Dia das Crianças (Children's Day) 2008

We had the privilege of putting the program together for a day of celebrating Children's Day at camp. Our theme was David and Goliath and we tried to incorporate that theme throughout the day and not just at story time. The teens from our church all came out to help and they did a great job (you'll be able to pick them out in the pictures wearing their matching green and white shirts). There were 81 children who came this past Saturday to spend a fun day at camp designed just for them. (in case you're wondering, Children's Day is a big deal here in Brazil, with presents and all) Here are some pictures of our day ...


Some of the teens stood at the entrance to welcome the kids to camp.
At the chapel, waiting for story time to begin. We sang some songs and then acted out the story of David and Goliath. (ironically, David played the role of Goliath ...) We don't have any pictures of the skit because I was narrating the story and David had a role to play, so neither of us thought to hand the camera to somebody else to snap pictures of us. The skit went over really well and the kids were attentive. The Biblical David was compared to Christ at the end of the story, and how Christ was also a young boy who would grow up to fight the ultimate battle for His people and deliver them from Satan and sin through His victory on the cross, like David delivered the Israelites from the Philistines by defeating Goliath.

The kids were divided into two teams (the Israelites and the Philistines) and had fun playing games that were named after actual battles in the Bible. Here we have the Battles of Mizpah and Gilboa. At the end of the day, the Philistines won ...

During the Bible competition, if the kids gave the correct answer, they got a chance to hit this Goliath using a sling shot.The boys got to make sling shots for their craft. The girls made bracelets.


There were various tournaments throughout the day -- swimming, carpet ball, penalty kicks, knockout. The kids could pick two to participate in. Here, the teen guys take a break and play some carpet ball. David and one of our men from church built this carpet ball table and the kids loved it. They had never seen one before and many asked if it was going to stay at the camp. There were happy to know it is.
Lunch time! The little boy in this picture is the son of a pastor in town. The boy's mother was a little girl in my parents' ministry when they were just starting out.


Jon Reiner, the camp director and missionary we're working with here, arranged for a horse to be brought for the day for the kids to ride. He also had someone set up a trampoline and had a lady come and make popcorn and cotton candy all afternoon for the kids.


Cake and pop to finish out the day. The kids were exhausted (and I think the teens and adults were even more exhausted), but they had a great time.


I think this little boy sums up how the kids felt after their day at camp. We hope to see many of them back at camp in January for their summer week-long camp.