Paisano is Deeply Rooted in Fellowship and Friendship
You’ve heard all of the greetings, and You’ve experienced the hugs from dear Paisano friends, that you only see once a year. For a hundred years now, friends have come to gather here, to fellowship and to worship The Lord in this special place. If you are a first timer, you will soon feel the love and friendship that is shared here.
Paisano is like a big family reunion, God’s family. Although we are in the Davis mountains, Paisano is a place where we come together on level ground. At this place we are simply Christians, God’s children, nothing else matters.
Counting our grandchildren, 6 generations of My family have attended Paisano. My grandparents Ira and Wilma Carson, along with my great grandmother, started coming to Paisano sometime in the 1930s. We don’t really know the history of what brought them here, but Clyde Childers, and later Glen Edwards pastored their church, First Baptist Ozona, Tx. My grandfather and those two men were great friends, and served here at Paisano together.
If you have come here expecting a somber time, that is not what you will find at Paisano. In Matthew, The Lord said, “Where two or more are gathered in My Name, I am there in their midst”. I am convinced that He has a sense of humor, because of all the laughter and teasing that goes on here. The first time I attended as a little girl and went to the dining shed with my grandfather. I learned of the joking and fun loving tomfoolery that took place then and still goes on today. I can only imagine what it was like in the beginning when those cowboys got together. They can be brutal to one another. A group of Preachers can be just as bad.
Let me give you a recent sample:
Just before we came, my husband received this email from a friend informing him of a called meeting of “the Paisano Businessmen’s Breakfast Board” to be held Monday morning in the dining shed. Sounds really serious doesn’t it, but listen to the items up for discussion:
Plastic vs metal eating utensils, Frosted Flakes vs Fruit Loops, Prunes: pros & cons, whatever happened to the Brer Rabbit Syrup? Added to these by other friends were: Are beans, beans really the musical fruit and eggs, with or without gravy. See it starts before we even get here!!!
On a more serious note, many deep and meaningful friendships have formed here that have extended from generation, to generation, to generation. Oh the memories and stories I am tempted to tell, like how my oldest daughter Barbi and her husband Nate Sprinkle met out here at Youth Congress and he later proposed to her under the old recreation shed. Oh the faces of so many dear ones come to mind who can no longer be with us, or have passed on. I could name names, some you would recognize, some you might be too young to know. There are so many precious people who have gone on before us, but their spirits live on, as a great cloud of witnesses among us. Think for a minute, remember those who brought you here, remember those who drew you into this family. It could have begun as simply as when I returned to Paisano as a young woman with small children, and George Stokes said Hello purple, because of the dress I was wearing. That little acknowledgement grew into a very dear and treasured friendship. It could have started with a little gift, like a pair of socks I received from Mariam Collins the first time I joined the ladies who used to walk each morning after breakfast. She insisted I take them, although she had brought them for her friends that she had walked with year, after year. I still have those socks. There are so many wonderful stories each of you could tell.
Our family has become friends with so many by serving in different areas, volunteering our services, and manning a serving table at the dining shed. My Dad, Bill Carson, was put in charge of one of the serving tables on the west side, and for years, even after my Dad passed on, you might remember my mother as the bean lady. She loved every minute of it, because she got to see those who became friends, dear to her, as she saw them year after year, as they came through the line. At 90, She would still be serving, if she were able. She misses seeing the people and sharing the love, by doing for others. When she first came to Paisano as a newlywed, my grandfather, her Father-in-law told her, “If you really want to enjoy Paisano, find yourself a job.” That proved to be true.
Year, after year, here at Paisano, we fellowship in the morning, we fellowship in the evening, and fellowship at supper time: at the tabernacle, at the dining shed, at the recreation area, at the prayer shed, and at our cabins. Different groups have their fellowships, and although they might like to include everyone at camp, there are just too many people. Our family has hosted an ice cream social each year. It began in the early 1980’s, with one freezer of ice cream that my Mom and Dad made to celebrate Clyde Childers’ and Pat Hubbs’ birthdays, because they always fell during Camp week. Through the years it has grown to 14 freezers of ice cream. Oh the joy of sharing and doing for so many of our friends here, and seeing them enjoy it. We wouldn’t be able to do it without the Sprinkle clan, our extended family. There is no greater way to grow friendships and love, than by working and serving together. We each have memories of fellowships, given or attended, that we look forward to each year: eating, singing, visiting, enjoying each other’s company.
There was a time we shared our ice cream with everyone. It was when we celebrated the 95th consecutive year of the Camp. There were great plans for a campfire, but because of all the rain, we never got to have the campfire. Because of all the rain, we hadn’t had our ice cream social either. So we made the statement to Levi Price that we would just serve our ice cream at the dining shed after the last night’s service, presuming that a lot of people would be leaving, as they usually do. That night at the service, Levi stood at the podium and invited everyone to come, I was in the choir and looking out across this tabernacle at ALL the people who were still at camp and thought, what have we done. How would our few freezers of ice cream and Mama’s homemade cookies feed the masses. I knew how the disciples felt when the boy offered his few loaves of bread and fish to feed the 5000. All I could do was pray that the Lord would multiply what we had to offer, and make it enough. We scattered the freezers and cookies out over the dining shed and told the servers to only give one scoop per person. A true miracle took place that night as all the people kept coming in, and coming in, and we just kept serving and praying. At the end there was enough, with some left over! We truly experienced the Lord that night and the fellowship was wonderful.
Paisano truly has to be experienced to be believed, with all of the love that is shared here. Although a Baptist Encampment, through the years we have become a fellowship embracing many other denominations also. We all agree on one very basic fact, that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Milton Cunningham, who preached here many times, used to tell the story of preaching at a small town community revival, with all the churches in that town represented.
The first night the Catholic priest was asked to do the opening prayer. He prayed, “Father, You must be so happy. All of your children are together.” I believe the Lord is so happy, as we, His family, gather here each year. We have gathered here for 100 years, to fellowship and to praise Him, in this, His holy place, called Paisano Baptist Encampment. He calls us friends.
Bonnie Carson Baldridge