"To Live and Serve our Best"

The Cobalt Sky

hainesbarakel — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:58:04 +0000

A beautiful evening sky at the end of our tubing hill

We are thankful to God for beautiful snowy weather these last few weekends for our Winter Retreats here at Camp Barakel. I’ve been able to work on the tubing hill a few times recently, which is one of my favorite things to do here. Campers love tubing and skating, so we are so glad that everything is up and running.

On Jan 25th, Sarah and I were able to speak in the Jr. High and Sr. High chapels at Jackson Christian High School (Sarah Bowman- class of ’99!). We had done several church presentations when we were raising missionary support to join Camp staff, but this time was not about us. We went to tell the teens about Camp Barakel and the opportunities for camping and the joy that is found in serving. Lord willing, the bleachers were filled with future campers, Techs, Engineers, Yaps, and Counselors.

So far we at Barakel have hosted three Father/Son retreats, one College and Career and two teen retreats. We have six more weekends before our winter season is over. We continue to pray for cold weather, snow, and lives to be changed through the Gospel.

Pastor JJ Sherwood, bringing the Word to a chapel full of teens.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

-Dan (For Sarah, Asher and Isaac)

Short on firewood…not on trees.

hainesbarakel — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:14:45 +0000

(The banner above is the before picture)

This is 48 hours after the fire. The ashes were still warm.

Thanks to everyone that’s been praying for us. We are moving forward in the process of cutting and gathering wood for the winter.

It will take a lot of man-hours, but we don’t expect to have trouble finding dead trees to cut down on our 350 acres.

The other point I wanted to make is that the woodshed did not house all of our wood. Most of the buildings with fireplaces were already stocked and there is a secondary place for bigger furnace wood. That will, thankfully, get us at least partly through the winter. I’m told that some were speculating that everyone at Barakel was going to freeze to death and thought it would be worth clarifying that we will not.

It’s still a huge loss, but we are grateful to God that it wasn’t any worse. We likely won’t have any weekend volunteer groups up to cut wood until March or April since we are working on other deadline projects till Christmas and then are running winter retreats until March 4th. Call Barakel’s office if you’d like to donate anything towards our efforts (989.848.2279). We bought a wood-splitter to help us keep up and are looking into a wood-chipper (so we don’t have to burn branches – likely the start of the fire) and a new pump on our firetruck.

Here are a few more pictures from last Monday night:

Mike Baker and Jon Ford being amazing

Another fireman on the left

Fairview's firetruck in background, ours in front. Guess which one is 50 years older?

Meanwhile, we are still working on getting the freezer and walk-in cooler finished at the East Side Dining Hall after major renovations. That will keep us pretty busy until Christmas break. I’ve been working on tiling both rooms and then helping put the glass-board up on the walls.

I think that’s all for now. We’d love to hear from you as to how you are doing. HainesBarakel@gmail.com.

Dan Haines (For Sarah, Asher, and Isaac)

Firewood

hainesbarakel — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:01:17 +0000

Tonight a fire in our maintenance area destroyed a shed and all the firewood in it. But there is much to praise God for: no one was injured, the fire did not spread to any adjacent buildings or equipment, recent rains kept the surrounding areas from catching fire, and both the staff men and the Fairview Fire Department responded quickly. We have lost 40 cords of firewood (one cord is four feet wide, four feet tall, and eight feet long) which represents many hours of labor, and many dollars of savings off of heating fuel. Tonight we are just grateful for everyone’s safety. (Taken from Barakel’s facebook page)

The Engineers, the teenage boy volunteers, spend much of the summer cutting, hauling, splitting, and stacking the wood that is needed for our furnaces and fireplaces. We are thankful that the fire is mostly out, but know that it will mean a lot of work replenishing our firewood supply and rebuilding the pavilion that housed it.

The woodshed before

Once the fire's contained, all we can do is watch.

I’ll be on fire-sitting duty from 3-6am tonight. I hope it behaves!

Thanks for your prayers as we press on with the ministry here at Camp Barakel. -DH

“The guy from last year”

hainesbarakel — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:40:15 +0000

On September 21st, we celebrated our first first full year at Camp Barakel! This means I got to take part in all of the retreats from our first year and about five of them for the second time. A lot of our campers are returners and I enjoy talking to people that I met last year. Sometimes people remember my name, but they are more likely to say something like, “Oh yeah, you’re the…”

“Archery guy” or…

“Zipline guy” or…

“Dishes guy” or…

“Guitar guy”

And they would be right. Those sum up most of what I do during the fall retreats. It’s far from glorious (bathrooms don’t clean themselves!), but I love what I do, partly because I get to work with people, but mostly because those activities bring people up to Camp Barakel to have fun, spend time together, and learn from Scripture about our great Savior at four different chapel sessions during a weekend retreat.

