I have no idea how this will ever happen. If you cold see the amount of accumulated stuff in the dining hall right now it would be impossible for you to believe that Camp could ever open on time. The entire floor surface of the dining Hall is covered with dishes, plates, equipment, supplies, construction debris, construction supplies . . .

I know that we will need to cook in this kitchen on Saturday night. Honestly, if I had to give you an estimate for how much time it would take just to clean up this room, I would say – four men, two weeks. The problem is, the kitchen is finished yet. The dishwasher isn’t operational yet. We can’t start washing all those dishes until it is up and running.

Camp Log: July 1, 2004 (Thursday) Do or Die.

There’s no going back to the old kitchen. We have pirated it for the new kitchen. It couldn’t work even if we wanted it to work. Forward is the only possible direction.

The college kids are working like troopers. Jack and Tim are putting in 13-15 hour days. Martha and Lori, along with their family members are pushing hard. Still, I can’t imagine that there is any way we can be ready on time. We’ll start washing dishes tomorrow.

We had a great meal together last night – London Broil on the grill. Good thing we can cook outside! But, sooner or later it will rain.

Camp Log: July 3, 2004 (Saturday) We’re cooking!

I can’t believe it! We’re actually using the kitchen! Not everything is finished, but it is working. I never saw people work like these past two days. Things were happening all over the facility. Most of our efforts were here in the Kitchen/Dining Hall, but we were free to focus here because volunteers were taking care of others jobs all around the camp. I’m afraid to mention any names . . . because so many people were working so hard. It would be an injustice to miss any of them. Some of their work was only seen by God, but we all enjoyed the benefits of it.

It will take us a while to sort out all the disorganized piles of stuff we stowed. We will need some time to recover from this mad push. But thank God that He gave us the endurance to see this thing through. And this kitchen . . . it is a beauty!