Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set the example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. I Timothy 4:12
Jun. 30, 2009
Being The Beginning of The Chronicle of the Grand Saint Louis Trip That Was More Difficult To Plan Than A Mission Trip
After much anticipation, many phone calls, and various exchanges of joyful exclamations between Kaitlin and I, the day finally arrived. Thursday morning was spent trying to get schoolwork done and full of the obligatory panic on Josiah’s part. I was fairly sure I’d packed everything but later discovered I’d left my hairbrush at home. Well, you can’t win them all.
We got to practice a bit later due to our frantic rushing around but remembered the food, which of course is the most important part. Tess was going to be on time but ended up having to wait for about fifteen minutes for a package for Chris Kelly, who ended up getting off way too easy for it two days later, but that’s another story. At any rate, she got there at 11:50 and we talked for a few minutes before heading to SALTeam meeting.
As anticipated, we didn’t really get through both topics for the Bible study. We’re doing two fruits of the Spirit a week because we don’t have enough weeks, but we also don’t have enough time. We spent a lot of time on love and only touched on joy before we dove into the schedule for the day. We were learning seven songs that day and we had an hour and forty-five minutes in which to learn them. Yay!
We did mentorship first for about fifteen minutes and tried to squeeze our Bible study into forty-five minutes, which worked about as well as it had in the SALTeam meeting. However, Courtney and Rachel did a good job leading it and they had a challenge at the end, which was very nice. Of course, if I keep forgetting about it, I’m going to be embarrassed on Thursday, so I’d better be working on that. Too much to work on.
I don’t really remember the order in which we learned the songs, but here they are: End, Courtroom, Gifter, In the Light, Virtuoso, Champion, There is a God. We never learned Champion for two reasons – one, the AKMT team knows it and two, Tess didn’t think it would go over real well on the streets. We taught like a whirlwind. Obviously There is a God and Gifter took the longest. We taught Gifter in about five minutes and got to run it twice before we had to leave, which wasn’t close to enough, but oh well. We practiced it on the way up.
Haha, I haven’t even mentioned who was on the trip with us! OK, so it was Jo, James and Alex for the guys, and Courtney, Amanda, Emily, Rachel, Maria and I for the girls. The Rolfs got to STL late, late Thursday night. Mr. and Mrs. Brown drove us up – the guys in the 15-passenger and the girls in the Voth’s van. Amanda Bushmann is going on the MWMT and hoping to intern provided we can find a place for her to stay. She presented the songs she knew with us.
On the drive there, we folded about 650 tracts – gave the rest to the guys – and got intimately acquainted with the mime that went to heaven. *rolls eyes* Actually, it was kinda fun to hand them out at the outreach on Saturday. We also listened to some music and the Brown girls sang, tried to play two truths and a lie (it kinda fizzled out), and practiced There is a God and Gifter. We got to Kaitlin’s house at about 9:15. After a quick bout with indecision, Amanda and Emily stayed in Peter’s room, I stayed with Kaitlin, and Courtney stayed downstairs with Rachel and Maria. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were in Garrett’s room(?) downstairs. We got to bed around 11 but didn’t have to get up till 7 (we left at 8:45), which was really nice.
I guess if this was a SL paper I would have to say "Up I am Finally Caught" or something, since I'm not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but it's not, so I'm going to title it in a way that makes more sense. :)
Friday was the day that we'd been "planning" forever but we'd never planned until a couple of days before. See, for a long time - ever since we studied fellowship in the spiritual disciplines last session - we've been wanting to put together another get together. You know girls. We love get togethers. We knew we had to do it a) after the Browns got back from CA, b) before Heather moved to STL, and c) before the Browns left for the Outer Banks. There was about three weeks that fit those qualifications, but Courtney and I didn't actually start planning - we just talked about it - until last Sunday. After some discussion and innumerable phone calls to various people, we decided to hold a swim party at Big Rock - the swimming hole behind my house - on Friday afternoon. Much to our jubilation, it was found that all the girls could come, and so by two o'clock we were all headed down to Big Rock, having just finished a heated (ha.ha.ha. it WAS 95 or so) game of kickball.
We had to walk down to the creek because, as anyone who frequents the area knows, since the major floods last year - or was that '07? - the road is in a perfectly atrocious condition. It's extremely rocky and bumpy, and there are places where it's horribly muddy and other places where there is so much gravel it's almost impossible to pedal through. When there's only three or four of us, we ride our bikes. However, seeing that we didn't exactly have bikes for ten girls, we walked through the mud and over the gravel and arrived safely at Big Rock.
As some of you may be aware, most people aren't allowed to swim down at Big Rock anymore because the owners - well, more specifically, the owners of the property across the street - are finally enforcing the "No Trespassing" rule. However, we went through a big ordeal last summer and got a letter from the owner that we and our guests can swim down there, so that is precisively what we've been doing. The owners came down but they knew who we were so it was all good.
We came back to the house eventually after everyone – including Moriah – had jumped off the rock and we’d been swimming for about an hour and a half. Of course after we hosed off we went right to the Muddy Buddies and had them taken care of within fifteen minutes. hey, no sense prolonging our junk food enjoyment.
We played Dutch Blitz until the parents showed up – which, unfortunately, wasn’t very long. Melissa, The Amazing One, smoked the rest of us at Dutch Blitz. It was very impressive. Her dad came to pick her up and I got to meet one of her adopted sisters, which was cool. I’m SO glad she got to come. It’s been quite a while since we’ve really hung out and I’m feeling kinda isolated from her, so it was definitely good to see her again.
Sunday we went to Amy’s dance recital in SGF with Courtney and Emily. Rachel and Jo graciously agreed to watch Daphne for me and Dad did the children’s church so we were able to go. We’d invited Andrew and Jenny too – they’re in town for the next few days – but they couldn’t make it. Sad day. Amy danced wonderfully, though. She was a joy to watch. Us girls had a delightful time, too. After returning an overdue game at the library, we went to Andy’s (unplanned, of course) and split a large peanut butter cup concrete. It was pretty much amazing, and we each only had to pay $1.25, which is good for those of us that are stingy like me. I did give Courtney a dime for tax. And we giggled all the way home. Funfunfun. Girls have it good.
Monday – sorry, I know this is boring to read, but I want to remember it for later and I’m not in a creative mood right now – Andrew and Jenny and Aletheia came over for dinner!!! Aletheia is so charming. Very personable and cheerful and inquisitive. Andrew fixed my computer and Jenny fixed my trophy plus I showed her LA’s DVD which was cool.
So now I’m up to now! Hallelujah. ‘cause I’m going to have a lot more to say after the STL trip. Ah. That’s what I need to pack – a journal. I’ll try to keep you updated. Tomorrow we have SALT mentorship, SALT meeting, SALT Bible study, team Bible study, team mentorship, and practice. We leave the church at four. Plus Andrew and Jenny will be there. SO HAPPY!
Every other day is respectable. Of course, it’s even more respectable if it’s done more than once in a row, which is what I’m aiming for. We’ll just see how far I get. (haha, started this two days ago. So much for every other day)
OK, so group. We’ve started having group with the Browns and the Worleys (a family we know from way back when associated with SDC and MC). Our first meeting was at the Browns two weeks ago Sunday night. There were sixteen of us… we had chicken (Brown), corn on the cob and biscuits (Roberts), and some kind of dessert that looked yummy but I didn’t try because I don’t like whipped cream (Worley).
Before dinner I did a little childrens’ thing with Daphne, the Worleys’ three-year-old daughter. I worked with her and Loretta, the Lamb (puppet)… ah, a throwback to the past. I remember Loretta from when I was just a little bit older than Daphne. Mom always operated her and I was afraid I’d butcher her, but I’ve been doing OK. Daphne and Loretta got acquainted, then Loretta introduced the memory verse, we said the memory verse together, I read her the story of Adam and Eve from the Read With Me Bible (upside down, like Mom used to), and then we (including Dad and Ms. Kelly) sung God’s Not Dead. Ahhhhh… good memories, all that matters.
Then we ate and made a mess with the chicken and then we had a little “get to know you” time and then most of the “kids” (that is, everyone under twenty) went downstairs while Dad had a little teaching time. Daphne played with dolls and then I bounced with her on the trampoline and then Courtney, Emily, KT and I had a prayer time on the weird picnic table on the back patio. With the evil wasp chasing us. It was really nice to be able to talk, just the four of us. And since we’re doing this every week I look forward to it happening frequently.
This past Sunday we were at our house. We had the new neighbors over, plus Ms. Donna, which was pretty awesome. Us kids hung out in the playroom eating sloppy joes and talking. Oh, and I met with Daphne – she’d memorized her verse from last week (Ephesians 6:1)! I was SO excited. It was really encouraging.
After dinner we all went outside to play kickball. I played for an inning and a half, partially with Daphne on my hip, but then she got tired of it, so we left (gracious Courtney offered to watch her while I played, but I declined). I pushed her on the swing and bounced with her on the trampoline and played with her in the sandbox. Then we went inside and us girls had our prayer meeting in my room. Well, it was more of a “giggling meeting” than anything else, but we had a good time and that’s what counts.
Thursday was funfunfun in a smelly sort of way. This past Thursday, I mean (yeah, I’m really up-to-date this week). Jo and I went back to the Salvation Army – our default on Thursdays, even if we do only practice every other week – from 1-4 to help Egroj and the Browns clean the church ahead of the new pastor that’ll be coming in soon. Since the Keys are moving, everything has to be spic-n’span before the new guy gets here.
While Jorge, Jo, and Mr. Brown worked hard in the 95-degree heat trimming foliage back from the curb and taking down small trees, the rest of us – minus Courtney, who was serving time at Silver Dollar City – cleaned. Whew, did we clean! We organized, picked up, swept, mopped, wiped down, scrubbed, and polished nearly everything on the first floor. Well, OK, so we didn’t get to the fellowship hall OR the kitchen (although we did the windows in the fellowship hall). However, we dig get a LOT done, and we got it done well. Emily and I got to clean the bathrooms (yes, including the boys’ bathroom) and they were pretty nasty. Nicky and I took ice water out to the guys, who were very appreciative. Courtney got there just as we were finishing up, so she got to sweep the stairs but she missed the rest of the fun. =)
Thursday evening we went to the Promise Keepers’ double header: one against the Mormons, and one against Church Army. We run-ruled both of them… well, actually, we ALMOST run-ruled Church Army. I think that one got called over on time. It was fun, though, ‘cause the Madrigals were there again and I got to hang out with Gabriel – oh, excuse me, the TIGER – on the playground. Lily put me in jail at least twice and Egroj had fun goofing off with Gabriel in the stands. Mr. John came through with another home run. Mr. Jerod made a couple of spectacular catches. All in all it was a very satisfying couple of games. I’ll be even more satisfied if the Royals and the Cards get to go at it soon… right now we’re suffering a rain delay.
(six hours later)
We finished suffering a rain delay, Chris Carpenter pitched a three-hitter (although he did give up one earned run =( ), and Albert and Khalil (yeah, I know, it’s a riot) both hit home runs. It was pretty sweet. Of course, our rivals were just the Royals, but a 7-1 win is satisfying no matter who we’re playing. =)
OK, so I guess I have to try to figure out how to sum up the past few weeks. That's constantly my problem, it seems. Well, I've covered all of the AK raining camp I'm going to, so I suppose I'll move on. The main parts of my life for the past few days have been: Browns, group, school, Cardinals baseball, and time with Katie. AIM is in there somewhere too but we haven't done much with it except for training camp. I've actually seen the Brown girls almost every day for the past week and a half. Last Sunday we had group, then Tuesday I went over to their house and we played in the sprinkler. We set their sprinkler up under their square trampoline (with a net) and bounced while getting wet. And when Emily wasn't wet enough we rolled her to the "floor" and held her done while the sprinkler went back and forth. Then we had water gun "wars" but the water guns were really pathetic so whoever had the hose had a distinct advantage, so that didn't last very long.
After our wet afternoon we went inside, ate pears, and Courtney and I talked for 45 minutes or so. Trying to get in time with her so we can get closer. I sense that her friendship is going to be very important as time goes on.
