5 Decades of HoneyRock By Guest Blogger Paul Elsen Sr.

Paul Elsen Sr.--HoneyRock Executive Council and longtime HoneyRocker

My first recollection of HoneyRock
is as a young boy of  7.  My two older brothers, ages 8 and 9, came home
from their first year as campers.  They were so excited!  They talked
constantly of their fantastic experiences: overnight camping, sleeping
in a mummy bag, paddling a canoe.  I couldn’t wait until I was old
enough to go to camp and experience what they were so enthusiastic about. 
Oh, and that college guy who was their counselor sounded really cool. 
The year was 1957. In every decade since, HoneyRock has been a part
of my life.

My first actual experience
of HoneyRock was the following summer, when I traveled with my parents
to visit my older brothers who were campers again.  I had been registered
for camp that year, but 2 days before camp started I broke my collarbone
falling off the neighbor's rope swing.  What I remember about that visit
was that neat log bridge to an island they called Cathedral Pines where
they had church and vespers services.  Oh, and all those canoes and of
course the archery range.  Doesn’t every 8 year old boy have a fascination
with bows and arrows?  How disappointed I was that I couldn’t experience
those things with my broken collarbone.  That visit just heightened the
anticipation of the time when I would be able to go to HoneyRock.

Over the decades since, HoneyRock
has been a part of my life from family vacationer, camper and counselor,
to Parent and Partner, and soon to be grandparent. Needless to say, the
experiences and relationships of HoneyRock have been among the most
profound in my life.  And really, can you have relationship without experience?
Seems to me the two are integrally related.  From knowing God to knowing
people, experiences are integral to relationship.