Camp David of the Ozarks

We have had a few work teams come out over the past weeks, and are excited about our new entrance at camp!

Here is the youth group from First Baptist in Rolla helping to put a split rain fence at the entrance to camp.

Working hard to dig those holes!

The one side got completely finished…

Then the other week a group of college students with CCF came out and finished the fence on the other side. Now we just need to make a ranch style header with “Camp David” written on it!

We are looking forward to a team of service men and women coming from Fort Leonard Wood this weekend.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.

God bless,

Ben & Grace Smith

This is our last week of Junior Camp, Jr. Boys 2, July 13-17.

It was our biggest week of camp ever with 25 campers! And 18 of those boys were alumni campers! Most of them were between the ages of 10-12 and the cooks did an amazing job feeding all those hungry boys plus 50 staff persons!

Meet the Brave Bears~ with counselors Carl Eldredge and Isaac DiGennaro. This team won the wagon team challenge for the week!

It’s the Courageous Cougars~ with counselors David Rosado (our Assistant Director) and Jonathon Neuman. The young man in the red shirt memorized 80 Bible verses at camp!

Here are the Overcoming Eagles~ with counselors Zephan Hazell and Calvin Byers. This is Calvin’s third summer as staff, and his first time as counselor!

It’s the Loyal Lions~ with counselors Cliff Rosenow and Ezra Hall. They had the little guys, and they were cute!

And the Fearless Wolverines~ with counselors Brian Catron and Galan Cameron. These guys came up with a really creative team cheer!

Starting the morning out at the obstacle course and developing teamwork.

Teamwork put to the test: Get each team member over the wall with good attitudes, and keep your hands up till it’s done.

The horse program continues to be the all time favorite at camp!

Petey has been coming to camp for 4 years, and his two brothers have graduated from campers to staff and were serving as Support Staff this week.

The guys find all kinds of creatures on their Nature Hikes!

This young man brought two of his cousins to camp, and all three boys had a parent in prison. On staff this week we had a former county jail administrator as an “Auntie”. The last day of camp she told us “I had one guard who had seen three generations come through the jail in just 35 years… Camp David is helping to break the cycle of crime.” We pray that each of these boys will turn to God and follow His paths, and break the cycle of crime that is in their families.

Pablo was very proud of the wooden snake he painted!

The boys spent a lot of time memorizing verses with the help of their counselors!

The boys were given these coon tail hats and Grandpa took their pictures in front of the General Store. They earn coins for each Bible verse they memorize, and then they go to the General Store to “purchase” toys and little items. It’s a great reward system!

The fishing was really good on Tuesday night, and several guys caught big catfish! There were also some really big ones that got  a way. A big “Thank you” to Earl Pietch, a neighbor down the road, for letting us take the campers fishing in his pond.

This summer we had 5 staff members get lifeguard training, which is very helpful since the swimming is almost as much fun as the horses!

One part of camp that you don’t often see is the very important role of our Camp Grandparents! The Grandmas (and Aunties) read bedtime stories to the campers every night! For many of us, this is a normal routine growing up, but most of the campers come from such troubled homes that this is a very special treat. We have a wonderful selection of short story books that teach good character.

Ranger Dave had a great time connecting with the boys in his cabin and being a Dad to them. They look tough, but inside they are so hungry for love and attention. It is hard to put into words everything that happened at camp- except to say that it is a life-changing experience for both the campers and staff.

Thank you so much for being a part of our summer through your support and prayers. We are still praying for some more sponsors for campers, and we ask that you pray about sponsoring a young boy or girl as a family. It is $100 per sponsorship.

Keep your eyes open for some pictures of Green Team and staff!
For the children’s sake,
Ben and Grace Smith

Dear Camp David Family, I have missed sending you these updates from camp, but our internet was down for 2 1/2 weeks, and we are trying to catch up. Here are the pictures from our second Junior Girls week, July 6-10.

