Jackpine Retreat 2023

The middle of September found us, as normal, heading north to go camping along with a bunch of others at a place we call Jackpine Retreat. This was my 44th time to attend and I love it every year!

A few weeks before we went I had met a bunch of international students that are attending our local university. I told them about our plan to go camping and invited them to come along. Nine of them ended up coming. I had 4 ride up with me on Friday and my parents brought the rest up on Saturday. We stopped at the town of Baudette along the way where we could get a view of Canada. 

Cooking over the campfire is an important part of our time at Jackpine. Aaron and Jason were working to get their brats just right. Jason, Michelle and McKayla came all the way from Louisiana, I always get excited when they are able to come. 

These pictures look like we had a sparsely populated campsite but actually we fed around 30 people at our campsite. There was a total of around 130 at Jackpine.

Times of singing together are one of my favorite things. Kate, a student from Russia, commented that it sounded like many of the people had been professionally trained. They aren't but most of us love to sing praises to God and I guess that shows.

I got to teach the kids class on Saturday morning. Billy who was doing the messages was talking about Loving God and others (among other things) so I decided to tell the story of the Good Samaritan. We decided to "take" the journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. The 30+ kids lined up to go on the road. I had arranged with a couple of older kids to hide along the route and then jump out and "attack" another of the older kids that I had positioned to be first in line and then run off with her stuff. That was a very effective story telling aid except Malcolm burst into tears and went running after "the robbers" trying to defend Nettie. Overall we had a lot of fun with the class and I was very grateful for the moms that were willing to come along and help out. 

Planning for next year...

Ewan at 3 months was camping for the 2nd time. The students helped out with holding him.

Ricardo from Columbia tried out spool walking and did a good job.

Jackpine is a place we like to go to spend time with old friends and make new ones as well. It is the time each year when the highest percentage of my closest friends get together. It is such a blessing to spend time with others who passionately serve Jesus Christ and follow His word to the best of their ability. It is not a group of perfect individuals but imperfect ones who know and seek to be like the One who is perfect.

My whole family was able to be there for at least part of the time (my parents don't camp anymore but they come up for part of Saturday). 37 in all.

Introducing the students to the rocker. 

 I really enjoyed having this group from other countries join us. Among them were a Buddhist, Muslims, non-religious and more. They were a fun group and I really enjoyed the conversations we were able to have about life, God and religion. They didn't mind that we spent a lot of time singing praise to Jesus. They commented on how they enjoyed seeing this part of America - it was very different than what they had thought America was like. 

Game playing is a fun part of Jackpine too.

I was excited to meet Dj's new wife, Talia. Speaking of DJ (one of my boys longtime friends) one of my fun memories of Jackpine this year was seeing him with a bunch of boys in the 5-8 year old range walking around. I asked "What are you guys doing?" and I don't remember exactly how it was worded but they told me that they were just walking around and talking about God and the Bible and stuff. From conversations that I have had in the past with DJ I know that he follows God passionately and I just think it is so cool that he would take the time to walk and talk with a bunch of little boys and encourage them to follow God passionately too.

This boy loves Jackpine and the freedom to roam from camp to camp and have lots of friends to play with. And even though it is chilly, run barefoot if you so desire.

Megan and Ewan.

Aaron's girlfriend, Harper, drove up all the way from college in Nebraska to come. I enjoyed getting to know her a little better. Travis asked her and Aaron to sing a special and they sounded beautiful together.

Ewan and I. Ewan is wearing a hat made by his mom and a sweater that I made for Malcolm but that fit Ewan for Jackpine this year. I look like I didn't get enough sleep and that is true. Saturday night was a pretty chilly one. I think many of us didn't sleep the best.

Travis amused me by not only holding Ewan all through leading songs but also doing the actions for at least a couple of songs. I don't think I know anybody else that loves babies quite as much as Travis. 

Billy Wallace shared the messages and they were encouraging and had a lot of food for thought.

Church is generally held around a big campfire. The younger ones are usually closer to the middle. :-) In all my years of going I don't know of any bad burns that have happened. 

  A couple more memories of Jackpine this year that stood out to me were on Saturday night my niece Margaret and I were looking at the stars with the international students. We could see the milky way so well and it was incredibly beautiful. First just a few of us went out to the field where we could see them really well and then when the others found out all of the students wanted to go. We enjoyed the wonder of God's creation so much. Katy (from Panama) came to me and shared that see the stars like that really reminded her of the grace of God. I so agree! Every day He gives us countless gifts for us to enjoy and some of them, like the stars, are incredibly gorgeous. We just need to wake up and start noticing this grace that He pours out on us day after day.

  While up on the field there was a group of teenagers (primarily boys) sitting around a campfire. They were visiting a little but mostly they were singing. Angela (from Columbia - and she was actually a visiting professor, not a student- who said she wasn't religious) came and asked me if they were singing about Jesus. Why yes they are. She thought is was very neat. We never know who is watching and just how we might be able to plant a seed or share about Jesus. 

   Jackpine Retreat 2023 is over but many good memories remain. I'm looking forward to next year.