Family Bible Camp, IA

Monday 28 July

Family Bible Camp follows the same basic structure each day: breakfast, chapel, instruction hour, lunch, second instruction hour, free time, dinner, games, chapel, more games, supper and bed.

The kids have discovered a new game: gau-gau (pronounced "ga-ga"), played every free moment at camp. Mr Edwards thinks it is a version of a Hebrew ball game. Basically it is like dodgeball, but it is played in a small wood-fenced arena shaped like an octagon. You only get out if you get hit on the legs below the knees, and the ball isn't allowed to go up and over the fence. The ball can only be touched once until it hits a person's legs or the side of the arena, so often competitors will hit the ball against the fence to build up power before they bat it at the others. When there are only two people left, everyone calls "hands in" and then those who are out reach over the 50cm fence to hit the ball at the two competitors who are left. Earlier in the game, the only people who can touch the ball are those who are still in the arena. This is Sam's new favourite game and Joshua has also been playing it heaps. Even Anna has had a go at it with a smile on her face.

During our first instruction hour today, we climbed a hill to the base of a tall pine tree. Then everyone had the opportunity to suit up in a climbing harness and climb 15m up the tree. Anna bravely volunteered to go first and got to the top to ring the bell, but was a bit freaked out by the gentle drop down on belay. Joshua went next and got to the top and down again without a hitch. Abi was third, but only managed to get a short way up before she decided to return to firmer footing on the ground. Next up was Mr Jackson, but he decided to tackle the rope web which went up beside the tree. He got to the top of the web with apparent ease, but wasn't willing to tackle the rope ladder that continued higher. Then it was my turn. I am proud to say I also managed to ascend to the top of the tree (and sometime I'll work out how to link in the photos to prove it). Last up was Sam, who had been pretty pessimistic about the climb to start with; yet he managed to reach the top of the tree and was the most confident rappelling down the tree to end. Hooray for us all!

In our second instruction hour the parents and kids split up. The kids went to do laser tag in the trees at camp with their camp assistant, while Mr Jackson & I went kayaking on the Mississippi River, between Iowa and Wisconsin. The paddling wasn't too strenuous and was alternated with periods of floating downstream with the current, which is very strong. We were even able to have a short swim in "Ol' Miss", which was a special treat. Did you know that the Mississippi River freezes over every winter, and the ice gets thick enough to drive a ute on? Wow!

The four kids also had the opportunity to swim, in the lake at camp. They all had a blast and collected another camp helper, Josh, along the way. The family he had been assigned to help has teenagers who don't need much supervision, so he has agreed to help Sierra in helping us. Our assistants are great.

The younger kids went to bed at 8:30 but Joshua got to stay up to play Capture the Flag, which is the American version of Storm the Lantern. Dressed in his new black t-shirt and dark green shorts he was very hard to see in the dark except for his glow stick and the white skeleton hand on the shoulder of his shirt, which glowed faintly in the dark. (Thanks Granny!)