The Camp Meeting in youth camp

The camp meeting were huge events - both spiritually and socially - that were anticipated and prepared for with great excitement throughout the area. In youth camp.

"We looked forward to Lehr Tabernacle camp meeting as much as we looked forward to Christmas in our youth camp! Camp meeting in youth camp was a major highlight of our entire year. For two weeks in June, work on the farm centered around the meetings... the cows were milked early, meals had to be planned so that supper was not late and we had plenty of time to clean up and drive the 13 miles to Lehr." Youth camp Jaboolga. (daughter of Hulda & Albert Kosanke)

"What I remember was that before the special camp meeting started Mom would say we have to get the garden weeded and the hoeing done before Tabernacle starts." Youth camp Jaboolga. (Idella Wilson)

There was much work to do to get the Tabernacle ready as well. Several days before the camp meeting would start on Sunday, men from all the supporting churches - Lehr, Kulm, Wishek, Ashley, Napolean Linton, Streeter, Medina, Fredonia, Gackle, Tappen, and even as far away as Hebron, South Dakota, came with tools in hand for the "Tabernacle Arbeitstag" (Tabernacle Workday). They cut the tall grass and weeds around the buildings and trees. The outside "Beckhouses" (outhouses) were repaired, the kitchen scrubbed, tables and benches set up in the dining room, fresh straw laid over the dirt floors, the wooden benches repaired, the well cleaned, the water pump greased, the pulpit polished, and the hymnbooks dusted. The road to the Tabernacle was re-graveled, light bulbs changed, the loudspeaker system set up.

"What I remember most..was how everyone seemed to work with a glad heart. There were no disputes, arguments or bad words. Then, suddenly, women arrived with Kuchen and coffee for the 10:00 a.m. lunch....Then the men and women sat on long benches, eating, laughing, rejoicing... before they all returned to their assigned tasks, they bowed their heads for a time of prayer. They all prayed out loud at the same time.... I had never heard nor seen anything like it before. Then they went back to work." Camp meeting (Arnold Marzolf)