Elder and Sister Christensen, April 2017 – October 2018

We had been considering serving a full time mission for quite some time when we finally made the decision to go forward.  We had served several local Church Service Missions prior to this time, including weekly shifts at the Bishops Storehouse and Family History Center.  The very first time we referred to Senior Missionary opportunities on the church website, the opening at Camp Alpine immediately caught our attention.  Both of us had spent time in the Pacific Northwest at various times, and love this part of the country.  The thought of serving at a church-owned recreational camp appealed to us, so we submitted our application.  After a series of discussions with local Priesthood leaders and a site visit, we were approved for service at Camp Alpine.  The start date and duration of time we were asked to serve correlated well with our personal and family circumstances. 

We have learned so much, and had so many wonderful experiences during our mission.  We thoroughly enjoyed serving with Val and Janae Christianson for the first five months, and are excited to serve and work with Randy and Linda Olsen for the remainder of our mission.  The work is challenging and oftentimes physically demanding, but very rewarding.  Each day is different and filled with a variety of routine tasks as well as short and long term projects.  There is always more to do than we can accomplish, but we do our best and things always seem to work out.  We feel so blessed to live and work in such a beautiful part of the country, and particularly the serene and beautiful environment at Camp Alpine.  We start each day with a walk on the hiking trails and surrounding area.  We love working outdoors and interacting with the campers, youth and leaders, neighbors and the local community .  There were many miracles and inspiring events that occurred during the property acquisition and development of Camp Alpine.  Over the years, many camp improvements have resulted from Eagle Scout projects, and we are grateful that this tradition continues.  We are so impressed with the commitment of local church leaders – past and present - who have improved the functionality, yet preserved the natural beauty and rustic nature of the camp.  We miss our children, grandchildren and extended family members very much (thank goodness for video chat capabilities), but know this is where we are to be at this point in our lives.  We are so blessed, and are very enthusiastic about the remainder of our service at Camp Alpine.
Dennis & Alison Christensen

Oregon City Stake 2017

Elder and Sister Christianson July 2016 - August 2017

Being able to serve at Camp Alpine was a huge miracle for us. We wanted to serve somewhere where we could use the talents that we had acquired while building a ranch for our family. We both loved the outdoors and the thought of being cooped up in an office all day was scary. We had made a goal five years earlier to serve the Lord, but with family issues, it seemed impossible. So we fasted and prayed that the way would open for us to serve. Then we watched as miracles happened and we realized that this would work. When we saw Camp Alpine listed on the church service list and were told by President Freeman that we had called on it within hours of it being posted, we knew that this was the mission we had been praying for. Our job after Girl’s Camp ended was basically to look around and see what needs doing. The old fireplace in Helaman Hall needed restoring, and we had built three fireplaces similar to it, so we rolled up our sleeves and proceeded to make it as good as new. It was slated to be removed and replaced with a propane fireplace at a huge cost, and we knew it wouldn’t cost much to restore it, so we decided to make it a Christmas Surprise for our Directors. If they still wanted to pull it down and replace it, there was only sweat equity wasted. The Directors were delighted with the way it turned out, so we can keep our jobsJ  We found an old dusty create full of Eagle Scout plaques buried in the back corner of a shed that we were cleaning out and decided to hang them up in Helaman Hall.  These plaques each list a scout, his Eagle project, and the year he did it in. They were too precious to be buried in a shed. We sanded them down and put a polyurethane shine on them and hung them up. The last one was dated back in the 90’s so we started doing research to see if we could bring them up to date. Several parents of Eagles noticed them and volunteered to help. Hopefully this tradition continues. We noticed that when the girls filled the amphitheater, some tripped over the awkward center steps, and some tripped on an old stump in the isle. We decided to take on the amphitheater. We poured concrete landings between the steps, blocked the backs of the benches to hold up the sloping hill, chain-sawed the old stump and roots and made a new bench, and smoothed all the isles so no one trips.  We added fans in Sariah Shelter and Helaman Hall, and some day we hope to add LED lights. We kept busy for the year and asked to stay an extra month to finish out Girl’s Camps. The girls who come here are so very sweet and special! They are such fun to get to know and hang out with. We love the hikes, the skits, the meals, the laughter, and the fun activities. This is the best mission on the world!

