Holiday Club Camp
wow. what a week! what to say about it. somehow words cannot seem to describe the emotions, the laughter, the Spirit and the community that makes HCC (Holiday Club Camp).
this was my fourth year as a leader on HCC, and by far it has been my best. the kids were (there were 35 of them, so a slightly smaller number, and there were 27 leaders, so there were more leaders and less kids than in previous years) a really great bunch! i knew about half of them from kids klub, holiday club, or the previous years. or from their older siblings who have come to camp. there wasnt much bitchyness or really, any irritating kids. they were a really gorgeous bunch of kiddies. mind you, by the end of the week, it was like we had become a big family, and the love i had for these kids (and the other leaders) will bias my opinions indefinatly.
all the leaders arrived at the camp on sunday arvo to get things set up and ready for the next day when the kids would arrive. we had a talk by andrew (our youth worker) on creating team unity, and really, by even the next day there was a definate community and unity about us leaders.
monday morning leaders devotions was on love (well, all week we looked at the galations 5 verses about the fruits of the spirit. monday was love, tuesday joy, wednesday peace, thursday patience and today, friday was on kindness). after breakfast all the kids arrived in dribs and drabs and then a big influx. it was great to see some familiar faces and lots of smiles. and a few quick convo's with some of the kids klub parents to say hi, and some hello's to siblings who have gone before.
after setting up rooms, and lunch, we had a long afternoon of free time. it was a good time to just laugh and be happy. i ended up down at the ropes course getting eaten by mozzies, and watchin tahlia (one of the most gorgeous little girls ever! she's a kids klub girl!) bury herself in bark chips.
that night we played some get to know you games, and it felt like we had already spent several days with each other.
tuesday morning dawned bright and clear and warm. today was the day for messy games. after a morning activity of initative games, and lunch, we had the whole afternoon free for it. old clothes donned and kids excited we finally got down to the oval to discover many horrible delights to get us gross and feral and a large mud pit full of smelly water.
there was really really sticky jam and cheesels, custard and cream, rice and chocolate sauce and donughts, eggs and flour galore! and then there was the mud and the water. ahh. my team didnt win the games, but that was ok. the joys of smashing an egg on your head, bobbing for apples then trying to get a snake out of flour, army crawling through mud, and having chocolate sauce poured down your back made it all worth while.
(oh, i forgot to mention that on tuesday - friday we had assembly and small group time where we talked about some different stories of jesus. jesus and zaccheus, jesus clearing the temple amd jesus rising to life again. my small group girls were Acacia, Emily and Laura and my co leader was Tash. as seen up in the photo, tash is the one at the back next to me. acacia is wearing the black jumper, emily the red and laura is down the front with the blue cloudy dressing gown. the other girls were the other group in my girls's cabin.)
tuesday night we made our own movies, to show on thursday night at the drive in theatre with the cars we would make on thursday afternoon.
wednesday morning was colder, and we had mini olympics, and another two activities being archery and candle making. i liked my candle, but when i got it back today, it was broken :( that night we had bad hair, bad taste night. i didnt go very extreme but we had guys dressed as girls, and girls dressed as guys, and hair spray and horrid lipstick. it was a good night, and there was a great moment around the fire which i wasnt a part of, but thats ok.
thursday seems so long ago, but infact, it was only yesterday. we had our last two activities this day. eco centre and flying fox. eco centre is by far my favourite activity at Oasis. the frogs, and snakes and lizards. im not too interested in the turtle, but hes there too. i kissed another frog which bit me (not while i was kissing it, but after it.) and i held a large python which wasnt around last year. she felt so strange. cold and i could feel her muscles contract to move. the flying fox was fine. i didnt have a go but i helped all the kids put their harnesses on.
that afternoon the kids all made 'cars' to take to the drive in theatre. i helped bec and chris (bec's male friend who came for a few days) clean up, sang loudly to crowded house and generally just relaxed while the kids were elsewhere. i must admit, my headspace was rather confused and irritated and doubting and i was trying hard to just push it away, but when ever i stopped it seemed to just seep back in.
that night, after dinner, i had a slight cry about it, and read a good passage from the bible about trusting in God. and then i got into a crazy mood! i went insane! really really hyper. i was barking like a dog, and then meowing and then being a bird and then a monkey. i was bouncing around and was.. well... hyper is a good way to say it.
after playing a game of sculptionary (which i guessed quite a few of the things) we all went down to the resource centre, for the reformed churches of the area (right next to the camp) to watch the movies we made on tuesday and to watch another movie (a real one:P)
chris, laura (spock) and i were chosen to be the judges of the movie and it was rahter a fun job. the short films were all rather good, some better than others. but it was all a laugh and all rather fun!
the movie we watched was Nanny McPhee, which i havent seen before. it was a pretty good movie, for a kids film. after it ended i was wide awake. and i was bouncing even more and talking even faster than i was before it.
i bounced around being very chipper and telling people to help clean up some things, and what to do, as bec (the boss) looked like she was about to fall asleep, or explode, or both.
and so i hung around up stairs (all the kids went to bed and were fairly good and sleepy and quiet) in the hall with some of the other leaders (those who hadnt piked and went to bed) and ate lots of choc bullets and sung "99 bottles of beer" at the top of my lungs. the others joined in, and with a lot of cheating we got down to the end.
finally, after ages of being up, and realising the time was like, midnight, i decided to skip off down to bed. into my pj's and bed and i get a phone call from steve.
dashing out of my room with no shoes on and tugging my jacket on i proceed to talk to him for over an hour. it was really wonderful to be able to talk to him. brad and kelsey tackled me to get the phone off of me to talk to him. i love the fact that they care.
after the convo with steve, i stayed up for anohter half hour or so, and eventually got to bed a little before 2am!
and then friday arrived. it was all a little subdued this morning, with most people being terribly tired and a touch sad about going home. i had a good chat with richard (our minister) this morning after leaders devo's during what was supposed to be quiet time. i woke and i felt a whole lot better. like all that stuff which was messing with my head had been drained. after a late brekky and packing up our stuff and cabins we had a short assembly and then out last time in our small groups.
we went around the circle, and said 3 things we loved about HCC, 3 things we really didnt like, and 1 thing we learnt about God. oh, did i forget to mention that HCC is for grades 4-6 community kids from the area. most of them have only learnt about God from CRE (christian religious education) or the odd one who goes to a church so really our major goal for the week is to show them Gods love. well. that wa my major role.
which leads me to my next point. it seemed like every day of this week i was being challanged, or something for the thing we had learnt that morning in our leaders devotions. and serious attacks of thinking if what we are doing is making any difference and that im not doing very well in trying to love them or tell them about Jesus. i dont really talk about satan that much, but i feel he was tempting me and attacking me where i am most weak. and i was struggleing very much with hearing God. my personal prayers became simple cries for help. and He answers those prayers in ways i dont expect. but He does answer.
this morning in our small group time i asked the girls if they wanted to pray at the end. the previous days Em and Laura have prayed in their heads, and Acacia hasnt at all. this morning Em prayed in her head, and Acacia did pray in her head too. but what made me very glad was Laura asking to start, and praying out loud. and her simple prayer of thanks made my heart rejoice. God is working.
and now im home. im windburnt, and very tired, and emotional. i think i miss people, people in general. its like going from a family of 60 or so, to two because dad isnt home. oh well. we said goodbye to the kids on the oval with some lunch, just sausages in bread. i said hi and talked to some of the parents, which was lovely. and lots of hugs for the kids.
i will see them again. and if not, i know that God has them in His hand and He is looking out for them.
and i should go to bed now... so goodnight all.
