A lil November Update

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving has passed and that Christmas is right around the corner. Looking at the date of my last post, it’s even harder to believe that it has been almost a month since my last posting. November has been full of small trips, get-togethers with family, and making new connections.

Early in the month, Warren Center Baptist Church (my home church) decided to start up a youth group. With my experience of working with youth at Victory and helping with the local youth ministry (ROCC), I was asked to help out with the group. The group is still small; and being teens, their minds aren’t always fixed on the task set for them. But they are learning and growing. When it seems like they aren’t listening, they will rattle off the answer to you. Reminds me of when I was a teen.

During the last month, a few trips have been made down to visit my grandmother in Lehighton PA. The latest trip revolved around our family getting together with her for Thanksgiving. Besides getting a meal ready, keeping ourselves entertained and texting  holiday greetings to relatives, my grandmother and I talked about the trip we are taking to Georgia for Christmas (I forgot how close that trip was).

Support raising for Victory still continues to be slow. Very little response has been seen through the contacts I have been trying to make. Continue to pray that God opens doors, and directs me as to where to share my burden and offer individuals a chance to join Victory financially, through prayer, or by serving.
I do plan on sending out another batch of letters and making many calls before I head down to Georgia on December 17th. If you want me to make contact with your church, feel free to get me some information so I can get in touch with them.

- Daryl J. Howard

Be on the look out. Hope to post some fun things during the next month. Also hope to do a little Victory update, post some more film, and share some more of what God is teaching me.

A Brief Update

Last September I flew back into the area just after the Northeast got hammered by high winds and flooding. So naturally everyone braced for the worse. Other than a few bits of downed branches, you would not be able to tell that a hurricane passed through the area. Praise God nothing sever happened at the Howard household. Even though my hilltop wasn't hit as bad, be thinking and praying for those hit hard by this storm.

On the support front, I have been making new contacts with local churches. Instead of just sending letters out, I've been handing them out in person. It is a very time consuming process, but it creates a more genuine connection than just receiving a letter from a missionary. I won't be able to get to everyone (since my basic list of churches is over 60 churches long). So, the process of creating packets and sending them out continues as well.

Continue to pray that God stir the hearts of those receiving the letters. Many people show interest in the work God is doing through Victory. And even though I personally am not seeing the results in the support end of things, I know it is planting seeds in the hearts of those I am sharing the ministry of Victory with.

Other than support raising, there are some fun plans in the future. For the first time since I was in 4th grade (about 16 years ago), I will be venturing down to Georgia for Christmas! My Grandma wants to be with family for Christmas, and since I have an open schedule, I will be accompanying her as she travels to be with family. Last year some speaking engagements hindered me from driving down. But this year, things worked out for me to venture down. I feel like a kid getting reading for Disney World or something. It's still over a month away, and I am anxious. This will be a great time of catching up, celebrating Christmas, and taking some time to get away and reflect on the support raising process.

Adirondacks Trip

For those that come here or check Facebook for info would have seen a little post about the latest newsletter coming out after a trip to the Adirondacks. Many of you know that I had been helping out with ROCC (Reaching Our Community for Christ) over the last few years. Though I am trying to make sure I am focused on support raising, I had some teens ask me if I could go along on this mens/young mens hiking trip with ROCC. So I decided to make an effort to go.

On Sunday the 7th, our group headed out for Blue Mountain Lake, NY. After setting up camp at Lake Durant, and get geared up, our group (minus the cooks) went to hike Chimney Mountain. This hour or so hike gave a spectacular view with amazing rock formations to explore. The drive there and back, as well as the hike, gave an opportunity to talk and encourage the teens that were in my little hiking group.

The view from Chimney Mountain

Back at the campsite, we were greeted by our cooks, deep fried turkeys and rain. Sadly, due to hungry teens, some of us leaders resorted to cleaning off what was left on the bones.. But the earlier hike did as it was supposed to do. My camping site was asleep early, and I was in my sleeping bag by 9:30pm.

Chimney Mountain (Blue Mountain on the horizon)

Monday was just as amazing as the day before. After an early breakfast, we were off on the trail and hiking. The year before, it rained for most of the hike. This made the hiking slick and long (2hrs and some odd minutes). This year was a brisk and clear fall day. Mid way up Blue Mountain, our group was greeted by snow topped trees. The warm sun was causing the snow to drip or drop on us. The young men that hiked with me enjoyed some fun conversations about life, sports, and the creation that God had set around us.