We had a total of 21 campers, our biggest girls week ever! God provided enough counselors, and we divided the campers into 5 teams.

Meet the Radiant Rubies~ with counselors Katie Brown & Faith Burnett.

It’s the Shining Sapphires~ with counselors Lydia Nebel & Susanne Eldredge.

Here are the Dazeling Diamonds~ with counselors Danielle Foley and Laura Marchbank.

It’s the Elegant Emeralds~ with counselors Chava Hall and Anna Stoyeff.

And the Precious Pearls~ with counselors Ellie Hall and Emily Brown.

The morning activity classes included craft time. The camp Grandmas and Aunties that serve each week help with the craft time. Here is Tatianna painting a little frame.

Visiting the Petting Zoo during Nature Class with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Pansy. This is Princess Samantha.

During Nature Class, the campers go to the Discovery Garden and taste the herbs and veggies growing there.
Note: Two of the girls have brown patchwork purses over their shoulders- these were sewn by camp friends across the nation and we gave them to the girls at the camp birthday party. They absolutly loved them!

We are grateful that our neighbors, Don & Lois Himelright, allowed us to take the campers on trail rides on their property. The fields were so pretty with all of the wildflowers!

A beautiful girl on a big beautiful horse!

This is Hannah- she was small for her age (8 yrs old) but she was not afriad of much and was a very determinded young lady!

A favorite activity of the week was the Fruit loops & Shaving Cream game- which turned into a fun “battle”.

This is Emily with some of her little campers. She showed them God’s love ~even in the sandbox.

Grandpa Tom took the Princeses on a horse drawn carriage ride and delievered them to the front door of Fort Turley. He also took the campers on carriage rides during the Nature Class.

Miss Ellie with one of her girls, Ty’esia.

At the Rendezous on Thursday night, the girls got to have their faces painted and participated in fun relay races.

Over half of the campers were alumni this week, and these two girls were excited to be together again.

When you live with the pain of having a parent in prison and (in some cases) your mom’s boyfriends come and go, you can wonder if anyone really notices you and cares. That’s why at Camp David we make sure that each camper get’s the individual attention and love they so desperatly need.

A number of the girls made descions for Christ at camp, and 4 of them wanted to get baptized. Some of the girls had tears in their eyes as they came out of the water and we knew they had really taken their decision to follow Jesus seriously. It was very special to have this camper’s mom drive all the way to camp to be there for her baptisim.

Thanks for being a part of giving hope.

In His service,
Ben & Grace Smith

Camp David’s 4th week of camp was full of adventure!

June 22-26 we had 17 junior boys ages 8-12.

Meet the Lions! Counselors were Brian and Ezra.

It’s the Eagles~ with counselors Ben and Galen.

Here are the Wolverines~ with counselors Michael and Jon.

It’s the Bears~ with counselors Cliff and Levi.

Starting the mornings off with the climbing wall was a good team challenge.

Sharing truths from God’s word in morning devotions.

The petting zoo is always a favorite place and this week the boys really liked the….

Chickens!!!

This is Michael practicing throwing tomahawks during morning activity classes. At the birthday party the boys were given  pioneer hats, that were sewn by ladies all over the US. They were the perfect touch for our “Trailblazer” theme.

Pool time was the best part of the day, especially when the heat index was over 100 degrees.

Devin loved playing ultimate football!

Happy Birthday to… EVERYONE!

The fishing was great that week! This is Tyler with one of the fish he caught. Most of these guys don’t have a dad in their life, but for one week their counselor is like a dad to them. One night Tyler had his arms wrapped around his counselor’s neck, just hanging on tight and we knew that he was really experiencing God’s love at camp.

Grandpa Tom did a chalk drawing and played this song by Casting Crowns:
“And I’ll praise you in this storm…no matter where I am, and every tear I’ve cried, you hold in your hand, You never left my side… I will praise You in this storm.”
It was beautiful and during the Thursday campfire time one camper said that he learned from the chalk drawing that God is always with him.

