King of the Castle - Four

Day 4...after some not great weather this week we were happy to have a non-rainy day so that the kids could play 'capture the flag' outside the church after the teaching and crafts...we decided after a few rounds that the play area was too small and so walked them around to Tweedy Park for a lengthier and far more exhausting run at it.  Children's ministry is tiring, I tell you!

King of the Castle - Three

Day 3 - some jousting with pool noodles and paper targets after the opening assembly and lesson...

...then some shield painting for the craft...

Morning tea and a few more games, then a final song before dismissing the group at 12!

King of the Castle - Two

Day 2...after the singing, memory verse and bible story we launched into a high-energy game of running around the hall from one side to the other, paying homage to the king and making moats - some very fierce competition amongst the kids made it interesting!!

The craft was a gluey-glittery-bling-stickery blitz of crown making.

Petru was in the kitchen the whole week pouring juice and setting out cookies - no holiday club programme can ever be complete without a mid-morning snack!  Nadine came today armed with cake and biscuits (we tested her carrot cake before the kids arrived and deemed it safe to eat). 

King of the Castle - One

Day 1 of Holiday Bible Club - the theme was "Castle of the King" which lent itself to knights, kings, princesses, servants, swords, jousting, crowns...limitless possibilities! All the teaching centered on various kings in the bible, leading up to King Jesus.

The first craft of the week was to construct castles with boxes and packaging tape; the kids had so much fun creating them and then running in and out of them! 

Bit of a mess in the hall, ey - didn't take too long though to clear out the ununused pieces and vacuum up the bits afterward.

Gap day between missions

With some major sleep deprivation happening it would have been awesome to sleep in, arrive at church late, have an afternoon snooze and a chilled night at home...but it was not to be with getting a plate ready for church lunch, music sorted, supplies organized, and a worship practice before church; we had church lunch together which was great, then I spent the afternoon at the church in preparation for holiday club. Nick arrived back from Christchurch mid-afternoon with Conrad who was to be our evening preacher with a final fantastic message on joyful sacrifice (Psalm 51:17-18, available on the church website).

After the service a bunch of us piled over to the de Beers' home for soup and bread - organised primarily so that Nick and Conrad could have a bite to eat before the two hours back to Christchurch, but also so that we could hang out with Conrad one last time. At 7.30 pm a few of us were back at the church to move pews and hang bunting (thanks Liz and Graham especially who couldn't be with us during the HBC week but put in their hands where possible). We left the church looking pretty good and festive, ready for a flock to arrive in the morning for an awesome week of teaching and activities!

Camp concludes

The last day of camp involved a morning session followed by a tea break, then Cleanup #1, lunch, and Cleanup #2 and depart.  Around lunch time we had a hailstorm along with actual thunder - not at all common in Timaru or Christchurch, so a rare novelty which led to much silliness by way of handfuls of hail down backs, flipping hailstones into open mouths and generally scattering it about indoors.  Our final lunch boasted a flashmob with Amazing Grace - the singers from two nights ago happened to scattered throughout the diningroom but a little pre-warning got us all ready and it resounded wonderfully around the entire hall.  Flashmobtastic, as Jonathan would have said!

(Fields looking 'white unto harvest'...the skies cleared an hour later and the sun was out - this is our beautiful campsite which we thoroughly enjoyed and hope to revisit next year).

Eventually around 3 pm the campsite had passed all inspections by the Very Strict Staff (we actually failed on the bedroom cleanups the first time around with several misdemeanors like 'shower floor not dried in EB2' and 'mattress covering looking ever so slightly rumpled in EB5, bring out the iron'...a loose paraphrasing of the inspection notice).  Nick was staying over in Christchurch to bring Conrad back with him to Timaru after a morning service at Grace Baptist, so the boys and I caught a lift with Andreas and Danielle, along with Cameron.  Stopped for a mid-afternoon thirst quencher at the top of the ascent out of the Akaroa Valley; got going again but not for long as first Aaron needed the toilet, then Caleb needed it about half an hour later - Andreas cleverly parked right next door to a Subway and then realized that it was near tea time so we stopped for 6-inch chicken specials.  On our way again; a petrol and ice-cream break in Ashburton and a drive past Fonterra got us home around 8.30 pm and very ready for bed!

