Reunions and New Meetings

As we traveled down to Dajia, we talked to Jacob and Teri (the Heinsman's daughter).
Jacob had been there a while, working on the camp, and was exhausted. Teri had recently returned from a trip to Kyrgyzstan, and talked about that a little bit. Mostly about the fermented horse's milk she had brought back, and how no one would drink it, so it sat in the refrigerator a long time, but how could you say a fermented drink was spoiled?

I mentioned previously that we had not expected to go directly to camp. I was excited at the thought of seeing our friends there from previous years, and of meeting the Australians, but a little apprehensive at the same time. We were being thrown straight into work, without a chance to recuperate or adjust. I had done this a couple times before, and Caleb had once, but the girls had not. All these things did not occur to me that night, but looking back I am impressed with how well they managed the lack of transition, even with a few relatively sleepless nights for them. (the bamboo mats and heat/humidity at night took a little getting used to for them, coupled with the jet lag)

We arrived at camp before too long (it's near a north-south highway on the island), and began to unpack. One of the Australians was there to greet us, a very large (in both height and girth) named Steve. Steve was the leader of the group, who came from a small church in Adelaide. In fact, it was small enough that with the team of nine people that came, their attendance was halved! We talked to him a little bit, and then carried our bags to our rooms. I was a little nervous ahead of meeting everyone again, meetings preceded by high anticipation usually have that effect on me. Yet it turned out to be anticlimactic. Several of them (the "core group", you might say, 5 girls who had been there every year we had, who all spoke english to some extent (mostly fairly well) and who we had become good friends with) had waited up on us, but were (understandably) very tired, and mostly went to bed soon after we arrived. Before we arrived, Teri ran in as a joke to tell them that we had gotten held up and wouldn't be there that night. As she finished telling them this, we entered the chapel. It is a largish open room, with a concrete terrazzo floor, and a stage up front. The girls were mostly sitting on the stage, and when we entered, two of them jumped up and ran to us. These were Judy and Steffie. Judy, 16 (but, unusually for the Chinese that I have met, appearing much older) also known as "Super Judy", a self-proclaimed Drama Queen (the term takes a slightly different connotation there than your highschool definition) and who possessed enough personality for any three normal people, hugged us and welcomed us back. Steffie, 17, a small, intelligent, and emotional girl who I have talked to during the intervening years more than the others, shouted "Joseph!" and ran to hug me. I was expecting her to slow down, but she did not, and collided with me at full speed. (since she weighed about 90 lbs, this did not have the damaging effects that it could have, heh) The others then greeted us: Starcey, 21 (as of earlier that day), cheerful and competent, who since last year had been the activity leader, balancing both the "up-front excite-the-kids" and the "behind-the-scenes-planning" roles remarkably well. Janet, also 21, (who recently changed her english name to that from Jenny), a bubbly, heavier girl, with a beautiful singing voice and impressive drama skills (though through the years they had all become very good at that), and Dorcas, 19, a tiny girl (5' -maybe-) whose english abilities were a little behind the others (though she also spoke Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Hakka, a dialect of the minority group in which her ancestry lay), but had improved since last year, and who was very good at the piano. All had worked to the point of near exhaustion. This was their third camp, and they had three more to go. By the end of our first camp, they would often finish an energetic drama skit and then collapse into a near-involuntary nap offstage. Throughout our time there, we were encouraged to keep working hard and push through our own tiredness by their example.

After talking with those of them that stayed up for a while, we went to our rooms and prepared for sleep. For the guys, (Caleb, Jacob, and myself) this was a small, concrete-floored box, filled with bunk beds, in an old camp building. With 153 kids, we didn't have room to stay in the normal dorms, which were fairly similar but with better circulation. An oscillating fan made it possible to sleep (and nearly breath) in the warmth and humidity that made the air thick. The best method I found was to lay shirtless and sheetless on the (surprisingly sleepable) bamboo mat, laid on top of the thin foam block they used for a mattress on the bunk beds, where I could feel some moving air. It was not uncommon to wake up sweating in the morning, and somewhat stuck to the bamboo mat underneath. One can get used to nearly anything, however, and here our labors at the camp came to our aid; by the time we were ready for bed, we were so tired that sleep came quickly, regardless of the unusual sleeping arrangements.

