Merry Christmas from Camp des Cimes! As this year is coming to a close, we are reflecting on all of the change and growth we’ve experienced in 2022, and we are so thankful! Our time at camp is going well, and we are really starting to feel settled and at home here. In this Advent season, we are reminded again of the hope, peace, joy, and love that Christ’s coming brought and continues to bring to Earth. It is a joy for us to be here humbly serving a savior who had such humble beginnings himself.

So far, this Christmas season has been filled with so many good things. Recently, we have really been able to get into the Christmas spirit and have some fun team bonding by decorating camp’s main building for Christmas, making and decorating Christmas cookies, and writing Christmas card letters to all of our summer campers! It has definitely helped that we have gotten some good snow here in the mountains, too! To make it even better, Hailey’s family is coming to visit for the holidays. We are so excited to spend time with them and to show them the place that we love so much.

We have also been able to host several groups for short retreats at the camp over the past couple of months. These stays included a couple of youth groups, a church, Young Life Spain, and soon a group of Greater Europe Mission missionary kids from all over the continent. During the church retreat, we were able to sit in on their Sunday service in which many of the members came up to share how God had been working in them over the weekend. What we kept hearing over and over again is that they were leaving the weekend feeling lighter than when they arrived. Sometimes during the off season here, it is easy to forget the impact that our work can have on people, but what a joy it is to know that even the behind the scenes work allows camp to function and therefore, allows people a place where they can take a break from the outside world, encounter God, and then leave with burdens lifted and a feeling of lightness!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and pray that the holidays can be a time of rest, family gatherings, fun, and remembering the sacrifice and love the Father has shown us in sending his son down to Earth.