Trees topped with snow

After an hour and twenty five minutes of hiking, we reached the top. Snow ball fights, a climb up an old fire town, grabbing a quick snack and spectacular views kept our group busy as we waited for everyone to make it to the top. Unlike last year, we were able to sit down and have an amazing devotional with a time of praying with the youth. Being able to do this in a public place allowed complete strangers to listen in as we shared the gospel and encouraged the teens in with their spiritual growth. The trip down was a little rough on a few. And the trip home was smooth.

View from on top the Blue Mountain fire tower

There were a few close calls during the hikes where I slightly twisted an ankle or slipped on a wet rock. But nothing serious. It was during unloading after the trip that I had my injury (tearing muscles and pulling tendons in my ankle)... leaving me with a very swollen and hematoma covered foot/ankle.

These outings are a lot of fun. You can't help but be awestruck by the creation that God has placed around us. It is also an amazing time to encourage the youth that accompanied us adults, as well as spiritually building up the other leaders that were on the trip. Makes me miss the time spent with staff and campers in Alaska.

After a quick break, this guy is ready to head down

Until next time...


Grace and Peace,
Daryl J. Howard

 ^"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. 

Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God."

Romans 1:20 NLT

HMUpdate 013 Mailing News

Working out some kinks in my system. Since replacing wiping my previous hard drive, then replacing it with a new one, some information with newsletter, photos and addresses went missing. Luckily, a previous back-up had the updated files that went missing. Some of the update letters that were mailed out might be slightly delayed as I had to double check the mailing list I had.

Thank you for your interest and support. Hope to add some more posts soon.

- Daryl

P.S.- If you are not on the mailing list (e-mail or physical newsletter), and wish to receive it personally in the future, please contact me so you can be added to the list.

The HM Update Newsletter 013

Hey everyone, here is the newest update that recently hit the inboxes and mailboxes. If you are on the mailing list, be on the lookout. If not, click to view and sign yourself up to receive the update each time it comes out.

The HM Update 013
(click to view or download)

Enjoy.
- Daryl

Fair Booth Displays

As promised, here are the panels that Jonathan Flamm and I worked on during the three weeks before the fair. There were a lot of hours spent over coffee and in front of our computers trying to hammer out the wording, pictures, layout, and message that we felt God was having us present. People walking by our office thought we were goofing off, but as it goes in the design work, you have to keep your mind clear to do this kind of work. The occasional finger dart war, laugh over something silly and multiple cups of coffee consumed all helped in clearing our minds, keeping ourselves refreshed... but it was the disagreements, our meetings, time spent walking away from the project to get alone with God, or a quick walk to be surrounded by God's creation that really helped me a lot.

I love how much Jon and I are not alike. We both think differently. I'm the creative, he's the architect. We both bring different view points to the table. But in the end, I was very pleased on how this all came out. The display panels were well received by the staff and the many individuals that came into our booth.

As you see, each panel highlights different aspects of Victory Bible Camps and Conference Center. At the bottom of each panel, there are some descriptions of different buildings, camps, facilities and all that Victory has to offer. There are also areas that point out how you can be a part of Victory as well.

 

 

Our goal is to connect people of all ages to God through Christian camping and conference retreats. We hoped our work and how we presented ourselves at the fair reflected this. The Alaska State Fair was also a chance to take our mission further by re-connecting people to Victory. We were able to show them how much we have grown, how our ministry is changing, how they can be a part of God's work their, and how Victory can serve them. God is doing amazing works through Victory Bible Camps and Conference Center. I hope you can see that reflected through these display boards.

Feel free to click on each panel to zoom and look at each panel. These panels were originally 20"x30" prints done in high resolution.

Enjoy.

- Daryl J. Howard

The Alaska State Fair Update

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support during my time in Alaska. It’s taken some time to actually process what I did and how to share it. The trip wasn’t like any others in the past. It’s not due to the duration of time spent in Alaska or the task that was fulfilled. This past trip was a time of being guided and redirected by God in a way that reflects His purpose for the here-and-now, and what is to come. 

My humble home while I was at Victory (Blueberry Cabin)

In May I was contacted by Joel Ruisch (Victory’s Camp Director) as to if I had interest in coming up and helping run the fair booth. It wasn’t long before a ticket was purchased, and I was surrounded by mountains on a cold Alaskan day (it was abnormally cold that day). 

