Rio 9/22-9/24
We stayed at Pastor Stephanie’s house which was less than a block from the church – long commute! Confirmation was Wednesday, where we did games and songs and Elliott did a great sharing. He tied in their requirements for the confirmation class with the pitfall of going through the motions. We all have gone to church or read our bible or gone to Sunday school or a bible study without really getting anything or even looking for anything from God. He had some great words about being intentional about seeking God.
While we were waiting in the parking lot, after the confirmation class was done, we started jamming and dancing – so much fun! And we get to go back and visit them in April when we are back from Africa!
Racine 9/24-9/26
This was a really cool church. It had a mansion attached! We got to stay in the mansion instead of host homes. We did a youth service on Thursday, and then a game night with a campfire on Friday. Games included Human Knot, Skittles, a new version of Twister (one you can buy at Target) that includes hopscotch in rings, Frogger (otherwise known and Frogs and Flies) and Racecar. We then got to sing songs around the fire and make s’mores… Yum yum!
Black River Falls 9/26-9/27
We arrived a little early to find that a wedding had taken place that afternoon and that they were still taking pictures! We led all 3 services, Saturday night and 2 Sunday. We all take turns doing the sharing and this was my turn. I used some of the material from when I spoke at my church this summer, about our Legacies, and tied it into the theme verse of Micah 6:8.
We all stayed at a beautiful cabin with our host family. Saturday night we had a campfire on the beach of _______ near Hatfield. Our host cooked some venison sausage over the fire – Yum!
The next morning, we had to get up really early because the host family did not live the closest… but the scrumptious egg bake for breakfast and the beautiful drive in the early morning fog totally made up for it!!!
Fairchild 9/27-9/29
This stop was one of rest. Truly. We stayed with a wonderful family who welcomed us so warmly and then basically gave us run of the house. It was so awesome to be able to truly relax and just be. In the 48 hours we were there, I played Boggle with the host family (I had forgotten how much I enjoy that game!), Made homemade chicken noodle soup, read 5 books, and slept in… I think I understand this whole day of rest thing!
Our host family lived on 75 acres, a beautiful mixture of forest and fields, and when you looked out the dining room window, you could see turkeys in field. Here, we experienced our first real cold temps of the year. It was really windy, which made the boys attempts at Frisbee quite comical!
Steven’s Point 9/29-10/1
The Lutheran Ministry center invited us to come and hang out with the students and lead their vespers service. When we arrived, they were having what they call English Café, a time for all of the exchange students, or students whose 1st language is not English, to get together and use their English skills and meet others in the same situation. Nametags were brought out when we got there, and by the end, some of us had 5 or 6 tags in different languages. The ones I remember are Korean, Japanese, Chinese, German, and English.
We stayed with students in apartments off campus – we rode the city bus to get back the next morning. Our first official duty here was a School chapel @ 8:30am, a rather interesting proposition seeing as we had to figure in the bus schedule, drive time, warm ups, and set up time before then! On our way, we Almost got lost, or had the great potential of, seeing as we differed on how to read the directions. But it all worked out, we went a block further and saw the sign and got there on time!
The kids had a theme in chapel of “I just wanna be a sheep.” They had banners and t-shirts and everything. We added that song in at the end and it was a big hit. They already knew it and could sing along, but we added new verses – we all had a blast!
At 9pm that same day, we lead vespers for the college. Campus ministry is much different than doing a Sunday school or family night, but in a good way. You get to go beyond the basics and go a little deeper. We were actually asked to do more of a concert than a service. It went rather well, I think. There were a few students who were interested in more info about team!
The next day, our contact discussed with us some of out strengths and weaknesses – it was really refreshing to hear straight talk about what could still use some practice.
The campus center has great retired couples who come and drop off stuff for the students, of which we were allowed to take part - blankets and cookies and bars, oh my! Not to mention the delicious lunch of homemade pickles, pulled pork sandwiches, cheesy au gratin potatoes, and brownies and homemade apple pie… Please excuse the drool!
Wausau 10/1-10/3
For Thursday, we were asked to lead our Family Night program and that the audience would be Sunday school age and their families. Great, ok, sure, can do. As we greet the people coming in, we quickly realize the crowd is about 50-60 years older than we had been told! The youngest person there was about 20! We followed our lineup of Sunday school sing-alongs with all the silly actions, and replaced the puppet show with a drama. Afterward, we were told they “hadn’t enjoyed something so much in a long time.” God works in mysterious ways.
