Our Winter Retreat Season has come to an end. We had 8 groups join us at the Loft this winter. One of the groups that stayed at the Loft this winter helped with the flood victims and the Presbyterian Disaster Service. We went sledding quite a bit, played lots of polish ping pong, and heard great stories about how God is working in the lives of these young people. So far we are scheduled to have 3 groups join us this Spring. Please keep us in your prayers!

We had over 100 visitors come to our Open House. We were so excited to share our ministry with family, friends and newcomers from the community. We played quite a bit of Loft-Pong, pool, and ice hockey. This year we have already had 3 youth groups come to have their weekend retreats at the Loft. We have experienced everything from football in the snow, an officially documented Loft-Pong tourney (Congrats to Brian Stenson), jelly beans that tasted like dirt, birthday cakes made of human faces, and much much more. Thank you all for making this winter retreat season so much fun. We have had so much fun, and we are not even half-way through yet.

We had so many generous people come help us in the last 3 months. For those of you who have not been up since September, you are going to be stunned by how great the lodge looks. The building has progressed so far that we even have a little time to enjoy playing rather than working every second. Please please please go to our website to check out the dates to our open house. You are all welcome!

The girls bunkhouse is coming along nicely!

We are thrilled to announce that The Loft Ministries is now an official Non-Profit Corporation. Please see our website (www.theloftministries.org) to learn how you can help support the new camp. In case you were all wondering, we have already had our first snowfall of the year. Here is a picture of the new entrance to the Rec Center.

Here is a little creek that is on the road that leads to the New Loft. Next time you come to visit, be sure to enjoy the scenery on the way up.

This is the beginning of the new kitchen. Everything is coming together.

This is the girls upstairs bunk house.

The main room in the new lodge. That is alot of pine!

As the winter creeps up on us, we want to continue to thank all of you for your support of the Loft Ministries. We only have a few weekends to work before the winter retreat season begins. Please continue to pray for the ministry as we near the first weekend retreat of 2007. If you would like to come help us in the last few weekends in December or the first few weekends in January, we would really appreciate it. Please call, or email Amy or Jason to let us know when you can come. As always: tools, room and board are included. We hope to see you soon. This picture is taken outside of the lodge. Even though this looks like snow, the locals refer to it as frozen fog.

Many of you have asked how you can support the Loft Ministries. Currently we are working on getting our 501C (non-profit status), so we can accept donations and offer receipts. As soon as we have received this status, we will let you know. Please continue to pray for us as we move forward with the building project as well as the upcoming winter retreats that are already scheduled. If you would be interested in helping with the building project, please feel free to contact us at the above email address. Thanks again for your support of The Loft.

On Labor Day Weekend we had some great families donate alot of their time to helping us frame up the inside of the Rec Center. As you can see we are moving right along. Please continue to pray for the Loft as we are already scheduled to have over 5 groups this winter.

We had a group from Indian Valley come up and give us help on hanging the roof and siding of the Rec Center. We have been given so many blessings from so many great people. This may look like just a normal building right now, but soon the Rec Center will be filled with kids hearing about Christ!

Let's just say we are using any equipment possible to keep the building projects moving forward. Here Dennis is cranking up the Farmall Cub so Dick can do some mowing.

Here is the next phase of the new gym. By the grace of God, The Loft building project is moving forward.

Here's Kendall Fink. So far she is our youngest camper at 3 months old.

Great News! The floor for the gym has been poured. We hope to hang the steel for the gym this weekend (July 29th)! Please keep praying for safety as we continue to build the camp.

Dennis and Jason are working so hard to stay on schedule.

We have had a lot of fun on our new pond. We go out on the boats, chase water snakes and catch fish. If you get a chance, ask Aaron about the 4 footer he caught a couple weeks ago.

So far this summer, we have gotten a lot of work done on the property. We had a work weekend over Memorial Day, and had two churches (Hereford Mennonite, and Springfield Mennonite) bring their youth groups up to help. We could not have been this far without everyone's help!

This is a picture of the property from across the valley. Lordwilling we will have a few buildings on it by winter. Keep us in your prayers.

This is Pappy and Grammy. They were the ones who created The Loft Ministries. They are now retired in Jackson Hole, WY. This ministry is built on their inspiration and desire to win young lives for Christ.

I stayed at the camp with Dad, Jason and Ryan. The next morning we had this beautiful view of the valley.

Thanks for visiting The Loft Ministries blog. We are in the process of developing our true website, but this will hold us over for now.