Day Three of camp was awesome. The kids arrived pumped up and ready to go! We were at a third location in Moche again, right beside the Temple of the Sun and Moon. We had planned on touring the temple of the moon. I had heard it looked like the temple of doom out of a Indiana Jones movie. But first, we had to finish camp Day 3.
We had a pool again, this was the largest one we had and the kids loved it. Other activities included sports, archery and face painting (back by popular demand--Sam was a hit with the kids!), superfun games, playground-inflatables, and the evangelism tent. The kids by now were getting the hang of camp and the games we play, how we move from activity to activity. There were object lessons at each activity and as usual, Paul Nasekos provided the children with a wonderful lesson. Day 3 was I am the Resurrection. Paul told the children the story of Lazarus. He used the American counselors to help act out the story. The children were very attentative and again surprised me with how many could say the memory verses. It is amazing to see these kids hide God´s word in thier heart. Such an inspiration. In addition to assembly and our activities we enjoyed singing praise songs and fun camp songs. Also, we took camp pictures. We took a picture of the campers from each area church (Arevelo, Larco and Wichanzao), the missionary kids, the orphans, and then the Peruvian and American counselors. It was a great day for all!
After camp, we went to the Temple of the Moon and took the tour through the temple. This was where you could really tell you were in the desert. There was sand everywhere and it was very windy. Archeologist are working to uncover the several layers of the Temple of the Moon. As I mentioned previously, this is where sacrifices were done centuries ago during the Moche reign. As part of thier culture, they would have 2 warriors fight and the loser would be sacrificed. The sacrificial areas had been uncovered. The Moche would create a temple and then later build another temple on top. They would cover the first one with mud and mud bricks so that a lot of the original paintings and structures still exist in relatively good condition. There were 5 temples total. Most of the 5th is gone, but they have excavated a good portion of the 4th and are continuing thier work. It was really interesting to learn more about the Moche culture and visit the temple we had been seeing for the past 3 days. And how awesome that today, God is being praised and worshiped and his word taught at the foot of a pagan temple? He is doing amazing things in Peru!
After the temple, everyone went back to the hotel to shower and then go to dinner at the Bakers. Well, everyone except me and Carrie Kimball. We decided to skip the shower and opted for a little court time on the red clay tennis courts of South America. Carrie and I are both avid tennis players and had been admiring the red clay courts so Bill Bradford was kind enough to work out the opportunity for us to play on the courts in thier neighborhood before dinner. So, after enjoying the red clay, we went to the Bakers and met the rest of our gang for dinner. As always, dinner was wonderful. The missionary families made us all feel so welcome and it was such a blessing to visit in thier homes each night for a meal and fellowship. It was such a refreshing time to recharge and get ready for the next day. Yet even away from camp, the fun and games are always present. There was a circle of guys talking in the back yard that lead to an impromptu game of Wah! that somehow led to a of Big Big ùn! Because the fun never ends with Twin Lakes camp!!