Too chicken to cross the road?

Thursday and Friday morning of camp started with small group bible studies (after breakfast of course; one can't think of important things on an empty stomach). It was hugely beneficial to discuss what Conrad had been speaking on, and really flesh out how we can apply it personally. My biggest challenge is, as Conrad put it, to 'cross the road' - quite literally. There are neighbours up and down our street who quite possibly have never heard the gospel - the good news - about the solution to the predicament of our sin and separation from God. A good way to start is by saying, 'what do you know about Jesus?' One dear lady (who until camp was a total stranger, but who quickly became a Deep and Sincere Friend) asked the question to someone and was clearly misunderstood as the answer was not what she expected..."well," said the heathen, "I like Cheddar!" On Friday afternoon of camp Nick and the other pastors and elders congregated in what surely must have been a very holy huddle as they engaged in an FRBCNZ meeting (Fellowship of Reformed Baptist Churches of New Zealand) - one or two had come to camp just for the day specifically for the meeting.  Those of us involved with next week's holiday club met up to discuss and practice the skits; we also ran a Shim-Sham lesson and played a game of Ticket to Ride.  Again, a snooze wouldn't have been a bad idea considering the late nights and interrupted sleep (I had no idea Caleb and Aaron were such noisy sleepers, not to mention Rustling-Beard-Nick-and-the-Sleeping-Bag), but what's a little lost sleep when there are so many people about?

Mealtimes were joyful affairs with excellent catering from the GBC team; hats off especially to Theresa Sinclair for leading the kitchen team and coming up with some very exotic and tasty camp food!

Ephesians 5:19

Here's what a group of us did one evening at camp - we had a message from Conrad each night but from 9 pm to about midnight we gathered in the dininghall (we felt that doing with minimal sleep is a necessary camp sacrifice when there's good fellowship to be had!).  The first night we played a few games, but the second night we sang...and sang...and sang...just singing mostly from memory whatever psalms, hymns and spiritual songs we could muster. 

Axperiencing Akaroa

Thursday afternoon, and our first free chunk of time at camp - several carloads of campers drove around the bay from the YMCA campsite into Akaroa town which boasts quaint French names like 'Rue Balguerie' and 'Le Lievre Lane'.  We wandered up the main street, stopped in for their famous fudge (watermelon was my favourite), looked into gorgeous girly shops and admired the quaint buildings.

The gals had fun exploring the shops and Lizzie found pink socks, helping Graham lighten his wallet...

...while others of us just didn't find the vintage lace and frills very stimulating at all!

Go with the Gospel!

Annual Family Camp time again - we do look forward to this time away with our church folk and Grace Baptist Church fellowship.  This year we booked a campsite in Akaroa, just over an hour out of Christchurch to the south east (the elbow of the south island).  Spectacular scenery on the mountainous drive down - we couldn't help but comment on how much like St Helena it looked.  It's a wonder Nick didn't start waving at passing cars as per the Saint custom!  Our speaker, Conrad Mbewe, came all the way from Zambia where he currently pastors the Kabwata Baptist Church.  His ministry was excellent - very challenging, on the theme of being a missions-minded church.  And we loved his Zambian accent - very easy on the ears!

After tea

Have been largely occupied yesterday and today with camp preparations, holiday club preparations, and getting a police clearance certificate application posted off for Nick.  Very busy with a long to-do list!  Felt like a holiday though when we treated ourselves to a limited-edition Magnum strawberries-and-cream ice-cream for pudding (look what you've got us into, Nadine Rawlins!)  Love the sunwashed haze!

Merric and the Mantis

First day of holidays - the boys got themselves sorted with friends; Caleb was at Josiah's house most of the day, and Aaron invited Merric to play here. The two of them had fun together but I do suspect Aaron was at a bit of a loose end without his big brother telling him what to do! I had to suggest activities to keep them occupied. At lunch time they spotted an infant Praying Mantis - tiny little thing.