Man Weekend

 Myself and three of our awesome youth ministry volunteers loaded up the camping gear and took several middle school boys camping.  We had a great time together rouging it in the woods.  (well actually we were at a park that had running water and hot showers but we had to walk 100 yards to the bathhouse and that was rough)

I was joined by Mike early in the day and we drove up to the park as the advance party.  We worked with the help of our two sons at setting up the camp.  Which included 4 big tents and our camp kitchen.

The boys arrive later with Rich and Ramon.  Rich came full circle on this trip.  There was  a time when I was hauling his middle school self in a church van.  Now he was hauling middle school boys who, well, were middle school boys for the 1.5 hour drive.  This brought joy to my heart for Rich to experience what he put me through when he was a kid.

The boys were challenged to walk in faith like Abraham and they were challenged to stick with it.  They were told that half of them would not be here by the time they were in 10th or 11th grade because of distraction by either the old driver's license or some "sweet" girl.

The menu:
Friday night - Hobo Dinners - meat and veggies cooked on the fire in a foil pouch.  SMORES
Saturday Breakfast - Mountain Man Breakfast.  It's fantastic!
Lunch - Moe's.
Supper - various sausages and hot dogs cooked on the fire with beans and chili.
Possum Tails for dessert.
Sunday Breakfast - donuts and breakfast sausage links.

After breakfast Sunday we broke camp and packed up and made it back to NHC for the 11AM worship gathering and the boys all sat on the front row, smelling like campfire smoke and sleepy.

A great weekend and the boys had a blast.  I had a great time (even though it was a little chilly in the tent at night)