The campers, however, are only here for the weekends. The Resident Missionary Staff spend Tuesday through Friday preparing for the coming retreats, which, for me, mostly involves cleaning and doing construction. Since the summer ended, we’ve been able to finish a ridiculously big stairway going down to Crosscut Lodge as well as add a roof over a deck on the East Side Dining Hall and shingle it. We were helped by several volunteers, which made the jobs less daunting. I’ve also had a few smaller projects.

November and December are very different for us because we don’t have any campers. We switch to a regular work week (Monday-Friday) and focus completely on waiting projects without needing to worry about cleaning and retreats. Right now I’m working with Mike Baker and Cody Leonard to gut and re-insulate the walk-in freezer and cooler in the East Side kitchen. That building needs a lot of work, so we’ll do what we can before January retreats. It’s also the holiday season and a time when many of us use our vacation time visiting family and friends “down-state”.

This past Saturday, Sarah and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! Sarah’s parents threw a huge party with food, music and a little dancing! It was nice of them to think of us, but I’m pretty sure that they were more consumed with it also being Sarah’s sister’s wedding day. We are now anniversary twins with Michael “Koz” and Emily Kozma. The U.S. Army let Koz come home for two weeks from Afghanistan to get married. He’ll head back on Saturday to, “fight the bad guys”, as Asher likes to say. With hope, they’ll live together at an Army base in the states in August.

Sarah has been very busy with the boys as usual. Her duties with Barakel are put on hold for 1 year after having a child, which we appreciate. She enjoys attending a young moms group weekly and an exercise group in town a few times a week. I’m very thankful for her hard work and support as she takes care of the boys and me throughout the days. Sadly, Sarah’s 89 year-old grandma passed away a few weeks ago. It has been a rough time, but we are thankful to know that she is with Christ in glory.

Asher is 3 now and Isaac is 8 months. As of now, they think the world of each other. Isaac is pretty sure that everything Asher does is amazing. Asher looks forward to the day that Isaac can swordfight and throw a ball. They are both stinkers when it’s naptime or when they are hungry, but we love them and enjoy watching them grow. With hope, they will grow to love Christ.

Looking back on our first year, we are so thankful for the many friends and family that have been able to visit and stay at our home. We have been able to make valuable friendships in town and at our church here, but we miss all of you, our 5 Points Church Family and Town Square Pizza in Rochester. Mmmm.

In Christ,

Dan, Sarah

Asher & Isaac

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(1 Corinthians 3:10-11 ESV)

Summer 2011!

hainesbarakel — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 05:24:20 +0000

Waving to the buses

Watching the buses come in every Tuesday.

Our summer season at Camp Barakel is well underway as we are finishing our fifth week of camping. As many of you know, Barakel is separated into two sides of the property, each with its own chapel, dining hall, activity areas, and sleeping quarters, but sharing the beautiful Shear Lake between them.

Running to meet their new counselor!

Each counselor has 8 campers.

This week and much of the summer will host 4-6^thgraders on the West side of Camp and 7-9^th graders on the East. This past July 7^th marked Barakel’s 58^th summer of Christ-centered camping! Each camper attends 10 chapel services throughout the week, learning about their sinfulness, their need for Christ and learning to live a life in view of the Gospel.

Our first summer counseling - 2000

The summer is special to Sarah and me because we met each other as Summer Staff counselors 11 years ago in this very place. It’s also a significant time because we remember the joys and struggles of being a counselor and the way that God gives maturity through them. During those summers, we met weekly with a Resident Staff member to talk about how our week was going and ask their advice on how to handle our 8 or more campers. Now that we are the Resident Staff and considered pretty old by the new summer staff, Sarah and I each meet with a counselor every week with the hope to encourage them as they serve this summer.

Crosscut Lodge: Still some exterior stonework to do.

Dan getting some much needed help from Asher.

Since I’m on Maintenance Staff, summer is very different for me than it once was. Summer is now “farmers’ tan” season as I spent last week with several other guys roofing the Ski Haus at Sno Valley (spell-check is so mad at me right now!) and have been working on the exterior stonework at Crosscut Lodge before and since then. Part Time Staff (PTS) volunteers, who come to Barakel for the week, are a big help to us. I had spent a lot of time in the past months working alone, so it’s refreshing to meet new people and have great guys to work with throughout the week. We couldn’t run camp without PTS.

