6.18.2005
Pranks and revenge
I have some pranks and revenge against Glen backlogged from last year. Since I'm the lone female on the team this year I expect I'll have to do my plotting solo. Last year my "henchwomen" and I filled his shoes with water and stringed his room among other things. (childish, yes but fun nonetheless) Since then I've been victim to numerous water-drenchings and various forms of embarassment. I need to find something creative and devious and humorous; some sort of revenge. Does anyone reading this have any suggestions? No suggestion is too outlandish.All ideas are much appreciated.
Waterballoons and sunshine
We did a double ministry this week. From 1:30 to 3:30 we were in "Central ND Town A." Then we drove 15 miles to town B where we had supper, set up the trailler/stage and sound system and led the ministry again from 6:30 until 8:30. Then we drove back to our host families in town A.
I spent most of my day sopping wet. We played water games with the kids at Sidewalk Sonday School today. Fortunately it was sunny and windy; good weather for a water fight.
The first week is always a bit tricky. We're still developing the skits and games that we'll use at SWSS this summer to teach kids various Bible stories. Fortunately both our ministries this week were small towns with few kids. The kids that came were well-behaved for the most part and the adults that came were forgiving of our lack of organization. There is always often one child in a ministry who will prove very challenging. That child in town A was "Riley" (names have been changed), age 5, who would pipe up in the middle of a song or story and say loudly "It's time to do something else now! We should play a game!" Then there was the child in Town B who didn't want to play any group games. He just wanted to pretend he was the Green Goblin from Spiderman.
One of the high points of the week was Glen taking all the kids outside to wheedle a free box of ice-cream treats from the Schwan's man as he made his deliveries next to our ministry site.
Our third team member this year plays guitar also. It's nice to have another guitarist. It also is trickier because I can't just fake my way through songs and learn them as I go (which is what I did last year.)
I spent most of my day sopping wet. We played water games with the kids at Sidewalk Sonday School today. Fortunately it was sunny and windy; good weather for a water fight.
The first week is always a bit tricky. We're still developing the skits and games that we'll use at SWSS this summer to teach kids various Bible stories. Fortunately both our ministries this week were small towns with few kids. The kids that came were well-behaved for the most part and the adults that came were forgiving of our lack of organization. There is always often one child in a ministry who will prove very challenging. That child in town A was "Riley" (names have been changed), age 5, who would pipe up in the middle of a song or story and say loudly "It's time to do something else now! We should play a game!" Then there was the child in Town B who didn't want to play any group games. He just wanted to pretend he was the Green Goblin from Spiderman.
One of the high points of the week was Glen taking all the kids outside to wheedle a free box of ice-cream treats from the Schwan's man as he made his deliveries next to our ministry site.
Our third team member this year plays guitar also. It's nice to have another guitarist. It also is trickier because I can't just fake my way through songs and learn them as I go (which is what I did last year.)
6.13.2005
"They want me to do what?!"
A couple months ago I took a short seminar on lay ministry in the Methodist church. During the course of a Friday evening and most of Saturday we all gave a very brief sermon and learned how to put together a worship service. I've put little thoughtinto sermons since then and I honestly have only attended church once in the past eight weeks or so. (In my defense, service starts at 8:30 a.m.) Now due to sudden unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances my little hometown Methodist church is without a pastor and guess who they want to fill the pulpit? Yup. Yours truly. I have nothing written and only a week to prepare, but it's a good opportunity to hone my public speaking skills aand help my local church so I agreed.
At the same time Sidewalk Sonday School begins tomorrow. Ten solid weeks of tearing around the Dakotas with a trailer painted with rainbows and plastered with decals of scary-looking children. Ten weeks of "Jesus loves me" and Bible stories and strange gray puppets with their eyeballs in their mouth and "Octopus, Octopus, may we cross your ocean?" and cookies and kool-aid (and kids hyped up on cookies and koolaid) and lopsided crafts and prayers for long-deceased grandparents and assorted livestock. Ten weeks of kids having a wonderful time. Last summer I survived everything from vehicle breakdowns to sound system failures to complete and utter mortification at the hands of a coworker. I believe I can handle anything the next ten weeks has to dish out.Bring on the summer!. Bring on the children! And let the games begin!!
