Bright and early on Monday July 6th was our first day of camp!
However, we had a bit of a rough time getting to Morrison on time. We planned to all rent uBikes to get to the school, but Terry's bike, which was the last one, ended up having a broken chain. So he began to run to the bike depot behind our building, which is two blocks away from where he was. I met him on the way, we switched E-Z cards, and I gave him my bike. So he was just barely on time and I was a little late. Terry is in charge of the morning and evening devotional and debrief so he was already up onstage doing that when I walked in. Everyone started clapping when I entered since he had told them I sacrificed my bike for him. 😅
Here's the check-in crew
Me and Lillian.
Once the kids were checked in, the youth leaders (YoLPers) took them in groups up to the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR).
This is Wesley and Summer, who are starting a cram school that Terry and Evie are going to be helping with. They're great.
Now that looks like camp!
Evie and her crazy camper.
Evie led the song time. They made a slight change from last year - before a new song starts, Evie will walk the campers through the movements that go with the song.
Samuel in the background.
While the kids all went to their classes, Terry got Nine Square in the Air adjusted. He had set it up on Saturday, but it was flimsy. He went to the hardware store and bought some t-joints and rubber grips. The joints were for the purpose of adding stability and the grips were to prevent any scratching of the floor.
Ezra is a good leader.
Evie and Lydia were key for "Story time," aka Drama.
Always being silly, these two.
Ezra and Mveli in Music class.
I was the camp nurse and on the phototech team. I visited all the different classes to take pictures and also to help out. This day I was kept the most busy with a student helper from the States whose knee was swollen due to Lyme disease. The poor kid.
They were literally singing and dancing between classes. Ha!
Terry designed Nine Square to be either seven or five feet high, in order to accommodate for the littler kids. He decided to lower it since the kids are indeed so little.
Don't the helpers look funny?
Success! See the little feet on the bottom of the poles?
Evie and Zoe in art class.
Ezra helping the kids to build a ziggurat in science class. This year's theme is from the book of Daniel with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being rescued from the fire. All the classes focused on this theme.
Evie helping a girl make a clay seal.
Recess time!
Samuel quite enjoyed that trampoline.
Pocky for snack time!
Another change this year is that we have to leave Morrison at 4 pm. Not entirely sure why, but we've had to do our daily debriefing at the church office instead. We are bussed like a mile down the road so we can talk here.
We added the idea of writing down Highs and Lows (or a Buffalo - a random event) to our repertoire this year. Evie made all the buffalo sheets!
I was completely exhausted when we finally returned home that evening (we hadn't slept well). I came into the kitchen and started dinner without even taking off my backpack! I went back out to put it away and take off my sweaty watch, and apparently I also took off my ring. I didn't know it at the time. I didn't remember taking my ring off at all. I was starving, hot, hungry, and tired, and I needed to get us dinner ASAP. When dinner was over I noticed pink light shining on the building out back. So I made a bee-line for the elevator and went to the roof all by myself. No one else seems to need beauty the way that I need it. Nature always encourages and calms me. It was lovely. However, when we were going to bed that night, I could not find my wedding ring!
For Tuesday July 7th, we decided we would not ride bikes anymore, to ensure that we arrived in a more timely (and less sweaty) fashion. Terry scheduled Ubers for the whole week and we got there on time. Actually, we were the first ones to arrive, so I had time to work on a newsletter.
Terry leads a short morning devotional for the team before the kids come. He asked everyone to pray for my ring. I also wrote a very short newsletter requesting prayer for not only my ring but for the typhoon that was coming. The night before, our neighbor Amy warned us to stock up b/c the stores would be cleared out.
She's such a good girl.
This is "O," the student that was in Terry's group last year. Terry spent a lot of time with him and shared the gospel with him. He wrote about him in our daily journal last year.
Terry is showing Otto the art project that Otto made last year and gave to Terry. Terry kept it all this year and was able to show him!
Evie and the skit crew got ready in the kitchen. They acted out how Evie (Cameron) and the other girls got hauled off to Babylon and confronted by King Nebuchadnezzar into worshipping his golden idol. They refused.
Terry followed O's group that morning to help out. He met O's friends, T and H, and shared the gospel with them.
Here Terry is explaining the trinity to them.
Evie and Lydia at Story class again.
I mean, nothing is better in Evie and Lydia's minds than to act all day long. This class is perfect for them.
I was in and out of all the classes again this day. One kid had bumped his head during recess and we sent him home later. He was back the next day.
We had Ezra come for the afternoon classes. He did a lot of running around during gym and that probably wasn't good for him.
People at home might recognize what the kids are doing - they're standing at attention for the game Ship to Shore that we play every year at Fall Retreat. It was a success, though the kids were maybe a little small for it. It's good for running out energy.
After camp debriefing that night, Terry and I walked across the street to the big Carrefour and stocked up on groceries like Amy had told us to.
When I got home, I took my watch off, the same as I did the night before, and put it on the couch-side table. That triggered a vague potential memory that perhaps I had taken my ring off there the night before? We took the couch apart but did not find it. So I took my watch to where I usually keep it (and my ring) - my bedside table. I decided to check around the table, which led me to check under the bed, which led me to check under the drawer...and that's where I found my ring!
I think I must've left my ring on the table next to the couch and Porky took it to play with. He pushed it under my bed, where all of his toys end up, and there it stayed, even while I slept the night before. I'm thankful it was there, because he couldn't continue to play with it.
Yay! Thank you, Lord!
Terry took this picture of purring Porky hanging out next to me while I typed up another newsletter about the answered prayer.
Wednesday July 8th was a long and tough day for me. I slept just terrible. I was asked to help group three since two of their YoLPers were helping elsewhere and left their group short on assistance. Ezra was also feeling very rough, so we let him stay home all day. He had a slight fever, glassy eyes, and a productive, barky cough. Also, our Uber was late this day. Terry had to take Evie's scooter to get to school on time while we waited for it to come.
