Starting Over - Again

It has been quite a long time since I have written on this blog. It's been quite neglected. But I think it is high time for me to start again.  There are so many things that have happened lately that have pointed to this. I am so glad to share my thoughts with you.

I struggled with this idea of a blog for a while, wondering, 'Why would anyone want to know what I have to say?' Yet as I read other's blogs, I'm amused and entertained, and I believe they are useful. So why can't my words be the same? And then there's that other pertinent question, do I have anything to say? But in the last few days, there have been things that I have experienced that I have wanted to share. I didn't really have a place to do so; this might just be that place.

I will share with you the story of my tipping point, the thing that made me say yes to writing. I went to Bible study last night. It's not so much a Bible study as a designated time to be the Bible out loud. We were focusing on the second half of second Kings tonight. Can I just say that there are some weird shenanigans going on in the Old Testament!

The people in this group are starting a new church in the uptown area. Thursday night will be a discussion of things like names and purposes and people's roles in the new church. We will be discussing the strengths of each person, and part of the preparation is to take the strengths finders test (You can check it out at strengths@gallup.com). I have taken this test before but it's been quite a while. I think my results have changed. But of course I couldn't find the other results to compare them!

Anyways. My results are this:

Adaptability *

People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

Strategic

People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Ideation*

People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

Intellection

People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.

Input*

People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

The ones with the stars all mentioned being a journalist as a possible wise career choice! And intellection says “Take time to write. Writing might be the best way for you to crystallize and integrate your thoughts.’   It all makes sense. I love telling stories. I love being on the Internet. I love finding images to illustrate my point. I love connecting with people. I love sharing what God is doing in my world. And this seems like a very good medium to try. So hello. And welcome! And here's to many good stories!

Greetings From Nigeria

Here are a few excerpts from Erin's e-mails in the last couple of weeks:

Monday March 1
Hi!The LCCN conference is now done, so we will be starting our ''real'' work. It is still very very hot - I wish we could trade places for a day so you get your heat and I get my snow!

Saturday Feb 27
We made it to Nigeria! We flew from Accra to Abuja, had a 7 hourlayover in the Abuja airport, then flew from Abuja to Yola, where weare staying with host homes. Right now it is the Lutheran Church of Christ Nigeria’s annual convention – think Sonshine with no facilities whatsoever, one stage, and speakers instead of bands. The average temp has been 100 to 104 degrees. Though really hot, it is a very dry heat and there are canopies and other sources of shade. Cross Fire gets to sit in the special guest tent with the Bishops of each Diocese! We are 5 of 15 white people out of an estimated 30 to 35 thousand Nigerian Lutherans. I just might be the only Methodist!

So far, I think Ghana was the much more colorful country, the buildings were painted in vibrant colors and we were in the southern part where there was more greenery. Here, the buildings might be painted, but they are more neutral colors and it is much drier, so it is a lot more earth tones there too. However, the fabric the women wear is just as if not more colorful than in Ghana! Kaitie and I play the fabric game, pointing out different fabrics, different color combinations and patterns we like and think the other will like!

Yes, we received the mail package, Finally!!! I got the most letters by about 8! I got 16 total! Thanks so much for the letters. I miss you and cannot wait to get home, but I also love the host home I am staying in here and actually cried when I thought Kaitie and I were going to have to switch (not our choice, a very long story foranother time!)

Oh, by the way, a trotro is a 15 passenger van taxi that usually isn’t considered full until it has 18 passengers, and won’t leave the station until it is full. They are fun! Especially carrying all of your instruments and puppets and puppet curtain to a program! (can you sense the sarcasm here?)
That’s all for now!
Love,
Erin

Sunday 2-21
We fly to Nigeria tomorrow at 6:30am, which means we leave the house at 4am! Then, when we land in Abuja, we have a layover until 6pm or so, and then fly to Yola. I am weary from the 15 programs we have done since last Wednesday, plus the 15 or so hours of trotro rides to get to those programs! But each one is fun, and so very different depending on the age and makeup of the crowd and if we are inside or out... In that time we have done programs for a Seminary class of married men, and orphanage, a group that gathered to listen in the marketplace, a junior high, a senior high, and a primary school, and a group of Compassion kid's moms. Altogether, we have sung to over 1000 people in the last 5 days! WOW!