Elder and Sister Stapley August 2015 - March 2017

   Mike and Jewell Stapley served at Camp Alpine from August 2015 through March of 2017.   We were living in Glendale, AZ, and were ready to retire.  Mike had spent 35 years working at Honeywell and Jewell had spent 35 years boarding and training dogs.  We had a house on 5 acres in Southern Oregon (Williams – near Grants Pass) where we were planning on retiring, but wanted to serve a mission prior to setting up house in Williams.  After checking out the need for senior missionaries on the church website, we contacted President Freeman regarding the possibility of serving at Camp Alpine.  The next thing we knew, we were  preparing to  serve a church service mission for 18 months.  We packed up our things, moved it all to Williams for storing and sold our home in Arizona. We were ready to go!   While awaiting the beginning of our mission, the camp missionaries contacted us to see if Mike could come up and help build a new ramp for the zip line over Rambo pond.  Elder Tolman and Mike dug the holes, placed the beams, adjusted the design, and completed the effort over a few days.  It was a huge undertaking. We lived in the house/office at Camp Alpine.  We were not alone.  We brought up Jewell’s service animal – a German Shepherd Dog named Magic.  She went everywhere with us – to church, to work, to the movies, out to eat…  as I said, everywhere. Getting to know Karen and Terry, then Janae and Val were only one of the blessings of serving at Camp Alpine. Much of our time was spent in revamping things that needed updating.  Safety rails were added.  A new set of stairs up to the dumpster was provided to replace the ‘dancing’ stairs that were there.  A lot of road work was done to keep the road passable, including the road above the camp going to the north end and on up to the neighbor’s gate.  Lots of electrical work was performed to improve Camp Alpine. Lighting inside and outside the Conex, lighting and fans were installed inside Sariah Shelter, additional outlets were installed inside and outside the kitchen in Helaman Hall. In the office, forms and computer programs were created to simplify the weekly, monthly, and usage reports. Programs were also created to better manage the financial reports. For Jewell, the monthly Director’s meeting were the highlight of each month, and is what she misses the most.  For Mike, he misses coming up with and doing all the tasks we had at Camp Alpine.  Fortunately for him, there is more than enough to keep us busy here in Williams.  We enjoyed our time at Camp Alpine and will not soon forget our experiences.

Family Fun

Scouts and Archery

Elder and Sister Tucker August 2014 - July 2016

The two winters we were there, we were able to cover the 5 miles of trails with wood chips. These chips made the trails easier to follow and more passable during the wetter times of the year.. Elder Tucker created a new, smaller island in the pond when he dug a deeper trench underneath the zip line. This was done for safety reasons, allowing a deeper fall off the zip line pad. He also made a sitting bench out of the old Douglas fir tree that was taken down from the shower area. One of the most memorable events was when Elder Tucker's neck was broken from being hit on the top of the head by a falling tree limb while cutting down a large alder tree along the hiking trail. Many blessings came from that event, as hard and scary as the whole experience was at the time. We also developed a good working relationship with the Monroe Fire department (partly because of the broken neck incident) and began inviting them out each year for a barbecue, as well as some training on pumping water from the pond. Karen helped instigate what we hoped would be a semi-annual training seminar for Young Women leaders at the camp. This was a time for leaders of Stake YW to come together and share ideas and/ or concerns that might help others leaders. She also remembers many hours of frustration as she was learning the computer system for reservations and reports. Sister Tolman earned a gold star for her patience as a teacher. We loved meeting and associating with the YW and Priesthood leaders from the many Stakes. Those leaders love the YW and will do anything to help them gain and strengthen testimonies. Something we learned from a sister was what to do in the case of a bee sting.  ASAP put an old copper penny on the sting area and cover it with a Band-Aid. This would be a penny from before 1980. Leave for 24 hours and relief is there. The mission was a great experience, filled with some struggles and many blessings. It will be remembered with smiles on our faces.