogurt which is in the same plaza. That was a lot of fun in dispensing and accessorizing  our own frozen yogurt. They charge you by the ounce at 39c.

 We are planning to go the famous Tea Room next Thursday for lunch. It is so great to be able to enjoy all this fellowship. We also want to do a game night and at-home movie night.

All talked out!

Today has been a great day for conversations. I was chatting to a male camper after breakfast and he was saying that camp is already changing his mindset for the better of how he wants to live his life. That was very exciting to hear because that's what it's all about.

In the kitchen I got to know a couple of my fellow workers better while we chopped, stirred and baked. 

During lunch (HQ staff lunch - they eat earlier than the campers) I spoke with Mrs Nash about the feast and planning for different sites (she works in the Feast department with Mr Nash and Jason Cocomise). The new site is Tampa is going to be luxurious and pampering! I was excited to find out that there will be a new California feast site in 2013 where we will all stay at the same location which is always great for fellowship.

At the campers lunch-time we chatted with Mr Joel Hilliker about his womanhood class that we had sat in on yesterday and about pushing oneself to do more out of your comfort zone.

After lunch I caught Mr Anthony Chibariwe who had a few minutes to spare from looking after his dorm so I requested an impromptu interview! He obliged and you can watch it here.

Now I'm off to have dinner with Tiffany Watson so I'll catch up with you all later. There are updated photos in Album 6.

This and that

You may know that this years entertainment night at PYC is going to be the Jeremiah musical written by Mr Malone and lyrics by David Brandon. There will be Irish dancing included choreographed by Paris Turgeon.  It was announced that this will be an abbreviated version and longer production will be performed at the upcoming ministerial conference.  We look forward to seeing the preview in a couple of weeks.

Check out the pictures from today of the swimming, girls soccer and canoeing.

Teen Talent Finals: High Class Entertainment

Last night we were privileged to hear the finalists in the Teen Talent Contest perform on the stage of Armstrong Auditorium. 11 took the stage in various categories and showcased the best of the musical talent of the young people in the church. The quality was outsanding with complicated piano pieces and vocal performances in Italian and German, plus violin and Irish dance sets. All these acts will be judged under one category.

After the concert the teens greeted Mr Flurry as they left the auditorium to go upstairs and view the finalist entries in the written and art categories. These too were of exceptional quality. I even heard someone say that they would purchase a drawing if they could!

I'm sure we still have many more talented teens who did not get their entries in this year and I hope we see many more next year. Who knows, maybe they will put together a catalog of the art and writing entries and a CD of the vocals!

The art entries did not have names on them

Kitchen Tour video

Here is a shot video of the morning crew preparing breakfast. We start and 6am each person works on specific tasks - there are scrambled eggs to make, sausages to cook, granola to prepare, fruit salad to mix, bread to cut and food to layout.

Mrs Krueger is assisted in the morning by:

  Delane Campbell
  Esme Henery
  Maggie Hilliker
  Melonie Holmes
  Judy Orleans
  Isabella Strachan
  Toni Woemmel
  Randy Woemmel

Productive Sunday

One batch of granola

Due to it being Sunday, breakfast was at 9.30am instead of 8 so we got to come in to work an hour later at 7. The campers seemed extra hungry though today - probably due to all the exertion at the dance last night! I made 2 batches of granola - which used 64 oz of oats and barley each.

Mrs Hilliker and I were able to go to a Womanhood Class taken by Mr Joel Hilliker. The subject was God's view of womanhood vs the world's view. Mr Hilliker made it an interactive biblestudy by asking the campers to provide examples of the female role models and attributes both worldy and godly. He gave them some great practical advise for dealing with the criticism from others because of our modest dress.

After work I took the opportunity to go and view the various sports activities that were taking place - soccer, cycling, softball, discus and javelin. The weather was not too hot with a nice breeze so that made it a lot more comfortable outside.



On my way over I bumped into Mr Brad Macdonald, who is moving to England with his family. They have sold their house in Edmond are in the process of moving out. The only thing pending are their visas so it would be great to have prayers about that happening asap. 

I split the photo albums up so that there no more than 200 pictures in each album which should be easier to view.

Now we are looking forward to the Teen entertainment finals that will be held tonight. I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

Great Sabbath & Dance

It was very nice to be able to sleep in this morning! Mrs Hilliker prepared a delicious breakfast of french toast & strawberries. The Hilliker's live about 10 minutes from HQ so we made our way over there arriving around 12.30pm. The Auditorium foyer was filled with campers and brethren fellowshipping and looking at the exhibit.

Services were led by David Weeks on songleading, then Mr Carlos Heyer gave the sermonette. Special music was a piano solo by one of the campers, Miss Cocomise.  Mr Gerald Flurry gave a motivating sermon for the young people and some interesting information about Irish Dance. You'll have to wait to hear the details!

Taco Soup

We fellowshipped for another 2 hours after services then had dinner at the Hillikers with Paula Powell. Did I say before that we are just having so much fun and laughter?  I think the campers had Bible bowl after dinner.

I was actually feeling a bit tired - all that talking wears you out but got energized when I thought about the dance which I knew would be a fun activity for the campers too, so we headed out for that and arrived around 9pm.

 

They were already in the swing of doing a line dance led by Mr & Mrs Brandon, the dance instructors this year.  One of the funniest dances was like Simon says where they would stop the music and Mr Brandon would say what kind of expression the dancers had to make and hold. Observers would go around and tap a couple on the shoulder to be eliminated if they weren't quite getting the right expression.

 

During the dance there was a snack bar outside the gym where campers could go and buy drinks and snacks. The dance was to go on until 11pm but I left at 10 as I have work tomorrow at 7am.

There are now over 500 pictures in the album after only 4 days. I am going to have to split it up into more albums otherwise it will be pretty big one by the end of camp!

Busy Friday

As you can imagine Friday's are the busiest days in the kitchen preparing meals for today and tomorrow. This is the volume of eggs needed to produce the breakfast. Tomorrow has french toast which called for another 112 eggs to be cracked.

I had to catch up on some work this afternoon during lunch and then Mrs Hilliker and I headed out on some errands. We came back in time for dinner at the Field House, then went back home to change for biblestudy. It's so nice not to worry about additional cooking of our meals.

In God's House the layout of the Exhibition fits in perfectly with the decor and looks like it was made to be there all the time. I didn't get a chance to look at it in detail so I am anticipating going through and soaking up each display before I leave camp.

Of course the Auditorium was a buzz with campers and some local brethren as we settled in for biblestudy with Mr Malone. He gave a wonderfully relevant history lesson relating to Zadok the priest's lineage and legacy.

I had a good chat with Shane Granger who is the Marketing Director, about how publicity for the Concert series is progressing very well and we continue to be well received in the local area and growing in prominence.

We have started to make some bookings with brethren to make sure we make the most of our time here to fellowship on a deeper level. That's one of the best things about working in the kitchen - having time to get to know each other.

Mrs Miller and I are thoroughly enjoying the hospitality of the Carl and Maggie Hilliker. They have made us feel so welcome in their home and have a lot of humor on top of that so we have been getting a healthy dose of laughter around here.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to a Sabbath sleep in while some local volunteers take over our kitchen duty. Services will be at 1pm.

Wishing you all a wonderful Sabbath.