Biggest Impact On My Life

My name is Renee Ross and I have been a camper at Ida-Haven for the past five years. Camp has been on my mind so much lately, and I felt the need to email you. Before I looked up your contact information I had no idea what I was going to, or wanted to say to you and to be honest, I still don’t.

All I know is that camp has made the biggest impact on my life. The past few years have been rough, but camp always led me to see a different perspective. I truly believe that God gave me a miracle. That miracle was camp.

Every summer, the themes and messages somehow related perfectly to whatever I was feeling. This was proven time after time and words cannot explain the gratitude I have towards the camp as a whole for all that you truly have done. When I think of camp, I think of the times where I am the happiest. I may have been sleep deprived, dirty, and exhausted but above all, I was happy from the inside and out and I have never felt that way anywhere else. I believe I have made life long friends.

The love I have for Ida-Haven is one that I cannot begin to explain or even understand. I feel that God’s plan for me included Ida-Haven and will continue to be apart of that plan. I am who I am because of camp. I don’t have to pretend to be anyone I’m not. When I am at camp, I find that I like myself better and I’m not ashamed of that. I realize that I like myself better because I am being Renee. Nothing more, nothing less, just Renee. Lately, that has been difficult. This in itself is a perfect example of how your messages relate perfectly. I was able to find myself at camp because of the great “I AM.”

So again, camp has been on my mind more than you know this past month or so, and I’m so glad I finally got to email you to tell you about it. Thank you for continuing to be a huge influence on my relationship with God, and my overall perspective on life.

I will continue to keep you all in my prayers and I hope that God blesses you with all of the joy in the world.

~Renee