Greetings from Ghana

Greetings from Ghana - excerpts from Erin's e-mails posted by Wendy 2-16-10

Monday Feb 15
Happy Valentines to you! I cannot believe we are in the last week here in Ghana! I think we counted and there are 49 days left! That means we will be changing countries and everything will be new and different again – I am ready for a change. But we are staying in Accra at the Compassion International site again and as we arrived I was thinking that this was as close to a 'home' as we have here in Ghana.

Wednesday Feb 10
Everyone is fine – we are missing people from home, and some are adjusting still – sometimes reminding ourselves of the good life at home instead of embracing where we are here and now. We get more tired because of the heat and humidity.

We have only seen goats, sheep chickens, guinea fowl, and crocodiles, no big game.

I have a whole list of foods I want when I get home, but the 2 most important are pickles and mashed potatoes, not necessarily together. And I want to cook!!! I miss it. The most I have done is make a cup of tea.

Tuesday, Feb 9
Thank you for all of your support... I am doing much better. The stay here in Cape Coast has been more relaxing yet busier... Monday, we got to go see the Cape Coast Castle that Obama visited and presented a plaque for - I am sure you can find pictures online. Everything was Obama there - shirts, hats, bags, flags, key chains. I even saw a drum with his face on the side!The castle itself was beautiful though the history is gruesome – they had the chapel built right on top of the dungeon where they kept the slaves to be in near starvation with no plumbing but the rain and gravity for 6 months at a time.

The coastline was beautiful - it was my first tourist time in Ghana, and it was good! I have so many pictures...We then got to go to the beach after lunch (the french fries tasted like the state fair!!!). It was heavenly, walking in the waves, picking up shells, hugging palm trees... It did my heart good.

Today we have four programs. One was a school chapel starting at 7, this afternoon we are doing another at 2, then a radio program at 4:15 and another program for a village at 6. Tomorrow we have a 7am school chapel, then leave for Accra for a day of rest on Friday. I am hoping to go to the art market in Accra - they have beautiful carvings and jewelry and such. I have not bought anything yet because I do not want to carry it for the next 50 some days! It’s too heavy and too fragile to risk all the bus trips. We are planning to ask our contact to have a day the week we leave to do some shopping in Nigeria before we fly out.

Sat, 2/6/10
Hi!I am feeling rather out of sorts. I am very much in stage 2 of culture shock and would not be sad if at the end of our time in Ghana we came home instead of going to Nigeria, but I know, barring extreme circumstances, that will not happen. I miss home and all of the comforts there. I miss all my people. I miss being able to go buy exactly what you want without walking for blocks and looking at 27 different street vendors. I miss cold beverages and food I get to choose for myself. I miss snacking!!! We have not since we came to Ghana! I miss using fully functional plumbing. I miss being able to just go somewhere without bargaining for a taxi. I miss eating fish without bones. I miss talking on the phone!

But enough grousing and complaining. You asked about the surroundings here: The houses are mostly cement block boxes, at least most that we are staying in. They have screen windows and doors, but hold the heat all night. I have also seen many made of all corrugated metal roofing, empty shipping containers, etc... in the villages, there are more rounded mud huts with thatched roofing. There are a lot of ½ finished yet abandoned buildings, and I do not know why. About 1/3 of those buildings have 'stop work - produce permit' spray painted on them, but the rest do not. In Bunkpurugu, up in the north, the weather was very dry and hot and there were trees, but for the most part they were the only green. The land is very flat - think southern MN. The dirt is very red, about the color of terracotta, and very dusty. As we drove south to Kumasi, about in the middle, there was more greenery, but still, everything looked very dry despite the added humidity. There were palm trees there, but only around the nicer businesses and hotels. The land was not quite as sheet of paper flat, but not a lot of variety. As we drove from Kumasi to Takoradi, the plants were more lush and there were more hills and valleys - very pretty. And then we drove by the coast so I got to see the ocean! I am ready to come home, but I have so far left to go. I am enjoying myself and all of the new experiences, but I am about adventured out for a while!
Missing you a lot!
Love,
Erin

Greetings from Ghana

Greetings from Ghana - posted by Wendy
Monday January 18, 2010
Hello from Ho, Ghana!
At least once a day I sit back and just marvel that I am in Africa! Even though I am enjoying most parts, I also think that time has gone much slower than I expected - it is only the 2nd week! But I am also mindful that I should not wish my time away.

I spoke too soon about it not being too hot, it was day one and it was earlier in the day yet - we got there after the heat of the day and I e-mailed you before it - but it is bearable. We have rested in the afternoons, which helps.

