So I am involved in Relevant Community Church, which meets on Sundays at a golf club in Elkhorn. Student ministry is held on Wednesday evenings. Most of the time the jr and sr high girls meet at one house and the guys meet at a house a few blocks away, but on the last Wednesday of the month, all the youth come together for a big event that we call "Reach". This past Wednesday, Reach was held at Rothe's house (also known as Eric, the overseer of student ministry), and we watched "To Save a Life". It really touched some of the kids, and it was cool that this was truly an outreach event that challenged the people who came. Even though I'm "old" and have seen the movie before, it had an effect on me too with the way I view ministry and life in general (the books we've been reading for our internship would call this "missional living"). I had some popcorn at Reach, but the problem was that I had not one, but TWO cans of Dr Pepper. This may not mean much to some people, but for someone who almost never drinks soda, it had a major effect on me. (Hmm. What effect did Inca Kola had on me in Peru; I drank that about as much as I breathed air!) I could not burn off my energy or fall asleep at all that night, much to the dismay of Erin my roommate who likes to go to bed early like I usually do. (Here, "early" is 11 or so.) Since I had almost no sleep, I missed out on Thursday. Sure, I worked a full day and even hung out at Adam's house that evening, but there was absolutely no life in me. I don't think I'll be drinking Dr Pepper for a long time, and NEVER at night ever again!
So this weekend we had the Relevant leadership here for a retreat group. (BTW Heart of a Warrior was cancelled... only 12 people signed up!) This week has mostly been cleaning up from last weekend's groups and getting ready for the group this weekend. Today, after setting up for the group, there were still a few hours left in the official work day, so I worked for Jeff (maintenence guy; he's pretty cool and even got his church to let me use the popcorn machine for my upcoming family movie night). I learned how to drive the manual 4-wheeler and used it to smooth out the bumpy hilly area between the dining hall and the black banana, which is going to be grassy soon. I also used it to drag a picnic table from outside of our living area to the black banana. I crashed once, got stuck once, and almost killed Kristjun once. But at least I didn't break the quad, like Chris did just a few hours after I had finished using it!
Adam's away this weekend for National Guard stuff, Erin left today to go to her family and get ready for her brother's wedding, Brandon went home yesterday, the Solmens are hosting next weekend and Kristjun hosted last weekend. So guess who hosted the Relevant group this weekend? Yeah, me. Being the host sounded a lot more complicated than it actually is. I just had to say hi to everyone (many of them already knew me anyways, or at least knew my name from me interning at the student ministry), and make sure they get everything they need, which really isn't much.
Eric Rothe is part of the retreat, and he came early to talk with Kristjun and me about the student ministry. We shared ideas, discussed what was happening, learned about a new program, and stuff like that. Eric also asked me if I would consider getting involved in the church's children's ministry (just like Adam did last Sunday!), and I told him that I had already filled out the application. Then the two of them went to get Jimmy John's. I had to stay at camp since I'm the host, but Sarah gave me a bunch of food last night since her family is leaving town for the weekend and the stuff was on the verge of expiration, so I don't really feel like I missed out.
The organizer of the retreat came earlier than Rothe even did, so I introduced myself, showed her around, gave her my phone number, etc. Then right as Rothe was going to Jimmy John's, one other person came and I gave her directions on how to get to the lodge. The group was supposed to be here by 6:30, and right at 6:28 a caravan of SUVs rolled in. (I was talking with Chris later and he confirmed that everyone at the retreat had really nice/new vehicles, mostly SUVs.) I went down and greeted them all, explained the parking situation, and Eric even introduced me to the person in charge of the children's ministry so that we could connect later on.
Because emergency vehicles need to have access to all of our buildings, lodge guests can drive down to the front of the lodge to unload their belongings, but they have to then drive back up and park in the main parking area. I was walking up the same time Rothe was driving up, so he offered me a ride. Normally people know to go back up the way they came, but Rothe saw the other road and said "is that road for cars?"
"No" I responded.
"Will I get in trouble if I try to drive up it?"
"No one's here that would care."
So he drove up that road, carefully making his way around the trees and cabins that were in the way. So yes, it is possible to drive on the wrong road, but no, it's not recommended.
The only other thing I had to do on Friday was get stuff ready for their campfire (they were even going to light it themselves, so I didn't have to do that!). I took the quad (the automatic one, the one that still worked) with the supplies down to their firepit at 9:35, even though the campfire was at 10. I was trying to creep myself out by seeing how long I could keep the headlights off while listening to the sounds of my surroundings. Finally some guys came to start the fire. Then I filled a bucket of water for them and left. I used that time to catch up on back home, reading things online. At midnight I drove back to the firepit to make sure it was put out all the way. It was obvious that there was no fire because it was dark, and I could tell with the headlights that there was no smoke, but I decided to actually go down the trail and check the firepit anyway. I went down the trail on foot this time because the quad doesn't have any back-up lights so it's hard to maneuver the trails at night. Bad idea. Something hit my foot and I was bleeding like crazy all the way back to my room. I decided to call it a night, especially since I had to wake up in 7 hours.
I started today by helping out in the kitchen and dining hall. This meant breakfast prep, breakfast cleanup, lunch prep, and then a huge kitchen and dining hall cleanup. Since the retreat group was so small, no one extra was hired to work in the kitchen, so there was plenty to do. I checked with the group at mealtimes, and between breakfast and lunch, checked their cabins to make sure they had enough toilet paper and paper towels. It really was an easy group; when they weren't eating, they were having meetings. I just said bye to them about an hour ago as they checked out.
So tomorrow Kristjun and I will be going to church in the morning and otherwise just enjoying a day off. Then on Monday Adam, Kristjun, the Solmens and I are going to a pastor's conference in Estes Park, Colorado. I'm really excited to truly see Colorado for the first time (airports shouldn't count) and hear the speaker Michael Frost. (I have a book by him that I really should start to read sometime before I go!) Then the next weekend we'll have a few groups here, so there will be lots of people. I'll be working in the kitchen all weekend. Although there are three or so groups coming, I think my coworkers are most excited about what we are calling the "ninjas", which is actually a martial arts school. Then, the weekend after is the Family Movie Night that I've been planning! I hope people show up to that!
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