Thursday night the staff get into pioneer costume and the campers go to 5 stations during our Rendezvous. Elizabeth led this water balloon launch activity.

After dinner on Thursday, we baptized our son Timmy, and a camper named Lenell. Lenell dealt with a lot of anger issues, and at first he was always trying to be top dog. After he got baptized he went around to some of those he had picked on earlier in the week and said, “You’re my brother now.”  It was evident that God was at work in His life. Note: one of the rotations was face painting, which is why Lenell has a white lizard painted on his face!

Giving out character awards around the campfire. This young man, Samuel (in the red shirt), has been coming to camp for 4 years, and this year he won the medal for memorizing the most verses, and he trusted Christ and was baptized the next morning. Praise God!
It was a very challenging week for the counselors and staff, but the hard times made us all look to God a lot more and depend on Him.
Thank you so much for your prayers. We still have two more weeks of camp to do, and we appreciate your continued prayers.

Rejoicing in Him,
Ben & Grace Smith

Camp David’s 3rd week of camp was a Jr. Girls week, June 15-19. It was a wonderful week and the girls really experienced God’s love through our counselors and staff.

There were 18 campers ages 8-12.

Meet the Diamonds team, with counselors Laura and Brittany.

Here are the Sapphires, with counselors Danielle and Lindsay.

It’s the Rubies~ with counselors Rebecca and Laura.

And the Pearls, with counselors Ashley and Susanne.

There is another part of our camp team~ Camp Grandparents and “Aunties”. From left to right we have: Leah, Marge, Lillian, and Tom. The ladies all wrote letters to the campers each day, and read them bedtime stories. Leah and Marge led the craft time each day. Marge has also been taking care of the laundry at camp which has been an incredible blessing. Tom and Lillian do so much for the Camp David ministry including leading Nature Hikes and doing chalk drawing talks.

Learning TEAMWORK on the obstacle course!

Craft time

During Nature class Grandma takes the campers to the Discovery Garden to learn about how plants and vegetables grow.

The Nature Class also vists the Petting Zoo. This is Emily  with one of our bunnies.

McKayla enjoying the Ropes Course!

Tyl’ah was scared of the big horses the first two days, and then she overcame her fear and began to really enjoy the horses.

A highlight of the week was a shaving cream battle!

This is Susanne with one of her little campers. During morning devotions Susanne was able to lead one of her girls to Christ, and it was so neat to see that camper continue to grow in her understanding of God throughout the week.

“We are the Rubies… Mighty, Mighty Rubies!!”

Ashley with Te-Te at the Princess Dinner. It was such a special night when the girls all got dressed up and looked beautiful.

This year we had decided to offer our campers the opportunity to get baptized at camp since many of them never go to church. On Wednesday night, before we even had taught about baptism, one camper told our Camper Coach that she wanted to get baptized and be a full-blooded Christian!! Ranger Dave, our Assistant Program Director, met with each of the 6 girls that were baptized and made sure they understood what it means and got permission from their parents to baptize them.

It was so precious to see these girls publically choose to follow Christ in baptism. During the campfire time many of them shared how special camp was to them and how much they loved their counselors. Thank you for all your prayers for camp, let’s praise God together for His work in the camper’s lives.

Serving Jesus,
Ben and Grace Smith

It was Senior Boys this past week, June 8-12, and we had our best senior boys camp ever!

There were 13 campers, 7 Green Team kids, and a lot of volunteer staff! Our camp theme is “Trailblazers” this year, and we are talking about the Journey of Life and how the pioneers went west. So we greet the campers in costume- and on horseback!

Meet the Bears~ with counselors Cliff and David.

Here are the Lions~ with counselors Brian and Chris.

It’s the Wolverines~ with counselors Matt and Andy.

And the Eagles~ with counselors Eric and Ben.

Each morning, after breakfast, the teams have devotions together. These young men asked a lot of questions about God, the Bible and life. It was really neat to see them studying God’s Word, praying and memorizing scripture. One young man learned 85 verses!

