2017 adult mission trip - camp on the boulder in McLeod, MT
In the wilderness of the Gallatin National Forest in the Rocky Mountains of central Montana, stands Camp on the Boulder (COB), a United Methodist camp that offers a place for retreat, fun and fellowship in a pure and holy place set apart from life’s distractions. The Missions Commission is planning an all congregation, all family mission trip to this little slice of heaven in June, 2017. People of all ages are invited and encouraged to join us. Those who attend can be involved in as much of the ministry as they feel they are able to do.
If the name Camp on the Boulder sounds familiar, it is because ten members of this congregation made the trip in July, 2015, and the beautiful and peaceful surroundings are calling many of them back! For those of you who say “I don’t like camping”, this is not a camping trip as the lodging options include carpeted lodges, bunkhouse dorms and rustic cabins…take your pick! And no need to worry about cooking! Delicious meals, three a day, are taken care of by Martha, the camp cook, and take place in the half century old log dining hall.
There is plenty to do in the area while taking in the peace and beauty of Gods’ world. Natural Bridge State Park is close by; hiking on one of the many trails in the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness surrounding camp, or fishing in the spectacular Boulder River to name a few.
Come refresh your soul, relax your mind and disconnect from the distractions of the world and connect with your family and God. More information will be made available in the coming months, talk to Laura Miller or Linda Trinite.
If the name Camp on the Boulder sounds familiar, it is because ten members of this congregation made the trip in July, 2015, and the beautiful and peaceful surroundings are calling many of them back! For those of you who say “I don’t like camping”, this is not a camping trip as the lodging options include carpeted lodges, bunkhouse dorms and rustic cabins…take your pick! And no need to worry about cooking! Delicious meals, three a day, are taken care of by Martha, the camp cook, and take place in the half century old log dining hall.
There is plenty to do in the area while taking in the peace and beauty of Gods’ world. Natural Bridge State Park is close by; hiking on one of the many trails in the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness surrounding camp, or fishing in the spectacular Boulder River to name a few.
Come refresh your soul, relax your mind and disconnect from the distractions of the world and connect with your family and God. More information will be made available in the coming months, talk to Laura Miller or Linda Trinite.
2015 Adult Mission Trip Recap - Camp on the Boulder in McLeod, MTOur team of ten embarked on a two day journey to Montana on July 11th, 2015. We began the trip by taking a 20 hour Amtrak train to Denver, CO; where we then rented a 15 passenger van and drove the remaining 10 hours through beautiful scenery up to south central Montana. We finally arrived to Camp on the Boulder in rural Montana around 9pm on Sunday night. Camp Directors, Steve and Cindy, greeted us warmly as soon and showed us to our 2 gender separated cabins where we all got much needed sleep to get ready for our busy work week.
Our first day of work started bright and early on Monday. Mrs. Martha, the camp’s own cook, provided a delicious home cooked breakfast at 8am. We quickly got to work with a full stomach and excitement for what was in store for us. Roger, the camp’s current Pastor, took us on a short tour of the tabernacle on the camp and gave us a briefing of some projects to accomplish over the week. Since our team had a variety of skills and talents, we split up into groups on the first day. Don, Sam & Joe Trinite jumped right into the manual labor by spending 8 hours power washing the huge tabernacle used for Worship services. The rest of our team went on a quick tour with Cindy of the 70 acre land to understand more about the Camps history and what we could do to help. We found out that Cindy and Steve had just become directors of the camp in April and have been working 16 hour days maintaining and improving the camp for months. Because of their efforts, Camp on the Boulder is in better condition than it has been in very many years. After we understood the enormous amount of responsibilities and pressure Cindy & Steve had on them, our team decided we would brainstorm and think of anything we could do over the next few days to lighten their load. Ceci Diaz spent the day mowing & weedwacking the thick, overgrown grass all around the camp. Gloria Ludwig & Anne Holmberg spent the day cleaning one of the largest cabins they had to get it ready for the next group to stay there. Cindy mentioned their website was in much need of improvement, as well as they are looking into changing the name of the camp in the next few months. Our team suggested we would design them a whole new website complete with all info we could think of. Hailey Miller, Jeanette Frank, Linda Trinite & Laura Miller spent a majority of the first day mapping out the entire website, taking photos of cabins with descriptions, and putting everything together. As a gift, our team purchased a year subscription to Weebly for the camp and offered 3 months of continued support from us to make changes and updates when needed. Our next two days consisted of staining the freshly power washed wooden tabernacle, which hasn’t been stained in 50+ years. This was truly a team effort from all of us; we spent around 9-10 hours on both Tuesday and Wednesday staining the giant wooden tabernacle, battling giant spiders & horse fly’s, and having a great time enjoying each other’s company while working. The finished effort was incredible; Cindy and Steve were ecstatic and said it looks like the tabernacle has been “brought back to life”. In addition to staining on these days, we cleaned and trimmed the bushes in front of the Dining Hall, Don & Ceci spent hours using a chainsaw to remove a few of the dead bushes crowding the front of the building. Steve invited a local friend of his to give us a “Chinking 101 Class”. Chinking is the method of sealing the walls of log cabins to protect the interior from weather and bugs. The process of chinking was very interesting to learn, and also an extremely tedious process involving removing the old chink, insulating the large spaces, and finally applying the thick mortar to the spaces in between the logs. To celebrate our accomplishments and get to know each other more, Cindy and Steve invited everyone to a bonfire for smore’s on Wednesday night. We all ended up spending hours around the fire with Cindy and Steve, as well as a couple ‘Nomads’ (another work group that was there) enjoying each other’s company and soaking up God’s amazing creation. Thursday was our last work day at Camp on the Boulder, we finished some small projects that needed to be done such as more landscaping, fixing lawn mowers, working on the website, refilling first aid kits & much more. It stormed for most of the evening, but when it finally stopped, there was a full double rainbow on the mountain right next to the camp. The view was absolutely breathtaking and a perfect ending to our week spent at this wonderful camp. A message from Cindy and Steve (Camp Directors) “Last week we had the awesome opportunity to spend four very busy days with the mission team from 1st UMC of Des Plaines IL. Every one of them gave of their heart and truly embraced the mission and vision of Camp on the Boulder. They worked long days to stain the chapel, clean and trim the Lilac bushes at the dining hall and helped restring the flag pole so that we can fly a larger US Flag and the UM flag. Chris Ross came to give us all a class in chinking and we practiced on cabin 9. We were blessed to spend several hours around the campfire in fellowship that we will remember forever. We can't thank you enough for your hard work and dedication. We were uplifted, inspired, and refreshed by your spirits” |
Rainbow Covenant
We are a Rainbow covenant church. In the Northern Illinois Conference, our local churches make a commitment to support local, regional and international mission projects and ministries through the Rainbow Covenant.
Red Band — International Advance Projects Orange Band — Disaster Relief Projects (UMCOR) Yellow Band — U.S. Based National Advance Projects Green Band — NIC Advance Projects Blue Band — NIC District Advance Projects Purple Band — Missionary Support 2015 Adult Mission Team
Ceci Diaz; Jeanette Frank; Anne Holmberg; Gloria Ludwig; Laura Miller; Hailey Miller; Linda Trinite; Don Trinite; Sam Trinite; and Joe Trinite. |