Wednesday I was sick . I ran in the morning but then went back to bed feeling cruddy - I was nauseous, congested in the head and draining in the throat, and my throat really hurt. So skipped piano lessons that day and laid in bed feeling cruddy all morning and drinking water. When Mom got home from the grocery I had to eat a banana plain. Gross. Ate some real food for a late lunch, canceled working at the nursery that night but ended up going to church anyway.
Then of course the next day we had training camp ALL day from 8:30 till 5:00. SALTeam got there at 8:30 but of course we didn't really start until about nine. Jorge is directing this session but he's not actively directing (like Ryan did), so things are more back to the way they were back when Tess was un-directly directing. We talked about Bible study - we're taking the team through the James 3:17 study the SALTeam did last session - SALTeam Bible study - we're going through the fruits of the Spirit, same format as last session - mentors and mentorees, and the schedule for the day. Of course the schedule for the day took us forever, but thankfully Tess typed it up and printed it out. Un-thankfully, though, we weren't able to follow it.
Alex and Maria thought the training camp started at one and by the time we were ready to start practicing at 11 (we did Bible study and mentorship first), they were in Ava, doing some kind of cleanup to help a grandparent, I believe. I appreciate their helping out, for sure. However, it was slightly inconvenient to us because they were the people that had the most to learn and they weren't there - they didn't get there until almost two. In the meantime we put together songs that they already knew, but felt like it was somewhat of a lost effort since we already knew said songs very well and would have to have to put them into the songs once they arrived. We were also rather abruptly informed that James Roten was going to be participating in this session but that he wouldn't arrive at training camp until three. Needless to say, these gaps made training camp a very frustrating and discouraging affair.
We went through nine and a half songs. Well, I guess it was nine but I consider Freedom Battle to be two songs even though it's in actuality one. Here's what we "learned":
Forgiven
Courtroom
Champion
America Again
Virtuoso
In the Light
Freedom (I am SO SO SO excited about learning this and Restoration! Started working on it three years ago at a two-day training camp at the old HQ and haven't touched it since, but it looks like it could definltey be a possibility for this session!)
Washed in the Blood (AHAHAHAHA! so much fun with this country, crazy song and the rope technique that goes with it)
Always Been (1/2)
It was basically Katie, Courtney and I teaching. As of right now, all the girls have been on the SALTeam longer and are therefore usually more assertive and take more leadership. Which of course means that we leave the guys to just kinda watch. Which isn't good. And Jo felt pretty bad after traning camp. So I asked him to take more leadership and said that if he didn't than we would. It used to be like this - mostly KT and I teaching - two sessions ago. I thik I liked it a lot better when there was solid guy leadership. It feels right... bettwe to be under authority and teaching than over authority. And that's something coming from me. Maybe I did learn something from that submissive Bible study after all.
Well, after training camp - and we scheduled in a cake break in the middle of the afternoon to celebrate Emily's b-day - it was rush home for a quick dinner and then tear back to the baseball field where the Promise Keepers were pitted against The River, the team that we're tied with for first place. When we got there the Browns were already there and the game was just starting. By the time the score was 7-0, River, the Madrigals (!!!) were there too! Then, by the time we were finally making some runs - we played EIGHT innings, which is saying something for church league - the Duncans had arrived. After a nail-biting game, Mr. Brown scored the winning run and most of us went to the Duncan's house for ice cream to celebrate Emily B's birthday. While there, Josiah saved Courtney from Kyle. She was very grateful.
On Friday, I lounged around some, did a few productive things, and wrapped Madison's presents before heading off to her house for her 16th birthday party. It was EmilyD, Courtney and Emily B, Lauren and Caitlyn, and KT and I. The party was slow starting, but we eventually started playing that game that has no name but has something to do with random information and switching seats. Well, most of us played it. Madison didn't because she was on crutches because she'd banged her heel against something and was concerned that it was infected.
We ate dinner, opened presents, watched a movie, and tried to go to bed. Tried, of course, is the operative word. Lauren, Caitlyn and Emily D were all on the rollaway bed and it was chaotic. They were all very hyper and acting like toddlers. It was actually qutie amusing but got a bit annoying once we actually set about trying to go to sleep. For an hour, of course, we were just pretending. The next morning we all eventually woke up, ate breakfast, and started to watch a movie, but I had to leave because I had to do schoolwork.
Then Sunday we had group... but I'm tired of staring at a screen, so I'll have to write about that later.
And so end two of the most fulfilling days of my life. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. However, I must say that being here at HQ and training the mission trip teams is an honor that I am ecstatic to have.
The AKMT training camp started Tuesday night, following the team arriving all throughout the day on Tuesday and Egroj Lagirdam picking them up in STL. Katie and I had been bugging Tess all week about the training camp and letting her know in no uncertain terms that we wanted to help! Well, not only did she let us help, but she scheduled song time in the evening so Katie could come and help after work! She’s so thoughtful.
Wednesday we got there at 3:00 (well, actually, a little before three) and they were working on Bible studies so of course they went overtime. This was OK with me, though; it gave me time to organize the Branson props, find the mission trip props with Courtney’s help, and put together all the AKMT props in a duffel for the team to use. Plus I said hi to everyone.
The mission trip team finished up their Bible study and we all headed up to the front for – what else? – technique. Well, Ryan said we were doing 2 Sets, but the team actually ended up going through a series of basic technique like foot positions and double zero. Ryan kind of combined technique with teaching the songs, teaching characterization before Larger Than Life and slow motion before Go.
That night we taught 2 Sets, Larger, Devil is Bad, and Faithful. Katie got there in the middle of Devil is Bad. Chris – I have to mention him since I went on a mission trip with him – got Rothchild, the announcer, Satan, and the main guard, respectively. Of course he was the announcer and the main guard on the mission trip, but Jo got to teach him Satan in Devil is Bad and I got to teach him Rothchild in 2 Sets, which was pretty cool.
OK, so hold all the events for a minute (that’s how I usually blog and I think it gets kind of boring). This team is doing something well that our ECMT08 team struggled with… a LOT: being teachable. It is so so so hard to be teachable when someone is telling you to do a song different that you’ve done a certain way your entire life! It’s frustrating and very difficult, but this team is doing it so well. What with the Branson people teaching some and the DE people teaching some, and none of them from either place but Charleton, something changes for SOMEone in every song, and I’ve never seen anyone handle it so graciously. Except maybe the last AKMT team. I told them as much yesterday. It really speaks well of their character.
Larger Than Life was of course completely chaotic when we first taught it. Faithful was interesting because we really had to leave but wanted to stay to help teach and so we stayed and then when we got home we had five minutes before we had to turn around and leave for church. Kendall is the martyr who burns at the stake, and it was really fun to teach her. Oh, and it was fun to teach Sadie in Devil is Bad, two (she’s Eve 1)! I’ve decided I really like Sadie.
So enough about Wednesday. Yesterday is the day that was completely amazing. And the day that I'll have to post about tomorrow.
SO I guess the next thing to blog about would be Thursday. No, AIM isn’t back in session yet. However, I did spend a significant part of my day at the Salvation Army church, which of course means that it must have been a blog worthy day.
I had told Tess that I wanted to help her out a lot while the Browns were gone (Browns gone = more work to do = more things for me to do =D). However, she had the nerve to go off to Tennessee (j/k, I’m sure they had a great time), so this past Thursday was the soonest date that ended up working for both of us. Pretty sad, but at least it worked and I was determined to make a day out of it. I had just finished my science test and Chinese 2, so academics were light enough that I could ignore them for a day.
Arrived at the church at nine but Tess wasn’t there yet, so I hung out with Ms. Mildred until she got there, looking slightly haggard and explaining that the reason she hadn’t answered my call that morning is because she’d been asleep – she’d fallen asleep at five and woke up around eight. Poor person.
The first thing Tess gave me to do was definitely the worst. Here at HQ we’re preparing for the Alaska mission trip – training camp starts this Tuesday and the mission trip leaves on the 7th. Well, as one might imagine, the best way to get to AK is to fly. And unfortunately, when one is flying with a large group of people, one does not usually get a large group of seats all together. Of course, this being an AIM trip complicates things as well, as we want to avoid guys sitting with girls they aren’t related to and vise-versa. Well, Tess handed me the reservation and told me it was now my job to assign everyone seats in which a) inexperienced and/or younger people wouldn’t be sitting alone and b) there would be no inappropriate guy/girl seating arrangements. Sounds exciting, huh?
So, uh… I spent the first two hours on that. WELL… there are four flights, and fourteen people, and seats all across the plane, and it was far more complicated than it first appeared. However, I will admit that it was most enjoyable, save for the crick I got in my neck after drawing four different plane diagrams, and most satisfying to have accomplished.
Next was a task a little closer to my heart but equally daunting, seeing as it could not be done. Yet. Ryan had sent Kristi and Jorge a list of songs for the AKMT and Kristi had narrowed it down to a workable number and Tess had added and taken away and finalized it. So I had a song list, and I made a prop list. Tess asked me to gather all the props and see how small I could make them (and, presumably, how much they weighed). This could not be done without a small amount of difficulty, however, because the Browns have most of the mission trip props with them in CA. Well, actually, they’re currently in OK somewhere, but they’re not here, and they were in CA when I was looking for props on Thursday.
So the point is that I couldn’t really pack the props because they were gone. I did bring one of the SIN banners back home to sew the S on firmly and iron it (haven’t done that yet) because it’s so wrinkly. While I was working on the props Tess left, and just as I finished up Ms. Mildred came in and asked me in a slightly plaintive tone if this was my purse. I told her no, that was Tess’ purse. Whoops… Tess is gone. I called Tess and she was quite upset because she needed the purse in the next thirty minutes. As I am practicing to be an intern, I ran out to my car (after acquiring from Kristi the quickest route to Tess’ house from the church) and hurried over to Tess’ house, where I dropped the purse on her front porch and headed back to the church.
Dropped by the Madrigal house looking for Kristi but was greeted by four small children and one small (but rather loud and hyper) dog, plus Egroj Lagirdam. Duh, Jess… she’s still at the church. Gave Jorge a hug and left. At the church Kristi was in the middle of something so I went on to the assignments that Tess had given me before she left. I was to write up the song list and parts for each song and send it to Ryan so he could fill them out, and prep some gloves to send to Jared.
I got the parts list written up, and after some issues got it transferred from Kristi’s computer (no Internet) to one of the office computers (Internet) and attached it to an email and sent it out. However, I later got an email from Ryan that basically said “thanks for the thought but the file you attached is in a format that I can’t open.” Hrm. Apparently, and I have no idea how I managed this, I had sent him the file with a .bat extension, which of course means nothing to me. I was using Outlook, though, and I have no experience whatsoever with Outlook. I wrote up the list and sent it to him again and this time didn’t attach anything. It worked.
I started on getting the gloves ready to mail to Jared – don’t try fitting 60 pairs of gloves in one manila envelope – but had to go home for a family emergency. After things were smoothed over at home I rushed back to Kristi’s house. I was determined to spend all day doing AIM stuff.
We spent the next hour and a half getting Kristi’s shopping list for training camp written and organized, plus finding all the best prices on produces and such from the coupon pages Kristi had. We were both kinda loopy so it was fun. Plus everything’s fun with kids around. Nicky and Lily were playing with moon sand across the table from us… Christopher was bouncing around in his walker and Gabriel was sound asleep. Yes, a true rarity.
So Kristi and I finished the list and went to the bruised can store in Hollister and shopped and then I had to go home. The end.
Being about the 9th Final Presentation I’ve written about but (as I have previously written), one for a session that contained a lot of “news.”
There was much – but little – discussion among the SALTeam as to how to end out this session well. Meaning that we knew there needed to be a lot of discussion about it since it was rapidly coming up on us, but that we didn’t discuss it as much as we should have. I think most of us just thought of it in passing, kind of like, “Oh, that is going to happen sometime soon, isn’t it?” We were occupied with Leadership Camp – and the fallout that ensued – until RIGHT before the Final Presentation.
