20 Questions with Tuscarora Staff - Sara Pensyl

Sara, her husband Marc and son Michael.

1.       What is your name and position at Tuscarora?

Sara Pensyl, Program Manager

2.       How many roles and jobs have you had here?

Oooosh a lot! I worked on Summer Staff where I worked in the Dining Room and on Jobs, but also held positions on wait staff and in the Snack Shop throughout high school.

3.       When did you first visit Tuscarora?

When I was five years old and we moved to Pennsylvania – we came to swim in the pool – my first memory of Tuscarora is the shallow end of the big pool!

4.       When did you come to know the Lord?

July 1994 in the gym during Junior Week at Tuscarora

5.       What is your favorite place on the grounds?

The dock down in the water – to sit and reflect and watch the sunrise

6.       If you could eat three Tuscarora meals forever – what would they be?

Eggs and potatoes, penne pasta with red and white sauce (not mixed), salmon

7.       What is your favorite event that takes place at Tuscarora?

Christmas Weekend is pretty special – all the excitement and joy is infectious! It’s a ton of work, but to see it all come together and the glory go to God makes your heart burst.

8.       Three favorite Christian songs?

Whatever is on the radio/someone else is playing. Music is more of a background thing for me.

9.       What made you decide to work at Tuscarora?

Sara with Paul (and Brian) viewing the solar eclipse.

Brian and Paul kept calling me. I kid, I kid. Honestly? God – it was a total God thing to move back here with my family and work here. There was prompting from God and arguing from me and finally a peace and a decision!

10.   Best lesson you’ve learned during your time here?

How to work with so many different personality types. And grace. Always grace. How to have a certain measure of grace. I’m still terrible at it, but I’m learning.

11.   What is your most treasured Tuscarora memory?

Seeing Jesus during the Summer of 2003 during a session in the Auditorium

12.   What is the best part of your job?

I love laughing with my co-workers! I love the family feel of the staff!

13.   What is your favorite Bible verse?

Isaiah 30:21 “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’”

14.   What is something guests don’t know about you?

I don’t like talking into the microphone. I do it because I have to.

15.   How would you describe the mission of Tuscarora to someone who had never been here before?

To be used by God as part of a ministry that will bring glory to Him; to point to, and share God in all we do, develop, in the conversations we have, and the relationships we form.

16.   What is your favorite movie?

I don’t know. I don’t really watch movies. Anything hilarious. I like to laugh.

Sara: lower right hand corner

17.   What’s your most common snack shop order?

Peanut Butter ripple in a dish

18.   If you could stay anywhere on the grounds where would it be and why

Hillside. It’s where I first stayed and I love the way it smells.

19.   What is your favorite thing to see guests doing?

Sitting, talking, laughing – enjoying relationships

20.   What is your biggest hope for the future of this ministry?

That we can create a place, an experience that allows people to experience God here at Tuscarora the way I have over and over again.

Tusca-Romance: Matthew and Katie Ruppert

We are Matthew and Katie Ruppert!

Matt and I grew up going to Leisure Week with our families every summer. Neither of us is able to remember a time without Tuscarora. From the time we were 4 and 5 years old the tradition of the family program was a part of our lives, and we can't even remember when we first met.

When we were older, and started the teen program at Leisure Week during high school, we began spending a lot of time together. He would walk me “home” (back to Hillside) at the end of every night.

Though we wouldn’t see each other or talk much throughout the year, in the summer it was like no time passed. We liked each other, but neither of us ever said anything about it. FINALLY, the summer after my first year of college (I had liked him since I was 14), on one of those nights when he was walking me "home," we stopped to talk and ended up talking about us!

We started dating and we would see each other once a month for that first year (he was away at school). The second year we were dating, I was in South America and we would email every day and talk on the phone each night.

That summer (2 years from when we started dating) he planned a picnic by the river and asked me to marry him! We got married this past August. 

It may sound cheesy, but I really think I always knew Matt was the one for me! I dated other guys throughout high school, and relationships would always end after spending a week at Tuscarora with Matt! He was my standard. Matt was also sure of our future long before we started dating.

“I definitely knew a long time before we started dating. Whenever I thought about my future, I couldn’t imagine myself ever being with anyone else. Anytime that I liked anyone else, it felt uncomfortable or I just knew in the back of my mind that my future was with Katie.”

— Matt

We never would have met or had a relationship if it wasn't for Tuscarora. It’s a really special place to us. We first started to get to know each other on those walks from Riverside to Hillside. We hope to bring our own kids to leisure week one day, and to continue to be involved with the Tuscarora family!

Our advice? Serve each other joyfully. When you see that something needs to be done or that the other person needs something, just do it- joyfully. Even if it’s something small, it makes the other person feel known and loved.

Tusca-Romance: Jamie and Kari Stedjan

Tuscarora is often the place people are brought together in a unique atmosphere to grow special relationships. One example of this is the romance of Jamie and Kari Stedjan.

Kari Battillo grew up right up the hill from Tuscarora Inn and Conference Center. It was a part of her life from the very beginning, and became a part of her childhood where she would swim or play. Jamie Stedjan came to Tuscarora for the first time as a second grader attending Junior Week which soon became a family trip to Leisure Week each year.

