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
Aug. 29, 2009
Final Presentation, dejavu
So on Thursday I went to my first practice since before the reunion. Jo and I were actually still sick, but I for one was desperate to get out of the house. We didn’t go to the SALTeam meeting because I was still feeling cruddy at that point and waiting for the meds to kick in. It turned out not to matter anyway because they spent the entire meeting doing Bible study and didn’t talk about anything SALT-ish.
When we got there they were still doing Bible study so we listened in until they were done. We packed up and headed to our little room to do Bible study. Courtney was facilitating. I mentioned to her my thought about just asking the girls what was up instead of reviewing, since our Bible studies that session had pretty much fallen flat anyway. She agreed so after another flat Bible study :) in which I twisted Maria and Amber’s hair (funny, since I’m lousy at twisting other peoples’ hair, but Courtney was leading the BS), we talked with the girls about how their summer had gone. Most of the girls weren’t real talkative. Wonder what’s been up with it this summer.
We had mentorship and then dove into songs. We had a seven-song presentation that night and a lot to do to get ready for it – Freedom Restoration was on the list and the team hadn’t even learned Restoration yet. Once we went through all the hard songs – or the ones we didn’t know real well, like Washed in the Blood and In God We Still Trust – we convinced Kristi that we could teach Restoration. She gave us twenty minutes and – wonder of wonders – we actually succeeded! I was so happy. I’d watched the video three times to prepare to teach it and I actually remembered most of the cues and actions, so I taught most of it by myself. Amber, thank heaven, knew the dance and taught it to Emily and Rachel. Courtney ended up standing on a chair behind God, as the odd angel, doing ribbons and trying to keep her cape from flying in her face.
Madison was going to take my parts but it turned out they already had my parts replaced so she didn’t end up presenting. Ryan took Jo’s parts in Freedom/Restoration and Washed in the Blood – Jesus and God. Figures. Unfortunately for Jo, that meant that he didn’t get to do the cool sword fight, but he said he just didn’t have enough energy to pull it off. Understandably.
We went upstairs to practice on the stage and Kristi asked me to throw together a lineup. Sometime around there Jorge told me that Jo and I were going to talk about China at the presentation that night. I ended up doing all the talking at that event because we hadn’t time to prepare anything, but Jo was pretty upset at me later. Oops. Won’t happen again. I was actually majorly out of it and definitely offending a lot of people for several days after I got home. It was very bad and very obnoxious. Now that I’m back in a routine with God (that sounds bad), I’m hoping things will get better.
The lineup was:
In the Light
Devil is Bad
Virtuoso
Courtroom
Washed in the Blood
In God We Still Trust
Freedom/Restoration
I think that was the first Final Presentation that I haven’t participated in. It was kinda weird, and surreal. Speaking of weird. I went out to my car to get something and knocked on the door to get back in. Who should open the door but Jacob Lyell! To say I was startled was an understatement. He laughed, his Mom said something about my not expecting him to open the door, and he let me in (wonder of wonders). We were glad to see him again… it’s definitely been a different team without him. He stood in the back and made faces during the presentation, in typical Jacob style.
Speaking of faces, Ryan was demonstrating some pretty good ones during practice. We were up in the sanctuary practicing and he was back in the sound booth running sound. Periodically I’d see several team members stop in the middle of a song and look toward the back. I’d turn around and Ryan would be doing every part in the song in an exaggerated manner and frequently with an interesting looking blonde wig on.
I taped the presentation. It was pretty good. Jarek wasn’t wearing any gloves in Trust, which caused me to rush downstairs and grab some for him but when I went up to give them to him he looked at me like I’d lost my mind and told me he already had gloves. OK, then why weren’t you wearing them? Sheesh! During practice Courtney’s angel cape went up over her head during Freedom/Restoration but she managed to avoid that during the presentation. The only really big problem was my fault – typical. I cause problems even when I’m not presenting – Freedom didn’t have a Bible. Well, she had a mime Bible. I’m sure that was real comfortable for her. (end Final Presentation post. hopefully more about last Thursday soon. hahaha.)
I'll be remembering / The dark night; the hard fight; the long climb up a hill knowing the cost / The brave death, the last breath, the silence whispering all hope is lost / The thunder, the wonder... the power that brings the dead back to life!