Our first week we stayed at a guest house in Adidome. It was luxurious compared to what I was expecting. It was made of plastered cement blocks, painted and furnished, with a nice front porch, electricity and running water (at least it ran for 3 hours a day!)

The people were so friendly and welcoming and generous! We worked with the Globeserve Church there. Pastor Frank and his wife Gloria were so kind in seeing that we rested as well as making sure we knew what the plans were. Margaret our cook made delicious food - fried yams with tomato gravy (think french fries and ketchup, but not quite), ground nut soup with sticky rice balls, and my favorite, kokolo, which is mashed plantains mixed with corn meal that is fried (think big, really sweet corn fritters!)

The whole team is getting a taste of my life, how the little children flock constantly. After church services, they walked us back to our rooms at the guest house and they wanted to be helpful so they took things to carry - our bibles, water bottles, our instruments. We were all sad to leave Adidome - they truly made us feel like part of their family. But we know that moving means we have the chance to meet more amazing people.

I am missing you from so far away. I just changed my watch to Ghana time yesterday. It was such a comfort to know what time it was there and imagine what you all were doing.

Tuesday January 19, 2010
It is sunny and hot here, a little breeze. We are at a hotel the church owns, and we get to use the laundry for free! As far as what I packed, other than I should have packed more bandanas, and I should have checked - my sunscreen is "after sun" not before. Other than that, I have more than enough.

Cities: Adidome is about the size of Wells (1000 people) Ho is about the size of Albert Lea, but with more people.

Travels: On the way here we were in planes with 2 seats-aisle-4 seats-aisle-2 seats both from Chicago and Germany. We ride in a taxi-van most places we need to go. However, next week when we travel from Accra to Tamale, we want to find a bus or something bigger than a van at least. The distance is about 100 miles.

A typical day looks like this: Nearly every morning we get up and do door-to-door evangelizing for about 2 hours, then rest during the heat of the day. Then there is a 2-3 hour worship service starting about 7-ish.

The best thing so far has been: that the people praise with such passion and fervor and singing and dancing

The grossest thing I ate: taste-wise was banku - basically raw cassava bread dough you dip in soup. But we had a dish called kenkey that no one really enjoyed, but we ate it to be nice to the cook. That night, I woke to sound of puking outside my window. The whole group was nauseous in the night and it was worse the more you had eaten of it. The boys all threw up, the girls were only nauseous.

Editor's note - Kenkey is a staple dish similar to a sourdough dumpling made from fermented corn. The corn ferments for a few days, then is partially cooked, then wrapped in banana leaves or corn leaves and then steamed.

The strangest thing I have seen: a High School Musical t-shirt on a little girl! And the names of the businesses are so funny - God's Time is Perfect Hairstyles, or Classy Lady Fashions, Our God Provides Enterprises, or my favorite, Obama. That's it. Obama.

I am so excited about Saturday! In the morning the contact is taking us on what he calls an excursion which means we will be visiting a money sanctuary and possibly a museum. That is also the day our cultural clothes will be ready!

I have to go for the afternoon - time to pick up my laundry!
I love you and miss you,
Erin

Wisconsin

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!).

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 :

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.

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!

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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.

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!

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.

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.

We even got to choose the king and queen of the prom!

Day 16

Tuesday September 8th, 2009

Today we got to clean out and wash down the van that will be ours for the rest of the year. It is so exciting to think of how far we will go, even just this fall. And all of the memories that traveling in that van will create! We are supposed to name it, but we don’t even have any good ideas yet.

We also picked our team jobs today. It mostly simple. Katie is our team leader and development liaison, Dave is our treasurer and our life encourager, Elliott is our Program and Culture Coordinator and our technology , ludvigs is our vehicle manager and our sound tech (we tease him because we have one amp and that has 2 chords – ooh so hard!!!).

My jobs are the Ministries Liaison and the Media coordinator. As the Ministries Liaison, it is my job to call the churches 3 weeks ahead to make sure they know what we need and we know what they need so our visit will be as smooth as possible. I get directions for where we are going and figure out what kind of programming they want so that Elliott can plan what we are going to do. My other job as Media coordinator is to make sure we are taking pictures and writing on the blog! I will also be handling the mail packets back to the office, making sure all of the information from each person’s job is sent in.

