Counselor support update
Support our Counselors!
Our full time staff summer counselors need you! Many of them give up summer jobs to minister to your children. They have college bills to be paid, car payments, rent, all the normal expenses; but have listened to the heart of Jesus and made themselves available to River of Life for the whole summer...that's seven weeks of non-stop work, play, and ministering 24/7 so that your children have the time of their lives and learn about how much Jesus loves them! Please read their letters, pray for them, and support them if at all possible. We take the money that is given and put it into a common pool and then pay them whatever comes in...so be generous and don't forget to pray. God will provide. He is our provider!
| support_letter.pdf |
| river_of_life_pledge_card.pdf |
Program Director Jesse Ranslow
Jesse has been with us two summers now. The summer of '07 he came for one week to counsel and couldn't get enough of it! Last year he was our Male Counselor Supervisor and Paintball Course Instructor. This year he returns to direct our program. We are SOOO glad to have Jesse return for another year at River of Life! Welcome back to Apollo, too!
From Jesse: " i am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorow. a wave tossed in the ocean,vapor in the wind. still you hear me when im calling. Lord, You catch me when im falling, and You've told me who i am, i am Yours." -casting crowns
after graduating high school, i joined the air force for 4 years and flew around the world on a cargo plane. after that i moved back to CT and did some college. after volunteering for a week at River OF Life in summer '07 i fell in love with the northeast kingdom(NEK) and had to move up here. i did that in april '08 and have been loving everyday of it. i work at jay peak resort and am doing online college earning a degree in elementary education through johnson state college. i have a 3 1/2 year old female lab/beagle mix named apollo crede ranslow who is the joy of my life. i find it very eye opening to go on missions trips around the world and realizing just how good i have it.
my life goal is becoming a journey. and that is to find where Jesus is at work and trying to join Him as much as possible. i feel He is very much at work in the NEK and the fact that the kingdom of Heaven is at hand needs to be a reality.
i am a common uneducated man. God does not need me, but choses to use me. dying for me is the most He could have done, living for Him is the least i can do.
I cor. 3:11
isa 40:31
Girls Counselor Supervisor: Sonja Foster
This is Sonja's 2nd summer with us. She came in last summer for the first time and couldn't get enough of it as well! Welcome back, Sonja!
From Sonja: I have lived in Northern Vermont since I was six years old. I was home schooled for a majority of my elementary years and I graduated high school from United Christian Academy. I’'m currently attending Vermont Technical College pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. I love my family very much; they are a big part of my life and who I am today. I volunteered two weeks at camp last summer and spent most of my extra time there because I fell so in love with the whole atmosphere of camp, and the awesome presence of God that I could always feel. I feel God tugging at my heart to spend the summer serving Him at camp. I am looking forward to sharing His love with the campers and being there to support the female counselors. My life is God’'s to use; I am excited to see what work He can do using me as a vessel.
Steve Simmons
Welcome to our newbie, Steve.
From Steve:
I‘m 24, originally from Connecticut. In the fall of 2008 after much prayer and planning I moved to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to attend Roanoke Bible College. I major in youth and family ministries @ RBC. I feel God has blessed me with an amazing heart to serve and leadership skills that I am able to use for His kingdom. Before I moved to NC, I was a youth leader working with Sr high kids and with the YMCA as a group leader in their after school program, Kids Korner. Then I spent a summer at camp Ingersoll. In NC I am again working with a great group of Sr high guys at New Community Church. I have served in CT, NC, and in Peru for a short time and look forward to spending this summer serving in Irasburg, VT.
Steven LeClair
Steve is another newbie from St. Johnsbury. We are excited about what the Lord will do in and through Steve this summer!
From Steve:
I'm 26 years old and live in St. Johnsbury, VT. I grew up in Portage, Michigan and Winnoski, VT. I moved up to the Northeast Kingdom on a journey to find God and dedicate my life to Him. I've always enjoyed working with youth and will always be one at heart. What really drives me to be involved in this field is to see children grow in the right direction in life. It breaks my heart to see a child or young adult lost because they feel like they have no direction or belonging. I know that God can change that and bring healing. He did it for me as well as countless other souls. I have been to the Saint Johnsbury Academy to talk to freshmen health classes about decisions and the effects of them as well as the Lyndon Institute and Johnson State's Teen Town Meeting Day. When I do this, the Spirit just consumes me and it is so amazing! Just to be able to be a part in guiding kids to make the right decisions, be happy for who they are, and find joy in the Lord is more of a reward to me than anything else in this life. I know I'll be serving God in serving them and that is the most incredible thing. This is an opportunity to give back the love that God has blessed upon me. The Great Commission states that we are to make disciples of the nations. So let's go and see God at work and lead the future generation into participating in His perfect will.