So when we all realized, about three days before the Final Presentation, that the Final Presentation was coming up, we finally commenced worrying about it. Or at least, I did. Last session there had been much ado but it had been a little boring with a million certificates and so much ceremony. We wanted to give the team something to remember the session by but not something so ceremonious that it wouldn’t mean anything to them. Also complicating our decision was the email that Tess sent out two days prior to the Final Presentation:
“God’s given us a neat opportunity and Jory’s worked hard to set this up so that our final presentation can be more of an outreach to the community and benefit to the Salvation Army. Please send this on to friends and family to invite them this Thursday, to God and Country Theater, to spend an inspiring evening with “the Mimes”. ”
Don’t get me wrong; this wasn’t a BAD thing. It just meant that any presenting of anything would have to be done at the church beforehand, since we were formatting the evening as an outreach, at a theatre. The following schedule that Tess gave us for that Thursday will give you an idea of how much time we would have for said presenting:
1:00 – Bible Study
2:15 – Discipleship
2:45 – Rehearsal (see song list below)
4:30 – eat supper (make sure you bring yours!) End of session thank yous, wrap up, announcements, etc… (we’re multi-tasking )
4:45 – put make-up on and get mime clothes on!
5:00 – clean church
5:15 – go to God and Country
5:20 – run through staging, set props, etc. at theater
6:00 – Program begins
7:15 – program ends – clean up
Especially note the interval from 4:30-4:45. Yes, Tess expected us to eat dinner, explain all the details for the evening, do prayer requests, and any further presentations in 15 MINUTES! Now, I’m all for being optimistic, but this was slightly amusing to me.
Last summer (2008), when there were still only eight of us on the team, we bought ribbons for all the girls, and whenever I see Madison wear them I think of that session (with Simone… *tear*). Therefore, and since there are a million girls on the team this session, I thought it would be cool if we gave ribbons to all the girls. I talked with Courtney and Melissa about it (decided this would be an “official SALTeam” secret) and they thought it would be a cool idea but could give me no direction on what colors to go for. I figured navy and yellow would be safe but rather boring. I ended up getting those colors plus pink (hey, some girls like it) and this nice green-and-white polka dotted ribbon. Cut them and burned the ends on Wednesday afternoon. Gave them out during those crammed fifteen minutes and all the girls were very pleased.
We had quite the heated debate during our last SALTeam study about God’s will. Josiah and I were at odds with everyone else – as is often the case in theological issues with AIM – and we talked about it in depth for at least half an hour (half of our precious meeting). It was awkward because I was arguing with Tess, which I HATE doing, but I was proud that Jo and I stood up for what we believed.
That day only, we did mentorship first, so we could put some limits on it and get done ON TIME. We started Bible study a bit late and finished a bit late, but it was -really good! Every girl had found something specific to work on; every girl had something she learned during the study. As a leader, it’s really encouraging to know that the girls are actually taking something home from this Bible study… because in the past, that’s been a rare occurrence. I’m working on worship and service. Those two really hit home; worship during my prayer time and service during Leadership Camp.
Practice was a whirlwind of activity. Those songs that we’d practiced recently – or a lot – we didn’t review but once (like Go, Stand, America Again, Faithful, etc.). We obviously had to set up God Bless. I was surprised. I thought the Duncans would be in the song but they sat out with those who didn’t know the song. I’d done up the staging beforehand (‘cause I think that kind of stuff is FUN!), and it worked out OK, even though we couldn’t figure out if Heather knew the wife part. We ran it once, sort of – the reason being that it was the Browns, the Lillys, Heather, Jo and I, and we figured we could pull off God Bless without much practice.
We also had to review Champion because it was a little rough, but overall I think we were pretty well prepared, song-wise, for the presentation. Of course, I was uneasy with the entire props-scheme of things, and rightfully so, but it didn’t matter; we didn’t have time to fix it anyway.
We ate really fast – well, I ate on the way to the theatre, with FOUR GUYS in my car – and put on makeup fairly fast and ran out to our vehicles, leaving the church and its bathrooms in various states of disrepair. (That means we didn’t have time to properly clean up) No matter, the Browns will be back to the church after the presentation to clean up. Poor them. They always have to do all the grunt work.
Well, when we got there, we took one look at the promised “big theatre stage” and gulped. It wasn’t big. Now, it wasn’t that small either. It was actually just a normal sized stage, and one apparently with no offstage to speak of (hey, it used to be a movie theatre). Hmmm.
Turns out that there was a little tiny bit of offstage, but it was crowded (especially on stage left) with random stuff and completely black. One could not see ANYthing back there. Emily B and I hurried to set the props and tried to communicate to the team where they were, but then we ran Go and the vest transition for America Again, which was needed but really messed up the props situation. I needed to straighten them up but people were starting to arrive so we all had to get set – most of the crowd offstage to come in for Go, and the rest of us split to our respective sides. Rachel needed a drink; I needed a bathroom break. Worried that the presentation would be starting any minute, I waited ten minutes (don’t ask me why), but then the both of us ran offstage (officially, of course) and had the fastest bathroom break this side of the Mississippi before rushing back onstage. As soon as we got onstage the music commenced.
The lineup was thusly:
Go, Stand, Virtuoso, 2 Sets, America Again, God Bless, Champion, Faithful, Love Story.
Similar to our lineup for YCW, except with 2 Sets, God Bless, and Champion added. I’ve discovered that 2 Sets is a marvelous transition song. Jo and I did the Rothchild and Evelyn parts because Madison and Jarek … well, I don’t remember why we did it instead of them. Oh yeah! ‘Cause Josh was gone, Jarek played Rueben and Jo and I played the bad couple because brother and sister are always better and Ryan was too tall.
The frustration for me this presentation was that because the props were scattered willy-nilly AND because I’m a girl and can think of a million things at the same time, I did most of the presentation on auto-pilot while worrying and wondering if peoples’ props would be where they needed to be when they needed to be there. Emily doesn’t seem to have this problem. I must ask her how she manages it.
The main thing that was funny to me but probably not to an audience was America Again. Other than that and Moriah’s nice stage-crossing escapade in Love Story, the entire presentation went off rather smoothly. No one hit the large latter leaning against the wall behind the curtain at the rear of the stage. No one fell over on the rather dusty and slightly slippery stage. No one forgot the lineup – or at least no one made it obvious that they forgot the lineup – and every guard had blood in Faithful. Oh yeah, and Emily’s blood almost went off the stage again in Faithful. But all in all, despite my lack of emotional involvement, it was a very nice presentation. (Hoping for pictures tomorrow)
On Saturday, Katie drove home from college!!! Well, she drove part of the way on Friday and part of the way on Saturday. She arrived home at 9 Saturday night, while Jo, Mom, Dad and I were in the midst of an intense rubber of bridge. Josiah gratefully gave up his place and Katie played on in his stead to win the game. She’s just like that.
On Sunday we watched a very depressing Cardinals game that they lost (as I said, they’ve been losing a lot) 8-4. Once this was over we went outdoors with the guys and played Frisbee in its various forms – but no, we did not play Ultimate Frisbee. Dad grilled out that night so we had oven fried potatoes with spicy and un-spicy chicken (for KT) and brats. Yum.
Monday I babysat at Ms. Ginger’s. It was just me and Gloria and we had fun together even though she was a bit grumpy – guessing ‘cause she was sick. Then on Tuesday Madison and I went down to Big Rock and ceremoniously performed the first swim of the year. It was COLD but fun; we were the only ones down there. It was deep and fast, but we made it out to the rock and back. Madison did some water ballet and turned a few flips and I attempted the Go run underwater, but it didn’t work that well.
Then this Friday I’m supposed to hang out with Heather at SDC. So a lot going on! By the way, Chris Carpenter is back for the Cardinals and he pitched five shutout innings last night to lead us to a win over the Cubs. Finally we’re winning games again. Oh yeah, and on Monday we’re gong to SDC for KT’s birthday and on Friday we’re going to SDC for Andrew’s birthday.
Sad game. The Promise Keepers just played a double-header in the now-combined lower and upper church leagues, and it was just pathetic. See, we were in the upper league last year and just barely snagged first place. This year the upper and lower leagues are together because there aren’t enough teams to split it up, and tonight was boooooring.
We run-ruled the first team after three innings, 15-0. We run-ruled the second team after three innings, 20-2 (the actual score was 15-0, but we just kept playing because we had thirty minutes left in the game). Dad is absolutely disgusted with the lack of competition and I think he may just want to lose a game just to say that it was a hard-fought battle.
I am tutoring Josiah in Chinese as we are heading to China in a couple of months. It has been great fun. Ta shi hen bang de xue sheng. Wo wei ta hen jiao ao. =)
So LC aside, what’s been going on in my life RECENTLY? Of course, I still have to write about the Final Presentation… *sigh* But here’s what’s been happening since then:
The Cardinals have been losing most of their games. *sigh again* Sad day. However, they won last night. Joel Pinero pitched a total-game shutout, which was pretty sweet. Chris Carpenter is slated to start tonight after being out for the better part of two months. Maybe that means we’ll finally snap our losing streak. Now we just need Ludwick and Ankiel to come back off the DL.
I’ve been hanging out with friends a LOT! Last Monday (the 11th), Melissa, Madison and I went to Books a Million. We just browsed and enjoyed laughing at stupid book titles. Madison had a gift card and got to get a book bag, a book, and a reading light, all of which she was very excited about. We spent about an hour in there, then went to Wendy’s to grab Frosties (=D) and then we went out to the RecPlex and talked and swung on the swings. And threw ice at each other. It was quite a nice afternoon.
Then that Wednesday Melissa and I went to SDC! When I picked her up it was sprinkling, then it was pouring, but by the time we got there it had tapered off and once we got out of the Saloon show (which, I’m sorry to say, has severely deteriorated over the years), the weather was quite nice. We ate lunch at the show, spent some time down at the Great Exposition (including the teacups!), rode the Great Shootout (she beat me by more than 100 points!), Thunderation, and near the end, Wildfire. Melissa treated us to a funnel cake which we split between the two of us, sitting down in the woods behind the Taffy Shop and listening to a trio play old folk songs on a cello, guitar, banjo and harmonica. It was very peaceful and enjoyable.
Friday was the Grand Recital. The boys decided to go canoeing/kayaking that day, so they were gone when Mom and I left the house for the Methodist church (where the recital would be held) at ten till six. We met them halfway and picked up Andrew from them, while Jo and Dad went back home to shower and change. They were back to the church in less than twenty minutes, which is quite unbelievable.
Mom played four songs – two solos and two duets – and did very well with only minor complications in all of them. Andrew played a duet with Mom and two solos, in addition to being the Music Man who grabbed all the music off the piano after each performer. He looked quite sharp. Josiah was the Designated Bench Mover, and switched out benches before and after each duet, because the bench that went with the piano was too short to be used as a duet bench.
I played a duet with Mom and two solos. One of my solos was near the very end of the recital, followed by our duet, Maple Leaf Rag. It was fast (about a minute) and it was furious, and we actually played it well, with only two slips that I heard. It was quite delightful, although it was more fun to play Sonatina on that beautimous grand piano than the rag.
Mom and I both garnered Gold Medallions (highest studio award – lots of practice and work), as did all three of the Duncans. Yay! Also, all three Duncans made the top ten in points, and I ended up with first place. It was very satisfying and embarrassing.
(more tomorrow. Just trying to post some every day)
AAAAHHHH! Seems I can NEVER stay caught up in my journaling! ARGH!
OK, rant finished. Except that I still haven’t blogged about LEADERSHIP CAMP!!!
Second rant finished. Leadership Camp highlights (I’m making a video from footage I got there, but these are the things that really stuck out to me at camp):
The role of the Branson team. I mentioned this in an earlier post, I think, but before Leadership Camp we as a Branson team were really encouraged that as the hosting team it was our job to be humble – we’re no better than any of the other teams – and to be the principal servants in everything. The first to clean up, the first to show people around, the first to make friends. It was our job to set the example. Whew! Tall order! I was a little concerned about how that would work, because I wasn’t really sure what there would be to do in the way of serving, but I talked with God about it A LOT before camp.
It was amazing! We cleaned up spills, volunteered at lunch and dinner, showed people around, and did our best to make friends with everyone (hahaha). Of course, that last sentence sounds prideful, but I’ll just say that I was proud of our SALTeam. I think that – with God’s help – we were really able to step into the role of servant and it was pretty amazing. I don’t know that I’ve ever really experienced true serving like I did at camp… with the right motives, constantly. It was a mindset we had to be in. I definitely want to make that kind of service a constant part of my life.
