Scoop and Jimmy return!

This evening we wrapped up “The Quest” with an evening of fun. We enjoyed a time of singing and then received a final report from Scoop. Things were certainly amiss with the time machine. He surprised us all by walking in with Jimmy! (Boy, it was a relief to see Jimmy all in one piece. Base Camps can be hard on him!) Scoop has apparently been back for 2 weeks, but since he only left 5 days ago, does this mean there were two of him here for awhile? It was rather hard to understand. . . . Scoop, however, did bring us a final report in looking back at the kings we studied: While earthly kings may fail, we can choose to put our trust in a heavenly king who will never fail. What a wonderful message!

Obstacle course

Our evening concluded with dinner, fun on inflatables, and even a catapult. Thank you to all the children and families who participated this week. We enjoyed playing, praying, laughing, and learning with you. Please feel to check us out on a Sunday and/or come back for more kids fun with God’s Word in AWANA this September. (AWANA is for kids through 6th grade. For those entering 7th grade, we have plenty of youth group activities awaiting you!)

Return from the past

Where to first?

Catapult time

Launch recipients - I don't think they would have been this excited in the middle ages!

Bullseye

Smiles!

It is so hard to believe that our week has almost come to an end. Staff and kids seemed eager to be back, and we saw lots of smiling faces as we enjoyed time together with friends. Speaking of friends, our friend, Scoop, is still in medieval England. While he claimed to be feeling better, his use of leeches as a remedy resulted in him feeling lightheaded, and we heard some groans from his fans when he began to eat them! We also had a small scare when Jimmy the Raccoon volunteered to take Scoop needed directions for his return. Reports are that Jimmy is okay.

Cabin time for 1st grade boys

During our teaching time, we learned about 2 very different kings, King Manasseh and King Josiah. Even though they were only 12 and 8 years old when they became kings, they had to choose between good and evil, and if they would serve God. Do you remember which king chose to serve God and which didn’t? In cabin time we continued talking about how we can choose to serve God, just like the child king, Josiah. We were even reminded how God forgave Ahab when he repented. God loves us so much that He never wants us to be separated from Him because of sin, so He sent Jesus. We have to do our part, though, and choose to repent and serve God.

Weapons testing

When we regrouped at the end of the night, Mr. Craig and Mr. Luke were up to more of their antics. After their attempt at jousting last night, they decided to test out how much different weapons hurt when used on someone wearing armor. Luckily for us, they chose to test them on one another rather than a member of the audience!

Major tug of war

We have really enjoyed having all the kids here with us this week for “The Quest.” We hope your entire family will join us tomorrow evening, (Thursday, August 4) at 6:15 as we wrap up our adventure!

A few more moments . . . .

Singing time just makes me want to jump!

Behind the scenes . . . .

Sled Races???

Encouragement!

Friends

Coming In!

When I say “sliding”, I do mean it literally! Kids and staff had tons of fun sliding down a soapy, wet slip and slide. While we were a little worried about weather, the rain cooperated and moved on before game time. Even if it had been raining, Lady Ashley reminded us that we were going to get wet anyway!

Volunteer Song Leaders

While the slide was a major event of the night, our evening started off with singing and a report from Scoop. We almost didn’t get to hear from our traveling reporter as he was feeling under the weather. Given the eel he was eating, we have to wonder if this wasn’t part of the issue. A trained professional, though, Scoop brought us a report on a local business man, Abe Hiltan, and his wife. While they pretended to be good, especially on Sundays, Abe and his wife looked out for themselves and made bad choices. Choices . . . I think I am sensing a theme. I even think choosing was in one of the songs we sang. Do you remember which Bible verse it has to do with that we are learning?

Mr. Scott talks about compromise

This evening we learned about King Hezekiah. He is the first good king that we have studied this week. Even when he was taunted by others who were more powerful than himself, Hezekiah chose to do the right thing. Do you think it was easy or hard for him? Hezekiah is a good example of someone doing the right thing even when it might be hard. Some of our older kids took this theme a little further and talked about such things as compromise. Take a few minutes to share with your family what you learned.

