Sunday, December 27, 2015

This is the beginning of two days of travel! We all arrived in Miami at various time throughout the day and boarded our flight to Manaus which departed at 4:55 p.m. and arrived in Manaus at 11:10 p.m. We then took about a 20 minute Taxi ride to our hotel.

Monday, December 28, 2015

We were able to get a few hours' sleep last night before having to return to the airport in time to catch our 11:00 a.m. flight to Boa Vista. We arrived in Boa Vista about 12:30 p.m. and then took the 90 minute drive to Maloca de Moscou. It was about one hour of paved roads and another 30 minutes on gravel roads, including three bridges made of wood planks! Monday evening we met with the campers and gave out their T-shirts. Our sleeping quarters consisted of ladies in the church hall and men in pavilions covered with a thatched roof. The walls of the pavilions were not constructed so our first night was with a soft breeze flowing through the shelter. About 3 a.m. the soft rain turned into a pretty hard rain and the sleeping pavilion for the younger boys was getting pretty wet. David Rains, along with a couple of the local men got up at 3:30 a.m. to wrap the shelter with plastic tarps for walls. The guys in our pavilion stayed dry enough to ignore the rain. Nonetheless it was long night.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Tuesday morning kicked off the start of camp. Several campers were unable to attend, so we made a last minute decision to merge all 26 campers together for all the activities. Our daily schedule consisted of Breakfast, Compass Check, two hour activity, Christian Living, Lunch, English Language class, two hour activity, Dinner, evening activity. Our first activity was Kickball. We felt it was easy enough for all ages to play, while teaching the basic rules for Baseball, which would come another day. Our Compass Checks each morning covered the Seven Elements of the Zone, since this is a concept they had never heard before. The Christian Living classes were the same as was used in our Summer Camps this past year "Be Like Your Heavenly Father." Mrs. de Campos lead an English language class each day, which was very successful. By the end of the week, we were speaking Portuguese and they were speaking English! After dinner, Stella Helterbrand lead Minute-To-Win-it games and everyone had a great time! Tuesday night had no rain, but the dogs got pretty vocal about 2 a.m., along with roosters! Since when, exactly do roosters start crowing at 2 a.m.? And furthermore, when do other roosters from further away, respond? The back and forth roster crowing at 2 a.m. became a regular overnight experience.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Wednesday morning's activity was American Football. We brought three footballs of varying size and weight, not knowing if they would be able to throw and catch a regular size football. This activity took the longest amount of time to explain but by the end of the two hours they had gotten the basic rules as well as a basic understanding of how to advance the ball by passing or running. Wednesday afternoon we taught Baseball. We had deliberately chose to teach Kickball on Tuesday since the rules are nearly identical. Our only worry was how easily they would learn to hit a ball. We were all pleasantly surprised how quickly everyone began to hit. Even the youngest children played the entire game. Everyone got to bat several times and by the end of the session the score was 13-13 so we figured we would just stop there. Wednesday night ended with Game Night. Connect Four was a big hit, ping pong, crazy eights, spoons, checkers, Uno were some of the other games. Game night was a huge success. We could have gone for two hours, instead of one.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

The first activity was Speed-A-Way. We were anticipating that most would kick the ball, because soccer (futbol) is a popular pastime but they quickly adapted to this game. The afternoon activity was Capture the Flag. It took a little while for each team to get the idea that they needed a strategy and teamwork in order to capture the flag, but once they did even some adults asked to join in the game. And of course we let them! Capture the Flag turned out to be the activity they enjoyed the most. Thursday night was the dance! We brought balloons, streamers and glow sticks to decorate the dining pavilion. The dance lasted two hours and they learned two line dances (Cupid Shuffle and Hamster Dance). It was a beautiful evening, with a soft breeze blowing through the pavilion. Later that evening, several people were woken by the sounds of explosions off in the distance. Only then did we realize that we had all forgotten it was New Year's Eve.

Friday, January 1, 2016

Friday morning was a beautiful morning. The balloons and streamers from the dance were left up overnight and created a bright festive feel to the morning of our last day at camp. Everyone was sad at the realization that camp would conclude that afternoon. Friday morning was "open activity" allowing the campers to choose which of the six activities they would like to play. Without hesitation, it was Capture the Flag! So, while the counselors kept the campers busy, we filled about 150 water balloons and surprised the campers by launching a few from slingshots. This transitioned into a planned water balloon fight to end the days sporting activities. We then had Christian Living class, lunch and the camp concluded with another English lesson. Campers packed up and went home while the grounds were prepared for the Sabbath. Then, following dinner on Friday night we had a hymn song-a-long.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Sabbath morning was peaceful. Breakfast was a little later and services began at 10 a.m. David Rains and Isaac Nelson each gave a Sermonette. Special music was performed by David Rains, Isaac Nelson, Stella Helterbrand, and Courtney Horvath. They sang Hymn 180, "God Be With You," as this hymn does not appear in the Portuguese hymnal. I gave a split-sermon. After services we had lunch and a Bible study by Jorge de Campos on the "Sin of Omission." After Bible Study and after we loaded the van for our trip back to Boa Vista, they sang a song in the native Wapashani language titled, "Friends Forever," and there were many tears. We then departed for Boa Vista and began our journey home. Concluding Comments This was the first EVER Youth Camp for the children the area. The support of Good Works was indispensable, but there are many additional improvements that could be made in order to make this a more successful effort.