Their paths crossed for the first time when he was 12 and she was 11. Though romance was not on their minds, they began fostering a special friendship that grew summer after summer until they were inseparable. Just a few years later they shared their first kiss at Teen Week in the Senum Thompson Center. This building was also the place of one of Kari's fondest Tuscarora memories. This building was named for her grandfather, Reidar Senum and  was dedicated in his name when construction was completed. She remembers how happy her grandmother, Norma, was to be there with her children and grandchildren, and that the work of her grandfather was able to live on through this exciting day.

“I knew Kari was the one even before we started dating. Though I had other girlfriends, I always found myself hanging out with Kari again at Leisure Week because there was always something about her.”

— Jamie Stedjan

Tuscarora wasn't just the setting their love began, but they see it as the reason their foundation is so strong. They were able to get to know each other at a young age, develop a strong friendship that continued over the span of years, and cemented the Christian values that they share. They grew and matured in their faith side by side, and believe this experience drew them closer together.

What began as a summer relationship, moved to Minnesota where the two attended Hillcrest together and continued to date through college. After Jamie graduated in 2013, he planned to propose to Kari. He knew he wanted to commemorate the large role Tuscarora had played in the their relationship.

Jamie worked with the staff of Tuscarora to move the couch from the Senum Thompson Center where they shared their first kiss to the Pines Campus in order to ask Kari to marry him. She said yes, and they were married 6 months later on the stage in the auditorium building that started it all and bore her grandfather's name on January 4, 2014.

In the future they look forward to sending their own children to Tuscarora for Junior Week and Teen Week. These programs were major contributors to each of their lives and they hope it would be the same for their kids. Jamie and Kari also have a tradition of attending Christmas Weekend each year for the concerts and banquet. Tuscarora is beautiful in the winter, something that makes them think of their wedding day.

Their parting advice? Laugh a lot. Don't sweat the small stuff. Have fun together no matter what you're doing.

Tuscarora History - The Flood of 2006

For guests to Tuscarora Inn and Conference Center, the Delaware River is a central part of their experience on the grounds. It creates the serene setting for our retreats, and allows our guests moments of contemplation and peace. It is a visible feature that many remember for years after visiting.

In the early 2000's, the Delaware River became a different sort of feature as it flooded 3 times in 22 months - each time reaching the grounds and disrupting retreats. The first flood, in September of 2004, the one lane bridge at Belvidere Corner Road was damaged, forcing guests to drive around the damage to get to our grounds.

“The one lane bridge was at the base of my driveway. Despite the fact that I could see my office window from my living room window, I had to drive a few miles to get to work.”

— Brian Abrahamsen, Excutive Director

The second flood, in April of 2005, caused damage to the original river front deck requiring it to be removed and replaced.

Finally, on June 29, 2006, after four days of rain, the water swelled until River Road was flooded from the grounds down to Belvidere, NJ. Tuscarora was forced to close early and send staff and guests home as the water rose over the road and stretched all the way to the Snack Shop.

While current guests and staff who lived on the grounds were affected, a huge event loomed on the horizon. Junior Week was set to start in just a few days, and with it 320 campers would arrive for a week of camp programming. Tuscarora didn't want the flooded ground to impact the program.

In moments like these, we turn our eyes and hope to the Lord, and He provided. Thanks to the help of Upper Mount Bethel Volunteer Fire Company, Portland Hook and Ladder Company, alongside other local fire departments and volunteers, the grounds were cleared and all flooding taken care of before the event began.

Campers and counselors from that year of Junior Week probably remember some creative outdoor water games to make up for a damaged pool, and muddy puddles, but it was a miracle that the grounds were able to perform ministry so soon after such a major natural event.

After three years of significant flooding, steps were taken to ensure riverfront property could be safe from such damage. Through the Delaware River Basin Commission, a partnership between Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New York City, the Flexible Flood Management Plan uses scheduled released of reservoirs to control the flow of water.

A Riverfront Retreat

"But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer."

-Luke 5:15

Life, even a Christian life, can be hectic. We hear this over and over from the guests of Tuscarora. They come to our grounds for a place of peace, fellowship, and refreshment away from their everyday life. Christian retreat has been a long practiced discipline of faith.

Why is it so valued? Because your heart craves it. It craves time alone with the Lord. If you are tired, worn out, and feeling defeated Jesus is calling out to you to rely on Him. To let him provide for you.

That's why we believe so strongly in this practice at Tuscarora. We are following an example set by thousands of years of believers along with Jesus Himself! He retreated to the wilderness often to spend time with His Father. Jesus often took this retreat in gardens, in deserts, along the sea, and in lonely places. He chose places that would reflect the beauty of His Father's creation.

At Tuscarora, we have the benefit of a beautiful rural setting along the banks of the Delaware River. You can glimpse the river from every spot on the grounds. During the summer it is the place for morning devotions and baptisms. During the winter, when frozen over, it provides a dazzling display of natural beauty that would humble any heart.

Today, read what the Bible says about the symbolism of rivers and waters. Glance at the Lord's beauty. It's our prayer that you would be drawn closer to the Father's heart through this digital retreat.

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“He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. ”

— Psalm 1:3

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

— John 7:38

“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.”

— Matthew 3:16

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

— Isaiah 43:2

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’ ”

— John 4:10