Our Brave Jousters

Our adventurous evening ended with Mr. Luke and Mr. Craig taking a trip through the time machine. Thankfully, they returned in time to lead us in more songs. Unfortunately, their time of jousting in England may have left them both with bad headaches. Wonder what will happen tomorrow? A few more photos until then . . . .

Making a Splash!

Princess Power - Watch Out Piñata

Fun times at Base Camp!

Unity Slide

Sliding Fast

Fun, fun, fun!

Making sure you get wet!

Live with Scoop via "Thine Skype"

During our teaching time, we learned about our third king of the week, Ahab. He was a wicked king who chose to disobey God, but when he repented, God forgave him. Forgiveness is a great thing!!!! Ms. Shirley also talked with some of our younger kids about how much God loves us and wants us to be with Him. The problem is that God can’t stand sin. Do you remember who has sinned? If you answered “all of us”, you are exactly right. While this can sound scary, I have great news! In the next days, we get to find out what God did because He loves us so very much! Be sure to share what you learned tonight with your family and come back tomorrow to see what we will find out on our Quest next.

Learning with Ms. Shirley

To round out our time together, we had tremendous fun during games and singing together! Check out the fun below and remember that tomorrow we will be getting WET! Please bring appropriate clothing and a towel.

Tug of War

Tug of War (the other side)

Someone may get wet!

Another day of jousting fun

Sack race laughter

An interesting race . . . .

Worshiping and having fun with songs!

Praying before snack

Our evening begins with some new and old songs

What a great start to our QUEST! It was terrific to see lots of familiar faces as well as several new. We hope you enjoyed our first evening and that you can’t wait to see what will happen tomorrow. Who expected to ever meet a celebrity like Scoop in person, let alone get his autographed photo???? Can you believe that Mr. Luke and Mr. Craig convinced him to go back in time and that the time machine worked (well sort of . . .)? I am sure he will have lots to report just like you have lots to report to mom and dad.

Many participants received this priceless, autographed photo of Scoop

Scoop heads back in time!

What was your favorite thing? Snack, games, singing, puppets, the jokes, or learning more from God’s Word? Do you remember the kings we heard about from our teachers? Did they make good or bad choices? Did they follow God or idols? I am sure we will hear about even more kings in the next few days. It will be interesting to see what kind of kings they were. Stay tuned until tomorrow to see what more we can learn, what happens to Scoop, and what other fun your leaders have planned!

Teaching time with Mr. Troy

Game Time Smiles

Ye Olde Joust

Mr. Eric talks with 6th and 7th graders about our first 2 kings

Target Practice

The stakes got a little higher and the aim a little better when a leader became the central target.

Ready for FUN!

The throne room of The Quest castle is awaiting opening night!

Just like a good knight would never go into battle without his armor, I thought maybe all the kids should be a little prepared too . . . .  I would say that first you should make sure that your mom or dad has registered you, but I am sure they already have . . . .   Second, it’s always best to not go alone, so I am sure you have already arranged for your friends to come too . . . .  So, what is left?  I started thinking that I might know what a “quest” is, but sometimes looking up the definition of a word shows me I was wrong or that there is more to it than I thought.  So, your assignment has 2 parts:

1) Find out what “quest” means so that you can totally astound your cabin leaders with your knowledge

2) Think about what a “quest” might have to do with the Bible because I have to tell you that I did a search for the word “quest” electronically, and the Bible version I used only highlighted it in the word “question”!  What might a quest have to do with the Bible?

If you want to share what you think, ASK mom or dad if you can leave a comment.  If you do leave a comment, ONLY USE YOUR FIRST NAME.  It is good internet safety for all kids!

Seriously, Base Camp 2011 is upon us, time to pre-register to make things smooth opening night. At least 3 new songs, brand new curriculum, new skits, new puppet programming, new medieval weapons. Don’t miss it!