Home of the Cougars! It’s great to be back to school again! We served here in April of 2020 during the Covid beginnings (feel free to go check out that blog). The school was closed then but we had lots to do and worked hard. This year everything is open and students and faculty are busy from sunup to sunset! We met together with Jeff Blake (Superintendent), Veronica (Volunteer Coordinator), and others for a great welcome and orientation meeting.

We’re serving with Mil & Linda Sutter (SOA’s), Jim and Faye Smith (GL’s), and Ralph and Lella Bledsoe. What a great team of SOWERs!

The unique thing about “camping” while serving with SOWERs is that you get to park in some interesting places. Here we are camped for the month literally on the track! We had front row seats to all the field activities. Soccer, baseball, T-ball, football, shot-put, and of course running. We got our exercise just watching!

Our “to-do” list started with all of us working at the pre-school/elementary facilitites.

The gals were asked to clean and organize different areas. Then they were asked to re-do several of the bulletin boards (something new to all of them!) They did a great job and received many compliments!

The guys found some ladders and went to work replacing many of the light bulbs in the chapel and cafeteria, mainly converting old fixtures to be able to use LED’s. The lights in the cafeteria must have been out and dim for quite some time because one of the little elementary kiddos exclaimed, “WOW look at all the lights!!” The cook remarked, “ah-oh, now I can see the dirty places!”

What a treat! On the weekend we found out that “Christmas With The Chosen” was showing at a nearby movie theater. We don’t often get to enjoy a big screen theater so off we went! It was a very enjoyable outing and a great production!

Next week – more “to do’s”! The list they gave us was organic – meaning as things got crossed off, more were added. We kept very busy, what a great variety!

While the ladies were landscaping the elementary school courtyard…

The guys were rebuilding a “barn door” over at the preschool building.

Dennis was asked to paint one of the props for the upcoming Christmas program.

We sure enjoyed our evenings and weekends! Fellowshipping and sharing life together is one of the highlights of serving in Kingdom work with other SOWER’s!

Talk about work! Check out what these ladies accomplished! From start to finish, “clean and organize the student council’s storage shed. There were several trips to the dumpsters! Looks great ladies!

There were multiple sinks, cabinets, and leaks to fix. We also updated the bathrooms in the elementary building to be “touchless” with new faucets and air hand dryers. The leak under the sink in the science lab was probably the most challenging.

We even got to fix tricycles at the pre-school playground! How fun!

So many amazing adventures and memories here at PCPS! The staff here are great hosts and lots of fun! Rest assured that we saved work to do for the next incoming team. Lord willing, we’ll be back again someday soon!

Moving on down the highway – within an hour our whole visable world changed! What?

From Pine trees and gentle deer…to the desert, scorpians, snakes and havalinas….

…and from pine trees, to cactus trees (Saguaro) to “cell tower trees’, to palm trees! What?

Welcome to the Shepherds Canyon Retreat at Standing Stones! Van and Teri Rice, the property managers and host couple, treated us to a great “welcome dinner” at a nearby resturant. The property is literaly an oasis in the middle of the desert, about 15 miles West of Wickenburg, AZ.

The Shepherd’s Retreat refers to an intense crisis management / intervention for Pastoral leadership and their wives. They provide counselors, therapists, and clergy couples to rescue these hurting and burned out church leaders. Their motto is, “caring for care-givers of the soul”. We never interacted with the guests but helped provide behind the scenes support and prayer.

We had a beautiful spot to set up our rig and live for the four weeks we were there. The office building right behind our rig also has the staff break room (we had devotions with the staff) and the kitchen. We were the only SOWERs this month but they had several other couples come to volunteer to serve and minister to the 8 guests. The retreat lasts a full week – it was a busy place while the guests were there.

Lorree spent her days working with and helping Teri with hospitality, making up the rooms, cleaning and laundry. They changed the table settings for every meal based on what was being served. I think Chef Dave’s award winning chili was the meal for the above setting!

Lorree also helped clean, sort, and organize closets of linen storage. She even got to do some sewing! She measured every tablecoth, sewed labels, color coded the sizes and hung them in an organized fashion in the closets. This will really help to find and use what they have.

The retreat center is in the middle of remodeling an existing area into a commercial kitchen. One of Dennis’s first jobs was to get it cleaned up and de-cluttered again so they could work. You know how building projects go – stuff everywhere and can’t find what you need.

They must have liked what they saw ’cause Dennis’s big project for the remaining weeks was to tackle their maintenence shop and storage area. It needed some love and attention to sorting things out, building shelving, and organizing the plumbing, electrical, tools, and lumber.

See those rows of little white boxes and bins on the shelves? We got to sort boxes and boxes and buckets of mixed nuts, bolts, screws, and more. We ended up with close to one hundred boxes of sorted hardware after we were done…whew!