After morning devotions, they go to Activity classes. Here is Julius doing archery.

Dominick is at the Tomahawks practicing his throws.

This is Michael on the Ropes Course. He and several other guys have been coming to camp for 4 years now and were sad to realize it was their last year to be campers (they are 16 now). Hopefully they can come as support staff next year!

The horses continue to be the all-time favorite activity at camp, and this year the campers have the option to swim or ride horses in the afternoon, which they especially like.

After lunch we do “Life Skills” classes, and Matt Beaty ran the construction class.

A friend, Terry Brookshire, came and taught a car mechanics class. Also, Linda, our Horse Program Director led a group of guys doing Trailblazing, and they made several new trails for the horse program.

Swim time!

Each evening we have special activities, and Wednesday we took the guys fishing!

Happy Birthday to… Everybody!

On Thursday night we had a pioneer party- a “Rendezvou” with lots of old games including potato sack races.

The Indians and Bandits (camp staff) hid in the fort from the campers who were shooting wet sponges with big slingshots!

Grandpa Tom and Grandma Pansy arrived this week and it was such a blessing to have them here. Grandpa did a beautiful chalk drawing one night, and during the Rendezvous he gave horse drawn carriage rides!

Thank you again for your prayers. After the difficult senior girl’s week we decided to start this week with a staff prayer walk all over camp. There was such a difference in the campers, and their hearts were hungry to know more about God. One young man was up at 12:15 one night reading his Bible, just because he wanted to. Many of the young men made decisions to follow God at camp this week. God is good.

As you pray for camp this week, and the junior girls that are coming, please pray for more sponsors for the campers.

We have just completed our two weeks of senior camp for youth ages 13-16. This is our Senior Girls week, June 1-5.

We had 16 campers, 6 Green Team kids (staff kids), and about 33 volunteer staff members. Nine of the 16 girls were alumni campers, and one girl has been coming to camp since 2004, our first year at Camp David!

Meet the Rubies~ with counselors Lydia and Molly.

It’s the Pearls~ with counselors Jennifer and Chava.

Here are the Sapphires~ with counselors Danielle and Ellie.

And the Diamonds~ with counselors Kathy and Katie.

We couldn’t do camp without our awesome Kitchen Team!!

Each camp day starts bright and early at the Obstacle Course. Here are the Sapphires using the land skis.

Practicing team work at the wall.

During morning activities the campers learn to ride a horse…

and go on a trail ride!

One morning it rained and they stayed inside and made leather crafts.

In cooking class, the girls made pie crusts, picnic eggs, and birthday cakes. The last class was a babysitting class, and our Health Program Director taught that class.

In cooking class, the girls made pie crusts, picnic eggs, and birthday cakes. The last class was a babysitting class, and our Health Program Director taught that class.

Each evening we did a special activity and this picture is of the “Beauty Shop” night. We put face masks on, painted nails, and played with each others hair. It was a lot of fun!

Wednesday night was the Princess Dinner, and this is a beautiful gal named Sarah.

Here is Elizabeth, our Health Program Director, with Yifta. One of our big camp values is relationships, and we try to make sure each camper gets the love and care they are so hungry for.

At the Princess Dinner we also celebrate everybody’s birthdays!

Thank you all for your prayers for camp. The senior girls week was very hard for many reasons, however we know many seeds of truth and God’s love were planted in their hearts and some girls said camp was the best thing ever!

We just completed our week of staff training with about 48 staff members. It was an awesome week!

We are very excited to have almost all the staff positions filled for the summer! It’s going to be the best summer ever!

Our 2009 Leadership Team (left to right): Linda (Horse Program), Jacki (Counselor & Camper Coach), Elizabeth (Health Program), Grace (me- Office Manager), Ben (Camp Director), Zach (Games & Worship Leader), John (Support Staff Leader), and David (Assistant Director).

The best part of the week was all the friendships made!

