But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Dear friends, family, and partners in the ministry,

It has been awhile since I last wrote to you regarding our family’s ministry at Camp Barakel. We had great success during our winter retreats. We hosted eight full weekends of campers. This included one college and career weekend, three father and son weekends, three teen weekends, and we closed it all out with a father and daughter retreat. Through the winter we had a host of volunteers that came and worked not only in the kitchen but all around camp. Our volunteers helped with ax throwing, tubing, music, dish washing, and scores of other areas that are all needed to run camp. In those eight weekends, we hosted 2,437 guests; 1,738 of which were teens. God be praised for all those campers hearing the ‘good news’ of our savior Jesus Christ! I tell you this because it makes what we do here a rewarding service to our King. I believe that God is still in the redemption business and I do pray that through the preaching, talks in their groups, and talks around the tables that God did save sinners and brought them into his glorious light. Even though we may never know the impact of the work that was put into this past winter, Rita and I trust that God was glorified and praised, sinners were brought to repentance, and that there was restoration in families.

We are still short-staffed around camp. One of the more immediate needs is for a full-time cook in the other kitchen. We did not have a full-time cook over there this past winter, but that did not stop God from providing the help we needed. We had a young lady named Annika that worked tirelessly each weekend leading volunteer staff. During the week she would clean the building, do inventory, and get the building ready for the next retreat.  Annika had plans to stay on this spring and into the summer, but she ended up having to leave to help her family out. I really do thank God for her. The winter retreats would have been much more difficult without her. We are fervently praying for someone who loves the Lord and enjoys serving others to join us on staff.  Do you know anyone who could do this? We would love to meet them.

We also had nine seasonal staff who helped us throughout the fall and winter. They cleaned, shoveled, scooped cookies, and served in numerous other ways around camp. They are invaluable to the ministry here at camp. We could not have done this without them. They are a treasure and God-send. Thank you, James, Andrew, Jones, Annika, Nathan, Alyssa, Paul, Heather and the Centanni family for all your labors! You are greatly appreciated.

After the end of the winter season, we went right into our maintenance season. What does that mean? For two weeks, we completely deep-cleaned almost all of our buildings. This is not your typical clean. We scrub tiles and floors, dust lights and chandeliers, clean animal mounts, scrub all equipment in both kitchens, wash windows galore, and sanitize surfaces. I would say that the ‘man hours’ of deep cleaning the buildings are in the hundreds. It is very extensive and most of the time exhausting, but we love to have clean buildings.

I still feed people throughout our maintenance season. We had a crew of men that came to camp for five days to fell trees. I believe the estimate was 250 – 300 trees that were downed. It was great to have the men here and feed them and to make camp a lot safer for our guests and buildings. We are also planning our spring and summer. I am involved in numerous planning meetings for the upcoming seasons. Menu planning is one of my current projects. We like to have meals that are both nutritious and delicious. Campers are only here for a week, but summer staff are here most of the summer, so we try to have a menu rotation so people don’t have to eat the same thing week after week. One of the challenges this year is writing the menus for west side without knowing who the cook will be and what their skill level is. I think in the next week or two I will have all that figured out.

We are roughly five weeks away from summer when we will be consistently feeding people every day. Please pray for our summer staff. We are still in need of counselors, kitchen help, and  medical staff. Do you know anyone that could fill any of these roles? Please put them in touch with me or email Serve@campbarakel.org. We would love to talk to them.

Family time: everyone is doing well. Eli has just over a month of school left this year. He has been doing some science experiments, and just made a periscope. He is so much fun. He can always make us laugh. Eli loves to wrestle, joke around, and study the birds outside our house. He has a real fondness for God’s creation. I look forward to seeing how the Lord uses that as he grows older. Celia is really doing well in school. I never thought that I would have a straight A kid. But here we are. We are so proud of the effort she puts into her studies. She is currently running track. Celia is looking forward to summer. She loves meeting new people, and enjoys helping out around camp. Everyday with my kids is such a privilege and a joy. I thank God for them so much. Rita has been doing a lot of cleaning around camp with the other ladies. She also cares for our home. She is so supportive, and I love how she loves God and helps teach our children about him.

Prayer requests: Please pray for more full-time staff and summer staff. Please pray for our vehicle needs. Our current vehicle has been in and out of the shop for months while the mechanic tried to diagnose the problem and then had to wait for a part that was temporarily unavailable. We are trying to get the transmission fixed and looking to get it traded in for something newer and more reliable. We found one that we like but need to work out the details. Pray for strength and peace for this summer. I will be extremely busy working, and don’t want to get overly anxious. I ask God for a well run and smooth summer. But no matter what, I want to walk worthy of the calling that we received.

Thank you all for your continued prayers for Rita, the kids and me. We greatly appreciate and covet your prayers. We cannot do this without them or you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone),

Dave Miron, on behalf of the Mirons