He had fun being able to do this. The maintenence manager Raine and his helper Jerry really liked what Dennis did for them! There were several times they came in to get something and found it right away (and didn’t have to go buy a new one!)

Oh, and we were able to complete several miscellanious jobs as well. We helped take down a couple of trees and clean it up for the neighbor across the highway. Dennis was able to be creative with replacing broken stone/tile on one end of the swimming pool, and installed base board in one of the rooms. Lorree did a thorough cleaning of an RV trailer for one of the counselor couples to live in while they were here.

The work here wasn’t “hard” but we always had something to do. It was fun to serve this ministry in ways that probably won’t get noticed by anyone except the staff. We made some good friends and enjoyed the relaxed atmoshere.

Every morning and every night we were blessed to see these beautiful sunrises and sunsets! The 15 acre campus has a walking path that goes around the property and through the prayer garden. there are several water features on the property that adds to the “oasis” feel in this desert setting. It was a beautiful adventure and retreat for us!

The wonderful staff we were blessed to serve with! Raine, Van, Teri, and Chef Dave. Not pictured, Jerry.

One of the guests asked if there were any art supplies avaialable, he was impressed to paint something to express what they experienced here. Dennis was able to loan him his art supplies. This is what he painted for the retreat center and what he wrote. A beautiful reminder of God’s abundant and never ending grace! Amen!

We’re in Prescott, AZ at Prescott Pines Camp & Conference Center for our 15th SOWER Project! We are the GL’s (Group Leaders) serving with Mike & Lucille McGuirk and John & Julie Weideman, all RV full timers. The Maintenence Director, Nate & Becky Turner are also SOWERS but working here as hired staff during this time.

We all said YES!

Let’s do this! Our project start date is Monday, but on the weekend we were asked to help the staff serve a large guest group including meal prep and clean-up. So after some introductions we all went to work. We had so much fun getting to know each other and the staff within just a few hours. Serving the Lord with others is always a new adventure, we were all set for a great month ahead of us!

The visiting group stayed through Sunday – so on Monday morning our first task was to clear, clean, and un-decorate the big M.A.C. auditorium . Prescott Pines is nestled in the pines above the city of Prescott. It was founded in 1943 on property that had once been plotted out by miners. Over the years many buildings, cabins, and meeting places have been built and equipped to serve church camps and retreats. Living in the mountains sure felt like home to us!

The guys worked on a variety of tasks that first week. We were crossing off the “to-do” list pretty rapidly. These guys came with a lot of skills just right for this assignment -God is always putting the right people together for His kingdom work!

The gals went to work cleaning several of the lodging buildings and helping with laundry.

We enjoyed getting out around town on the weekend, lots of great places to eat! There was a craft fair going on around the City Square – we saw lots of interesting craft items and lots of soutwestern jewelry and art.

Having a game night each week was a highlight of fellowship for all of us! (We also learned where the cooks hide the cookies, not to be seen in this picture cause we ate ’em,so good!)

There is a trail leading to Upper Goldwater Lake – about 1 mile. The camp’s Chapel is a beautiful building set in a beautiful area! That camp building above that is all lit up at night is named Hungry Bear Depot – it’s open 24/7 for coffee, tea, hot chocolate and great fellowship.

Back to Work!

We needed to install gutters and dig in a rain drainage system for the Manzanita building. This lodging building is the newest structure on campus. It has been rebuilt follwing a fire several years ago – what a priviledge to be here to help finish the work other SOWERS, volunteers, and staff have been working on.

The ladies got to sew! They had a great time making new valances for the main dining hall.

Did we get to paint? There’s ALWAYS painting on a SOWER project! The camp has a new staff family moving in a few weeks and they needed to get their house ready for them. This became our new priority for the remainder of our time. We had a great time working as a team – the camp staff was so thankful we were there and available to take on this project!

This was a great project and another amazing adventure traveling and living full time in our RV. There are so many opportunities to serve and work with others, we’re thankful that God has opened this door to us! Here, were’re saying goodby to our team and to the Camp director, Jim Trail – see y’all down the road – Lord willing!

It’s great to be back! We served here last year (Sept/Oct, 2020). You can find those adventures by searching for SOWER Ministries in our blog list. This month we will be serving with three couples: Tom & Melissa Moore, Bob & Jan Black, and Jeff and Joyce Brooks. Looking forward to getting to know them and sharing life together!

After meeting each other Lorree and i gave a brief tour of the campus. The Holcomb Auditorium (Chapel) is always a highlight. A beautiful building that seats around 3,000 with amazing accoustics – and still features a sky swing from the balcony to the stage! The camp creates adventures everywhere!

Their mission is “… to inspire Christ-like change through outdoor adventure, authentic relationships, and Biblical truth.”