Every day the staff helped on different work projects- from painting the girl’s bathroom to…

getting the pool ready!

We went over everything from practicing a fire drill to learning how to share the gospel.

Zach led many team building games

Doing dishes in our new dishroom

We got a lot of rain last week which made for some crazy wet fun

One night we had a talent show and each team had to work together to do a show- this is Chava’s team doing a new version of “Little Red Riding Hood”.

Another night we had a Junk Yard War, and each team was allowed 18 items from the resourse pile and told to create something. This team made a multipurpose lamp post that really plugged in and worked!

This team made a ferris wheel at a fair….

And the Wranglers made a horse of course!

All these activities really helped build team spirit!

We also did some morning rotations like we do during a normal week of camp, so the counselors even got to ride horses and…

do the climbing wall!

Thursday night we had a party!

In keeping with our Trailblazers theme, we got into frontieer and indian costumes and had a “Rendezvous” which is like county fair that the traders and pioneers in the west would have.

Relay races were a part of the “Rendezvous”,

and they included potato sack races!

Later on that night we went down to the campfire for our time of worship, chapel, and testimonies.

On Thursday, Jill (Food Service Director) had a training time for all the kitchen staff that will be serving this summer. It was great showing them the new kitchen!

At Camp David we focus on RELATIONSHIPS- relationship with God, each other and those we are serving- the campers. Our week of staff training focused on strengthening and preparing ourselves for a summer of relationships. Stay tuned for many stories of God at work at camp this summer! Senior Girl’s camp begins in just 2 days on June 1st!

God is good. All the time.

Serving Jesus,

Grace Smith

The Overlander’s team from MI led by Tom Thiery, arrived on Sunday, April 5th and stayed through April 10th.

There were 11 high school students, and 3 adult leaders. Grandpa Tom is great at clearing out woods and the team got to work right away!

These are the woods below the new staff housing…

…and here is the new staff lounge area!

A large pond was put in last summer, and the team attacked the pile of trees and made the pathway a lot wider!

Grandpa Tom at work!

Some of the logs the team cut up were saved for our western fence. During the week the Lucky Ducky 4-H group came out and planted flowers all over camp, and some went along this new log fence.

Ben led the team in splitting some cedar logs and making a split rail fence for me.

Between the Overlanders team and the 4-H group, we got the new garden all planted.

Work continued daily on Fort Turley.

Hanging more drywall!

Our girls took some of the team with them to collect rocks for another new garden…

Here is the new rock garden circle. Our friend Debbie Hickle gave us these plants and they are already growing very nicely!

Burning leaves and cleaning up around the covered wagon circle.

Working hard…

and more drywall…

It was SO nice to have our friend Ennes (far left) here with the team, and Gabe (far right- with red jacket). Gabe served as support staff last summer and Ennes has been part of our camp staff for several years now. We had a party one night they were here and invited all the local staff to come over to visit our MI friends and the Henrys.

Hanging FRP board (fiberglass panels) in the dishroom. This was all donated by Lee Collins and will make the dishroom very easy to clean.

The dish sinks are getting set in place!

The team also worked to convert our castle into a western fort.

Grandpa Tom is an artist and was teaching the students as they went along…

Doesn’t that FORT look neat!!! The flowers and grass on the bottom were a nice touch I think!

For some recreation, the team went to our local cave and had a good ole’ hillbilly tour!

Some of the team also helped with a sewing project for the girl camper’s birthday gifts, and they also helped with a mailing- now all the camper invitations and registrations have been sent out and camper’s moms are calling! It is exciting to hear those from last year talk about how much camp meant to their children.

Well, as the Overlanders Team left Friday morning, another team arrived – a youth group from Moberly, MO. Their big project was getting Fort Turley all cleaned out and organized! It looks so nice now!

We continue to praise God for all the help and all that is getting done in readiness for camp. It is only 6 weeks until staff training now!

Serving Jesus,
Ben and Grace Smith, Camp Directors