Upon waking, (early, due to jet lag) I took a shower and went to read my Bible as the sun rose.
These moments were sadly few for me this trip, as we were so busy and tired that opportunities to sit and read were seldom. Still, I managed to find a few times, and those were worthy.
Sitting in an especially beautiful corner of God's creation, with mountains in the horizon and rice fields nearby, and the cicadas buzzing, how can one not feel the presence of the God who said "it is good"? Paul speaks of creation leaving man "without excuse", and I agree. Nearly every people and tribe have their own creation myth involving a god or gods who created the world.
I cannot believe that someone could look at the world and not see that it was created. The touch of a master artist with a deep appreciation of beauty is unmistakable.

That day was a busy one, though not stressful for us in that the Aussies were taking care of this camp, we were there to watch and observe and help out where we could. I met their team that morning during their devotional. Steve, the big man we had met the night before, and his wife; Bryce, a tall man with a strong accent who worked as an environmental consultant for businesses and had a fondness for puns; Nat, a friendly man who was going to Bali after the Taiwan trip was over; Josh, a dread-locked, laid-back, young man, the sort of person that comes to mind when I think of Australians; Katie, an athletic red-head whose parents were farmers in the Bush; Pam and Leanne, sisters (though their looks were dissimilar) who seemed to get along well; and Penny, an easygoing woman who seemed to be very moved by her experience there.

We helped in various activities that day, and especially watched as they taught the kids some basics of cricket and Aussie rules football. Cricket finally makes a bit of sense now, heh.
Katie gave me the rules for both on a sheet they had printed out, which came in handy later, as Jacob and Caleb ran a class teaching Aussie football in both our camps. I talked to her for a while that day, and she told me a little about herself. Her parents, as previously mentioned, ran a farm in the Bush. Australia is currently in a terrible four-year drought, so they were trying to break even from their crop losses with the money they made on sheep. Her older brother was a diesel mechanic, and her younger brother was set to inherit the farm. Due to the drought, in most of Australia you had to get a permit to even water your garden, and then only at certain times of the day. They were very excited at the water war which came later. They had begun to prepare for it by setting out buckets and tubs of water, and soon all the kids split up into their groups to have a water balloon filling competition. Rows upon rows of squirtguns that the kids had brought were laid to the side, and we lined up the buckets of water along the side of the camp's small grassy area. There were some planned games before the big war started, one involving drawing colored balls from a box where they were hidden. The teams of kids chose a color, and if they were wrong, their councilors got soaked. Then the tables were turned, and it was the councilors turn to pick. Everyone had gotten pretty wet by this point, and it was funny to watch the pent up energy keep building and building. Soon it was time, and the water war exploded into being.
Water flew everywhere, as 150 kids and dozens of camp helpers doused each other with water balloons, squirt guns, buckets and scoops. It did not stop until the camp well began to run out, (it quickly replenishes itself later) when the last few vendettas were settled, and everyone went to change into dry clothes.

Then it was time for supper, a curious combination of Taiwanese food and "western food", usually not quite in the traditional sense. It was generally good, however, and was soon finished, the tables cleaned, and the kids had a few minutes of clean up time while all the staff (Aussies and us included) headed for the chapel for some prayer time. This was the most important night of the camp, when the "campfire" (a pile of wood and chopsticks in an old satellite dish set up on concrete blocks. I love Taiwan) was lit, and the gospel was presented to the kids. After leading the kids outside and lighting the fire, the camp staff turned things over to the Australians, who played a game with the campers called "four corners", with street signs for four Australian animals held up in the four corners of the basketball court (the fire was in the middle, so any games had to go around the perimeter). The kids would circulate from one to the other, and when the whistle blew, they had to stop at the one they were at. When a die showing each of the animals was rolled, whichever animal came up would be the one whose station the kids had to stay at. So, if a kangaroo was rolled, the kids at the kangaroo station had to remain there. Eventually, nearly all the kids were stuck, and the few who remained won. The camp staff then formed a conga line of sorts with all the kids, taught them some basic moves, and conga'd back into the chapel. There the kids saw the most important segment of the drama, based on the story of the Prodigal Son, where he comes back to his father. The gospel was then presented, and the camp song, in this case "Wo Yuen Yi" (Eng: "I am willing"), sung a few times.
It's hard to describe this time. Emotional, full of silent prayer on our parts that the kids will understand what they are hearing and take it to heart, and that God will work in their lives.

Afterwards, the kids split up into their cabin groups, where their councilors gave their own testimonies and answered any questions the kids had. We met with the Australians, who were having a prayer time, and then went to bed soon afterwards.

Next time: Wrapping up the first camp, heading to Taichung.