My oldest son, Michael, has been spending this week at Laurel Ridge, a summer camp run by the Moravian Church in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  But Michael isn’t attending the regular summer camp, rather he is attending a mission camp.  Here’s what the kids in the 2004 version of mission camps did:

In three weeks 100 youth and 30 adults worked with 30 families to:

• build 9 ramps
• clean windows in 17 homes
• mow, weed-eat, & clean 16 yards
• complete 11 painting jobs
• replace one trailer floor
• do 6 carpentry projects
• provide general cleaning and organization for 8 homes
• build 3 picnic tables
• complete 3 roofs over decks
• landscape 5 yards

It just so happens that my aunt runs Laurel Ridge and so we’ve gotten a little advanced feedback on Michael’s experience this week.  According to my aunt Michael has been working on a house that features an indoor and outdoor woodburning stove (on the porch).  The indoor stove is used by the woman living there for heat and for cooking in the cold months.  The outdoor stove is used for cooking in the hot months.

I can hardly wait to hear about this directly from Michael.  After all, this is a kid who was astonished when he finds out there are still people connecting to the internet with dial-up.  I’d say he’ll have a very fresh perspective.