What Is This? We were awakened early on Saturday morning, the weekend before our project started, by noises, excitment, people, kids, and bikes! We learned that the camp was hosting the annual “Torture Race” for middle, Junior, and High Schoolers. The race would have several hundred entries and would be biking some of the many miles of mountain trails available at camp. The staging area for the race…was the RV park! We were in the middle of all of the excitment!

This was really fun – who would have thought our SOWER adventure would start out with a CAMP adventure?!

…and that adventure led to this, meet Chris & JoAn Mayes! We were sitting on the side of the race in our camp chairs and across the road was this couple. A great relationship was created right away. They are the parents of one of the staff workers at the camp and were just visiting. After getting to know them, we invited them to teach our group during one of our devotions about their ministry, “Simply the Story” www.simplythestory.org (Reaching hearts of the world through discussion of God’s Word. Mobilizing the work force to harvest lost souls!) FYI: Chris isn’t sleeping above, he’s actively praying for his wife and our group as we engage in the teaching! This is a profound and VERY impactful way of sharing the Gospel and other Truths of the Bible with others. WOW!

AND… They learned a great deal about the SOWER Ministry from all of us and we understand that they have since turned in an application to join SOWERS!

…so I just thought of this, we just experienced going from “outdoor adventure to authentic relationships to Biblical Truth” The camp’s mission lived out in our lives from day one!

Another adventure on Sunday – we went on a hike on the “Green Loop” – it’s about a 3 mile hike around the main camp property. Lots of ups and downs – gave us a great workout! This property is beautiful! So many flowers, vistas, and landscapes to absorb. There are SO MANY other trails to experience – we’re thankful for this one that we did!

So, let’s get to our work adventure – how can we can help the camp in their mission – to enable them to share Jesus?

A lot of these buildings have sat empty for 20+ years and the years have shown their effect. These two buildings (Garden I and II) have multiple levels with wood railings, decks, and stairs. The paint has blistered and they look old and worn. The rooms inside have been renovated and many are very nice. So if the outside could get to looking nice it would go a long way in pleasing the guests and not be a distraction.

We cleaned, scraped, sanded, power washed, and painted.

We also demo’d the two ends of the building overhangs that had rotted from many years of weather.

We really focused on working with a spirit of excellence and accepted the challenge to change the exterior of these buildings from old and worn to new and fresh! These SOWERS know how to work hard and made every effort count!

We did another walk around the campus where we enjoyed the prayer garden (11 acres!) and learning more about the property. Founded in 1949 – the buildings we worked on were built in 1950. Pre-COVID the camp had grown to servicing over 30,000 kids & adults in one year! The camp has so much potential for the future with all of the facilities they aquired in 2013 (2,500 acres and over 200 buildings for $1.00 – that’s a God story!) What will God do here as everything gets brought up to a reburbished condition?

We happened upon a group of guests adventurers zip lining off of the top of the chapel building – 5 stories high! Lots of screams and laughter! They do know how to create adventure at this place!

During the weeks of service, the ladies kept busy helping the office staff prepare Christmas letters to clients and working the washers & dryers – trying to keep up with laundry from weekend guests!

They also inventoried vaccum cleaners, box fans, and made sure they work. Also inventoried supplies, products, and equipment across the campus. They visited almost every housing building on campus – that’s a lot of rooms! Some of the buildings are motel style housing units with 60 – 80 rooms each!

Our team of SOWERS had a sweet spirit of fellowship, encouragement, friendly bantor, great devotions from God’s Word, and a love to serve. God always puts the right people together at the right time and right place!

Another highlite was inviting the staff to “share their story” of how they became involved in the camp and how God has directed them to serve here. Daniel (top left) is a MK met his wife who loves camp ministry and joined Glorieta to serve as a Maintenence Manager. We worked directly with Daniel. Down one on left – this is the CEO, Anthony. He shared how the camp , under God’s direction and his leadership, became a reality, what an amazing story of God’s vision and provision – no one could have made this to happen without God! Top right, this is Ben, Buildings Manager and our current volunteer contact. Stayed involved and loyal throughout the 2020 COVID era, we received our assignments from Ben and he made sure we had all the supplies we needed. Bottom picture is Scott and Melissa, he is the Operations Manager – they are one of the newest staff members and pulled off an amazing Bar-B-Que for all of us and some other staff members. What a great staff to work with!

And our last assignment – disassemble, clean, and reassemble nearly 60 box fans. “Oh. this will be a breeze” Dennis stated LOL! “we can get this done in our final morning of work and have the afternoon off” NOT! What a project! But with all of us working together we did complete the job before the work day ended.

We were blessed to work with these fellow servants! Looking forward to our next time together whenever and wherever the Lord’s leads us!