Work Day!!

Tilling parties are all the hit nowadays. We decided to have one! Last Saturday, we had a work day. Pastor Tim brought up Jim, Tony, and Collin for the day and we worked on the bathrooms. Tim Kelly poured the countertops for the bathrooms so we could start tilling. This process has been going fairly quickly.

However, we did not quite finish on Saturday, so we had another party!! We went back up there today and finished it off!!

Also, Marceaux and the guys have been working on hanging lights in the Trapline Lodge. It's starting to look more and more like a dorm than a work station. We are really anxious to get this done!

Trish has been working on her own book for all of the kitchen recipes. This way, since she is going to be in charge of the kitchen, everything will be organized the way she wants it and she won't have to spend time searching for different recipes.

Easter is this Sunday! However, this Friday, The Able Church will be doing a joint service with Living Hope Church! Pastor Tim will be speaking on "Why the Cross?" Feel free to join us at 6:30pm at Living Hope Church in the Erickson Activity Center.

...And a MEGA Project

As some of you might know, Camp Daniel started the kids ministry at Living Hope Church called MEGA. The theme for MEGA has been a scientist's laboratory complete with a time machine and a mad scientist. However, just like everything else, things change. All of us went down to Living Hope Church this past week and changed the theme to MEGA! It is now MEGA Town complete with a tree house! It is set up to be a modern day Jerusalem.

 Getting ready for the tree house.

Karol and Pastor Tim setting up the tree house.

Trish and Jen painting the tree house.

 Building the house.

Looking good.

Trish and Jen cutting curtains for the puppet windows.

Nick's thoughts? "I wonder how I'm supposed to get way up there..."

An overall view.

Now, it is not quite done yet. All of the major building is done. We just have to finish up the details. We are going back this week to finish it up.

A Big Project...

Last Saturday, a big group from Racine came up here for a work day. There was about 35 people that came! We had a lot of projects for them to work on. One of the projects that they did was to start the camper crafts for this summer's camps.

A lot of people went up in the unfinished dorm and started plastering and tiling the bathrooms.

Here you can see some people staining tongue and groove that David Detloff has been putting up in the nature center.

Also, some of the volunteers put up tongue and groove in the unfinished dorm's rooms This used to be the paint room. Now, the paint room and work room are combined.

Four volunteers worked in the office updating camper files. They wrote down who the camper's counselor from 2008-2012 in the camper's file. Then, they typed this information into the computers.

The biggest project we had for them to do was move a lot of stuff from the garage into the semi trailer that Shopko donated! It's full!! There is only a couple of feet left for more things to fit in their!

What's Going On?

It snowed again last night! The guys have been out there since this morning shoveling the walkways. Karol used the snowblower on the walkways, and Tony has been in the truck plowing the rest of the grounds. He also went over to the Brunot House and plowed there too.

Last week, workers from Silver Birch Ranch came up here to hang out with the guys and work. When they got here Tuesday night, one of the firs things they did was play poker with the guys. The game lasted for about 45 minutes. Brian won! After that, they all played on the Wii until they went to bed. The next day, they worked with the guys in the dorm's attic. They cleaned it out and put up shelves for more storage space. Thanks guys! It was a great couple of days!

Last Friday night, a group of 5 people came up here. They were from Sharon Rickerson's church. They came to The Able Church's Friday night service then came up here. They stayed overnight and toured the grounds the next day. 

Karol has been up in the finished dorm painting. She has been painting details and the cabin's name in the bathrooms.

They look amazing!

Trish has been settling in. Karol has been showing her how to do the kitchen stuff. On Saturday, she made breakfast for the group from Sharon's church. It was a continental breakfast with muffins, bread, yogurt, and coffee.

Marceaux has been pretty busy. He and the guys went to town the other day to sand and salt from town to put on the walkways. It was just in time too with the warmer weather we've been having and then the freezing and the snow. He has also been hanging lights in the unfinished dorm. Right now there is just a light bulb hanging from the ceiling. He has been replacing those with light fixtures. Also, the skid steer's hydraulic system was broken. He's been fixing that.

Jen, Trish, Molly, and Justin have been entering in addresses of group homes and adult family homes into the address book. We are going to be sending the brochure that Tony and Karol made specifically for group homes out to the group homes. Justin printed off a list of every group home and adult family home in Wisconsin. Now they just have to be typed into the computer. 

Out and About

The Camp Daniel 2nd annual banquet was last Saturday. There was about 150 people who attended, including the Mayor of Green Bay! The banquet consisted of a chicken, fish, tips, potatoes, stuffing, corn, coleslaw, and plenty of desserts, Tony talking about the history of Camp Daniel and our destines, Justin telling everyone how Camp Daniel changed his life, and Jeff talking about the maintenance building we want to build this spring. When it's all said and done, it went great!!

We have a new staff member with us!! Please welcome, Trish Voskuil! She has been coming to camp for four years now and felt called to be a full-time missionary to people with disabilities. She is from Sheboygan and moved in with Molly on Sunday and will help lead he women's group home among many other things.

Congratulations to team one of The Able Attack! They took first place at the tournament in Sheboygan on Sunday! They will now be moving on to State on March 17th in Stevens Point! Good luck team!

While they were at the game, Karol, Molly, Justin, Jen, and Marceaux ran into a couple of our campers including Amanda, Sara, and Tim! It was good to see everybody there!