The time spent in Alaska can be broken into three parts. 

There was the preliminary work; working the fair; then the clean up. 

The preliminary work took up the first three weeks. This included creating and producing the material that went into the fair booth, as well as getting the booth designed and moving our trailer-like booth into place. The fair itself ran for twelve days; starting on a Thursday and ending on Labor Day. Clean up only took a day to actually go in to the fair and dismantle the inside on the booth. Then it was waiting for the ok to move our booth into storage.

Victory's state fair booth

The whole point of Victory’s fair booth is to connect with people, and eventually build relationships with them, so we can either help them grow closer in their relationship with Christ or start one if they haven’t already. In the past, we did this by running puppet shows and putting out information about our camp. Last year, I wanted to try something different. I put up a second display board, and displayed pictures and information about our conference center on part of it. Though our booth drew in our normal campers, it was amazing to hear how many people say,
“Wait, you guys are open year round”

“You guys have all of that up there”
“Since when did you have a conference center”

Obviously, word isn’t getting out that we did more than just summer camp. So when the opportunity came to work on the booth again, it was agreed between the leadership, and my team working on the booth, that conference center would be the focus.

The biggest draw to our booth was from one picture. On our one door was a 20”x30” poster of Miracle Lodge. Now if you had been to Victory before, but not in the last ten years or so, you would not have seen this building. So for anyone that had been to Victory before, this drew them in. From there, we would show them what was new, what God was doing in the ministry, what Victory is doing now, find out why they haven’t been back, see where their relationship with Christ is, and offer an open door to them. It’s amazing the conversations we had. There were the lulls that made time stand still. But there were the days that time flew by, and you wished that the conversations would never end. It was great making connections with people, no matter where they stood in their faith or beliefs.

Part of one of our display boards

Some of the brochures we created for the booth

The view from on top our booth

Steven Matlock reading the fair newsletter

Aside from the fair came other tasks. My arrival at Victory came at the time that when the ministry transitions from summer camp, into conference season. It was a Thursday when I arrived, and by Saturday, I was driving a camper to a town two hours away. A few days later I was making espresso, running the camp rock-wall, and helping with hosting duties in the dining hall.

It’s crazy to think that a year has made me forget what guest services was like. But a year did that. It took away the mindset that we are there to serve our guests... even when it means putting down our work to assist them. I forgot this. With a time crunch to develop all the new material, my mindset was strictly on the booth. I did want to help, but only when I could afford to. This is where God had to step in... and a few co-workers/friends as well. There was a night that I had to wrestle with my reasoning, my calling, and some burdens that were on my heart. It was a time where God had to break me, and show me what He had planned, not what I had planned for myself. This is where I finally could see why God had brought me back to Victory.

SIDE NOTE: If you have never been to Alaska before, you are missing out. What I love about where Victory is situated, you can’t help but see evidences of God around you. If you are having a rough day, need to clear your head, or need to talk to God... you just need to step out the back door of the office. 

The view from Inspiration Point

An evening (night) view outside of the offices at Miracle Lodge

It’s funny how I am suppose to be facilitating the mission statement, but at the same time, becoming the same person that the mission statement of Victory is directed to.
VICTORY MISSION STATEMENT: We exist to connect people of all ages with God through the ministry of Christian camping and conference retreats.
Through serving at Victory, and helping with the camping and conference retreats, I am being connected with God. In return, He is connecting me back to what His intent is for me, then allowing me to help connect people back to Victory through the work He has gifted me to do.

Well, we have come to the end of this update. Sorry if there wasn’t a lot about what I did. Most of my time was spent sitting in the office working on designing material, sitting in our fair booth, or reconnecting with the staff around Victory. I truly miss being there. It was hard to leave, especially when God’s work was evident each and every day.

Proverbs 19:21 says “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” (NLT) This verse meant a lot to me as I saw God working. Support has been coming in slower than I had imaged. But for God, it has been all in His timing. I can worry all I want about support and make all the plans I want... but it is through God, and His plans that His purpose and timing will prevail. It may not be the most enjoyable (like sitting here in PA), but God has a purpose for this time, just like my time in Alaska.

What I saw on my commute to and from the Alaska State Fair in Palmer Alaska

Stopped outside Sutton just to take in some of the beautiful creation

Just another beautiful day outside Miracle Lodge

Grace and Peace,

Daryl J. Howard

P.S.- I'll post the display boards we had in our booth and some of the other material at a later date.