Emmaus 2008

The Emmaus 2008 retreat was a very big success! We are thankful to God for a BEAUTIFUL weekend and very nice facilities at Highland Lakes Camp. It was wonderful to be together to pray, play, sing, and fellowship – especially with our beloved Archbishop JOB. His Eminence joined us Saturday afternoon and was able to stay through Sunday and celebrate Divine Liturgy. Truly a God-filled and blessed weekend. We hope to have the teachings by Fr. Jonathan Tobias, our keynote speaker, posted today. Stay tuned for the teachings and pictures and video from the weekend!

Winter Camp 07-08

Christ is born! Glorify Him! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Yep, those were the popular phrases this year at camp. Although, I guess they are at every winter camp we do. But this one was special, because we saw the switch to 2008! Of course, I guess the new year always arrives during winter camp. Ok, so I can’t think of anything unprecedented. Yes – we had a great time. Yes – many games of Taboo, Chess, and Euchre were played. Yes – I’m still sore from all the glorious football we played. You know what? I’m glad it was the same, … Continue reading

FINAL Summer Camp 2007 Post – MEDIA GALORE!!!

Howdy! Camp’s been over for nearly two weeks now, and we’ve finally gotten most of the media (teachings and videos) compiled for you, but you’ll have to login to listen to them. If you’ve not yet registered as a user for the blog, please do so. Also, if you weren’t at camp, then please listen to “The Pineapple Missionary” first. It will make a WHOLE lot more sense out of Fr. David Rucker’s teaching, and also of various other references throughout the week. It is the actual missionary (Otto Koning) who lived it and wrote the book. Very Funny! Enjoy! … Continue reading

Thursday & Friday – Camp Comes To A Close

Thursday brought us two wonderful teaching sessions in the morning, one by Fr. Zachariah and the other by Sdn. Luke, as well as a flurry of activity during the afternoon as everyone prepared their (no) talent for the evening’s main event. This year provided so much good material that we actually had to think about putting a cap on the number of skits. Who are we kidding? We could never do that. From the “foot-phone” to the crazy alter boys to the land of “Rivervalia”, we have never seen no talent like this before. Don’t forget the actual talent portion … Continue reading

Tuesday & Wednesday

Deacon Joseph Matusiak and his family arrived safely on Wednesday morning. He led a teaching session entitled “The world is evil, cry for your sins and repent, and have a piece of chocolate”. It was an excellent teaching that was very relevant for the campers (and the staff) and we can’t wait to have him back next year for even more of the good stuff. We have the audio from his teaching, as well as most of the others, and we’ll be able to post them shortly after camp is over. We were very blessed to have him among us … Continue reading

Evening Activities

Campers took part in our 2007 Camp Olympic Games before heading over to the pool for a Hawaiian-themed luau. Special thanks to Bob Abel and David Becker for driving all the way down, setting up and cleaning up, and in doing so making this an unforgettable week. Here are some more photos from the nighttime festivities as well as some various other activities from Monday night and Tuesday. By the way, thanks so much to Alison Curry and Joshua Coolman for taking all of these wonderful photos! Campers are trying to make these counselors laugh. They get a point for … Continue reading

Official Camp Photo Is Here!

You’ve seen the staff photo. Now, without further ado, may we present the official 2007 camp photo(s): Note: Due to the limited bandwidth available at our remote location, uploading of hi-res images is unavailable. We will upload higher resolution photos sometime after camp is over.

Monday

Beautiful weather, amazing campers, dedicated staff – what more could one ask for? God is truly working in the hearts and minds of everyone here. We have been blessed with the presence of three, count ’em, THREE priests this fine Monday: Fr. Joseph Gibson, Fr. David Rucker, and arriving just this morning, Fr. David Wey. It was a great honor to be singing such finely written songs as A Celtic Prayer in the presence of the person who wrote them, Fr. David Wey. Of course, when publicly acknowledged for his work, Fr. David humbly hid his face and chuckled in … Continue reading

Houston, We Have Liftoff!

Summer Camp 2007 has officially begun and it couldn’t have started more smoothly. After a day and night of preparation, the staff was more than ready to meet and greet their campers-to-be, some of them familiar and others brand new to beautiful Camp Rivervale. Meet your staff members just before introducing themselves to the campers: And, just like that, camp was off and running. Everyone immediately broke the ice by taking part in, well, ice-breaker games. That’s a picture of a game our junior high boys counselor Josh Clemens so aptly titled the “piggy back try to tear the tape … Continue reading

Summer Camp 2007 in TWO WEEKS!

Getting geared up yet? You should be! Summer Camp is only 2 weeks away! We’ve got a great week planned and some new faces on staff, as well as some new teachers and activities. Camp registration/check-in is from 4-6pm on Sunday July 29th. Check the blog for more updates to come and all the pertinent information you should be receiving via email this week.  Looking forward to seeing you all there! ~Sdn. Luke Seraphim