Update on Camp Daniel

     Snow, snow, and more snow! Did we mention that there has been a lot of snow? With all this snow, Tony has been out plowing Camp Daniel, the Kelly's place since they are in Kenya right now, and the Brunot House with the guys shoveling the rest of the snow the plow can't get. But before he could do all of this, Tony had to fix the joystick for the plow. It had wires in it that needed resoldering. Tony and Karol have also been creating a new brochure to put in group homes and for caregivers.

     Jen and Marceaux have been in Montana for the last couple of weeks. They just got back today. They were speaking at Marceaux's church and at a college. They drove straight through without stopping. That's a 22 hour drive and with a baby!! They made it there and back safely.

     Since Jen and Marceux were gone, Molly and Justin were left in charge of the Special Olympics team. They had to make sure that everybody got to the events safely, keep score for all the games, and supervise the whole shabang. Molly has also been getting ready for Trish to move in on Sunday. She has also has been working on camper birthday cards for the next three months. Justin just started going through the entire address book on the computer and adding a picture to every contact.

     Tim and Janice were in Hawaii this past week for a vacation. They were supposed to get back yesterday but Janice had to go to the hospital because of an intense pain in her side. We have been praying for them to return home safe and sound.


Last Saturday, Shopko donated a 53 foot semi trailer for dry storage. Terri Welsch works with Shopko and made the connection. We will be moving a lot of things from the unfinished dorm to the trailer to make room in the dorm so we can finish it. Thanks to Shopko for helping us make this happen!!

Winter = Work

Winter at Camp Daniel is the time many projects inside get finished. Justin has gone through all of the old computers and electronics that cluttered the office. He also set up new computer for Tony Sr, wondering how Sr. got any work done on the 6 year old one he was using! Molly has been working on the Summer Camp Manuel, a huge undertaking, but very needed. Pastor Tim and Janice has been very busy working in the community, building relationships and shepherding the members of The Able Church. Pastor Tim volunteers at the CP Center Pool each week as well as visiting throughout the week. Tim also comes up to Athelstane for the weekly staff meeting and fellowship on Tuesdays. Jen and Marceaux have been visiting church in Marinette county on Sundays this year. Little Tony has asked them to begin pursuing another Able Church opportunity in the county.  Jen, Marceaux, Molly and Justin also are Pastor Tim's staff at the Able Church, teaching bible studies, coaching and managing special olympics, and doing all that it takes to have a church community. Tony Sr oversaw the annual Camp Daniel Board meeting, spending much time preparing the annual report and forecasts for the coming year. Sr. manages all the business affairs for Camp Daniel. These few mentioned tasks are just a snippet of what each missionary does at Camp Daniel. Things such as construction, maintenance of the grounds and vehicles, camp preparation, planning, visiting, fundraising and day to day operations are just some of what happens.

The Mighty Men of Camp Daniel have waved the white flag in surrender as winter 2013 has them dreaming of summer! We have had more more snow this winter than the last many years combine. This means the Mighty Men have been shoveling snow at least 4 days each week. With Little Tony in the plow truck, Karol in the tractor with the snowblower, Nick pushing another snowblower and Richard, Brian and Jake pushing shovels it has ben a daily battle against the snow, sleet and ice. It takes aprox 1 and 1/2 days to make the drives and walks safe after a snow, so this means the better part of winter has been spent shoveling. With Justin living on the grounds, it has brought the awareness of the ice to a new level in order that his wheelchair would not get stuck.

 

 

Karol has been busy designing and decorating as rooms get finished. The first two pictures are of the lakefront bathroom, where she sowed a shower curtain and designed and made a Little Newton Lake sign that match the glass tiles in the room.

Left: Karol has spent much time in the dorms painting the bathrooms with logos and making signs for out side the doors that she designed on the computer.

Right: Winter work days have begun, with groups and churches coming to help get to the finish of the second dorm,(Trapline Lodge). 30 Students from Silver Birch Ranch/Nicolet Bible Institute came in February for a work retreat weekend to help build shelves and clear out the remaining two bathrooms in that lodge so finishing can happen. David Detloff has been working several days a week with the guys and is framing and getting the rooms ready to tile on coming workdays. David has also finished the trim and lighting in the Nature Center as well as putting in the new flooring and trim in the Craft Cabin. Tony and Karol will begin decorating and furnishing the craft Cabin (The Factory as its named) next week.
Tony says that trapline lodge will be finished by
summer if enough volunteers come to help in its
finish. Marceuax has been hanging lights and trim
of the heating ducts.

Pastor Tim, Little Tont, Karol and Jeff Seilaff have been working with an architect and builder to finish up the plans for the new Maintainence facility. Plans are to break ground in May!

The workroom and tools have ben condensed to one room in order to finish the rest of the dorm. Shopko has donated a semi trailer to  serve as temporary storage so the dorm and current garages can be cleaned out and finished.

Above: Counselor Luke Kotecki brought a committee from his job at Trudell Trailers in Green Bay. The visit saw the committee from Trudel recommend for a gift to Camp Daniel to be given. The gift was used to purchase brand new mattresses for the entire Lumberjack lodge. These mattresses are very comfortable. hey are made from an adult weight foam which most camps do not use and they are covered with breathable waterproof fabric instead of the typical plastic. The blue color also looks nice in the rooms

Above and left:
Little Tony and the guys finished off his office and the Hartley House Garage. With Tony moving into his new office, Jen and Marceaux and MJ took over his old one (above). All the movement offered much more storage and the conference room was cleaned out, now ready for cabinets to get built in this spring