During Memorial Day weekend, 34 Maranatha volunteers headed into Oregon’s Cascade mountains to begin a project at Big Lake Youth Camp. The mission trip was part of an effort to construct cabins at the Seventh-day Adventist retreat center. But it turns out that the hardest work was simply getting into camp.
Thick snow covered three-miles of the main access road to camp, immobilizing vehicles. Then, warmer temperatures created slush, making it difficult to use snowmobiles. Finally, camp staff recruited 4-wheel drive vehicles to transport guests and their belongings into Big Lake. Sections of the road still challenged the caravan. But in true Maranatha spirit, volunteers jumped in to help the staff shovel snow and clear the roads. Â
Once at camp, the team finished up cabins and a clinic that had been started by a previous Maranatha team last summer. Another mission trip at Big Lake will take place from September 3-17; most likely, snow will no longer be an issue for the volunteers!
Big Lake Youth Camp is a resident camp located at the summit of the Santiam Pass, 22 miles out of Sisters, Oregon, in the Willamette National Forest. It is owned and operated by the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.