The Story of Castle Rock Camp Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX: CAMP ROMANCES

Senior Camp in particular was the site of numerous budding romances during the summers.  Young people from the various churches in the fellowship would get acquainted at camp and then look forward to the fall and spring youth rallies for the opportunity to continue the process of courtship.   The testimonies in chapter four recounted several of those initial meetings that developed into more than that over the course of succeeding years.  One fellow remembers collecting the names of more than a dozen girls to write to after camp was over.

            There are also those stories, however, where time at camp played a direct role in bringing young couples together.  Two of those couples have agreed to share their stories with us.

           

            Brian and Wendy Wells met at leadership camp in 1987.  He was a senior at Yellowstone Valley Christian School in Laurel and she was a freshman from Belgrade.  “It was love at first sight.” 

            They spent four weeks at Castle Rock Camp serving as counselors that summer.  The entire experience was great and both of them particularly enjoyed working with the kids who were there for camp.  Brian and Wendy dated for the next four years and then were married July of 1991 in Laurel.

            Brain works as a locomotive engineer for Montana Rail Link.  Wendy is a stay-at-home mom who has home-schooled for the past six years.  They have two boys and a girl.  Two have already spent time at camp and grown to love Castle Rock, the third will be old enough to go in the summer of 2005. 

            “It is really exciting to see your kids attending the same camp where we went, and growing spiritually,” say Wendy and Brian.  “And it’s also great to know that Castle Rock Camp is a wonderful place to meet your spouse.”

Mark Roedel shares the following story.

           

            Sunday evening service in early July, 1980 found me under-employed and without an alibi when Pastor Paul Leslie suggested I go with him to Castle Rock to work a week at Senior Camp.  It was an exciting, fast-paced week.  I remember camp team competitions and challenging messages with Evangelist Joe Mark.  The big event for the week was a float down the Madison River.  I also remember meeting a young lady from Minneapolis who had come to work at camp all summer.  Her name was Heidi Bucholdt.

Heidi had become acquainted with the camp through her Christian school principal, Jack Phillips.

            Well, it seems there was an arrangement made for Heidi to spend weekends with different churches during the summer so she could eat, go to church and wash clothes between weeks at camp.  Somehow, she ended up spending an unusual number of those weekends in Ennis at the home of the Leslies.  She and I became more acquainted through church services and baseball games.  Doug Oldham, then an eighth-grader, volunteered to serve as our chaperone on drives to out-of-town games.  He was always leaning forward between the bucket seats, interjecting comments into our conversation.  It was enough to make me a firm believer in mandatory seat-belt laws.

            Shortly after senior camp, I took a job running a bulldozer, piling brush at Big Sky, just down the road from Castle Rock.  In addition to providing income, this job allowed me to visit camp several times a week.  Finally, one beautiful night in mid-August, on the banks of the Gallatin River, I proposed to Heidi and she accepted.  Grotzke’s family camp was in session that week.

            The next year Heidi worked at Hi-Line Christian School, sponsored by Calvary Baptist Church of Havre.  There we developed a lifelong friendship with the Kermit Loftus family and others of that congregation.  I attended college in Kalispell and we were married July 17, 1981 at Bryant Avenue Baptist Church of Minneapolis.

            Castle Rock Baptist Camp has a special place in our hearts as we look back and see God’s direction in our lives.  During family camp in 1983 I realized assurance of salvation, being challenged by a series of messages on the life and ministry of Paul.  We continued our involvement with the camp while attending Rocky Mountain Baptist Church in Ennis and then Bible Baptist Church of Missoula.

            Currently the Roedels live in Kalispell.  Justin, our oldest son is a student at Pensacola Christian College.  Jessica and Jenae are home-schooled by Heidi.  Heidi also contracts design work with Innovative Graphics, a company which designs and prints prayer cards for missionaries.  Mark is a professional land surveyor, working for the State of Montana.  In 2005 he is serving a one-year deployment in Iraq with the Montana Army National Guard.

            Our latest trip to Castle Rock was August 20, 2004.  We were traveling to Yellowstone Park during R and R leave from the military.  The gates to the camp were locked, but we still walked down to the river and kissed at the same place where I asked Heidi to marry me twenty-four years earlier.