At the same time Sidewalk Sonday School begins tomorrow. Ten solid weeks of tearing around the Dakotas with a trailer painted with rainbows and plastered with decals of scary-looking children. Ten weeks of "Jesus loves me" and Bible stories and strange gray puppets with their eyeballs in their mouth and "Octopus, Octopus, may we cross your ocean?" and cookies and kool-aid (and kids hyped up on cookies and koolaid) and lopsided crafts and prayers for long-deceased grandparents and assorted livestock. Ten weeks of kids having a wonderful time. Last summer I survived everything from vehicle breakdowns to sound system failures to complete and utter mortification at the hands of a coworker. I believe I can handle anything the next ten weeks has to dish out.Bring on the summer!. Bring on the children! And let the games begin!!
6.10.2005
Traffic
My foray eastward has ended and we’ve all come out unscathed. My purpose in this venture was three-fold. First , to spend time with a good friend in St. Cloud, second, transport Glen to Benson, MN where he visited one of his many aging, distant relatives (I actually dropped him off in Alexandria) and third, to go to Minneapolis and gain some much needed experience driving on roads with real traffic.
It may seem strange to drive all the way to Minneapolis to get experience driving, however, I learned to drive in the middle of a field and most of my driving has been on flat, straight gravel roads and two-lane highways with little to no traffic. It is quite possible to drive ten or twenty miles and not see another vehicle on the road and I’m often tempted to tie the steering wheel in place with a bit of string, place a brick on the accelerator and indulge in a good book. The roads really are that flat and straight in places!!
My experiences with city traffic have been mostly of sitting white-knuckled and wide-eyed in the passenger seat, bracing my foot against an imaginary brake in the floor board as Mike sailed down the freeway at high speed with traffic on all four sides. Mike was unfazed even by the signs that read “Warning: Aggressive driver high crash area ahead.” Those signs reinforced my conviction that if humans had been intended to travel at such high speed in such close proximity to one another, God would have made us of something much less fragile than flesh and bone. I was terrified of traffic. But sooner or later we must all face our fears, so off I went to Minneapolis.
And how did it go? I'm still alive....and I'll tell more later.
It may seem strange to drive all the way to Minneapolis to get experience driving, however, I learned to drive in the middle of a field and most of my driving has been on flat, straight gravel roads and two-lane highways with little to no traffic. It is quite possible to drive ten or twenty miles and not see another vehicle on the road and I’m often tempted to tie the steering wheel in place with a bit of string, place a brick on the accelerator and indulge in a good book. The roads really are that flat and straight in places!!
My experiences with city traffic have been mostly of sitting white-knuckled and wide-eyed in the passenger seat, bracing my foot against an imaginary brake in the floor board as Mike sailed down the freeway at high speed with traffic on all four sides. Mike was unfazed even by the signs that read “Warning: Aggressive driver high crash area ahead.” Those signs reinforced my conviction that if humans had been intended to travel at such high speed in such close proximity to one another, God would have made us of something much less fragile than flesh and bone. I was terrified of traffic. But sooner or later we must all face our fears, so off I went to Minneapolis.
And how did it go? I'm still alive....and I'll tell more later.
6.06.2005
Road trip!
I left Sunday morning, and drove and drove and drove. Glen came along part way and I dropped him off in Alexandria. This post comes from the campus of St. Cloud State University, where I'm currently visiting a friend. Today's agenda: exploring downtown St. Cloud. Tomorrow? onward to Minneapolis where we hope to take in the Walker Art Center and sculpture garden, Whole Foods Market and other adventures downtown Minneapolis has to offer.
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