Mark Joubert
Mark is a Junior at Lake Region Union High School. He will be joining us once again as counselor and program support!
From Mark:
Matthew 19:14 - "But Jesus said, Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Hey people, as it says above I am currently a Junior at LRUHS. I was born in Vermont and have done some traveling around the state. I started in Rutland, moved up into Barton and am now living in Orleans. Last spring I started attending Brownington Center Church and have been going there since. That is where I met Camp Director Al Bacon. He and my parents were able to coax me into coming as a counselor and after that I couldn't have enough, so I stayed for the last four weeks. I will be graduating High School next year and as far as I know, God wants me to head to Word of Life Bible Institute for a couple years, and after that, on to Liberty University in VA. I feel God calling me into ministry, what better place to start than with some camp counseling.
I thank God every day for the awesome summer of opportunities He blessed me with last year. Working as a counselor for four weeks simply was not long enough. So this year, I'm in for the long haul. I have to say that being able to spend quality time with a group of kids for a whole week all for the goal of leading them to Christ is a priceless experience. Last year God used me to show Christ to several kids. Seeing the look on their faces as for the first time they realized who God was and how much He loves them is forever etched into my mind. It is such a blessing to think our God actually uses people like me to show Christ. This year, i hope and pray God will once again use me to show children who come with no knowledge of our Savior how much they are loved.
Janessa Berlanga
Janessa is one of our newbies this year! After heading off on college tours to Word of Life, Baptist Bible College and Asbury, Janessa sent in her paperwork. We are so excited she has decided to come and join us!
From Janessa:
“He said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” -2nd Cor. 12:19
Time and again, I am reminded of how fragile I am and how mighty and gracious my God is. I’m an ordinary, mostly unremarkable, soft-spoken girl who relies wholly on the amazing love of God to take me places I’ve never dreamed. I graduated from my high school in Laredo, Texas, and left home for Wilmore, Kentucky, to attend Asbury College—a place I’d never even heard of until my friend of (at that time) seven years told me about it (that’s another story for another time). I know I am blessed to be there. I love everything about this experience: the campus, the little town, my professors (I’m a psych major with a Spanish minor), the new friends I’ve made, and I especially love the ways God is teaching me more about His plan for me and challenging me to grow and be a blessing. One of the ways is Him giving me a heart for young people and children; I grew up in the church and in my teen years, I spent A LOT of time volunteering as a children’s church helper and youth leader. I know He wants me to continue this work, so now God is taking me to Vermont! I’m so thankful and blessed to be a part of this ministry, and I can’t wait for the summer to start! J
Heather Davis
Heather is new this year...a former camper...we are so excited that she has decided to come minister with us this summer!
Hi! My name is Heather! I live in Derby, Vermont and I have lived here my entire life =] I am 17 and a junior at North Country Union High School. I love having fun and being adventurous. I also love taking pictures, being outside, playing sports and games and praising God, so working at River of Life is going to be a great experience! I knew I needed to do something this summer rather than staying home and babysitting. So, God led me to start praying about spending the summer here at ROL. And now it’s His will that I come here and spend the entire summer working in this wonderful ministry.
Right now I’m in the process of looking at colleges. But I know God will lead me to the right one that He wants me to attend once I graduate in 2010. I feel led by God to missions and I have a great heart for it. I attend the East Charleston Church of the Nazarene and at my church I am actually the Nazarene Missions International Vice President and the Nazarene Youth International President! I don’t know where exactly God will lead me through life right now, but He is in complete control of my life. God is amazing and great things are going to happen this summer at River of Life! =]
Laura Guest
Hey everyone! My name is Laura. I’m 22 years old and was born and raised in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. I’ve always been a really adventurous, active person (I love extreme sports!), and I just absolutely love this beautiful playground that is God’s creation! I just graduated from Lyndon State College with a B.S. in Business Administration, and I’m taking the next year or so to work and volunteer in different areas to continue to learn and ultimately find out where and how God wants to use me.
The Lord started tugging at me at the end of the school year to counsel at River of Life this summer. I was thinking about spending a week or two counseling there, but God ended up making it extremely clear to me that He wanted me there for the entire summer. A couple weeks after committing to it, I was asked if I’d be interested in being a youth group leader at my church in the fall. It absolutely amazes me how the Lord puts us in different situations now that prepare us for things He wants us to do later down the road that we don’t even know about.
I’m fully relying on God, and I know that I can do anything that He calls me to do. I’m finding it so amazing to see how the Lord can use me after I choose to get out of my comfort zone and give Him the reins. I’m ready to follow wherever He leads me. I’m SO excited to find out what God has in store for me, the campers, and the rest of the staff this summer! Isaiah 40:28-31