The church had just hired a new Youth worker, Jordan, who hung out with us a lot of the time we were there. Friday we had no program, so after taking care of some rehearsal and other business, we had a blast just walking around the mall, having Wii bowling tournaments, celebrating Ludvigs’ Birthday, going out for some really good Chinese food, and playing Girls v. Boys Cranium (girls totally dominated of course!).
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Fast forward 2!
This is my team at the commissioning service.
The next day, on our way to Ox Lake , a camp we might work at next summer,for orientation, we stopped for lunch in Amery, WI. Little did we know, it was their fautumn festival - very busy and crazy!
We got to be with the 2 other camp teams, Daybreak, who is at a camp all year, and Rainbow of Promise, who is going to India and will be joining us next summer working at the camp.
These will be the facilities all next summer, something I was rather worried about untill I thought of what they will be like in Africa... Non-existant!
The water is provided by pumping the well :
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Fast forward!
Ok, picture post!
So much to update!
Since last I wrote, we had a week of international training at Luther Point, including the session entitled ‘Cathy Is A Racist And So Are You!’ and a session on the very simple but fun game of 5 rocks.
The puppet show children's moment is one of my favorite parts.
And the skit isn't too bad either!
It was served with warm Coke, (not just luke warm!) since that is all the cooler your beverages will be there.
So much to update!
Since last I wrote, we had a week of international training at Luther Point, including the session entitled ‘Cathy Is A Racist And So Are You!’ and a session on the very simple but fun game of 5 rocks.
We got to put on our program for all the international teams at Luther Point -here are some highlights:
The puppet show children's moment is one of my favorite parts. 
And the skit isn't too bad either!.
.
Thusday, September 17th, we had an international dinner. The alumni from the international teams cooked food for each of the teams. Former Cross Fire member Rachel cooked us Ground-Nut Soup. In essence, tomato-peanut butter soup with chicken pieces. You eat it with your fingers, dunking chunks of your rice ball into the broth. It grew on me. The alumni said to expect it often. You can also see in this picture a dish called Red-Red which is sauteed onion and tomato with red beans served over plantains - this was delicious!
It was served with warm Coke, (not just luke warm!) since that is all the cooler your beverages will be there.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Day 21
Sunday, September 13th, 2009
Wow, today was a long day. Very very fun, but this morning seems so long ago…
We got to do the children’s moment and Sunday School for 2 services at the church in Woodbury. We started in the service and got to experience the praise music part of the service before we sang our song for the children’s moment. Then we followed the kids to the Sunday school room and led them in more songs and did a puppet show. They were so much fun! There were the grumpy ‘I-am-trying-to-act-cool-and-not-like-this’ kids and the ‘Oh-my-this-is-my-favorite-song-and-I-know-every-action-and-can-I-stand-up-front-with-you?’ kids and everyone in between!
From there, we headed to Luther Point in Grantsburg, Wisconsin, for our last week of training. I slept the whole way! Well, the whole time after I ate my delicious lunch prepared by my host mom! She even had a checklist for me and Kaitie to fill out and made each of our lunches to order.
We got in about 2:15ish and unloaded the van, set up our practice room, and had a good rehearsal. We will be the first team to perform our program for the other teams and staff to be critiqued. I am not feeling ready. We aren’t bad, just unpolished.
After practice, we had camp orientation, this is where the dining hall is, that is where the canoe paddles and lifejackets are kept, etc… Then we got to start our day off! I went with the group of 7 into St. Croix for dinner, a movie, and Walmart. We left camp around 5:30 and went to Loggers Bar and Grill. They have really good juicy burgers and my Philly sandwich was sooo good. Then we wandered around Walmart until it was time for our movie. *SPOILER* (kind of) We went to see All About Steve, and it was funny, but felt unresolved. There are some great lines though!
I am looking forward to tomorrow morning – the first thing in my schedule is lunch!