Tomorrow, all the sessions are about our jobs and what we do for them, what our responsibilities are. I am excited to find out more!

Day 15

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Solitude day 2

Our 22 hours of solitude has gone from 7pm yesterday to 5pm today. Silent means no headphones, no ipods, no sign language, no passing notes, no contact with one another. We started in a circle and the last thing we said or heard was the Lord’s Prayer. Today, we will break the silence in the same way.

It has been so wonderful to not have any structure, any expectations, just free time to relax and commune with God. I went for a long walk in the woods, sat out by the lake and wrote letters, read my bible, and prayed. It was so good to just bask in his presence, to come before him with no agenda, no requests, no needs, just seeking Him for the great and awesome God He is.

As I was sitting by the lake, I saw a boat pull into a prime fishing spot and start to fish. The next time I looked up it had drifted a little, and I thought that their anchor wasn’t holding. The next time I looked, they had drifted about 2 football fields away from the spot they had started! As I continued to watch, the fisherman put down his pole, started the boat, and went back to the prime fishing spot – without pulling up an anchor! He had no anchor to hold him there. I watched him do this 3 different times!

We are like that boat sometimes, getting ourselves into a good relationship with God, or finding a good spot for ministry, but we do nothing to anchor ourselves there. Because we have no prayer life or we aren’t rooted in scripture, we drift away from God, or we loose sight of the purpose for our ministry. I am praying that we all remember to anchor ourselves securely in God and in His purposes for us.


Ok, the silence is broken! This is what happens to extroverts when you make them not talk for 22 hours!

(i will work on posting a video, but am not sure how yet - soon!)

It was so much fun to hear what the other people experienced on their day of silent solitude. A few comments were:

I heard God say this is exactly where I am supposed to be.

My day was productive and that productivity made me thankful for my abilities and all the letters I wrote made me thankful for all the people I have in my life that care about me. God is Good!

I slept for 18 of the 22 hours, but God used what was left.

I heard God say that I should never ever ever even try to be quiet for that long ever again.

I think I was looking too hard and missed what God was trying to say to me until the last hour.

Day 14

Sunday, September 6th, 2009
Two weeks in!

We are now in our 2nd of 22 hours of silent solitude. It is amazing. So peaceful and relaxing… so different than the last 13 days! We started at7pm and are ending at 5pm tomorrow. Some were and are rather worried. It was pretty funny when it was announced, the introverts cheered so loudly, we drowned out the extroverts groans!

Today we were the program team, which means we got to teach 2 sing-alongs – both of which I did not know. But they are pretty good – I will have so many things to tell you about and teach you that cannot be done in blog or letter or phone call form. We will also do a worship song for last word, but since we are having solitude, we will do it tomorrow night.

Today was my birthday, and all day I had to wear an African headdress turban-y thing. It was too warm for that! I got letters and a box from mom yesterday (thank you!) and was wished Happy Birthday in English, Spanish, Danish, German, French, and both bad British and Scottish accents! I also got a bag of peanut butter m&ms from the staff – yum!

I am going to catch up on my bible reading today. During free time, I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and be more extroverted. There are a lot of great people here and I will not get to see most of them all year as we are all out on the road. I am trying to get to know as many as I can. That takes up a lot of time! Hopefully I can find a balance.

P.S. thank you for all the Birthday wishes!

Day 13

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

No speech for me today. I am on total vocal rest. Yesterday I woke up with a bit of a sore throat, but then forgot as the day went on. By supper, though, I had just about nothing left. Last night we had a communion service with really good music and I was very frustrated I could not sing any of it. But then I just relaxed and listened… There are some amazingly talented singers. There was 3 and 4 part harmony on most of the songs… So beautiful… the phrase came to me ‘a sacrifice of praise.’ My sacrifice was not being heard or leading or harmonizing, it was reflecting on the words of the song, focusing on the One we are singing about and to.

The camp based team is leaving today. It is a great group and I am excited for them! This is the first year YE has had a non-traveling team. The team is not exactly sure of what their role will be, but they do know they will be based at the camp I go to next summer and will be going to churches around there. They have the cool opportunity of going to these churches 3 and 4 times and will get to build more relationships. I am looking forward to seeing them at mid-winter training in December and working with them at camp next summer.