Jared and his chiggers talk that freaked everybody out. We had some dead time when we were waiting for one of the CA teams to get in and so Jared got up and told horror stories about Missouri chiggers and how big they are and all the scientific details of how they suck your blood and stuff. Then on the drive home all the PA girls were totally freaked out. It was SO funny.
Talks with Tim. The guy is incredible. He had a lot of wisdom about discipleship and we had this really cool question and answer time when we got to pick his brain. It was real helpful, and encouraging that a lot of other people are struggling with what I deal with as a mentor. Took lots and lots of notes.
Meal times. I dunno, but each time was something special. A couple of times Melissa and I helped serve (with various other Branson people thrown in there). One time we were having tacos and we didn’t have very many flour tortillas at all (we had a million corn), so Melissa – who was serving the tacos – would say, “Flour or corn? The corn ones are really good!” Most people didn’t get it, but a few did, winked, and asked for corn. Of course most of the guys went for the flour because they were bigger.
Then one time – dinner on Saturday – Tess asked Melissa, Madison and I to sell shirts. During dinner. And she asked us about ten minutes before dinner began. We had to sort through the shirts, separate the ones for the AKMT and the WCMT (formerly CAMT), and create a list so we could archive which shirts we sold. We grabbed – or rather, asked several of the guys to grab – the three boxes of shirts and set up behind the piano in the fellowship hall. Melissa and Madison went to grab a bite to eat with the intention that I would eat once they returned. I yelled really loud (had to be really loud to be heard) that we were selling shirts now, and only now, and the sale would end after dinner. And then I waited. Nobody came for about ten minutes, but when it rains it pours.
Soon about ten people were crowded around the piano, all asking what sizes we had in sand and did we have any polo shirts and how much are the long sleeves… etc., etc. Melissa was doing her little sales pitch, trying to sell those *coughuglycough* yellow dress shirts with the baby blue crosses. Madison was handing out shirts. I was taking money and writing down how many of what color in what size we sold, hoping that later the money and the shirts would match up.
New: Bible studies in which everyone talks, everyone does their homework, and everyone finds something to apply to her life.
Nold (a combination of new and old: i.e. it’s happened before in Branson but not for a long time): Seventeen presenting members – girls outnumbered the guys, 10-7
New: Established structure that is very specific about which jobs belong to whom. This was extremely useful in many ways. We always knew who to go to when, say, someone needed a mime shirt or the props weren’t in place. Everyone also had an understudy so that each job was not only being performed, but taught to a younger (SALTnT or non-SALT) team member so that the job could be continued even if the SALT or leader left.
Nold: EIGHT SALTeam members! We had Ryan, Courtney, Melissa and I as SALT and Jo, Jarek, Madison and Josh as SALTnT – SALT in Training. It was really, really nice to have so many people – we can call on them in Bible study, expect more from them, have them teach songs, critique songs – you name it. It was great.
Nold: A teenage director. Not sure how old Andrew was when he was directing and I’m almost positive that Jared was a teen. Having Ryan direct this session was certainly a learning experience, especially for those of us who’ve been used to Tess directing for the past year and a half. Not bad at all… just different. He was directing as a part of his internship and he did a great job.
New: Practice schedules! Well, maybe it happened before at session training camps, but this session we’ve been having them EVERY week, which is really, really good. It’s helped us stay on track, know who’s teaching what, and when we’re behind schedule (never used to have a schedule).
Nold: Cleanup schedule. We’ve had them before, but usually the person to whom they were assigned would forget to write the cleaning schedule up until right before the end of practice *coughmecough* so it was always different, random, and uncoordinated. Courtney was in charge of cleaning and she set it up so everyone had the same assignment every week. Certainly makes things less complicated, and we have been doing a lot more cleaning for the church so it was really nice to have things planned out.
New: the table at the back of the room. It is now an official AIM Branson rule that everybody’s stuff has to be confined to that table (instead of being thrown all over the room). This has a) significantly decreased the amount of lost articles, thus making Kristi happy, b) greatly decreased general clutter, making the place look tidier, and c) made it much easier to clean up. Don’t know whose idea it was but it’s worked quite well.
New: SCHEDULED SALTeam mentorship. Those of us who were on the team two sessions ago would recall SALTeam mentorship as something that happened maybe twice a month and then for maybe seven minutes. The issue was that it was scheduled at the END of our SALTeam meeting, and of course, here at AIM Branson, we can stretch a meeting to fill the time allotted, so since we had no pressing deadline we’d just keep discussing till the team got there and we had no more time. This session things have been a bit different. The SALTeam mentorship has been scheduled every other week, before the SALTeam meeting, at 11:30. This gives us (ideally) thirty minutes to talk with our mentors, which is certainly much better than what we had previously.
All right, catching up: PAST PRESENTATIONS
Last last Thursday, 4/30, we had a presentation at College of the Ozarks’ Keeter Center – a very luxurious, top-of-the-line conference center. We presented in the Silver Dollar City Parlor (which you can see at this link: http://www.keetercenter.edu/meetings.asp?page=3), and though you might not be able to tell from the picture, the room was very long and skinny. The tables were situated to cover about 5/6 of the floor space (not covered by the armchairs by the fireplaces on each side of the room), and we presented in the long, thin strip of remaining stage room.
Of course, we knew none of this when we arrived thirty minutes early and set up to practice in the parking lot. We set up in a parking space right up against the curb and backed by a HUGE RC. Jorge pulled into the space to sort of close it off so it was a nice long skinny stage, which is what we needed to practice for. We ran Faithful twice and America Again at least once on the asphalt with the scent of cattle wafting in from the hills (yeah, it was pretty pungent). With much whispering (shhhh!!) and some complaints of holey holey holey gloves, we got through the two songs with decent practice – Faithful for that evening and America Again for the Final Presentation the next week.
We went inside, stood there for about two minutes, and went right onstage. Those moments were slightly frenzied. Apparently during those two minutes Tess told us to present to the RIGHT of the large table situated neatly in center stage, but (also apparently) most of us didn’t hear her, because when we went onstage maybe two people set up to the right of the table and the rest of us – myself included – trooped over to stage left and set up for Faithful.
Well, after violent protest by some team members we all grouped on stage left and presented the song. The stage was lengthy but not very deep, and never in my life have I presented to such a long audience. We had to stand facing the wall in order to be open enough for everyone to see what was going on, and even then we were so far away from the people on the fringes that I’m not sure if they could see. The song itself went pretty well even though some of us martyrs almost threw our “blood” into people’s dinner – we were so close to them.
We trooped offstage and ensued mad whispering with periodic rapid glances to the front to make sure the speaker wasn’t watching us. We should have been to the left of the table. Why weren’t we? Is the table going to be moved for Go? What about the Go banner? Does anybody know what’s going on? Can we communicate to the team that we have to be more open to the audience? Can we step out into the hallway? (Tess) Jessica, when you do the ending part in Go, you can’t go onto your knees; you have to die from a standing position. OK, now I REALLY need to step out into the hallway! Etc., etc. We all tried to sit their quietly and after about twenty minutes, with no fanfare (read: no warning), the guy said, “And now would you join me in welcoming back ACTION Impact Missions!”
Uh. Yeah. With great surprise we all jumped up, tucked our arms properly, and hurried onstage. Egroj and Ryan moved the table offstage and I, seeing no strong guys readily available, I grasped the podium to move it out of the way. The solid oak podium. The solid oak podium that weighed a ton. Trying to look professional and moving that podium at the same time was virtually impossible, and I scraped it across the floor as I moved it. “Be careful!” Jorge whispered as he walked past on his way offstage. Thanks, Jorge. You’re so helpful.
As for the song, very few things went wrong. Madison and I had a rapid conversation in the back which consisted of her asking, “I don’t have an angel cape, right?” and my slow realization turning into a cheerful, “Nope!” Other than that and a very few technical errors, the song went off flawlessly. Before I’d gone onstage I had been completely exhausted and to do the main part in that song requires SO much emotion. I told God that He was going to have to give me the strength and passion to do the part right ‘cause I was beat. And He did. It was amazing. Rarely have I ever experienced anything like that.
I died and the man in charge took the Bible from my hand and we all walked offstage, exhausted but glowing. We prayed – well, Egroj prayed – in the lobby to give it back to God and then we all split up, but it was amazing. It was great… it was a God thing.
Now that we've all moved on, especially since the Browns are in CA and I haven't updated my blog in a week (again), here's the rest of the story:
There was great indecision between Courtney and I as to who would play the main girl part in I Surrender All, but after great debate (or lack thereof), I did it. Ryan had the main guy part since Jo didn’t really know the song – he took the God part. Emily and Rachel were statues with Courtney. I quickly discovered that I knew the song very different than the Browns did, but we worked together pretty well and mostly told each other that we didn’t care, so we went with the Brown’s ending and sign language and chorus but some of my tweaking for the main parts. It was a fine compromise.
It was also amusing that at the end, after we’d put people in the right places and told Jo what to do (while the music was playing), Ryan and I did the classic raise one arm to Jesus, bow down on one knee, raise the other hand, and drop the head. At the same time. Without previously talking about it. I guess you just had to be there. It was almost as classic as praying at the end of every patriotic song.
Well, we finished practicing around 9ish and headed into the living room, where Dad, who hadn’t expected us to spend so long on something for two sets of AIM parents, looked up expectantly. The time had come for the roasting of the marshmallows.
What’s a camping trip without s’mores? Somebody had built up a nice fire in the fireplace; Andrew and Rachel had retrieved the hot dog skewers from the camper, and with chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows strewn all across the dining room table, we were set for a genuine camping experience. Those of us who aren’t too keen on marshmallows sat on the couch and watched as Courtney almost melted her marshmallow into the fire and Rachel neatly set her two marshmallows on fire. Yersiree, it was just like camping. ‘cept we had a roof over our heads instead of a starry sky (which at that point was not starry but cloudy and still dripping), and we had a couch, and carpet, and air conditioning… OK, so maybe it wasn’t like camping. But it was fun to call it camping!
It was Dad who put the finishing touch on the atmosphere by turning on the noisemaker he and Mom use to fall asleep – he turned it to summer night and suddenly the crickets and spring peepers had entered our living room. Pathetic, yes, but also pretty much amazing. He got this set up while the s’morers finished cooking their marshmallows and then we started one of the highlights of the weekend: Barnabas time.
Barnabas was the nickname given to Joseph, an early apostle, and it means Son of Encouragement. A few years ago Dad started this tradition that at Christmastime we would all go around, family member by family member, and each say something encouraging about the other people. It’s turned into a treasured time that requires a lot of Kleenex and really brings people together, but I’d never done it with anyone who wasn’t related to us before, so I was excited (social animal that I am).
We each picked a card and started in order from lowest to highest. We started with Mr. Brown – he had a two – then on to Rachel, Mrs. Brown (the Browns mostly had low numbers), etc., etc. When we got to Courtney I started crying. I’d known that I would cry two times at least that evening – when I talked about Courtney and when I talked about Dad. They ended up being back to back. I told Courtney that she was a Godsend for me. When Katie left, I was desperate for someone to talk with. It’s just not the same over the phone. Melissa and I could talk a lot but this is her last session and then she’ll be gone (OK, not forever, but eventually she will be). I feel like God put Courtney in my life to be my new Melissa, and that’s what I couldn’t say without crying – first because it’s terribly sad that I need someone to talk to because KT’s gone, and second because Courtney means so much to me. I know she gave up SO SO SO much to come here from DE and it means the world to me that she’s willing to take on another friend so quickly and be so supportive and encouraging and understanding. We don’t know each other real well yet but I’m eager to get to that point. So anyway, that was a roundabout way of saying that I cried.
Then there was Dad and I cried (of course) because he shares my passion, my vision, and supports my dreams. And he’s my knight in shining armor that’s going to protect me until God brings me another one. I love Dad soooooooooo much.
I ended up being the last one to be “Barnabased” – a new verb – I had the jack of spades. It was very week and we all enjoyed ourselves so much that none of us noticed the time and therefore were somewhat stunned when Mr. Dave said, “And it’s only a quarter of twelve!” Good night alive – we’d been talking for two hours! Incredibly no one had fallen asleep and there had been no complaining. It was a sweet time of fellowship and something I will treasure for a long time to come.
