Wheaton College Volunteers

Liz Henderson--Program Team Assistant

Winter is a fun time at HoneyRock.  Each weekend is filled with various church youth groups, Bible study groups, and school groups.  Our GPA (Graduate Program Assistantship) Staff have been doing a fantastic job hosting these groups and giving them a great HoneyRock experience.  But we would not be able to run our winter retreat programming without the help of Wheaton College student volunteers every weekend.

This past weekend HoneyRock hosted the junior high youth group from Eastbrook Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  They were a fun, diverse, and energetic group that kept our staff busy.  Thankfully, the Women's Lacrosse Team from Wheaton College came up to HoneyRock for the weekend to volunteer and do dishes.  It was a joy for us to have such a large group of Wheaton students (including former Wheaton Passage students and SLSers) come up for the weekend.  They spent time in the kitchen washing dishes and then got to hang out and do winter activities such as broomball, tubing, trail rides, snow shoeing and climbing.

Last weekend the Men's Lacrosse Team from Wheaton College was here volunteering.  We love having Wheaton Students up here!  It is tremendous blessing and encouragement to our staff and it is a great opportunity for students to get out of Wheaton and take a break.  Thank you, Lacrosse Teams!

South Park Middle School

Liz Henderson--Program Team Assistant

Most of the winter groups we host come from churches, Christian schools, or Wheaton College.  One exception to this trend is South Park Middle School from Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  South Park is a public school that has been sending their 8th grade class up to HoneyRock for a retreat every January for the past six years.   

The week when South Park is at HoneyRock is often a winter highlight.  Part of what we enjoy about the time they spend here is that they come during the week instead of over a weekend so they are the only group in camp.  This allows us to focus all our energy and attention on one group, allowing the HoneyRock staff to get to know them through activity times, meals and conversations.  The students have been accompanied by the same dedicated group of teachers as long as they have been coming. We enjoy working closely with junior high students who don't know about Christ and it's a great opportunity for our staff to live out St. Francis of Assisi's challenge to "Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words." 

Pictured below are some of the South Park students hanging out in the Bears' Den.  It was negative 17 this morning, so some of them opted to play games inside instead of going outside!

Cross-Country Skiing Class

Craig Miller--Southwoods Office

For some Wheaton College students, the
transition back from Christmas break can be difficult, whether one is saying
goodbye to family, warmer weather, or mountains higher than, well, flat.  Some intrepid souls make the most of this
transition and face the onset of classes--not to mention the blustery Chicago winter--by taking
advantage of the opportunities the winter can offer. Such a group of students
found its way up to HoneyRock over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend for the
annual cross-country ski class.

Led by the knowledgeable and energetic Dr. Bud Williams and
his cadre of instructors, 50 Wheaton students soon found themselves engaged in
a waltz of diagonal striding, kick-double-poling, dog-trotting and numerous
wedge turns and stops.  The eager pupils
learned the basics of equipment care, including the intricate art of waxing the
skis, and some finer points of technique as well as exploring the extensive
HoneyRock trail system.  The instruction
varied between large and small groups, giving students plenty of time with the
instructors.  One day was spent over at
the scenic Anvil Lake trail system where students got to
hone many of the skills they’d acquired the previous day. A nighttime ski to
Does Acres also proved to be a very memorable part of the weekend.

In addition to providing the chance to learn a valuable
life-long skill, the cross-country skiing class enabled the students to spend a
prolonged time outdoors, experiencing the beauty of God’s creation.  Whether it was feeding chickadees at Anvil Lake,
seeing deer and squirrel paths through the woods, or catching one’s breath at
the incredible expanse of stars overhead, our time at HoneyRock enabled us to
experience the presence of the Creator in ways not easily done down on campus.  If nothing else, I think the weekend at
HoneyRock encouraged students who were making the transition back into a new semester to
be more aware of the creation around them.

 

Something NEW this summer!

