Props to my props makers!

This year was a unique year for the programming at camp and it required some additional props that would take some creativity to figure out. Each day, we went through the life of Moses and, to put it lightly, Moses experienced some pretty incredible stuff. At the end of the week, right before Moses died on Mount Nebo, Spirit of Prophecy says that God showed Moses the plan of salvation. It was from that angle that the kids viewed the sacrifice of Christ.

Unfortunately, I don't always have the practical skills to go along with my hair-brained programming ideas. Thankfully, I have several friends who have more than enough handy skills. So I came up with the ideas and helped with the plans and they helped me put it all together. Thanks Teddy, Alex, Jen, and Caitlin for all your help!

These "bulrushes" provided a perfect place for Miriam (Emily Knott) to hide and watch the Princess find Baby Moses. Alex sawed a log in half and then drilled holes for the greenery. (Sorry that I don't have more 'in-action' pictures!)

The Red Sea was something that stumped me for a long time. How could I to portray the parting of the red sea in any tangible way? The best plan that I could come up with was to pain an ocean scene on a large sheet and have Israelites walk past it as if they were walking on dry land. Providentially, my good friend Jen Seal, who also happens to be an accomplished artist, worked as a volunteer at camp this summer. She and Caitlin produced this beautiful red sea painting for me!

Pharaoh's chariot was probably our most fun prop this summer. Pharaoh would ride in this chariot and chase the israelites past the red sea painting. I love working with my friend Teddy because he can take my ideas and produce them in concrete form in hardly no time at all. I sat down with Teddy, told him my crazy idea and not long after, he came back carting this awesome chariot behind. He told me he'd always wanted to make something with wooden wheels!

This tombstone was placed in front of the fireplace in the chapel during the scene of Christ's resurrection. Teddy made me a circular frame out of wood and then we covered it with cardboard and painted it.

I need this wooden door frame for multiple reasons. One being that I needed someplace for Moses to paint the "blood" of a perfect lamb to save the first-born Israelite sons from being killed in the last plague on Egypt. Second, it worked perfectly for a door to an inn where Joseph and Mary tried to ask for shelter in the Passion play. Teddy made it, complete with wooden pegs instead of nails! :)

This Samaritan Well was used to bring out the portrait of Jesus being our living water. I modeled the Passion play after the types of Christ that are seen in the life of Moses (living water, serpent lifted up in the wilderness, the rock of Christ, manna, etc) so I decided to include the Woman at the well story as one of the snapshots that Moses would see. With help from some willing camp staff (Jackie in particular!), I painted a large sheet of cardboard with a brick texture. Then, Teddy built a well stand to fit inside, complete with an six-sided wooden bucket and a handle that actually turns!

Mount Nebo took quite a bit of planning. This was definitely not my original plan but it worked out quite nicely. What we did was take two sheets of plywood and hinge them together so that they would fold up on each other. Alex and I took a saw to the top to create a jagged, rock-like edge. Then, I took all manner of trash, cardboard, milk cartons, etc to build up a 3-d mountain. We also used paper mache (thanks kristin!) and many, many cans of plumbing foam sealant. Then I spray painted the whole thing grey and Jen added the finishing shadow touches. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture with Moses actually up on the mountain but it looked pretty cool. We had a table behind that he would climb up on and so it looked like he was on the top of a mountain. It was from this vantage point that he was shown the life of Christ in our Friday night Passion play.