The Ski Haus with a fancy new roof.

I’ve also been leading the praise music for the Techs and Engineers, the teenage volunteer workers, since they have their own Bible study and chapel time. I don’t do it every week, but I’m scheduled for about half of the summer. I enjoy doing it and it keeps me from getting rusty as a praise-guy.

Songs for the Techs and Engineers. (Technically, the songs were for Jesus).

The interior of Crosscut is almost completed

Don’t let my details and pictures fool you. Sarah lives a busier life than I, taking care of the boys all day. Isaac just turned 4 months old today and enjoys eating, smiling, standing (with help), sucking his thumb, and looking at his big brother. Asher loves to play outside, especially the sandbox at the lake, and loves to play hide and seek (without telling us!). He also has a great imagination. We are in the middle of potty-training, so every day when I get home, he gives me a big hug and a nice report of what he did on the potty that day.

(All of the really fancy pictures are taken and edited by BAM Photography. Our kids aren't actually this cute)

Asher 2 years, 9 months

Isaac at 7 weeks

Isaac - 4 months

In June, Sarah had to have her gall bladder removed, which was causing her extreme pain. We praise God for providing a skilled surgeon that was able to do the surgery soon after our initial visit to the ER. Sarah has also had to deal with a broken “pinkie” toe and a sprained ankle, which make being a mom a lot more complicated. Thanks to everyone that prayed and continues to pray for her recovery and endurance as she takes care of one child that can’t move and another that can’t stop moving. We are thankful that Sarah’s sister, Emily, came to visit and help with Asher and Isaac as Sarah recovered.

A pre-summer trip to the zoo with the Bowmans

This week is a Bowman family invasion! Sarah’s mom, dad, and brother are all volunteering as nursing staff for the campers. Matthew, Sarah’s brother, brought his wife, Amanda, and their 3 girls. Barakel is based on volunteer staff and there is always a need for nurses, so they are a big help (and fun to have around).

We are so grateful for the many of you that work alongside us through your prayers and financial gifts. You are a gift to us and to this ministry. We would love to hear from you or see you and would encourage you to come up to Camp Barakel as a camper, a volunteer, or just to visit us. Thanks again!

Dan – Sarah – Asher – Isaac

HainesBarakel@gmail.com

HainesBarakel.wordpress.com

Brothers

hainesbarakel — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 04:53:54 +0000

Leaving the hospital

We made it home on Saturday night. We are thankful for the staff at Covenant Hospital and the many friends and family that came to visit us mostly on Friday.

It was fun to bring Isaac home to Asher. We’ve been trying to prepare him for a while and I think he’s doing pretty well. He just told me earlier tonight when Isaac gets older, he’s going to teach him to run and jump and throw a baseball. :)

My brother and I are the same age apart as Asher and Isaac. It will be fun to see them grow up together.

I’m back to my responsibilities at Camp. Twice a year, almost everyone on staff deep cleans every building that the campers walk through. It’s kind of tedious, but enjoyable to spend time with other staff that you don’t work with regularly. I spent most of today dusting high things from a ladder and disinfecting bunk-bed mattresses. Since that’s not very exciting, here are more cute pictures. -DH

What’s in a name…

hainesbarakel — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 18:06:31 +0000

We are naming our second son….
Isaac Judah Haines

Thanks for your patience. We had put this off because Isaac’s due date isn’t till the end of the month.

We wanted to stick with Hebrew names since the rest of our first and middle names are found in the Old Testament.

We love the story of redemption and willing sacrifice with Isaac in the Bible. Isaac means “he laughs”.

Judah means “praised”. David and Jesus were from the lineage of Judah. I don’t know that we’ll stick with the tribes of Israel theme (Asher, Judah), but we like the names so far.

Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement. We are headed home today and are excited to show Asher his new brother!

Baby Haines!

hainesbarakel — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:01:10 +0000

A couple minutes old

We are happy to announce that we have a brand new baby boy! He was born last night (3/17/11) at 8:53pm at Covenant Hospital in Saginaw. He was ten days early. No name yet, but we’ll keep you posted. Here are the stats:

7lbs even, 19 1/2″ long, scored great on the Apgar testing, and has dark brown hair and eyes. Sarah is doing well and had a successful VBAC. We’d love to see you if you wanted to visit us at the hospital! We’ll probably be there till mid-Saturday. We praise God that everything went so well and for giving us great doctors and nurses during the process. Thanks for being excited with us!

