Fri pm & Sat am

Yesterday was, as Timothy said, was the talent show. It wasn't a talent show in the traditional sense of the word, but more of a concert for the whole camp. We did the life of Jesus in sketch form with each ward doing a different part of the story. We started off with the birth, then had one of Jesus' miracles- the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The third sketch was of the parable of the good Samaritan and the last ward did the story of Saul's conversion talking about how the story of Jesus continued past his life. The international team then rounded off the concert with the story of the crucifixion and resurrection. Despite the trails of trying to time actions to the translation of your cue rather than the cue itself, it went really well. There is a wooden cross here at camp which has a ledge on it, so Paul (Jesus) was able to stand on the cross properly as it was lent against the back of the stage.

Personally I found the whole thing really powerful and the death had me in tears. The whole team did really well, and the kids were really cute in their parts as well. Most people (us included) were dressed up with their bed sheets wrapped round them like togas.
After dinner was what for most of the kids is a highlight of the camp activities- biffer. Basically there are a load of stations set up where the kids have to complete tasks. The kids are then running round camp (in pairs holding hands) trying to find the stations. While they are between stations the are in danger of the buffers!! The biffers are adults, all dressed up in their war paint wielding flower filled socks which they can ‘biff’ the children with.

If a child is biffed they have to stop and wait for a doctor to heal them by tying a piece of wool round their wrists. It was lots of fun for all and generally went really well. Unfortunately because it was so hot the kids were very sweaty and so the markers we were supposed to be using to show they had completed the station weren’t working, Even so it was cool. The craft was finger puppets- a very simple one aimed entirely at giving the kids a calm down period in which their heart rates could decrease enough to go to bed. They enjoyed it though and we saw many impressively artistic little puppets.
This morning’s bible lesson was “I’m telling” and was lead by Timothy and Rachel. These two must have had the hardest lesson so far, just purely due to the chattiness of the kids. We don’t know if it was the re-appearance of the sun, the buckwheat porridge they had for breakfast or what, but many of them were really fidgety and talkative the whole way through. Despite this the pair did a really good job of explaining why we talk about Jesus and the sort of things that you might say. Jesus is our friend so we explain him like we do our other friends- where we met him, how long we have known him and why we like him. It was really good.
The return of the sun meant that we could go back down to the beach again today and enjoy the warm water and play uno on the sand.
Prayer points:
* Many people- children and adults are still not very well, to the extent that the beach was for once optional because some people just weren’t up to it. Please pray for a full and speedy recovery from all these colds and bugs.
* Timothy twisted his ankle yesterday and is now hobbling around with a large stick and a bandaged foot. For someone who is normally so active this is particularly hard for him. Please pray swift healing for that injury.
* We only have two bible lessons left so please pray that the children will settle down again and really learn from the remaining talks.