Mr. Dave and Ms. Sue slept in KT’s room; Jo and Ryan in Jo’s room (Dad wanted them to sleep in the camper but Josiah adamantly refused); and the girls back in my room again. This time Emily and Rachel were in the bed, while Courtney took the cot and I enjoyed my couch cushions again. Rachel fell asleep almost right away and Courtney, Emily and I got to talk a bit. It was a nice quiet relaxing time – we don’t get to “just talk” much at all because at AIM we’re always doing something, so it was nice to just talk.
The next morning breakfast was supposed to be at nine and the guys were supposed to cook it because the girls had made all three meals the night before. At 8:30 or so I went upstairs to shower. Andrew, Jo and Ryan were all still in bed (or on the floor, as it were). Dad was the only one downstairs cooking. Mr. Dave and Ms. Sue headed downstairs soon afterwards, however, and they were Dad’s assistants in the preparation of (drum roll, please) strawberry pancakes and sausages! YUM!
We actually had all varieties – plain, strawberry, strawberry nut, strawberry banana, banana, and banana nut. I went for strawberry every time. We had a lively debate over how to pronounce syrup (is it see-rup or sur-up?). We did what made you smile yesterday, and answers varied from “the hike in the rain” to “seeing Ryan do a backflip” to “Virtuoso at highspeed,” to “the Barnabas time last night.” I said it made me smile when Mr. Dave played the winning chip in Sequence and only had two cards left.
After breakfast Mom, Ms. Sue and Mr. Dave cleaned up as all the kids retreated into the playroom to practice. We weren’t exactly prepared. We smoothed over a couple of cues in I Surrender All and a lot of technique in Faithful until we felt prepared. Church started a bit late, but proceeded thus:
We prayed to open and spent time thanking God.
We sang – Indescribable (Courtney), As the Deer (Courtney, Jessica, and Emily), Give Thanks (Courtney, Jessica and Emily), Here I Am to Worship (Courtney), and another one I can’t remember. It was difficult but definitely a neat experience and a cool time to work together and worship God.
Then Dad preached on faithfulness versus fruitfulness – he taught this at a doulos meeting not so long ago and had mentioned it to me, but it was still good stuff. We discussed a bit after he finished preaching – what stuck out to us, etc. I think it was quite appropriate.
We presented Faithful first and then I Surrender All. I’d been wondering about how we were going to relate I Surrender All to the message because we didn’t know what the message was, but as it turned out the song went with the message quite nicely. We talked about surrendering our desire to “bear fruit” to God’s sovereignty and trust that as long as we’re faithful He’ll deal with the fruit. I was kind of out of it for that song but I really love the song and think it fit well, which was totally unplanned, but awesome.
As soon as we finished that we had communion (with grape juice we bought up at Gateway and bagels that the Browns brought), and Mr. Dave served it. Courtney told me later he was a bit nervous because it was his first time to serve communion. From what I could tell, Dad sorta sprung it on him at the last minute, but he did a good job. He read the Scripture from Corinthians and then served it individually to each of us, at Dad’s request. Andrew was prepared with a crazy straw to sip his grape juice, but I glared him down and mouthed that that was a bit inappropriate. I think he got it, because he just took a sip when Mr. Dave served him the cup.
After our “service” nobody was hungry yet, and since Dad said lunch would be at 1:30 or so, we girls headed into my room to stare at each other again, but in the process of staring at each other we hit upon an idea. They were talking about polishing their nails and I told them we should draw stripes all over our faces and Courtney said that we could do that with all kinds of different colors and then I remembered I had a bunch of colored clown makeup from my clowning days. In 4-H. Yeah, back in the dark ages. Not a time that I like to remember. But anyway, I had the makeup – in white, black, red, yellow and blue – and so we took advantage of it.
We closed all the blinds. Emily positioned herself in front of the mirror by my door, I took the bathroom, and Courtney flopped on the bed with a pocket mirror (these AIMonites are always so equipped). After much inner debate I decided on yellow and black (I powdered and now my powder sock is yellow). Courtney decided to be a girly girl – i.e. WAY too much makeup. Emily said she looked like a prostitute. No comment. Emily decked herself out with a beard, moustache, and eyebrows. All bright blue. Oh yeah.
We had a couple interruptions by Rachel, during which we all retreated to the bathroom and leaned against the door should Rachel try to come in and discover what we were doing. Of course this entire time we were laughing hysterically and asking questions like, “How does my beard look?” “How do you put on eyeliner?” and “Should I have eyebrows or not?” When we finally finished and came out into the living room, Josiah and Andrew both screamed.
I guess they had good reason. After a random lunch of lots of hot dogs, apples, and whatever else we had on hand, prepared by the guys, we went back into my room, dressed up to better match our faces, and went outdoors to take pictures. We took a picture sequence of Bluebeard the Flyswatter beating up Cruella de Vil, and also the Miss Innocent attacking Bluebeard. It was quite dangerous, actually, because Bluebeard was in possession of Ryan’s Honduran machete, and we were “stabbing” each other left and right. Kinda bloody for girls, but then we were in a weird mood.
We were going to have a “teaching time” where the Browns taught us What Would You Do For a King and we taught them Our Turn Now, but most people didn’t feel like it (and we were on vacation, so we could do what we felt like), and Josiah really wanted to play kickball. As it had quit raining and we’d been hoping to do this all weekend, the girls agreed and soon the five of us were standing out on a lawn that desperately needed to be mowed, placing bases and discussing teams.
Obviously, five people is not enough to divide into teams, so we decided that whoever wasn’t kicking would be fielding and vice versa. I was designated pitcher. Emily shot the first two pitches foul and then the third one she kicked a little dinger towards me, on the ground and a bit to the right. Courtney was at first, Jo was in the outfield, and apparently Ryan was somewhere behind me and to the right because as I ran for the ball, he did too.
We both slipped on the wet grass and I practically did the splits as my bare feet slid through the mud, and both of us missed the ball. Emily was safe at first and I was in pain on the pitcher’s mound. Nobody seemed to care, though – they were all busy laughing hysterically. Especially my loving brother. Somewhat indignantly, I pulled myself to a standing position, wincing a bit, and informed Josiah that I’d had quite enough kickball for the afternoon (my reasoning being that if two people slipped that badly on a slow ball right towards them, we might have more trouble when the guys got up to the plate and sent the ball soaring over our heads into deep left field). After he quit laughing and regained his breath, he reluctantly agreed and we all headed back inside after 1/8 of an inning, muddy, wet, and laughing.
Next it was pool. Jo and Ryan had been playing ping-pong every spare moment all weeked, but pool was a game that everyone could play, and since we were all together while the adults talked, it seemed best. We played pool. Well, most of us played pool while Courtney painted Andrew’s face at his request. Yes, it was the school readiness fairs all over again.
Jo got knocked out of the game relatively early – we were playing five-way Cutthroat, so it was inevitable that someone would get out quickly. I was next, then Rachel, then Ryan – and Emily won! Yay for Emily… and yay for the girls!
We then all trooped back into the living room to see what the adults were doing and if they wanted us to do it with them. They were talking and politely told us to go away. We sat in the dining room for a few minutes eating junk food and wondering what to do, and then Courtney, Emily and I went into the playroom for them to teach me What Would You Do For a King. Jo didn’t want to do it in a major way, so we figured it’d just be the three of us. Courtney and Emily got set up – a two man mime they were going to do – with Courtney as the king and Emily as everybody else. Just as they started Ryan walked in, and after assuring herself that he was there to help, Courtney told him that HE could be the king, thank you very much, and she’d help Emily in being everybody else. Shortly after his mentor came in, Josiah sort of meandered into the room and plopped down on the couch next to me to watch, apparently resigned to his fate.
The song is really quite attractive. I really enjoy the music and the mime is quite simple but the message is strong. Maybe AIM Branson will learn it sometime. Anyway, Courtney taught me the stage left side and Emily taught me the stage right side and Jo just watched and learned the king part. Then Jo and I sort of kind of showed them Our Turn Now, but it was evident that at that point everyone wanted to do something else, so we quit and played…
… Bible freeze! Now, the first time I played Bible freeze was on the ECMT06. Jorge successfully played Mordecai (“Essie, you never have to be afraid to do what’s right”) and Eve. We were all in stiches. This time was no less fun – well, except for the fact that we were all slightly less inspired. Of course we did Balaam – no game of Bible freeze is complete without Balaam – but I was the donkey and after three or four “freeze!” cries with me remaining on my hands and knees, I had visions of being a pack animal for life. Somebody got me out of it, though, and the one we ended on had Emily playing Ruth and me playing Boaz. I actually kissed her on the cheek. It was pretty funny. Dad came in and saw us and you should have seen the look on his face. “Uh, guys? Want to play Guesstures?” he asked hesitantly, clearly wondering if two days with each other non-stop had driven us over the edge. We all eagerly agreed to the game and back into the living room we went.
It took a bit of time to get started because we were all getting our junk food and Dad was getting everything set up, but we eventually did start. Mr. Brown was the highlight of the guys’ team – he was just too funny to watch, especially since I mostly know him as serious and reserved. The girls were behind by a pretty large margin most of the game, but when we went to the harder cards the girls pulled ahead and won 89-67.
After Guesstures it was the time that nobody likes – the time to say goodbye. Everything was quickly packed up and hauled out to the van, and after checking to make sure nothing was left, we all trooped out onto the porch for a group photo. Of course this took a good ten minutes since it was on a tripod and we were all standing on the porch steps trying not to fall off on top of each other. Then, with regards and various exchanges of the AIM catchall goodbye – “I’ll see you Thursday,” – the Browns departed and we were left with an empty feeling and burnt pizza for dinner.
Naw, it wasn’t that bad. But the next day wasn’t that great – you know how it is getting off vacation, especially a vacation as awesome as that weekend. And of course this is only a partial chronicle because I’m sure that Rachel and Andrew did all kinds of stuff while we “big kids” were hanging out that I don’t know about. I know they went bike riding a couple of times and spent quite a bit of time hanging out in Andrew’s room. All in all it was quite the enjoyable camping trip and quite worth the trip down to AR and back. It is my fond hope that one day we will do this again.
Let’s see. We broke off reentering our “camper” dripping wet and covered with mud. As I recall, at that point we all changed into something more comfortable while Dad and Mr. Brown constructed a fire in the fireplace. By this point it was nearing lunchtime, but none of us was hungry since we’d just eaten (lots of trailmix), so the adults talked and I don’t know what everyone else did but Courtney, Emily and I retreated into my room, and there we… (drum roll, please)… PAINTED MY NAILS!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life (that I can remember… hehehe), I was wearing an unnatural color on my nails. It took me some time but I eventually chose this light pinkish-orange color that Courtney was wearing. I really like it… it’s quite pretty and sparkly but it doesn’t stand out which is what I wanted. Actually, the only reason we painted my nails is ‘cause I’d never done it before. Once they start chipping they’ll really annoy me so I’ll pick the paint off, but for now I’m enjoying colorful nails. I’ll be sure to post it here if this ever happens again.
While Courtney did Emily’s toenails – Emily says she can’t paint nails – we watched a couple videos on my computer (as always), including the one of Jenny’s wedding. It was fun – I think. The Browns girls are so longsuffering; they always watch whatever I show them without griping. After my nails dried us girls headed into the kitchen to make lunch. The parents looked pretty comfortable lounging in the living room (we wouldn’t have that nice a couch had we been really camping), and no one knew where everyone else was, so we decided we’d make lunch ourselves – grilled cheese!
It was fun. Emily buttered the bread and Courtney cut the cheese. The way her eyes lit up when she saw the cheese slicer I think perhaps she’d never used one before. She says they don’t usually buy block cheese. I told her it was cheaper that way, at Sam’s. She arched an eyebrow and told me she’d keep that in mind. I pieced together the random sandwiches and flipped. The parents and the girls got their sandwiches first because the guys and Rachel weren’t around when we were taking orders. By the time everyone sat down we had apples, six or seven different kinds of crunchies, and grilled [meat and] cheese for everyone! It was quite the delicious lunch, but Jo couldn’t eat much – I told him it was because of all that trail mix he’d devoured.
After making two meals and cleaning up one, the guys decided it was time to give the girls a break, so they cleaned up lunch and then we got to one of my favorite parts of our “camping trip” – songs!
