Twenty years ago, when we were first invited up to Baptist Park as speakers, the camp director at the time booked us for a show on one of our Sunday mornings at a little church in Westfield, Maine.  We have not returned there since that Sunday in July of 1995 until just last Sunday, July 12, 2015.  There were no problems with our first gig there, it just seems like every summer, our weekends fill up quickly doing shows at other churches.  This time, though, we were able to set up a show there once again.

Actually, the show wasn't "there" once again, because the church was having its annual service at a local campground: Campers' Paradise.  After many miles on dirt roads through the forest, and occasional broccoli field, we found the campground.  Its mostly seasonal sites, but it is in a great location.  We were to do our show in the recreation room.  This is a rustic building with a dance floor and a lot of pictures of Johnny Cash and Buck Owens on the walls and ceiling.  More important to me as a juggler were the disco balls and fans also hanging from the ceiling.  Mental note: there's ceiling fans spinning; don't let the doves fly after they are produced. I finally figured out the safest place to set up with minimal chance of tossing a ball or machete into some object suspended above my head.

Early in the show I was telling the audience about our family.  I mentioned that our youngest would be rejoining us at camp after being   part of a two week ministry trip to Jersey City, New Jersey.  (Her adventures there will be the topic of another blog, I'm sure.) A woman several rows back began to laugh. It turns out she moved to tiny little Westfield, Maine from Jersey City.

By the time the service started, this little rec room was packed.  this was very encouraging as so many churches up here in Maine's northernmost county are dwindling in numbers, even as they increase in age.  But here in Westfield, not only was this service well attended, there were many young families including two teens who work for me at camp.  The folks at the church were very receptive to what we do in our program, and they even welcomed us to stay for their pot luck lunch afterwards.  This worked out very well, as we usually have to scramble for lunch on Sundays as camp reopens Sunday afternoon at 2:00.
So after some hamburgers, pasta salad and chips we left Campers' Paradise for our jobs at Baptist Park, which is a campers' paradise in its own right.