Baby Haines 14 hours old

Bring on the snow!

hainesbarakel — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:12:00 +0000

We are almost into our 5^th weekend winter retreat of the season. Most of us Michiganders got over 10 inches of snow on Wednesday morning. I know it made the roads bad and caused pandemonium at your local Meijer, but we love getting snow for our retreat season!

Father/Son retreat

Since Barakel is divided into two different camps on each side of Shear Lake, we are able to run two retreats at once. This has allowed us to have a Father/Son retreat for 3 weekends while putting teenagers on the other side of camp. The only location they share is Snow Valley, which works out fine.

Broom-Ball; a game of slipping and falling...for fun

Campers will agree that Snow Valley is what makes a winter retreat here so much fun. The big draw is the tubing hill, complete with a tow-rope that will return you back to the top of the hill. There is also a warming-hut, a place to rent cross-country skis, and an ice skating area with a regular rink, a hockey rink, and a broom-ball rink for the all-day tournaments on Saturdays. Part of my job is to work the tubing hill, which is my favorite thing to do during winter retreats.

The tubing hill!

At the top of the hill there are two of us staff guys, ready and willing to spin or push you down the hill while keeping things safe. Working the hill makes for a long day and quite the workout, but it’s a lot of fun. Thankfully, we have weekend volunteers that come up and serve with us, so we don’t throw our backs out. I just turned 30, and I’m told that kind of thing happens to old guys like me. By the way, if you came to the hill while I was there, I would try to convince you that spinning is vastly superior to just going down straight. It’s just the truth.

Danny Haines at a Jr. High Winter retreat at Barakel around '94

I enjoy being around the campers and it often reminds me of when I was a winter camper here at Barakel during high school. My friends and I always had a great time as we threw each other into snow banks, waited in line at the tubing hill, and hung out in the Dining Hall, drinking way too much hot chocolate. I enjoyed the songs we learned in Chapel and remember being convicted and encouraged by the speakers as they taught from Scripture. Sarah and I are thankful to be a part of a ministry that builds lasting friendships, strengthens families, and most of all, spurs others on towards Christ.

The West Side Chapel - Speaker Don Jackson

We don’t count numbers here as far as commitments and confessions for Christ, but are confident that the Holy Spirit works through the power of the gospel being proclaimed. We have, however, been blessed to have been able to see bold professions of faith and several lives impacted during these past few weekend retreats.

We are so thankful for those of you who are praying for us and sacrificing financially to benefit the work that is done here at Camp Barakel. We truly see you as serving along-side us in this ministry. We hope that you find the same joys in knowing that God continues to work through this camp in which He has called us to serve.

Sarah at 32 weeks pregnant

Sarah is in her 32^nd week of pregnancy and things are going well for her and the little guy. We don’t have a name yet, but are considering one of names of Asher’s brothers from the Old Testament like Zebulon or Naphtali. The nicknames won’t be very catchy, but they will build lot of character in him. I think “Napht” or “Bulon” might work well.

Asher's "Frosty 'noman" in front of our house.

Tiling the bathrooms

Asher enjoys the snow, has been tubing a few times and received his very own show shovel about a month ago. Needless to say, he didn’t get the hint and I am still the primary snow shoveler in our home. We live on a small hill which is a good size for sledding with him. Like a normal little boy, he won’t tell me he’s cold until his hands are freezing and he needs to get inside right away.

Sarah likes to tell people that I spend most of my time in the bathroom.

What she means (I hope), is that, during the week, I’m usually working on tiling the bathrooms in Crosscut, Camp’s newest lodge. I’ve gotten 2 of the 4 bathrooms done and will have the great room to tile after I finish those. I’m usually working alone, but keep my sanity by listening to music and sermons on my work stereo.

We enjoy being here, but miss many things about our home in Rochester, especially our church family. We’d love to get letters and emails from anyone reading this, so we can keep up with your lives too. We hope you are doing well and enjoying the winter season.

Serving Christ through Christian Camping,

Dan Haines (as well as Sarah, Asher, and “Zebulon”, due March 27th)

P.S. Our Winter retreats end on March 6^th. No praying for warm weather until then!

hainesbarakel — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 05:17:36 +0000

Here are some more pictures I posted on facebook of the stone project if you are interested. It’s kind of a beginning to the present time progress thing.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=261504&id=513349999&l=8da712af8a

Sorry. Can’t figure out how to make it a link. You’ll have to copy and paste that.