I have some images from the camp which will go on the 2002 site sometime over the next week - and I will also put up a video which I made for my Church to show them what happened.

Ed's baptism was an excellent night. Chris Marshall and myself were there and it was a great chance to catch up with the Epping guys.

One of the Boys, Ed, from this years course is being baptised on July 28th - participants and staff from this years course will have been notified through the course mailing list - otherwise call someone to get the details of where and when.

The course finished last night with Graduation, a great feeling was in the air last night as we met for the last time to celebrate the things that God had done and pray about the continued growth of the participants.

The course was fantastic with the participants really focused on working on developing an effective team. We are aware of 2 participants who made commitments and praise God for that. The Thursday night was a very significant time for us all as we marvelled afresh that God loves us so much that he would be prepared to die for us.

Final numbers are 20 Stage 1 and 8 Stage 2. For daily email prayer updates, join the mailing list by following the link above.

Staff are Brendan Daly [CD] David Bell [Chap] Walt Tregea [Adj] Matt Fletcher [Stage 1] Joel Hiscox [Stage 1] Chris Marshall [Stage 1] and Andrew Kingsmill [Stage 2].

I pray that during this week, you too will look around and see God at work doing awesome things - because I know that I will.

Well there is not long to go now until LDC begins. We now have 8 for Stage 2 and 14 Stage 1. All the last minute things are getting done and seems to be shaping up as a great camp - God is really bringing together everything in the right place and time - as he always does.

Stage 2 guys should be contacted by the Squad Officer during this week. If you can't guarentee that you can get the Journal returned to Brigade House by the mail on Friday then it is better to bring it to Course with you, than to have to get to Brigade House on Monday. So if in doubt bring it with you.

Current numbers are 6 Stage 2 and 14 Stage 1.

The graduation is going to be held at Challenge Ranch itself. The letter was left open ended because we had been unable to confirm that there was not a large group coming in on the Friday night. Clearly if there was then we would have to go offsite. It was never meant to suggest that Graduation could not be at Challenge Ranch just that it would be in the general area at a definite time so that some plans could be made.

This close to camp I can feel the adrenalin building. I am very excited that Stage 2 will be running again, and am looking forward to getting to know a whole new bunch of guys in Stage 1. Not long to go now. I will see you all next Saturday.

The numbers now are 13 Stage 1 and 4 Stage 2. Things are firming up and it looks like Stage 2 will be going ahead.

As of Thursday the numbers were 10 for Stage 1 and 3 for Stage 2. These numbers make the whole course look shakey. We need to have forms in as quickly as possible - especially since the camp site has been so generous with the price this year. If we can get a few more Stage 2 then the course will run.

Things are progressing on track, Stage 2 sounds like it will be on this year, but applications have to be sent in, not just talked about. Stage 1 is running a bit slow, although that is understandable at this stage. David Bell [chaplain] sent me some praise points which I want to share with you - God is always so faithful and gracious in His dealings with LDC and we are very thankful.

Praise God for His grace and provision:
   + The provision of a Stage II Officer - when approaching Andrew [who will be taking Stage 2], he was already prepped to say yes.
   + Joel Hiscox [Stage 1] asked for four weekend's off from swimming on Sat mornings. Only one shift has been filled so far. The Saturday morning of LDC! (He has no swimming during the holidays for the second weekend.)

To get more updates, join the LDC Prayer Mailing List....

Just go word from David Bell that we have another staff member confirmed. Joel Hiscox will be returning again to take a stage one Squad - welcome aboard.

The Application form is now online. The link is over there <---- under the General Heading. It worked for me, although I did have to remove the header/footer and adjust the size - you windows people may need to set fit to page or something. To be honest I don't know. If you get stuck then just call Headquarters [9896 7255] and they will post or fax you a copy on paper, you remember paper don't you ;) [I wouldn't mind some feed back either so if you use it or find it unusable drop us an email]

Thanks Stan for learning how to get Publisher to print as a web page.

The leaders mailing arrived today and does indeed include forms for Stage 1 and Stage 2. I must reinforce that Stage 2 can ONLY be attempted if you have already complete Stage 1. Plus, although not mentioned on the mail out, if companies could limit the number of Boys they send to Stage 1 to 4 that would be very helpful. Feel free to contact the course director if you wish to discuss this further.

Mulitple participants for Stage 2 from the same company is not as much an issue as the course is more individual based, but in Stage 1 which is totally group focused, we have found that it is much easier to have no more than 1 Boy per Company per Squad - so if you could help us out that would be great.

I have heard that the Leaders mailing is due to be mailed out this coming Tuesday. So forms should be sent with it. I will also put the forms online so that you can download them and fill them in and then mail/fax to HQ. No registrations will be taken on line as they require Captains approval in the form of a signature.

The site design changes that will be made have been made. During this next week staff should be finalised. The next leaders mail [due in the post this week] will have application forms for the courses.Stage 2 is on at this point in time, however it all depends on numbers and staff.

The Adjutant has been finalised - Walter Tregea has once again stepped up to take on the crucial role of keeping LDC running smoothly.

To make it easier for me to put up news more often I have redesigned the site to make use of the excellent and FREE service supplied by blogger.com. The new design scheme will slowly spread it's way through the other pages.

It is my honest intention to use this facility to make sure people are informed of what's happening. This will include course specific news as well as general interest stuff for LDC in NSW. The course specific pages will hold all the details for the course, but changes will be announced here.

Test post - welcome to the LDC NSW News Service......