Being inherent AIMonites – the Browns are on staff at AIM and our family has been involved for four years – we do odd things for recreation. It was with great enthusiasm that we designated parts and turned on Virtuoso at twice the normal speed. We decided that for this runthrough everyone would have parts they knew so we could do it as fast as possible. Therefore, Ryan was God; Jo was Adam; Emily was Eve; Courtney did all the background parts; and I was Satan. OK, so I didn’t really know Satan, and it’s hard to fake a part at warp speed, but who else was going to do it?
It was a lot of fun! Especially doing the dance at warp speed. I didn’t really know what I was doing so that probably slowed things down a bit but it was really fun to see Courtney be a tree and water at the same time (yes, it’s possible). Of course, one song wasn’t enough. Oh, no. And Courtney, Emily and I had our own designs on parts for the next song.
“Let’s do Gloria!” we said. “And Jo and Ryan are the dancers.”
There were exaggerated groans from the mentioned males, but they good-naturedly stepped into the parts. Of course, the “talking” part at the beginning was grossly exaggerated, and while Ryan actually tried to dance, Josiah did his best to make it look as bad as possible. Courtney made up the narrator part while she tried not to laugh. Of course, we then made the guys do the angel part too and Josiah played Mary while Ryan flapped back and told him that he was going to have a baby. Talk about awkward. And hysterical.
Emily and I doubled as all the crowd parts until the end, when I was a guard, Courtney was Pilate, and Emily played Jesus. You should have seen her when we nailed her… her “pained” expression was rather amusing. She popped up a few seconds later and stood there trying to look God-like while the guys attempted split leaps and hitch kicks across our living room. At the end we all collapsed from laughter.
But wait, there’s more! Next in line was the Faithful, in which Courtney and I took up our now-familiar and fast-becoming-favorite roles as guards. Emily snagged another deity part, playing God and looking quite regal in the cape that I still had from Thursday night’s presentation. Ryan played the first martyr, Jo was the second and the third. It was goooooooooofy but quite enjoyable to beat Jo up (I got to chop his head off) and we all laughed at each other’s mistakes.
We were on a roll and having fun, so we moved on to Champion. It was difficult to mix up the parts for everyone to do one they didn’t know, but we managed thus: Courtney played Satan; I was Jesus; Emily was God and the guys ran back and forth playing both the angels and the demons (Ryan narrated on the fly). Courtney was the most HYSTERICAL Satan! Her facial expressions were beyond description. Fortunately Ms. Sue was taking video. Her and I had a lot of fun beating up on each other even though we didn’t do anything quite as crazy as Jo and Jarek did. The guys enjoyed all the background parts but I noticed they spent a lot more time as demons than angels. Hmm… wonder if there’s a reason for that.
After four songs we decided to be done – mostly because Josiah wanted to be – and we all ran out to bounce on the trampoline. Ms. Sue followed with camera in hand. We tried the bounce-in-a-circle thing for a while but it was wearying on the legs with four teenagers, not to mention dangerous with Josiah in the circle. After a while we quit and the girls took a seat and watched Josiah and Ryan do Not 4 Sale. Don’t ask me why; I’m not sure how that got started. Jo was Satan and Ryan was the chair-and-Bible-less Christian. Mr. Dramatic (my brother) really played it up.
Once they were done Courtney suggested she and I do it, but it wasn’t nearly as funny because we did it like we were going to present it. It was funny at the end when I pushed the wall earlier than she was expecting, but that was about it. After that it was quite obvious that Jo wanted us to leave so he could hang out with Ryan – and teach Ryan a backflip – so the girls headed inside.
Inside – and what did we do inside, you ask? Practice, practice, practice! However, it wasn’t mime that we practiced, but music. Courtney, Emily and I were to “lead worship” for our “service” the next morning. Oh, perhaps I should explain the situation. Since we’d been planning to be gone on Sunday anyway we decided that everyone would sleep at our house on Saturday night – we put Mr. Dave and Ms. Sue in KT’s room – and then we’d have a service together the next morning. Since Emily plays violin, Courtney guitar and me piano, we were going to play for the worship time.
Courtney didn’t need any practice – I’m being serious – but I did, so she accompanied me while I tripped through the few worship songs I knew. The guys soon came in from the trampoline and Mr. Brown sent them back to the Brown abode to retrieve Emily’s violin (among with a few other odds and ends) so we were soon playing as a trio. Ms. Sue said we sounded really nice. I’d never played with other instruments before… it was pretty cool.
Dinner was a chili combination… we had the Browns’ chili, which had more tomatoes and corn, and our chili, which had more beans and no corn. We also had apples. We had a lot of apples – the Browns brought a TON of them. They were super good. I was impressed. So anyway, we had a lot of chili with a lot of cheese and a lot of chips. And topped it all off with…
More practicing! I had this brainy idea that we could throw together a song or two and present them at our impromptu service on Sunday. Courtney said it could be something like the “special music” or something. Jo majorly didn’t want to do it, but he eventually agreed. Dad refused to tell me what he was teaching on the next morning (he was a shoe-in for “pastor”), but he mentioned that maybe we could do The Faithful. OK, there’s one decision made. What about the other song?
There was major lack of consensus here. Some people wanted to do What Would You Do For A King (Clay Crosse), which I didn’t know but was game to learn (although of course anything that was my idea sat better with me). I wanted to do This Blood. I Surrender All was mentioned as an option as well. After we all sat around and stared at each other for five minutes, we tried discussing the pros and cons of each song and eventually decided on I Surrender All.
We crowded into the playroom at the end where there’s no pool table and put Faithful together first. Rachel agreed to present with us, thankfully, and she wanted to do the burning at the stake part. I saw no problem with giving her this part and figured it’d be good for her even though we were only presenting for five people, so she took that part. Emily was the skeptic, Courtney the first martyr, and I the third. Jo was God (no doubt to his disappointment) and Ryan did both guard parts.
I briefly ran through Rachel’s part with her and Jo told Courtney what to do, and then we just started the song. I think we started practicing around 8:15 or so. Since he was the only guard, Ryan had to spend more time beating Courtney up, so after he threw her out of the catacombs (a Branson change), he’d yank her to her feet by her hair and then punch her to the ground. Courtney really got into it. :-)
It took us quite some time to get Rachel’s part smoothed out and the specifics of having only one guard and who would do what when, but we eventually got it figured out. We probably ran the song three or four times.
Wowowowow. So much to catch up on; I don’t know where to start! But I HAVE to start with this past weekend; it’s been beyond imagination.
We’ve been eagerly anticipating the camping trip with the Browns for almost a month now. We planned it near the beginning of April; some subset of their family will be gone at various times all throughout the summer and so the only time we could go camping with all of them would be before they left for CA on the mission trip. We squeezed this in between our presentation last Thursday and our Final Presentation next Thursday (they leave next Monday). Emily, Courtney and I have been talking about what to do, what to bring, and how much fun we’re going to have and I think it’s fair to say it’s been a much-anticipated event all around.
Then we found out the forecast: 80% chance of rain, dreary and about 60 degrees. Funfunfun. Being the adventuresome (and perhaps slightly stupid) people that we are, though, we decided to go for it anyway. The Browns couldn’t get to the campground – Buffalo Point, of course – till about five, but we arrived at the campsite about two. There were two other campers in the entire loop, but we soon discovered we were not alone.
There were the gnats.
Never in my life have I experienced anything quite like it. We stepped out of the car and they swarmed us. They were everywhere, and they flew into any hole they could find – eyes, ears, nose, mouth – whatever, they’d go into it. They quite enjoyed dive-bombing us and Josiah made up a new dance: we call it the “THEY’RE IN MY EYESNOSEMOUTHEARS!!!!” dance. He got so obnoxious that Dad finally asked him to leave while Mom dodged the gnats to set up the awning and Dad, Andrew and I worked together to get the camper set up and unloaded.
After we’d completed the basics, we kids begged off to go swimming. It wasn’t that warm, and we were pretty sure that the water would be cold, but we were trying to be optimistic and, to be honest, mostly just wanted to get away from those evil gnats. We headed down to the swimming hole – “lagoon” as we like to call it – and dove in. It was definitely cold, and the recent flooding had cut away a lot of the outcropping so there was a lot of current through our little swimming area, but we didn’t care. There were no gnats down there, it wasn’t raining, the boys were hyper and I was just calmly watching, daydreaming about looking up and seeing the Browns walk over the hill.
Well, we stayed down there till Andrew said he had to go back because he was freezing – he has no fat on his body so that’s a frequent problem – and trudged back through the nice soft sand and the green poison ivy (no kidding) to the campsite. We had not been there five minutes when Andrew practically shrieked, “That’s them! They’re HERE!” and the Browns’ silver Odyssey pulled into loop C.
She just looks happy, but she's really being eaten alive by gnats.
Naturally we were all ecstatic. Josiah attacked Ryan, Andrew attacked Rachel, and I took Emily and Courtney. Not literally, of course. But by the time our parents had begun their secret chat we were all well-engaged with our favorite people. Mom, Dad, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown talked and talked and talked while the Browns headed for the bathrooms to get suited up (we talked them into going swimming). By the time they returned Dad dropped the ball: we were going home.
Apparently the ranger had just come by and informed them of some pretty rotten weather heading our way in the form of torrential rain, wind, and possibly tornadic activity. It had been executively decided that we didn’t want to hang around for that, so Dad informed us that we’d be having dinner there at the campground and then we’d head home. Naturally, we were all disappointed, but as the girls and I headed out to the “beach” I determined to stay in a positive mindset. None of us really knew what would happen over the weekend, but I was determined to enjoy whatever time I had with the girls.
And have fun we did!
The girls dove in with no hesitation to my joy. We swam around there for a few minutes and then Rachel said she wanted to swim across to the other side. If any of you have been in a river you know they have killer currents, so I told her if she felt up to it I’d go with her but we’d have to start quite a ways upstream in order to not end up way far down the river. We swam across and it was cool to watch Courtney and Emily swim together (they look very official and actually swim with a real stroke, not the frog stroke like me). The guys showed up soon after and swam across as well, making it far further upstream than us. By the time we’d returned to the shore we started on I was completely exhausted but Rachel wanted to do it again. She cracks me up.
We had all kinds of mud threats from Josiah and Courtney built a “slide” on the dunes, but it was rather sad. Josiah rediscovered mudsicles, made with wet sand. Josiah got the “Spirit of the Lord” song Jory sang over and over at LC stuck in our heads, and then I retaliated by singing the “Testimony” song Alex sings at church. Emily saw a snake. We had running and jumping contests and Emily won. Eventually we got tired and cold and went back to the campsite, but I hear tell that Josiah, Ryan and Rachel stayed down there for at least thirty minutes longer having mud wars.
Courtney, Emily and I headed to the showers. There was a lady in the big one so Emily and I sat and waited while Courtney stepped into the small one… and screamed. She pulled back the curtain (yes, she was fully dressed) and pointed to an enormous wolf spider standing near the drain. She stepped on him and washed him down the drain. I have never in my life heard her scream, and it was SO funny! In her defense, though, she doesn’t scream much at all and she says she had a bad experience with a wolf spider once. Still, it was pretty hysterical.
Later she stepped into the same stall to change or something… and screamed again! Apparently she bumped the knob for the shower so the water came back on and soaked her now-dry clothes. Emily and I were in stitches, but Courtney wasn’t real happy. :) She’s a good sport, though.
When we came back we were once again subjected to the evil torture of the nasty gnats. Emily and I played cuppers but never finished because I was tired (yeah, wimpy me). The parents grilled the meat and warmed the potatoes over (and in) the fire and by the time the guys returned from their mud fight we were about ready to eat. It was a delicious dinner. The Browns had some kind of coal-grilled chicken, potatoes and veggies, which they shared with us. We had grilled chicken and kielbasa, along with creamy cheese potatoes, which we shared with them. Ryan graciously finished off the potatoes (it was service and sacrifice). We all enjoyed the impossible-to-cut chain saw bars (Mr. Brown cut them enormous, which we all appreciated) and then rushed to collapse and pack up everything before it started raining.
The men prepare dinner. YumYumYum!