John Vandervelde - Program Director   

Over the past few years we've had a deep desire to offer more creative and artistic activities for students and campers here at HoneyRock.  We not only want to enhance our craft shop where people can make the traditional camp crafts, but we want young people to have more opportunities to tap into their creative abilities.  We want young people to learn more about creation and our creative God through their experiences at HoneyRock.

Through the generous gifts of two donors we are able to take significant steps towards making this desire a reality this summer.  Here are some new things that will be happening:

1)  We will be offering Ceramics as an activity area this summer for campers!  We are transforming the current craft shop into a fully-functional ceramics studio. 

2)  We are enhancing our crafts area and moving it to newly renovated space attached to the trip locker.  This new craft shop is going to be sweet!

3)  We will be offering a ceramics class and wood fire kiln building class this summer for college students.  This course will be taught by David Hooker from the Wheaton College Art Department.

4)  We are offering a course for college students titled "Shakespearience" which is a drama and literature class that will be taught by two Wheaton College professors.

5)  We are offering an Interdisciplinary Studies course called "Creative Enhancement" which is an art workshop incorporating Movement, Image, Sound, Body, Nature and God.  The workshop is for college students and will be led by a Photography professor, an Art Professor, and a Theater Professor from Wheaton College.  We are hoping that this course will become the core of a Creativity Program here at HoneyRock.

Exciting things are happening in the area of creativity here at HoneyRock!  It will be wonderful to see young people grow and learn in new and creative ways this summer. 

Biblical Forestry

Liz Henderson--Program Team Assistant

Scott Eppler continued his theme of Old Testament Greatest Hits during staff devotions and he shared about an obscure character who cooperated with King Solomon to help build the temple: Hiram King of Tyre (1 Kings 5).  Scott is a trained forester and he really enjoys this passage for a variety of reasons including the fact that it is the longest and most descriptive passage about forestry in the Bible.  

Hiram King of Tyre and King Solomon reached an agreement for the temple building plan, and their men all worked together because Hiram's men were extremely skilled at cutting down the cedars of Lebanon.  In exchange, King Solomon provided them with food.  (It is noteworthy that the men cut the trees and floated them in the sea to transport them, much the same way that only 60 or 70 years ago forestry was done in the Northwoods of Wisconsin by cutting timber and floating it down the Wisconsin River to the mills.)

150,000 men worked together to cut down trees and quarry stones.  It was an enormous undertaking, but they shared a common goal and had a purpose to their work.  In the same way, we here at HoneyRock work to build cabins and cabinets and all kinds of things with a shared vision and goal.  Sometimes we tell stories, laugh, and sing while we are working, and we can't help but wonder if Solomon and Hiram's men did the same. 

Greatest Hits

John Vandervelde - Program Director   

This week Scott Eppler is the leader of our staff devotions, which takes place from 7:45am - 8:00am each day.  Scott's theme this week is "The Greatest Hits from the Old Testament".  Each day he'll be walking us through a story in the Old Testament that has been particularly meaningful in his life.  This is my favorite type of devotions.  I love it when a staff person opens God's word and shares how it has personally touched their life, how it has changed them, how they've grown or how they've been comforted by Scripture.  The openness and vulnerability that is shown draws us in and brings us closer as a community.  There is something special that happens when, in community, we open up our hearts and minds up to be shaped and molded by God's word.  Don't you agree? 

Today Scott shared with us from I Samuel Chapter 1 which has been a particular meaningful part of Scripture for him and his wife, Anne, as they waited for the birth of their son, Samuel.  I was touched by Hannah's deep desire for a child, her fervent prayers, and her selfless giving back of Samuel to the Lord.  What a powerful woman of God! 

This week I hope you and your family (or a community in which you are a part) can get together, open God's Word, and reflect on its meaning for you today.  Open your hearts and minds to his teaching and guidance.  Open up with each other and be a little vulnerable - it may feel awkward, but God works in those moments in meaningful ways.