Dear Friends,

Think back to some of your fondest childhood memories. Does your mind wander back to warm sunny days when time seemed to stand still and you had a full summer ahead of to fill with carefree times and friends? Remember the pleasure you took in simple things - being outside, soaking in the sun, catching frogs, chasing butterflies. Remember laying out at night counting shooting stars or playing hide-and-go-seek. Summertime memories seem to be the ones we hold onto and cherish the most.

Now think of all the kids who have looked forward to and enjoyed their time at Monarch over the summers. Your prayers, financial gifts, words of encouragement and contribution of time, food or billets have all helped make those memorable times a possibility for the 1800 children who have passed through the tent flaps of Monarch in the past 9 years. They say, "It takes a whole community to raise a child." I say, "It takes a whole Christian community to raise a child for the Lord." It really is a group effort.

Thank you for your interest in Monarch and for the gifts you have given over the years. We all share in the task of creating those summer memories that campers will cherish. And we all share in raising up a child for the Lord. For many campers Monarch has played an important role in their spiritual life with camp being the place where they gave their heart to the Lord. For others it has been the place where they have been challenged to grow closer to Him. And for others it has been the place where they grew up and then were able to serve the Lord as staff and to recognize the gifts He has given and to enter into the joy of serving Him.

Most importantly, camp is about ETERNITY and helping kids realize they need the Lord in their life. What an honour it is to be a part of that important work. In light of other ministries that bring medical aid, food or relief from oppression to people in dire need, camp seems pretty frivolous, but to kids who know little about God, camp is vital. For many kids camp is the way they are introduced to the Lord since they can’t learn about Him in school and many families know little about God themselves.. We need to keep on with the business of camp - for the campers and staff who grow in the Lord, gain confidence and develop leadership skills.

The Lord has blessed Monarch in so many ways this year. First of all He heard our cry for a new truck. The old camp van was just old and we had been searching for quite a while for a replacement. A ‘98 GMC Sierra 4x4 was generously donated by Tim Janzen. It’s awesome. It drives so smoothly, pulls so easily and it’s a pretty green.

Another blessing was to receive funding for 7 government grants. We used only 6. Most staff were hired before the grants came through. We couldn’t fill the 7th position of Waterfront Director. What a joy to offer good wages to those 6 staff. Carly and Beth were unable to receive one because of being the director’s child. The Lord blessed them and they made a good wage, although it was only about half of what the grant positions paid.

Another incredible blessing was to have the support of many churches, some newly interested and some long-time supporters. We partner with churches in three locations and they provide food, billets, snacks, prayers, help with promotion and in some cases finances. Other churches assist also with snacks, prayers and finances. Without their support we just couldn’t do camp.

THANK YOU!!

We had incredible weather all summer, with rain coming mostly at night. Several times, when it did rain during the day, we prayed about it and the campers were amazed when God dried things up. I love it when God does that! We were reminded of the tornado last year when at the same camp we had some high winds and very dark skies. Several campers and some staff were frightened.

We had a great crew of staff. God just keeps on blessing. They were lots of fun to work with and did so well making the campers feel loved and acted just crazy enough to keep it interesting! The staff really enjoyed the campers and hanging with each other.

2007 STAFF

Full Summer

Sen. Pro. Director-Melody Fogwell

Drama Pro. Dir.-Ryan Kerr

Team Building-Melissa Bate

Music Dir.-Sarah Paterson

Sports-Sarah Landry

Staff Supervisor-Kathryne Silver

Senior Counselor-Beth Ward

Senior Counselor-Carly Ward

Jr Counselor-Bethany Livingstone

Partial Summer

Junior Counselor-Dean Paterson

Junior Counselor-John Posta

Junior Counselor-Caitlyn Olschewski

Junior Counselor-Austin Benson

Junior Counselor-Kyle Fell

Volunteers-Frank + John Stacey

Resident Camp Volunteers

Tim + Kelly Wessell

Donna Lee Sisson

Dave Burrows

Doug Harkness

Michelle Reay

Chapel Speakers and Counselors

Dave + Rachel Vant Erve

Skills Instructors

Richard + Edith Edwards

Another incredible blessing was our wonderful campers. It is so rewarding having many campers return and getting to see how they have grown and how the Lord has continued to work in their lives. And so much fun getting to know the new campers and welcome them to the Monarch Family. There really is no place like camp for building relationships and for teaching about God. A week of camp is like a year of Sunday School because of such concentrated teaching.

2007 CAMP

West Guilford 27 12 Mile-Minden 40

Stacey’s Farm-Coby 43 Skills Camp-Coby 36

Resident Camp 50

Haliburton 31 Eagle Lake 28

TOTAL 255 (highest yet) New Campers 90

Prayers for Salvation 43 Prayers of Recommitment 41

Please pray for all these campers. All Day Campers were given follow up material to challenge them to grow in the Lord and to get into a regular time of Bible Study. Please pray that they will put the effort into building upon that relationship.

Future Plans

• increase our number of campers
• word of mouth our greatest tool
• develop a strategic plan to tell more people about the camp
• generate more interest in local churches so we can partner with them to evangelize and disciple children
• replace big tent with something easier to put up
• increase Teresa’s missionary support on a continual basis- the Board has set this as a priority
• develop some new interesting programs for campers
• develop a leadership training program for young people interested in camp ministry
• develop a mentor ship program for staff members to ensure that they are growing in faith outside of camp

• costumes for our drama box-could be someone willing to sew some
• someone to make a mini golf out of wood that can be staked into the ground so it is mobile
• camcorder to make videos for campers

WARD NEWS