While we were packing another ranger came by and told us that a tornado was heading for us and would be here in a few hours and if there was a problem the bathrooms would be the safest place to be. Hmmm. Glad we’re leaving. We finished packing and set out for home as it started to rain. Dad, Mom, Courtney, Emily and I were in our car, and the remainder of the people were in the Browns’ van. I got really sick on the way there – well, just the last half-hour or so – and had trouble on the way back, too. I mostly just curled up in the backseat while Dad asked Courtney and Emily conversational-type questions. I think I slept somewhere in there too.
When we got to the Browns’ house it wasn’t raining but it was quite cold and windy. There was quite the transfer of baggage and people and within ten minutes we were headed to Walnut Shade, now carrying Andrew and Rachel with all their luggage plus the folks we already had. Jo stayed with Ryan at the Browns’. It rained all the way home.
It was late; maybe 10:30 or 11 when we got home. We unloaded the essentials and then all collapsed in my room. I made the executive decision that I didn’t want to sleep in KT’s room. Don’t ask me why. We all crowded into my room; the first night Emily and Courtney took the bed, while Rachel and I slept on couch cushions. They were comfortable but rather annoying as they would consistently slide apart in the middle of the night. However, we had no creepy sleep-swaying or talking experiences. :-)
Up at 7:30 the next morning. Well, actually, my alarm clock rang off at six because I forgot to turn it off, but none of us had trouble going back to sleep as far as I could tell. Emily and I showered quickly and then we all went outside to help Dad unload the camper. There wasn’t actually all that much to do. Rachel and Andrew unloaded the van and enjoyed a rather jerky ride from the toyport back down the driveway at my expense. It was a coolish morning and of course everything was muddy but it wasn’t raining.
When we got inside we set about clearing and setting the table, washing the mounds of dishes, and cracking eggs for breakfast. We had barely started this process when the guys (plus Ms. Sue) showed up. There was no consensus on how many eggs to make so we made 25 and ate all of them. Mom wasn’t there because she felt cruddy. It was mostly because of all the bug bites she had on her legs, we think. She’s still having some trouble.
Courtney dried dishes; Emily made up the scrambled eggs; and I washed dishes. Random people helped get the table set and everything out that we were eating for breakfast. Mr. Brown fried some bacon and (drum roll please) scrapple, an East Coast breakfast meat that we’d heard a lot about but had never tasted. Along with eggs, bacon, and scrapple we also had Pop-Tarts, which we managed ton convince some of the Browns’ to try with butter on them. Toasted, of course. That’s the only way to eat pop-tarts.
Clearly this was the feast - breakfast of champions!
When breakfast was over Mom tried to do the cleanup but we asked her to sit down and Courtney, Emily and I cleaned up breakfast. As soon as we’d finished that Dad announced that we were going hiking. See, our mindset for the entire weekend was that we were camping even though we weren’t, and we had planned to go on the death hike (you’d have to be there) Saturday morning had we been camping, so Dad saw no reason to change this, since we were still camping. Therefore, we all packed up trail mix, water bottles, and ponchos and packed up to head to Busiek for some hiiiiiiiiiiiiiking in the rain.
It was sprinkling when we left but this soon increased to a steady rain that showed no signs of letting up. As we sloshed through the muddy grass, trying to keep various extremities dry, many of us wondered why we were doing this. However, wanting to be positive, many of us chimed in with various VeggieTales quotes to keep everyone smiling and Josiah kept saying “come in, Render Man Five,” which was annoying but funny.
This is the before shot... we didn't get an after shot but I don't think it would have been real attractive. :-)
After hiking for less than ten minutes we came to the creak which is usually dry but, due to all the rain recently, was rushing very quickly and there was no bridge where we were. With jubilation, the kids announced that we’d have to turn back. Dad, not one to give up but also smart enough to not try to wade through that creek, agreed but said that in order for this to be considered a hike we’d have to have a snack break. Tired from our ten minutes of walking, we agreed. Trail mix all around. This restored the general mood of the group and after Mom commenting that her legs were happier after seeing “trigger happy” carved into a log, we headed back.
I'm still not sure what Mom was doing but it was definitely amusing.
Everything was rather soggy and stinky on the way back, except the trail mix, which Jo and Ryan neatly finished off on the way home. At home we draped the wet ponchos over the porch swing and headed inside, laughing about our soaked clothing and our mock hike. To be continued…
Well, to say I’ve fallen behind in blogging would be a gross understatement. However, I haven’t just been drowning in time and so it hasn’t been high on my priority list. We are starting Leadership Camp today (!!!), so I will need to blog about that – probably not in the detail that I did about Family Camp, but probably pretty close – so I’ve really got to catch up on the past couple of weeks. Sigh. Here goes.
Finishing the Hamlet, Part III
The transition from Faithful into America Again was shaky in practice, decidedly BAD in the first presentation, and much better in the second. Tess and I had decided (in whispered conversations as people started coming in before the first presentation) that the way we would do that transition is that everyone would go off the stage (except the founding fathers), change into their vests there and then come out on chains of tyranny. I communicated that to the people on my side and Tess rushed to do the same to the people in the back (set up for Go) and the people on stage right. Therefore, when we got to this place in the presentation, that’s what I expected to happen.
I was wrong.
Emily B and I rushed around to get the Bibles set while mad (and relatively silent) chaos ensued on stage right while Melissa handed out the vests and everybody who thought they weren’t going to get one went nuts. Unfortunately, once the guy nearest to the stage had his vest on, he just went right back on stage, which of course required the rest of us to follow him, which of course wasn’t really planned. And it was really sloppy. With some practice and a lot of critiquing we fixed this in the second presentation and it went a lot better. In the second presentation while in double zero I was having a silent conversation with Melissa about where I needed the props for Love Story and I almost missed my cues to turn out.
Other than the gross transition, I think America Again went really well both times. Couple of little things, like the teacher couldn’t find her Bible once, but nothing major. I cannot say how much I love that song. It’s so awesome. To my relief, everyone had enough Bibles at the end. Well, except me. But that didn’t bother me, I just stepped offstage to prepare for Love Story. Then, of course, once the song ended and we all went through our let’s-all-walk-across-the-stage-in-complete-and-total-blackness-and-try-to-run-into-everything-and-everyone routine, I realized that I had to be on the OTHER side of the stage for Love Story, so I merely joined in the fun, on the way whispering fiercely to Josiah that his Jesus sash was in the center of the stage.
Now, Love Story is a different story than all the other songs. For one thing, it’s two songs – a la Be Still – and the second one is completely instrumental, the first only partially so. For another, it requires a zillion props.
9 crosses; 6 angel capes; Satan cape; 1 demon cape; Jesus sash; God cape; 2 sheer ribbons; 2 rainbow ribbons; 2 sets twirly flags; 4 chains; 1 Bible; 1 mallet; 1 white sash
See those ribbons? The rainbow and the sheer? They are a PAIN in the neck. The two rainbow ones didn’t have sticks and therefore were quite the pain to use, literally and figuratively. Thankfully my trusty handyman Josiah, after a quick trip to Home Depot, was able to attach dowel rods to both. We attached these to the ribbons using safety pins. Don’t be fooled by the name: They’re anything but safe. They actually stayed on during the first presentation and that was good. In the second presentation Hannah’s ribbon wrenched completely out of its dowel rod (at the end, thankfully) so she was just holding the ribbon at the end. Then we presented Love Story at Church Army a couple of days ago and Madison’s ribbon fell off. Not off the stick, but off the metal holder. In the middle of the song. She salvaged it pretty well but I felt awful. So got to figure out what to do about these ribbons.
OK, enough about the ribbons. First presentation: Satan and the demon were late, WAY late putting the chains on Jarek, so when we came out as angels to flap them away they hadn’t even started their demon march toward her yet. Oh well. Byebye demons. The trumpeters didn’t come out far enough in that presentation but rectified this in the second presentation. We had lots of fun dancing and tried not to hit the people six inches from the ribbons as they flew. It was funfunfun.
At the end of the first song God drops the chains and someone is supposed to get them offstage, because we need them in the second song. Well, this didn’t really work: I guess nobody had been assigned to do it on stage left, therefore it didn’t get done. This was a problem, because John and Rachel, the two people on stage left that need the chains, were freaking out going, “Where are the chains? AH! What are we going to do? AH!” and of course I was trying to figure out how to get the chains back offstage. Somehow, somebody onstage whispered the problem to Alex, who is kneeling in the back holding the cross. He grabbed the chains and sort of slid them to stage left, where John and Rachel threw them on and rushed out, about twenty seconds late but at least they were out. This problem, as most, was rectified in the second presentation.
The part where everyone goes out into the audience and freezes worked beautifully. Courtney said that Lilly was kicking her cross as she stood frozen, but I didn’t hear of any problems. A couple people told us thanks but mostly just left us alone, which was nice. I gotta tell you I was trembling by the time Jory told us we could unfreeze. We went back onstage; Emily B, Madison, Courtney and I reset the props, we went through all our mistakes, and did it all again.
At the end we took off makeup in the little powder room – picture fifteen mimes crammed into a room about as big as a master bathroom, all trying to see the mirror – and then went outside, where it was cold and drizzling. We were informed that practically all the rides were closed and so after standing about for a rather long and seemingly pointless fifteen minutes, we packed up and headed back to the vans.
Once we got back to the church Melissa, Emily and I put away props while the guys dueled with mime swords or something in the big room. Then Jo, Jarek, Madison, John and I presented our mock version of Champion, which was fun. Madison was God. John was an angel and the narrator. I fluctuated between angel and narrator. The audience – Browns and Melissa – really liked it. Then we started playing Freeze but then Jo and I had to leave ‘cause Dad was waiting dinner on us at home.
And that was the end of the great YCW! Oh, I’m so relieved I finished it. I realized yesterday that I hadn’t finished it and I knew that later I would want to have this chronicle, so I’m very glad that’s done. I shall now post this and hopefully after our conversation with Ruth and Sarah write some more.
Schedules. Lack of schedules. Tess’s schedules. Reviewing. Reviewing everything. Reviewing songs. Songs. Leading songs. Who will lead the songs? Melissa. Katie. Ryan. Problems. Characterization. When for characterization? Who for characterization? Issues. People issues. People who are sitting out. People talk. People should not talk. People are distracting. Expectations. Expectations must be communicated. Who will communicate expectations? Jorge. Mr. Brown. Ryan.
Serving. Service projects. Who can come? Details. Detailed questions. Answers. Detailed answers. Prayer. Closing.
1. KATIE’S HOME!!! She got home on Thursday night and while we haven’t had much time together, it’s been awesome to have a fellow female around to roll eyes with me for a little while. She’ll be here for practice Thursday and our two presentations on Saturday before she leaves at the crack of dawn on Sunday.
2. I have a job. Sort of. I don’t remember if I wrote about this before or not so I’m writing about it now. I’m babysitting every Tuesday from about 8:30 to 5:30 for this family with two girls – 10 and 1 ½. The mom works from home but needs to go into the office one day a week so I babysit then. It’s pretty fun and it’s a job that isn’t flipping burgers, so hey.
3. We’ve done a zillion service projects recently. Well, not really, but it seems like it. I was at Gift of Green a couple Saturdays ago, potting trees and shoveling dirt for three and a half hours. Got really sore but enjoyed it. Last Saturday we moved the Lynches, the family I babysit for, and that was majorly fun – 15 AIMonites showed up for it! I took a zillion pictures and will be posting them once Jo is done with my computer. J And now Katie and I are currently sorting 344 ACTION shirts for distribution to several teams at Leadership Camp. Yes, we are having the time of our lives. Yes, it’s late and I’m loopy.
4. The Browns are home. Hallelujah.
5. Everything else will have to wait for some other time. I’m going to bed. =D
I remember waking up to a beautiful sunrise and, of course, Jairus taking pictures of it. Us girls quickly got to work slathering cream cheese on bagels and passing them up to the hungry team. We had strawberry and honeynut – or something like that – and most people took the strawberry.
The rest of the trip is a blur till that glorious moment when I saw Katie running up to the van and plastering her face against the window. I remember being practically frantic in that hot, stifling van, wanting desperately to climb over Josh, past Jairus, out the door and into Katie’s arms. I remember the long hug we had and almost crying (but refraining so I didn’t wash my makeup off). I remember several hours in the blazing sun, instructing little kids – without talking, of course – that they were to throw the beanbags and hit the spider. I remember our FIRST presentation, Josh’s nervousness, the wet/muddy stage, the vests flying all over the back of the stage, KT and LA in the audience taking pictures, and messing up. I remember Josh and the Jesus sash/vest in Fallen. I remember pumpkins.
