Leaving our cabin and Selah Acres, we set out for our next adventure with the SOWERs group. We headed to Glorieta, NM for our seventh assignment. Wonder what God has in store for us at this new place with new-to-be-friends?
On our way, we stayed at Trinidad Lake State Park. It was a nice place with lots of sites. The next morning we headed out and crossed into New Mexico. As we entered the state, the air turned thick with smoke from the Raton Pass fire (several miles away). It was close to being contained but left lots of smoke in the air. As we turned West and neared Glorieta the air was once again clear with blue skies!
We knew that because of COVID regulations, the camp has to be closed to guests. It’s always sad to see the effect of all the regulations. New Mexico was still very strict – had to wear masks at all times outside of your house and no groups larger than 10 (we were 6).. While at the camp, we rarely wore masks because of not being open to public, distancing and working/meeting outside. In addition, all of us had either been quarantined or isolated because of the previous places we had just come from. The camp provided us with a beautiful RV site with all the hookups!
This was our group of SOWERS! Don and Anita Brown, Jim and Donna Dorroh (GL’s), and us. By the way, this was a first SOWER Project for the camp. They’ve had other volunteer groups such a RVICs and we were excited to be the first exposure to the SOWERs ministry. Special thanks to Jim & Donna for being the sponsors and working for months to make this happen. It’s a fantastic opportunity to grow the Lord’s Kingdom!
This is a huge campus – over 2,400 acres and over 200 buildings (not all of the buildings and property are in use -yet!) The conference center property was founded and built by Glorieta Baptist Conference (Lifeway – SBC) in 1949. After sitting idle for many years, new owners launched Glorieta Adventure Camps in 2013 and God is rapidly expanding their outreach (until COVID). Their mission is to inspire Christ-like change through outdoor adventure, authentic relationships, and Biblical truth!
…and they even have “Adventures” in the large Holcomb Auditorium with the Holcomb Super Swing- WOW!
(I’ll fly away oh Glory, I’ll fly away!)
OK Ladies – Let’s get to work!
The goal of the camp during the down time was to get things as ready as possible for the summer of 2021. State regulations said no conferences or camps for now due to COVID and the staff had been scaled down to only a skeleton crew, maybe 10-12 total? The ladies were given the camp stores (yes multiple stores!) to straighten, clean, organize and inventory. In addition, they had 1,000’s of new t-shirts and sweatshirts to count, fold, and store away. They had a big job and stayed at it for the majority of three weeks!
The guys were given two huge rooms and a bathroom to refurbish with repairs and paint. These rooms were being used for leadership meetings and prayer rooms – what an honor to help in this way!
The camp has an extensive trail system for hiking and biking. One afternoon we took advantage of the “Green Trail” that went around the main campus (3 miles!). The elevation here is 7,400 so for those used to lower areas, it takes some getting used to. Drink lots of water! (…and watch for snakes and bears! – we didn’t see any).
There is a lot of history around Sante Fe and a lot of places to go and see! Lorree and I went to the Pecos National Park and hiked around. Learned about the early Pecos population, Puebloan People, and the era of the Spanish during the 1600 – 1800’s.
We found a cool spot on the Pecos River to relax and have a picnic. It was a great relaxing day – full of sunshine and fresh air. We’re thankful to be here on another adventure – although the water was a bit chilly!
Our group went to Sante Fe for a historic walk around town and to enjoy some authentic New Mexican food. We saw the oldest church, the oldest house, and the miraculous stairs – nobody can explain how the spiral structure works – it holds 1,000’s of pounds but there is no apparent load bearing column…only God could have given the lone craftsman that skill!
The Shed served a great variety of New Mexican food with either red or green chili or both – a bit spicey!
The weather was enjoyable with a mixed assortment of temperatures. We had indoor days, outdoor days, and even a day of snowy conditions. We all weathered through it in fine shape!
For the next two weeks, the camp kept us all very busy! Jim was assigned to the refrigeration units (his expertise!) in the kitchen and food service buildings – so many! He was able to service them and troubleshoot a few problems and even repaired walk-in cooler/freezer doors. Don and I were assigned to do some landscaping – mowing, weed whacking, and blowing sidewalks throughout the activity areas and Prayer Garden. The Prayer Garden alone has 11 acres with multiple levels and terrain, whew! There is a lot of trees, grass, benches, and walkways! The guys also put together a well house shed – this new well was drilled several months ago at over 1,100 feet – hard to imagine!
We were so privileged to hear the God story of Glorieta Adventure Camps from one of the executive team leaders during one of our devotional times. If you are a SOWER, you will be as amazed as we are and so humbled to a part of the adventure God is putting in place for so many people. The camp served over 33,000 guests last year – all being intentionally exposed to God’s love and grace – chills!
The last week, the ladies were able to help set up, sort out, and organize for a huge “yard sale” the camp will be having. All funds will go to provide scholarships to community folks that want to come to the camp but are short of funds.
Our devotions as a team were so inspirational and challenging – we even had “Moses” show up one morning and give us all an eye witness account of several events he had with God!
The High Five – Zip Lines! One of the first “adventures” the camp put in place was creating an amazing zip line course called the High Five. It was not operating…thankfully!? It was a bit terrifying just to look out and see the suspense over the mountains and the views – this is high adventure!
We had so much fun, fellowship, and joy of working together these past three weeks. We’ll be back, Lord willing! ….in fact, we’ll be back next month! We will be Group Leaders in October with a new set of SOWER couples – both couples are first timers! Looking forward to our next adventure at Adventure Camps!