Sonja is on the camp based team and her birthday is the 7th, and since they are leaving, they decided to celebrate her birthday today. Sonja is from Denmark. When you turn 25 in Denmark and are still single, you get cinnamon, or have cinnamon food or – or – people dump it on your head. Since tomorrow is my birthday and I have a birthday buddy, Rachel, who is also turning 25, and Sonja will be gone, we all got cinnamon dumped on our heads! It does not taste good plain. Or with broccoli cheese soup. But I did smell rather delicious all day!

We got to have our first 1x1 (read: one on one). 1x1s are times with just one teammate so you can connect individually along with connecting as a team. We had time for four which means I didn’t get one with Kaitie, but that will happen next time. We will have a 1x1 with every person on our team once every 2 weeks.

Day 12

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Today Larry came up to camp, so we get 2 days of theology – yea! (that has a little sarcasm in there). Larry is full of knowledge and has great stories to illustrate the concepts he is trying to teach. But he is trying to teach us complicated theology in a 1 ½ hour lecture that would be covered in whole college courses. He talks about point A, point A, point A, point A, point A, point A, We get it by the 3rd example and start trying to think it through and then have questions for him. But when we ask our questions, I find they are about point D, while Larry is still on point A. He wants to be thorough and give us the details and evidence; we want the big picture. He gives us his objectives for each session, but not an overview of what he is talking about. Perhaps if he gave us the big picture and then went back and unpacked all the details? I don’t know. I feel like I have learned a lot, but have had to wrestle with most of it. Maybe that is good. Perhaps I will remember it better that way.

We also had a couple different sessions about the business aspects of being on team. We had one on vehicle maintenance, who to call if something goes wrong, never ever to use duct tape, you must not back up without a spotter (or at all if possible) etc… we talked about the media specialist job, the person in charge of the resource table in the back after programs, who orders more merchandise if needed, that we need to take pictures and send in blog updates, as well as be prompt with our newsletter info.

After lunch today, we had the traditional staff v. teamers greased watermelon contest. This happens in the chest high water of the swimming beach. There are docks framing the swimming area – each teams of 15-25 must have all of their members touching their respective dock. The watermelon is greased with Crisco and floated in the middle. When the lifeguard says go, all mayhem breaks loose. The object of the game is to get the watermelon to your side and past the buoy line.

The whole camp gets into it, especially the people who participated. There was face painting and special outfits and chanting and inspiring speeches. The first challenge was best 2 out of 3. The staff won the first 2 challenges. The teamers convinced them to do best 3 out of 5. The staff, not smelling any danger, agreed. The teamers then resoundingly kicked their patooties.

I will beg borrow and steal (ok, maybe not steal) to get pictures for you soon!

Day 11

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

This morning’s team devotion was really good. We each had 10 minutes to write our own creeds. We were cautioned not to follow any of the creeds we know too closely, but to write our own. We then read them aloud – it was so interesting to hear how each of us approached it so very differently: Ludvigs talked most about God’s relationship to us. Elliot’s theme was the awesomeness of God. Kaitie focused on God’s unconditional love. Dave has a passion for scripture and that was evidenced in his creed. I highly recommend this activity.

Today we prepared what is called a need skit. It is part of the program where our need for God is highlighted. We got about 2 hours to come up with and practice our skit, and then we presented it after dinner. Each team prepared one and there were a lot of great ideas! Not to brag, but the staff watching and giving tips and tricks didn’t have any criticism for us, constructive or otherwise!!!

At tonight’s Meet By Team we learned about conflict. Basically, there will be some. Possibly a lot. We are a team of avoiders and peacemakers. This indicates we could have no visible conflict, but we then would have undercurrents of anger and resentment. Lets pray against that, shall we?!

Tonight I got to learn how to play rook, or at least the fundamentals. I have no strategy yet though. I had a great conversation with Christine, an alumni on staff who works with special needs kids at her ‘real job.’ We bonded quickly over cute kid stories and our unsureness about future plans. She has said she transposes well, so I might ask if she can help find some better keys for some of our songs.

Day 10

Day 10

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Day off!!!

It feels so much like a Saturday! Today I got to sleep in, lounge around camp till 4, then go into Grand Rapids.

I got to do Laundry – it cost me $7.25 to wash and dry my 1 load of clothes.
I am now at Caribou for a couple hours so I can post and respond to emails. After this my van is going to Applebee’s for dinner.

Well, the Caribou closed at 9 and they turned off the internet then too, right in the middle of down (up?) loading my pictures, so I didn’t get to do a current post!!!