I remember playing mime hide and seek over by the pony rides, manning more games, always looking around for Katie, watching Chris and Jairus interact with the kids. I remember Kirsten walking around picking up trash. I remember almost falling asleep on my feet. I remember running back to the van to grab the props for the second presentation. I DON’T remember the second presentation (no, honestly, I don’t!). I remember picking up flowers and pumpkins and placing them in wheelbarrows and wagons and dragging them up to the admin tent after the festival was over. I remember looking for stuff in the auction tent with Megan and not knowing what to do. I remember that I really had to go to the bathroom when we climbed into the van to go back to the House of Blessing for dinner but didn’t want to use the disgusting porta-potties they provided.
I remember Mrs. Cooper making dinner while we did something in the garage… either we practiced or worked on Bible study. I THINK we worked on Bible study, because at that point we still didn’t have them completely down, and Aaron was switching around who was teaching which study - at every stop. I remember a delicious dinner and some kind of chocolate cake that was really good for dessert. That was the place where KT made Jo and I do Barbara Manatee with Jo as Barbara and me as Bill. That was hilarious.
I remember practicing in that garage with the oil spot on the floor… Virtuoso, Fallen… I remember that amazing presentation of Faithful the next morning in the church next door. It hard a hardwood stage; there wasn’t much room because the choir was all still up there. Jo freaked some lady out when he threw blood at her feet. It was exhilarating. It had this nice aisle too. I like aisles. =) I remember doing Larger Than Life and the Armor of God skit for the little kids with KT and Amy as the enemies. It was awesome and the kids loved it. I remember starting to write out verses to put on the PHC wall of encouragement or something like that but had to break off when the kids got there. Aaron did a great job keeping them going… we sung Father Abraham and Chris got a kick out of that… I tried (both successfully and unsuccessfully) to talk some of the kids out of their shells. I remember driving away and looking back and seeing Katie crying. It was really sad.
Gabriel used to call Courtney "Cournet." I wrote this email to Courtney, now vacationing/furloughing in DE, and it was a pretty good description of practice.
Dear Courtney,
Don't know if you care, but thought I'd let you know how practice went today. If you aren't interested, that's OK. Just enjoy your vacation!
Practice today was so weird. It was just wrong without you guys. SALTeam meeting was not only minuscule (people-wise) but it was very reminiscent of old AIM Branson days in that after figuring out the songs for Teddy Bear Tea and the parts thereof, we had seven minutes for Bible study (we did it late because Jorge was leading and he couldn't get there till the end of the meeting). We didn't have time to assign when we were teaching which songs, much less who was teaching them, which made things a bit more chaotic.
Girls' Bible study started off slow but as we progressed it got a lot better. Tess and Kristi had a lot to add to the discussion and I think we had some good topics thrown around, especially near the end. We couldn't help but notice how small our group seemed without you (although it's still relatively huge). I got to hold Christopher and he fell asleep on my lap near the end of the study, which was majorly cool.
Oh yeah, so here's the deal for Teddy Bear Tea: we're doing four songs and the armor of God skit that we did at the end of Family Field Day last Midwest Family Camp. The songs we're going to do are Devil is Bad, Sin Chair, (Armor of God Skit), Lazarus, Virtuoso. We tried not to put y'all in any main parts seeing as you're going to have negative time to learn the songs that you don't already know.
We started off the SALTeam presenting Champion, which was really a riot. Actually, it wasn't technically the SALTeam; it was most of the old AIM Branson team, since y'all weren't there and Josh didn't know the song so it was a lot like last Saturday. Jo was Jesus; Jarek was Satan; I was God (yeah, I know, it's funny, but Jarek said he didn' t know it. If he had I would have been Satan: muhahahaha). Madison narrated, and Melissa and John were angel and demon, respectively. It was pretty pathetic, because Jo and Jarek were having a lively conversation while they punched each other's lights out and I couldn't glare at Jarek without cracking a smile.
After we presented Champion we all popped a squat and watched the first presentations of Go and Love Story, to try to pick up on our mistakes and find things we can improve for next time. We were watching the video that Jory took from on high [on the balcony]. :) That was pretty cool. We all laughed when we could see the curtain undulate - barely - as Melissa slipped behind it.
When we taught Champion it got pretty chaotic. Melissa/Madison taught the angels, Jarek/John taught the demons, Jo taught God (Josh), and I taught Jo and Madison (Jesus and narrator). Well, for Jo I basically just told him his cues; he knew the part. We also added this cool part where there is a captive - Hannah - and she's there over in the demon's corner for the entire song (she comes out at the beginning and gets captured by the demons) until "captivity has been set free" and then Jesus sets her free. Basically. Anyway, I thought it was cool. Tess taught it - I'd never heard of it before but apparently other teams have done it. She's full of good ideas. :)
So we taught Champion and ran it once and then had to move on. I was OK with that... being a demon is painful on the legs. The demons did pretty well but Melissa said the angels were "eh." OK, I guess. So next was Devil is Bad. We - SALTeam minus Josh and plus John - did that song and it was cool. Teaching it was NOT cool, though. Don't know what was up. I guess it was because the Lillys and the Duncans were sitting out (they won't be at the TBT). The whole thing seemed cluttered from Champion on. Well, mostly Devil is Bad... the other two songs went OK. Madison taught Emily D the Eve 2 part.
We taught Lazarus really fast but we're really going to have to drill characterization because we had problems in that department. Probably because we haven't taught it yet. Hmm... we should make that a priority. That will help them in practically every song they ever do.
We didn't show Sin Chair just because it's so short and simple I didn't think it was necessary (yeah, I did seem to be one of the primary leaders today, with Melissa. It was kind of awkward. I used to do that all the time but now I'm not used to it). By the way, we put you in the main part for that song. I think I've seen you do it somewhere, or KT has told me about how awesome you are, or something. At any rate, we figured you'd do it best. You cool with that?
Sin Chair was ... fine. There really isn't much to say about that song. Since each person is only out for five seconds they don't really even have to work on characterization, so at this point we're just trying to get everyone across the stage before the "song" is over.
So we finished Sin Chair, I gave a brief run-down on the skit and who was doing what, and then we did announcements, prayer requests, and clean-up. It ran pretty smoothly, I guess, but it was really weird, and sort of depressing. I know that's not going to make sense to you, but now I'm rambling.
So here's the deal on parts.
Champion: God: Josh
Jesus: Jo
Satan: Jarek
Narrator: Madison
"Captive": Hannah
Angels: Courtney, Maria, Emily B, Emily D, Moriah, Heather
Demons: Charleton, Alex, Jessica, Kyle, Rachel, John
Devil is Bad: Eve 1: Heather
Eve 2: Emily B
Satan: Jo
Jesus: Josh
Signs: Jessica
Trumpet: Not sure
Sin Chair:
Main: Courtney
Christian: Jessica OR Emily B OR... ?
Strongman: Alex
Lazarus:
Lazarus: Josiah
God/Jesus: Josh
Mary: Maria
Martha: Emily B
OK, so we did give y'all a couple of parts. Especially Emily. But y'all are experts; you can pull it off, right? :) And about the skit... I'll paste the text at the bottom of this email, but just know that you are an "enemy," Emily is not wearing the shoes of peace, and Rachel is the one who is wearing all her armor. Basically someone will read the text and we'll act it out, in slow motion and extremely played up. You know, cheesy? Exaggerated? It's fun.
Oh yeah, we've also got to figure out parts in Virtuoso since Jarek won't be there.
So that was my extremely long and probably boring email. Thanks for suffering with me to the end. ;-) Don't know if you're in DE yet (probably not), but know that our prayers go with you and hope that y'all have a great time together! How did the college visit go? Have y'all done anything fun or stupid yet? Shall I quit asking questions so you can get back to doing those fun and stupid things? I miss you guys a LOT and I'll be really glad when you get back!
Let’s see, Go… both times Courtney and Madison got all the Bibles off the stage and Emily cleared the Go banner so the props were a lot less gross (yeah, I know that’s poor grammar) than the last couple of years. Yay! For the most part people remembered staging changes and I think all in all we avoided death by the curtain (that is, hiding behind the side curtains so no one could see us).
When Go ended the lights went down and Ryan came up from stage right to grab the Bible from my hand, so by the time the lights were back up he had the Bible and we were all set for Stand. Theoretically. In actuality, there were still people running around, trying to remember which song was next, clearing props, etc. Again, this went better the second presentation. I was in double zero next to Courtney for the Sanhedrin, breathing hard. Go is a rough song to start with, especially if you’re the runner.
Stand is interesting with so many people. In order to not overwhelm the audience each person is only in two or three parts so there are people in double zero at all times. I can’t help but contrast this year with Stand at YCW last year. Totally different. This year I was in the Sanhedrin, then in double zero, then a Christian on stage left, then in double zero, then a wall, then in double zero (later changed to a marcher). Last year I was in the Sanhedrin, a crying Christian, a persecuted Christian, a wall, and a marcher. At any rate, I couldn’t see much of that song but what I saw went well. We had a bit of stoning trouble with Stephen, but the walls at the end were really cool – 10 or so people make a great wall! – and we cleared out so those who marched could march. There’s not enough space on the stage for everyone to march.
Apparently Josh is one of the ones who doesn’t march, because both times, when the lights came up for Virtuoso, he was in the middle of the circle with the God cape on, ready to roll. Good job, Josh! That transition actually ran pretty smoothly because… there weren’t very many props? Places were straightforward? Don’t know, but both times we were ready to start the music pretty quickly.
Being a mountain in Virtuoso is akin to being a door in Invitation. It’s painful. I picked a spot on the curtains above Charleton’s head to focus on and tried to ignore my screaming arms. Unfortunately when I ignored them I focused on Josiah (Adam) and Emily B (Eve) which occasionally caused me to move my eyes. At least I remembered to switch my part in the chorus. The first presentation the disciples were too far forward and not diagonal enough because Kristi said we were blocking everything. Whoops. We tried to remedy this the second time but I was late turning out the second time because I was trying to talk without talking to Melissa about angel capes. Or was it blood? Melissa was stationed on offstage right and there was some prop problem we were “discussing” when the cue came for me to turn out. It was painfully obvious that I need to be on top of things when everyone else waited for me. Whoops again.
Emily B saved me at the end of Virtuoso… Tess had taken some people out of the dance and switched some things around which meant that Jo and I shared the center of the semicircle at the end. I kind of (well, completely) forgot this and backed up to my original place but Emily forcefully nudged me to my edited place. Good going Emily!
At the end of Virtuoso, Emily, Emily, Madison and I get to go offstage right. The rest of everyone has to grab blood (if they’re guards) and set up onstage. Oh, forgot to mention this. At the end of Virtuoso, Satan usually gets thrown off to stage right. Well, it turns out that Satan is Jarek and Jarek is also the first martyr in Faithful, which means he has to be out in the audience when the music for Faithful starts. Therefore, we made some slight modifications and Jarek got thrown off to stage left, where he took off his cape, went through the backstage left audience door, crawled next to the counter so no one could see him, and was in his place for the top of Faithful.
I didn’t see the beginning of Faithful either time; we were backstage with Melissa. She would open the door and we’d pour out: Madison first, noticing the blood, Emily D after her, and me after Emily D, trying to tell her about Jesus. It was a bit of a balancing act to get around the voices on downstage right but we managed. Madison and I burned at the stake and when we got down in the front row to sign we realized that we were taking up way too much of the stage and we were in God’s way. There was nothing to do about it that presentation, but the entire voices “choir” scooted back so that God had more space in the second presentation.
Don’t know about Josh (Madison’s guard) but Alex did a great job: he got the blood to me both times in a neat little ball. The second presentation Emily B died (beheading) and almost threw her blood into the audience. She had fallen backward onto the apron and the blood was hanging off the end. She kept a hold of it and kind of pulled it back onto the apron before God helped her up, though. Kudos to Emily again!
And I trust in You / Lord, I trust in You / I believe You're my Healer / I believe You are all I need / I believe You're my Portion / I believe You're more than enough for me / Jesus, You're all I need