Wow, today was a long day. Very very fun, but this morning seems so long ago…
We got to do the children’s moment and Sunday School for 2 services at the church in Woodbury. We started in the service and got to experience the praise music part of the service before we sang our song for the children’s moment. Then we followed the kids to the Sunday school room and led them in more songs and did a puppet show. They were so much fun! There were the grumpy ‘I-am-trying-to-act-cool-and-not-like-this’ kids and the ‘Oh-my-this-is-my-favorite-song-and-I-know-every-action-and-can-I-stand-up-front-with-you?’ kids and everyone in between!
From there, we headed to Luther Point in Grantsburg, Wisconsin, for our last week of training. I slept the whole way! Well, the whole time after I ate my delicious lunch prepared by my host mom! She even had a checklist for me and Kaitie to fill out and made each of our lunches to order.
We got in about 2:15ish and unloaded the van, set up our practice room, and had a good rehearsal. We will be the first team to perform our program for the other teams and staff to be critiqued. I am not feeling ready. We aren’t bad, just unpolished.
After practice, we had camp orientation, this is where the dining hall is, that is where the canoe paddles and lifejackets are kept, etc… Then we got to start our day off! I went with the group of 7 into St. Croix for dinner, a movie, and Walmart. We left camp around 5:30 and went to Loggers Bar and Grill. They have really good juicy burgers and my Philly sandwich was sooo good. Then we wandered around Walmart until it was time for our movie. *SPOILER* (kind of) We went to see All About Steve, and it was funny, but felt unresolved. There are some great lines though!
I am looking forward to tomorrow morning – the first thing in my schedule is lunch!
Day 20
Saturday, September 12, 2009
And we’re off! Today we left Luther Dell for our Rally Day booking! It was sad to say goodbye to all of the national teams – we won’t see them until the sending service. I know, it is only about a week, but we have become a family. It is strange living in a closed community like that, with virtually no contact with the outside world. I have no clue what has gone on in the world since starting training.
Our Rally Day booking was is in Woodbury, MN. We got there early! Our contact was very nice – she bought us Yang’s for dinner! We played Ultimate Frisbee with a group of about 7 church members plus us, and then had a campfire. We sang a bunch of sing-alongs and some cross cultural songs, Dave did a devotion, and then we had s’mores. It was a lot of fun!
The boys and girls in our team stayed at different host families. Kaitie and I stayed with a family with 2 really cute little girls – and they are smart!! One is learning Spanish and the other is learning Chinese! I was very impressed. The family was very kind and let us do laundry – what luxury! We had a great time just telling stories and laughing until bedtime.
And we’re off! Today we left Luther Dell for our Rally Day booking! It was sad to say goodbye to all of the national teams – we won’t see them until the sending service. I know, it is only about a week, but we have become a family. It is strange living in a closed community like that, with virtually no contact with the outside world. I have no clue what has gone on in the world since starting training.
Our Rally Day booking was is in Woodbury, MN. We got there early! Our contact was very nice – she bought us Yang’s for dinner! We played Ultimate Frisbee with a group of about 7 church members plus us, and then had a campfire. We sang a bunch of sing-alongs and some cross cultural songs, Dave did a devotion, and then we had s’mores. It was a lot of fun!
The boys and girls in our team stayed at different host families. Kaitie and I stayed with a family with 2 really cute little girls – and they are smart!! One is learning Spanish and the other is learning Chinese! I was very impressed. The family was very kind and let us do laundry – what luxury! We had a great time just telling stories and laughing until bedtime.
Day 19
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Today was Prom!
The staff pulled a fast one on us. They had the camp director tell us they had to wax the dining room floor for a square dance they were having soon and so we had to eat outside all day. For dinner, they had us go get our dinner team by team ‘so we wouldn’t have so many people on the wet floor at one time.’ In reality, they had turned the dining hall into a prom and all the staff was wearing fancy stuff from the camps costume bins.
There were balloons and streamers and dance music – so much fun. 
We ate by candlelight with our teams and talked about our favorite dance and formal memories. 
Today was Prom!
The staff pulled a fast one on us. They had the camp director tell us they had to wax the dining room floor for a square dance they were having soon and so we had to eat outside all day. For dinner, they had us go get our dinner team by team ‘so we wouldn’t have so many people on the wet floor at one time.’ In reality, they had turned the dining hall into a prom and all the staff was wearing fancy stuff from the camps costume bins.
There were balloons and streamers and dance music – so much fun. We ate by candlelight with our teams and talked about our favorite dance and formal memories. We even got to choose the king and queen of the prom!
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