Evie's skit, however, was great. They finished the Nebuchadnezzar story where they met Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were saved from the fire, and went home.
In Story time, Evie gave everyone new names just like Neb had done to Daniel's friends.
It's hard to pick just one photo of these goofballs.
Samuel's table group.
Terry entertained his rambunctious boys by stacking cards.
The kids were semi-attentive.
Terry leads game time.
For science, they made an Archimede's screw, which is how they got water to flow uphill to water the hanging gardens in Babylon. Fascinating.
Samuel was the YoLPer helper at game time this day. He's such a good helper. He hustles.
I ran between classes and nursing duties on this day. Shortly after this, I was called away to tend to a kid who fell on a plastic tub that was holding some ping pong balls. It shattered and cut the kid's leg up.
He freaked out. He did have several cuts, but they didn't bleed much and he didn't need stitches or anything. It was a lot to handle. Very stressful.
For Thursday July 9 Ezra got almost no sleep due to his cold. I decided I'd take him to the doctor at the end of the day.
Evie is trying to get the kids to act out portions of the story. 
Here, I'm helping in English class.
And here I am in Music class, where we talked about being good friends.
This was science class, where we put together puzzles of Babylonian artwork. A member of the STM group named Hao was taking pictures, so I kind of stopped. But since I was in his group he actually captured me (for a change).
Balloon games for game time. I remember how balloon games last year were insane. It was very much more manageable this year with the smaller classes traveling to different spaces.
Silly kids in Samuel's class after art.
Terry was explaining the Bible to O and H. He gave them each a Chinese/English Bible.
In science class, we made Babylonian calendars.
I left camp a little early, at around 3:25. Two "injured" kids had just come up to me after bonking their heads during recess, but I had to pass them along to another mom. I tell you what - the kids are ultra careful here. It's kind of mind-boggling for this boy mom who doesn't worry about minor injuries.
Anyway, I met Ezra at the same doctor we've been going to. He said it was just a virus and he'd give us conservative treatment... but only three day's worth, of course. So I stopped in a pharmacy and bought some over-the-counter meds for a cough. It's a good thing I did, because Evie got sick next.
I took this photo of the blue under-construction apartment across from us to show how they tied down their protective tarp things to prepare for the upcoming typhoon. Also notice the beautiful blue sky. The typhoon definitely wasn't here yet.
Poor Ezra got a little relief. I'm not sure if the pills helped so much as the rest did. I missed that evening's debrief time, which was just fine by me. The day is long enough already without adding that onto the end.
It was nice that they had the adult "shepherds" pray for the youth on their teams.
Whoops, these uploaded in the wrong order. This is backed up to balloon game time.
We had also taken group photos that morning. Good thing too, since we cancelled the final day...
That evening was when we first got the news from our neighbor Amy that the government had shut everything down for the next day, Friday. Then our Line group (the messaging app they use in Taiwan) blew up. Everyone was trying to decide what to do. We had already decided that if the government shut the city down, we could follow suit. But then we had to decide if we should try to move the final day and performance. We ultimately decided we would just do everything on Monday.
Friday July 10th arrived with sunshine and some clouds. It rained on and off, but it was a completely normal day until evening. Terry, Evie, and Samuel went to the mall because that's where some of the short term team were hanging out. I stayed home with Ezra.
Noah sent us this selfie that night.
They saw this boarded up door on their way to the mall and were a bit surprised. But we really shouldn't be. Typhoons are the same as hurricanes. They just use a different name in this part of the world.
The mall was jam-packed, because what else was there for people to do with work and school cancelled? Here's Abby, Aiden, Caleb, and Gabriel (who came last year and whom Samuel has kept in touch with).
Terry with a family (Jonathan, Micah, Jonathan's mom, Grace, and Ethan.
Kenneth, Pinky, Charlize, and Chloe.
Evie liked this shirt. It's funny, because I thought about buying it for her on our anniversary get-away.
Hey, look, kids - an escalator! Terry shared how Rapid City only has two. 😂
Okay, I love this. Evie took this photo last year.
And she remade it this year!! 💜 We should go back with Noah in August and do it again.
They had a really great time with the team. We were bummed that we had cancelled camp since the entire day's weather was absolutely fine, until it started raining at like 9pm.
On Saturday July 11th, the typhoon finally arrived. It was actually raining and blowing like it was supposed to. I got up and fixed my sourdough, made scones, and then (for good measure), I made chocolate chip muffins. Terry talked to his folks, we watched The Price is Right, and then we talked to Noah.
Sillies.
Terry invited Justin over to play Settlers since we had nothing else to do. And he won! They've created a monster.
Evie started feeling sick, so she chilled with me while I started this blog. Terry was observing the wind and rain.
It was very dim inside and out. Very chill-feeling.
I stepped onto the porch/balcony to try and capture some of the storm, but it was hard to with just a picture. It really was blowing and the rain was coming down in sheets. Actually, it just reminded me of a South Dakota thunderstorm... only, instead of lasting an hour, it went on all day long.
On Sunday July 12th, the sky cleared and the storm was done. There was a good amount of debris on the sidewalks and streets - leaves, twigs, branches, and more.
Terry's camper, O, came to church! How fortuitous that he met us in the elevator. Unfortunately, his mom did not stay.
His friends, T and H, came too!
The team hung out taking pictures afterwards since part of their group was leaving this day (Sunday). Here's Samuel's team.
Samuel decided he'd like to go to Taipei with the group, but the rest of us stayed home. Evie had a small fever and cough, the same as Ezra had. And Terry and I are old and didn't want to go and get exhausted just before the final day of camp.
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