Looking Back at Camp Nathanael

At the start of the summer I had a big dream of writing a post on this blog every week. As I look around this website I see a little bit of a disappointing sight... 3 Blog posts. Given that Camp is 8 and 1/2 weeks long there ought to be more posts, right? That's what I told myself at first, however, as Ali (who has since become my lovely fiance) so lovingly told me, I was busy and I need not beat myself up in my head over this. More than this, she told me that rather than setting the expectation of a weekly blog post, they can be whenever there is big news, or simply whenever I have time. So I am taking the wonder wisdom of my Fiance and carrying it forward.

Since my last post, a lot has happened at Camp Nathanael and I shan't bother you with all the minutia, but I will attempt to touch on the big highlights. As I mention often to people I talk to, the biggest part of my job at Camp this summer was mentorship, I got the wonderful opportunity to mentor 5 of our oldest Noncoms, meeting with them once a week to talk about their spiritual growth, their emotional maturity, and what the Lord has been teaching them. As I met with them I was greatly encouraged as many of their thoughts and areas of growth were very similar to my own when I was in their shoes back in 2021. One of my mentees mentioned to me that Camp grew his confidence in himself. At Camp, our Noncoms face challenging cabins, campers with lots of questions, or work on difficult crews, but despite the difficulties, each Noncom, with the support of the staff members and his fellow Noncoms, learns to tackle and face those challenges head on. This in turn, grows his confidence in a way that will become incredibly valuable over the course of his life and especially his time at Camp.

Conversations like these were my lifeblood at Camp this summer and they enriched my time and I could tell were not only food for my heart and soul but also for the Noncoms as well.

In the midst of all the mentor meetings, and staff meetings, and time spent at the climbing tower, Ali and I made sure to use what time we got to spend quality time together and continue loving each other and developing our relationship. Most of our weekends were spent sitting together, going swimming, canoeing, or building Legos together. However, on the weekend of July 19th, Ali and I did something a little more special. Ali prepared dinner, while I got one of our John Deere UTVs, put a blanket in the back of it, and got ready to go out to a little place outside of Camp called Sunset Corner. Ali and I ate dinner and with happy stomachs, joyful laughter, and a pretty sunset behind us, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. Spoiler alert, she said yes! We plan to get married on the 24th with a small ceremony, then a much much bigger ceremony will follow next summer to which much more of our friends and family will be invited.

Now, in more recent news, Ali and I have traveled down to Florida where we will be till the 7th of September. We are taking care of a few things we must do in preparation for the SBS coming up at the end of September. After we leave Florida we will travel up to Minnesota until we need to leave for SBS.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, especially as we begin a new chapter of life as a married couple. You can pray for continued financial support as we close in on the start of SBS, for a buyer who wants Ali's Motorcycle and providence for a good car to get us up to Minnesota and Montana.

Blessings,

Levi R Miller