Guidepost - Day 5

So that is it, the final day been and gone and I have really mixed emotions right now. The only way I can figure them out is by writing them down!

The day started the same as all the others. Now all week I have been stalking BBC weather forecast on my phone (not in a weird way) because all week I have been hoping and praying that it will stay nice for us. On Thursday, it was meant to be heavy rain all day and it was actually fine all day, so I had my hopes that it would be lovely all week. Now every time I have looked at the weather, it has always said that Friday will be really nice so I had most high hopes. I dressed in a most summery outfit of shorts (the only shorts I had worn all week). When I looked out the window however, it didn't seem to agree with what the BBC said but I decided to take my chances and wear the shorts anyway.

However I knew as soon as I got there that I had made the wrong decision because the weather still wasn't showing any signs of clearing and everyone else was in jeans and jumpers. Luckily, I had a pair of jeans in my bag for reasons that I will go into later, or perhaps in the evening post so I just ran quickly to the toilets and changed so that I felt a little more comfortable and a lot warmer.

It was then pray and prepare, and I do actually remember what they talked about today although not in a lot of detail. The priest was saying that in order to really connect with God, you need to be alone in the quiet without any distractions to be able to speak to him and hear him back. The priest said that at some point today we should all try to get even a few seconds of quiet time just to connect with God, and this is something I tried to do - mainly when I was waiting outside the loos for the kids to finish!

The day then started and for the last day I was inside with the children. There was a bit of drama going on with one of my fellow group assistants, so I probably wasn't paying as much attention to the children and I should have because we were all trying to sort it out. We also got into a bit of a muddle when sorting out the workbooks because half of the kids had one set of pages and half of the kids had the other! So all in all, it was a little hectic, and on top of that, it seemed that we had scared off 5 children who weren't turning up. I am exaggerating a little, we knew that 3 of them weren't coming because they were going on holiday and one hadn't been there the previous day, so it wasn't quite as bad as it may seem!

Then we saw the girls planning the final stages of the party when they realised that neither of them had sent out the invites! So after getting some help, and preaching the religious lesson for that day, we went out under the incredibly grey clouds to craft for the last time.

Today in craft the children were making little bead people out of pipe cleaners and beads. I personally think that it is a little too advanced for 5 year olds because they all struggled and we all had to help them out a lot, showing them how it needs to be done. They did end up looking really good however, and I think that the children should be pretty proud of their (my) handiwork!

We then headed back to the ark tent for the last bible study lesson of the week, and today we were looking at the story of when Jesus blessed his disciples, who were also fishermen, with a really large catch. It's probably one of the more lesser known stories in the bible, but I think it may have been the first time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after the resurrection - don't hold me to that though because I'm not sure! There was one funny bit though, because today, instead of the children acting out the story, they made the group assistants do it. Then everyone else in the audience had to be fish, but later in the story all the disciples eat the fish and the look of horror on their faces when they had to eat the children was just hilarious. They were told it was just role play though, so that makes it ok!

One of my favourite moments that happened on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was that we sang one of my favourite songs: Let It Be Known. However, for some reason our band didn't practise this and so we have a baking track for it and don't need the drummer. So every time we sang that song, they got the drummer (who I know from school) up on stage to dance, which was pretty hilarious because he doesn't know any of the dance and is used to hiding behind the drum kit. He did earn a sticker for the band though, so I guess it was all worth it!

After this, we went to the final drama session of the week where we had the gripping conclusion to the story. The bad knight as it turns out isn't really bad (surprise surprise), and said sorry, and then all of the characters collected the secret ingredient (bright orange sparkly flowers) and got back to the castle to make the kings birthday cake. And they all lived happily ever after! The end.

It was then lunch time, and this was without a doubt my busiest lunchtime by far! Right near the beginning, I took several people to the toilet and it suddenly started to pour. You know in movies where it starts raining really suddenly like out of a watering can, and it never looks realistic at all - well that's quite literally what it was like! So we all ran back to the tent, but then the rain kept getting heavier and heavier. People tried to close the tent doors but they couldn't, and my group leader who went out with an umbrella came back looking like she'd just been in the bath! And my group sits in the corner for lunch, inbetween the two entrances, and so we all got completely soaked, and we had to move everybody to the front of the tent, and move all of their possessions and our box and everything away from the sides of the tent where they were getting wet. And then, people needed to go to the loo would you believe.

However, it didn't last for long and five minutes later the rain had stopped. Our tent was pretty ruined with the rain seeping through the carpet into the area that we had been previously sat. Nevertheless, we continued with our day like normal and went to nap time. Today the story was Superworm - a story about a worm who is super strong and super long. Although I never read this one in my youth, I remember hearing it last year so it was nice to hear it again.

Then we sent someone outside to check the state of the weather and to see whether outside games would still be possible. The rain had stopped and the sun had come out so it was ok to send the children out. The sports team are really good, and they were prepped the entire time for a quick getaway if the rain decided to make another appearance, but we were safe the entire time!

We then went back into the tent for our final final session of the week and after singing a few songs, we were meant to play Chinese Whispers in our groups. I don't know why but there was one child in our group who didn't seem to understand the rules no matter how many times we explained them, and so he always changed it to whatever he wanted which caused a bit of a catastrophe. Luckily none of the groups were much better, but it meant that the whole thing was a bit of a disaster!

The children all then got invitations to the thanksgiving service on Sunday which they were able to colour in and decorate, but we didn't have very long for this as the day was quickly drawing to a close.

It was then time for the group leader pieing in the face. But, because it was the last day, they decided that even if the group got the question right, the leader deserved to get pied in the face. But our group leader had been pied the most out of everyone and so when it was her turn, she took the microphone and announced that it was time for the stage people to be pied because they have been on the other end of it all week. The band had a fabulous time pieing all of them! They even pied the tech guy for our tent, despite him turning their microphones off when they were announcing his turn!

Then, because us group assistants had been gunged all week, it was time for the group leaders to be gunged. However, this time, our group leader was safe and the leader from my friends group got the worst gunging of all - the left overs from all of that weeks gunging!

But then we were saying goodbye to the children and making sure that they all had everything that they came with plus all of their crafts and extra bits and bobs because they wouldn't be able to come back and get it. And then, too soon, it was over.

All of us helpers got a bag of sweets and a certificate of participation and then we were heading to the final relax and reflect, where today we heard from some of the band members who talked about guidepost from their point of view. They showed this really funny video that had been taken previously that week where everyone had swapped instruments, and they sounded absolutely terrible!

As it was the last day, there was a water fight for all of the helpers, but I was going home with Mylie to Milly's house until the evening so I missed out on it. But believe me - it was not water fight weather!