Dayne

This verse became a theme for my time in Kenya. Even before I departed for the trip, God began to remind me of the sufficiency of His grace. I was overwhelmed by the generosity and the willingness of my home church that provided me with more than I needed to go on the trip. God’s grace did not stop there. He was with our team and luggage as we made the journey over the big pond to Nairobi, Kenya. We were once again reminded of his grace when we collected our luggage to find all 30 something pieces had made it safely on the planes and through customs. This verse first came up on the trip around day two or three when Ms. Betsy shared it with us for our morning devotion. God had placed it on her heart to share before we even left for the trip. Unfortunately, Ms. Betsy woke up to her eyes really bothering her. God shared this message through the humility and purity of Ms. Betsy. Even though she was suffering through a physical weakness, God’s grace was sufficient enough to bring her through it. Not only so, he used her in big ways to share his love with the children and women of the Kwambekenya Community.

I continued to see how sufficient God’s grace was for the people of Kwambekenya. On the outside it appeared that they had just enough to survive. Their homes and clothing are meager. Many work just to provide food for their family. Despite this, God has provided for them in many ways through 410 Bridge and many other ways. They may be poor in money and possessions, but they are rich inspirit. I experienced the joy of Jesus pour out of their smiles and the gentle way they welcomed us in. The children radiate joy and I could not get enough of playing, singing, hugging, and holding their precious little hands. It is in our weakness that God’s grace isabundantly sufficient. Thanks to my experience in Kenya, I will never forget this promise.

Jen

For more information about Rapha check them out at their website! 

Notice the difference?... 1200 vs. 1250.

We figured that this way we won't have any of our guests showing up to our office in Alpharetta looking for a retreat(lol!). Hopefully this will be easier for everyone now and there won't be any confusion.

So from here on out, if you need to mail us anything please send it to our new business address: 1200 Camp Highland Road, Ellijay, GA 30540

Thanks!

Zach 

Just this past week Gavin and myself were given the opportunity to fly to Boulder, Colorado for the annual Camp Minder Camp. If you recall, this past summer we launched a new management system called...You guessed it - Camp Minder! This system proved to be more than just cool with it's uniquely designed CampInTouch accounts. This account allows our guests to have a more personalized experience as they apply for our different programs, fill out important liability forms, view and buy pictures, and so much more. We were so pleased with the first run-through last summer that we've decided to keep it around.

Thanks to Camp Highland we were able to see a different side of this new system. We actually got to meet all the nice people who've been relentlessly answering our electronic Help Tickets and countless phone calls. Their staff of camp professionals is extremely knowledgeable and specializes in fields such as client relations, data administration, system architectural designing, software engineering, and we even met the CEO himself! To our surprise, everyone looked like they were fresh out of college. And the funny thing is that's not too far from being completely accurate. We went through two days of very informative training by the young professionals that will hopefully allow us to become pros too. If you follow us on twitter then I’m sure you’ve recently become aquainted with our incessant mentioning of @CampMinder and hash tagging #CampMinderCamp4. Anyways, we had a great time and are very thankful to be working with everyone from Camp Minder! You guys rock! 

 Okay, so you don’t think we flew all the way to Colorado and sat at a conference the whole time, right? I mean come on! We work at an adventure camp! We actually decided to drive 7 hours through stunning scenery until Telluride where we met up with our friend (and previous Camp Highland-er) Ben and his new bride Jamie! They treated us to some of the best skiing and snowboarding CO has to offer! That made for a perfect ending to a very long week. A huge “thanks” goes out to you guys and we all miss you here in Georgia.

So as our trip comes to an end, it is our hope that your experience with the Camp Minder CampInTouch system will be even sweeter this time around. We are becoming more acclimated to the system and have a better understanding of all its integral parts. If this is your first time coming to camp and using CampInTouch – Welcome! – Get ready to be treated to the thrill of a lifetime at Camp Highland!

Zach B. – "snow ♛ king & hash tagger extraordinaire #@%$&^*"

Gavin D. – "wide angle lenzed double-black slope master ♦♦

This past Saturday, we had our end-of-the-year open house. We also had the Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce up to initiate our offical ribbon cutting ceremony. Thanks to everyone who came out for this special day! 

Those of you who are familiar with us are probably thinking, "You guys have been around for a while, so why a ribbon cutting now"? As many of you know, Camp Highland began in Lula in 1993, moved to Dahlonega, and finally planted our roots here in Ellijay where we plan to stay! We have been in here for about nine years, but it really wasn't until this past year that we created a known presence in the community. As more locals began to hear about us, we realized it was the right time to officially be inagurated with the ribbon cutting. And, with the addition of the new gym facility, we now have the perfect environment for gatherings like this one. The day was great as the Lord blessed us with amazing weather and we fellowshiped with food and a tour of the property.

We are very blessed to be a part of such a welcoming community right here in the beautiful mountain town of Ellijay.

~Zach | Marketing 

As the leaves fall to the ground that will soon be visited by snow, Camp transitions into the off-season. We have been so blessed to see many faces this year, some old and some new. Although it is always a little sad to not see cars pull in the gate one after another, this season is a great time for our staff to regroup and work on how to serve even better. We are all hard at work applying the different gifts God has given us. Man, we are blessed with a wonderful full time staff family.

During the off season, the entire full time staff meets once a week. Each meeting begins with a devotional that allows us to focus on why we are doing this camp thing. This morning, Bill shared the simple yet life changing message of 1 John 3:1. "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1 NIV)". God's great love that is so freely given to us in abundance is so overwhelming that we just have to share it. It is love that motivates those at Camp to serve. Don't just hold on to that great love, but share it and God will do great things.

Stay connected!

~Zach | Marketing Director

-Zach, Marketing