Well then, I guess I can put in some random pictures to give you a better idea of who my team is and what we do here at camp.

One of our challenges as a team was building the tallest balloon tower possible with the 40 balloons provided - how fun!


There have been some spectacular sunsets.

This camp makes the most delicious dessert – brownies with a layer of uncooked cookie dough on top… pardon the drool!

Day 9

I am writing this during our free time after lunch – this camp so much reminds me of those movies that take place in performing arts schools, where as you walk around there are people practicing their instruments and talking music theory and comparing sound equipment tips and stories everywhere! In our free time! I am in our practice room, and all 4 of my teammates have been in here in the time it took me to set up my computer and type this much!

But as Rachel (my cabinmate) says, with Christ as the foundation there is such a sense of joy and humility in it all. This makes the incredible sounds emanating from the practice cabins all the sweeter.

I am on vocal rest for this morning. Everyday we have sample programs, sing-alongs, sectionals and Last Word, which means we sing a lot, even if you are just a sound tech. I need to learn to pace myself.

I have heard stories of people who are feeling unsure of their place here. There are a lot of extremely talented people on team. Those who are taking on a new instrument, or especially those learning their first, have expressed feelings of inadequacy and doubt. From what I have heard, this is internal, they are not being told that they need to be better or learn faster, but they are thinking that themselves (or perhaps the devil is playing his tricks). I ask for prayer for these people and their learning process, that they may have the courage to ask for help if needed, the persistence to press on, and the boldness to rock out on what they do know! Oh, and good memories for the more experienced teamers, that they might remember what it was like their first few weeks.

We had a great sample acoustic program done by the Water Vision of Rainbow Fire Team. (The international music staff took one word of each of the international teams – Watermark to Denmark, New Vision to Australia, Rainbow of Promise to India, and of course Cross Fire to Africa.) It was incredible – worshipful, with clear themes, smooth transitions, hilarious as well as serious and moving elements, they spoke to their audience, kept up their energy, and shared leadership… so great. Kind of intimidating. A little scary to think I will too be expected to do that day after day after day. And then go and do relational ministry with the host family!

I am excited – tomorrow is our day off! I have never been so excited for laundry before!!!
That means I will have internet to post these blog entries and send some emails! I have missed your emails and comments, just that connection, but it has also been good to focus on the connections I am making here.


Talk to you soon!

Day 8

Today we had KP! We set out the cups and beverages on the tables, got to eat first, and then started clearing tables. We got to run the dishwasher, bleach the tables and benches, and sweep and mop the floors for each meal.

I got my teamer prayer partner today. Her name is Emma and she is a back-to-backer – someone who is on their second year on team in a row. She is super sweet. I will try to get a picture for you.

Oh yes, I got my camera back! It is so clean and shiny! But it won’t focus on anything. So now it is a shiny paperweight. Ok, it is not that bad, but sitting in the back of the small chapel, it won’t focus on the people up front. I am a lot frustrated.

We set up our rehearsal rooms today. This is our team's - it is usually the medic cabin. The name is Jahova Rophe, God our Healer.

As a vocalist on an acoustic team, there was not much for me to do (imagine that!) so I helped carry equipment for some electric teams. I am very glad I am on an acoustic team!!! Those monitors and bins of cords and amps and speakers are very heavy!

Tonight we heard a sample of the national team’s program and it was very good! I am excited for them and the ministry they will get to be a part of. One of the teamers did the sharing and talked about Ezekiel and the fire and the earthquake and the wind, but God was in the whisper. He cautioned us that this year we will have so many things that will be calling for our attention, we need to take the time to listen, to wait out all the noise and distractions and make the time to be still.

The Last Word was around the campfire tonight. What atmosphere – you just can’t create that feeling in a sanctuary. When we were done, we did a tribal drum circle worship, where there are only drums going on, and you dance around the fire… oh I cannot wait to experience a real one!!! Former teamers have said they can go on for hours, the beat evolving, the dancers changing in and out, keeping you awake till 4 or 5 am…

Today, I am having trouble finding a place to get away and just spend time with God – I find that after a couple weeks with time scheduled daily, I now miss it! I highly recommend actually making an appointment with God each day for a couple weeks. Write it in your calendar. Put a reminder on the mirror or in the car. And keep your appointment! Set the time apart as sacred. As Leah said on day 6, we ravish the Father’s heart by just turning our head to look – how much more can we move the Lover of our souls by spending time just with him?