Spring Has Sprung

In Wisconsin, spring has sprung. Actually, more like summer and last I checked, it was March! ( I know it is now April, but it took me a couple weeks to get this out) We have had 12 days in a row of record breaking highs and most of them have been in the 80’s. Leaves are coming out and flowers are filling the flower beds. It is a relief from the mild winter we had, where we struggled to provide winter activities for our campers. Praise God though, we had just enough snow and just enough cold temperatures to make the winter camps possible. Our new broomball rink was in use and our tubing hill got a face-lift. More importantly we received so many reports, from the youth leaders, of God’s moving in the hearts of the students.
As we move into spring, things will pick up for John. He has just finished up a climbing wall addition and we had a fun time testing it out. He is also working on building new bunk beds for the cabins so we can dispose of the old, creaky, metal beds. Something I am sure the campers will appreciate. Even though it is only March, our summer season is right around the corner and we have a lot of prep and cleaning up to do to get ready. Along with our usual summer preparations, the State has changed our license and we fall under different regulations now. What this means is, to be in compliance with the new regulations, we need to eliminate some of the beds in each of the cabins. We often fill all of our beds at Camp, so to continue serving the number of campers we do now, we have to build some more cabins.
Despite the changes and work to be done, great things are happening. Our staff is growing in unity and just got back from the spring CCCA (Christian Camp and Conference Association) conference. It was a time of great refreshment and encouragement through classes, fellowship, and Bible teaching with other Christian camp staff from Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska.
We are settling into our home gradually and excited to start working on a garden and the long awaited tree house. John is still working with his Doctor and Neurosurgeon, trying to find relief from his back injury. We were able to purchase a new mattress with the generous donations from several of our supporters. This has been so helpful but it doesn’t completely eliminate the back pain at night.

Partner with us!

PRAY for healing for John’s back. He is struggling to do everyday tasks that his job requires.
PRAY for Expeditions as they adjust to the new regulations and find ways to keep our numbers up.
PRAY and CONSIDER if you might be able to partner with us financially. We are in great need of monthly supporters. If this is something God is leading you to do, please give us a call or send us an email. johnandbrookewright@hotmail.com

All in a day's work

One of John's current projects at Expeditions is a new paintball trailer. Looks like a pretty sweet set up!

Pictures from this weekend's retreat

This Weekend At Expeditions

Looking forward to a great weekend of training, paintball and high ropes with New life Community Church of Baraboo and Trinity Baptist Church of Reedsburg. Keep us in your prayers! John will be in the kitchen cooking for this crew.

Prayer Request

Last week John met with a neurosurgeon to go over his MRI and see what can be done about his back pain. 2 of his discs are severely deteriorated with one of them pretty much gone. There isn't much they can do about that. He also has a lot of nerve pain with it that goes down his leg. Looking at the MRI, it seems to be one or two culprit nerves. Today, we will go back to St. Mary's to get injections into those 2 nerves. I guess it is a little different than an epidural steroid injection as they are actually putting the injection directly into the nerve. Sound like it will be very "uncomfortable". Please be praying for John and the Doctors today.

A quick note

Thank you to those of you praying for us! There were a couple things we asked you to pray for in our last post and I wanted to give you an update. First of all, John had a doctor appointment yesterday and I think he is encourage that we are finally being proactive again. He will be scheduled for another MRI soon to see if things have worsened. He is also back at the clinic today having some X-rays done and blood work. It is always possible that there is something completely different causing the pain, for example, Lymes Disease. We hadn't thought of anything like that and we would like to rule anything we can out before we resort to drastic measures.

One other exciting thing concerning John's back, we've had some money come in the mail to help us with the cost of a new mattress. PRAISE GOD! Please pray we can come up with the rest of the needed funds.

A time of Thanks!

We have so much to be thankful for! I just got done reading the true story of Squanto to Ethan in preparation for this week’s celebration. We all know the story right? Well, while I was reading the story, I was brought to tears as I realized how God used this one man to change the course of our nation’s history. What seemed like unbearable circumstances as he was ripped from his home, sold into slavery only to gain freedom 10 years later and find his entire tribe was wiped out, due to disease... were really times of preparations for him
to fulfill God’s plan for our nation and for him. So as I look at my own life’s ups and downs, I am thankful because I know that God is using us for something so much bigger than what we see! So on that note, I want to share with you my “thankfulness” list.

We are thankful for you, our supporters! If it wasn’t for you, there would be no ministry and the message of salvation would not be proclaimed through Expeditions.

We are thankful for this last year of moving and upheaval because we are learning to be content, flexible and patient.

We are thankful for lots of time with family members who have passed away this last year. Those precious months will forever remain in our hearts.

We are thankful for a home to live in. After months of closed doors and frustration, God opened the doors to this home that we purchased in September.

We are thankful for John’s chronic back pain because it causes us to rely on God’s strength and grow in our walk with the Lord.

We are thankful that God is in control no matter how bad things may look at times.

We are thankful God continues to use us to minister through Expeditions.

We are thankful for how God is using Expeditions to reach the lost and build up our youth.

We are thankful for the many volunteers who have given of their time to Expeditions. They are always an encouragement to the staff and our family.

We are thankful for all the projects that were funded and completed this last year.

We are thankful that despite a struggling economy, the number of campers continues to rise.

We are thankful for your prayers. Actually we covet them because we can do nothing in our own strength.

Praises, Prayer Requests and Needs

Praise God, it looks as though Expeditions will be given 11 cabins from an old resort. We will be using them to replace some of our aging cabins. Please pray that all the details will fall into place and the actual moving of the buildings will go smoothly.

Praise God, the Ops (operations) Center is up and running thanks to many volunteers, generous donations and man hours. This has created so much more time in everyone’s day. Instead of supplies and tools being stored in several different locations, they are now all under one roof. We also have a place to work on Camp’s vehicles and machinery. What a huge blessing!

Praise God, a church has donated a second broomball rink... a favorite for our winter campers.

Please Pray for healing in John’s back. Every day is a struggle for him and very painful. Nights are no better and we are in desperate need of a new mattress. We are also in need of wisdom concerning treatment.. Every doctor we talk with says he shouldn’t be working in construction anymore. Please pray for God’s direction.

Please Pray that God will raise up new supporters for our family. With the purchase of our “new” home, finances are extremely tight.

May God bless you and draw you closer to himself this season of celebration,