Cascades Camp Blog

Recruiting is one of my favorite parts of my job!  The photograph above is from my visit to Whitworth University – after spending the day in the HUB, Kimono and I met up with camp staff and friends from Whitworth and Gonzaga for dinner.  We also celebrated Sammie “Mushu” Trestik’s 20th birthday – and made sure to embarrass her with loud singing in the restaurant!  It was a great trip – as always it is wonderful to touch base with summer staff and hear about how their year is going – and I think I may have made a few new friends at Whitworth too – bring on the summer staff applications!!!

-Dirt

Mike Bothman, Food Service Extraordinaire, works wonders in the Cascades kitchen…but he couldn’t make things happen without the help of some very talented individuals.  Thanks Carolyn, Isabel, Allivia, and all our kitchen staff for your hard work!

If you haven’t already seen this video floating around on the Cascades website, its a breakdown of some of the new features and activities coming to Camp Timber Rock, Sunrise Ranch, and Brightwood Station in the upcoming summer!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (25.7MB)

A little less than a month ago Cascades hosted the NPC annual High School M.U.D. Retreat.  Students had a great time:  worship was amazing, the messages were insightful, the activities were off-the-hook, and God worked in mighty ways!

We had just over 50 S.A.L.T.s and staff out to Cascades for the 3rd Annual SALT Reunion Christmas Retreat last Monday and Tuesday.

We really had a great time together and enjoyed some fun activities including the Rubicon Northwest off-road challenge, sugar cookie decorating, hiking, ultimate frisbee, worship, and in general hanging out as we reconnected with one another and with God!

For more pictures taken at this retreat, click here.

We ended the retreat with an exciting announcement that we will be adding a Spring SALT Retreat – more details to come later!  Praise to God for blessing us with an amazing time spent together!

It has been mighty cold at Cascades for the past week or so…IN FACT, it is so cold the lake froze…

Don’t believe me?  See for yourself!

**Please don’t attempt this at home – these men are trained professionals.**

Rob “Trane” Mohrweis, Cean “Torque” Williard and Josh “Miles” Rogers were brave enough to walk out into the middle of the frozen Elbow Lake (that’s right – past the seal, dolphin, AND shark sections of the swim area)!  And although the frozen lake is fun, we wouldn’t mind the temperatures warming up a bit.  Feel free to join us as we pray for those who don’t have homes to keep them warm and for protection over our facilities in this winter weather!

I must apologize once more for the delinquency in posting over the last couple of months – this summer has been BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Let me begin by saying God did some amazing things at Cascades this summer.  Not only was this summer filled with fun, but more importantly it was filled with the Lord moving in the hearts of campers.  Many campers made lifelong decisions, asking Jesus to be their savior – and even more campers refocused their eyes on God while at Cascades.

We are currently in the last week of our summer programs at Sunrise Ranch, while Brightwood Station and Camp Timber Rock finished up two weeks ago.  Things haven’t slowed down since May and probably won’t start to slow down until the end of October – but as always, we are excited that Cascades is continuing to be a place where God meets His people!

Thank you all for your prayers throughout the summer and we ask that you would keep the ministry of Cascades Camp and Conference Center in your thoughts as we continue to serve God by serving all of our guests into the Fall, through the Winter  and Spring, and on into next Summer!!

Here are a few photo highlights from this summer:

As we promised in the brochure, campers at Brightwood Station this summer will be given a cool Offroad Safari Tour during their stay at Cascades!  Brightwood Campers can get excited for the ride of their life in this 2 and a half ton army truck as it snakes through “uncharted lands”…who knows, you may even spot some wildlife along the way!

Get more info, or register for Brightwood (here).

We are in the middle of our first family camp of 2009, the Memorial Day Campout.  The weather has been gorgeous and everyone seems to be having a great time at the waterfront, on trail rides, doing the Rubicon Challenge, eating s’mores, and hanging out with friends and family!