Beth Wiebe is AMAZING!  I am totally biased because she is my very best friend, but I honestly believe that if I polled every single person who knows her, they would ALL agree that she is amazing.  I’m not sure there are too many people on this earth who would get that unanimous response! Beth has been the most loyal and faithful friend to me, and I am thankful for her every single hour of every single day.  She is funny, empathetic, compassionate and selfless. She is wise and she radiates the grace of God continuously. Beth has a warm and peaceful energy that seems to follow her everywhere she goes.

Beth is the K-West Women’s Director and is also in charge of our Staff Campus Reps.  She has been working for Kanakuk since 1983, and she even met her husband at Kamp. I asked her what part of the “body” she is at K-West in the summers, and she jokingly said, “the brain.”  I’m sure she didn’t think that I would use that answer (because she is way too humble), but I am using that answer because she makes that Kamp run from behind the scenes. My favorite one of Beth’s “jobs” (one which is not in her job description) is that she is my mom’s most trusted “back up.”  My mother, as many of you know, is unbelievable and Beth is the person she trusts in a bind. Beth helps my mom write and teach the Kamp Bible studies and helps my mom with Kamper scheduling when my mom cannot be there. Many people rely on Beth to keep many plates spinning and I really don’t know what we would do without her (both personally and from a business point of view).  I asked Beth what Kamp is like in the summer behind the scenes and she said, “CHAOS – complete, organized chaos!”

Like I said, Beth met her husband, Ward, at Kanakuk.  They are a fantastic team. She loves him and supports him well.  They have two boys, Michael and AJ, who both live and work at a school in Witchita, Kansas.  I absolutely love Michael and AJ! They are wonderful men of God who love their mom exactly the way all moms dream of being loved. Ward and her boys know that Beth is the Proverbs 31 type of woman and they truly call her blessed. I asked Beth to brag on her family and she said this:  “They are all amazing men of God dedicated to furthering the gospel and not caught up in worldly success.” She and I clearly both agree that her boys are men of God.

I want to introduce you to the away-from-Kamp Beth.  I want you to get to know a little bit of the Beth that I know and love.  She is my go-to and my confidant. She is the one I call to laugh with and call to cry with.  She is the one who sees me unscripted and who knows my heart inside and out (and loves me anyway).  I asked Beth several questions and here they are with her answers:

If you could be any animal, what animal would you be and why? 

A golden retriever because they are sweet, kind and approachable.  (Side note, Ward and Beth have the sweetest Golden Retriever, named Bear. He is allergic to grass.)

If someone gave you $1,000 and you had to spend it on yourself, what would you buy? 

She said that she would hire a house keeper and a chef until the money ran out.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I didn’t even know this answer, but she wanted to either be a major league baseball player or a lawyer.

What are 5 things on your bucket list?

Go to the Scottish highlands with me (she said that without any coercion).

Finish all of her lingering house projects. (I think she should do a Mexican themed kitchen in her house, but she does not agree.)

Go to Hawaii with Ward and her boys.

Study each book in the Bible.

Spend the entire month of September in Colorado with Ward.

If you had a day to yourself, what would you do?

Spa day!!

If you were going to write a Bible Study or a self-help book for women, what would the title be?

Why Don’t You Want to Know the TRUTH?

If you could leave Kamp in the summer for 3 days, where would you go?

Colorado mountains

I know that Beth would hate it if I left you all thinking she is perfect. She isn’t; although it is very hard to find a flaw in her (I actually cannot think of one right now). I love Beth Wiebe and I am thankful to call her my friend!

Jamie Jo Braner, Director of Alumni Engagement