What is wrong with people in the south? Apparently, if you get shiny lights and point them at a rock, fifteen thousand people will show up to watch!
Last weekend, Elizabeth decided to treat ME to a date. I know, shocker. Let me explain the rules of our dating contract. Most of you know that every Thursday night is date night. This is a time that no one or no thing is allowed to interfere with; its our time. However, as part of the contract, if we ever failed to comply with the regulations of the contract, due to extinuating circumstances, Elizabeth is responsible for redeeming the date by planning a substitionary date. In other words, if we miss a date night because of thanksgiving, christmas, etc. Elizabeth gets to plan the make up date at her discretion. To give you an idea of how this works, when we missed a date because I was at Alex’s wedding, she made up for it by taking me to see a Nascar Race. Georgians…
Anyways, back to the story.. Her newest date idea was to take me to a place called Stone Mountain and have a picnic. Stone Mountain is the South’s response to Mt. Rushmore. Let me describe it to you in this way: picture a rock, okay its a big rock, but its not exactly a mountain. It’s Georgia’s best effort at a mountain. Then picture a hundred drunk dixie boys repelling off the side chipping away the stone to create a monument to their favorite confederate generals. I know, I know. I don’t know how I’m surviving down here either! Every night of the summer they put on the world’s largest laser show spectacular. And, I’ll be honest, I like the shiny things as much as the next guy. It is a thirty minute productions where they used lasers put to music to create movies. They played a variety of songs which included songs by famous Georgian musicians, songs that mention Georgia or the south, or just patriotic songs in general. They used visual effects including projectors and fireworks to supplement the lasers. However, to make the experience more unique-- earlier that night, there had been a soul music concert there. So we had the added benefit of sharing this experience with no less than fifteen thousand brothas and sistas. We were unaware until we arrived that we needed a bucket of fried chicken and a skull cap in order to fit in. That is an absolutely unnecessary joke, but I thought I'd go for it while I could. Sorry if you're offended. Over all, it was a pretty fun show, and if you are ever in Georgia you should go. It is free once you are inside the park. I won’t even admit that I cried when they played the national anthem.
In other offensive news, this past Tuesday night, several days after the Stone Mountain episode, Elizabeth and I joined Mrs. Shalom for a movie night. She chose a movie that she had just gotten called Food Inc. I won’t go in to much detail, but I’ll say that it is a documentary describing how food gets from a seed to the table. It was rather upsetting. The film described the cruel treatment of workers, farmers, and animals. As a result of this production, Elizabeth and I became organics-- even on date night. I took her to an organic fast food restaurant (who even knew that existed?). The cows we were eating as hamburgers were not genetically engineered, and were allowed to graze on grass rather than fed corn. No more Taco Bell date nights for us! And this commitment has lasted almost 6 days!
Every Wednesday night, the other interns and I lead a Bible Study. We created this event and affectionately named it SWAG. No, it doesn’t stand for anything deep or spiritual like Students Walking After God or Seven Weeks Accepting Grace. Honestly, it is the name of the Cologne one of the guys I work with wears. In its defense, it smells delicious. Swag isn’t just a name though, its a style. My style. Anyway, we are doing a study on 1 Timothy. We aren’t really teaching it as much as we are just reading through and allowing the students to interact and discuss the material. It is a throw back to old school youth group which is ironic because we’re at NorthPoint. We are meeting a need the students asked for; going deeper. We are teaching them how to study the Bible. Overall, our first night went very well. So much so, in fact, that several students came up to thank me. I thought that was weird, since when do you get thanked for reading a chapter of the Bible? I’ll say this for NorthPoint, one of the things I’ve noticed is that the students don’t know much about God but they are passionate. I’ll take a passionate, naive student over a scholarly, apathetic one any day.
I can’t believe I am half way through my internship already, it seems like I just got here. I love and miss you all. The sun is hot and the humidity is oppressive, but God is GOOD!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Experiencing Greatness
On Sunday, Elizabeth and I decided to surprise Mrs. Shalom. She was leading a small group that morning, it was fantastic! Mrs. Shalom had put together a miniature replica of the tabernacle. It was complete with slaughtered sheep on the alter.
After that, we headed over to North Point for the service, and youʼll never guess what happened to me! We got to the church with ample time. I figured that getting there early would get us better seating than the ones we had last time. To my surprise, we walked into the sanctuary that was already almost full! I had talked with the couple that lives in the Mr. and Mrs Shalomʼs basement and told them I was coming. They offered to save me a spot, but when we found them among the mass of people, I realized I forgot to tell them I was bringing Elizabeth. As we stood there looking around like big dumb idiots, an usher noticed that we looked aimless and hopeless and asked if we were visitors. We told him no, we were in fact secondtimers. Apparently, that qualified us for a closer seats. He asked if weʼd like to sit "up front." When most people say "front," they are refering to the front third of the building. We didnʼt realize that he meant THE FRONT ROW. He seated us in the front row, center section. It was ideal for “The North Point Experience” meaning, it was up close and personal for all the action.
A few minutes into the service, a girl walked to the seat beside me wearing a headset and looking very in charge. Next to her, was HIM. Yes, the Andy Stanley. He sat not next to me, but in the seat next to the seat next to me. We were practically touching.. I leaned over and elbowed Elizabeth. She looked back at me with a knowing smirk. She knew that I was currently living a childhood fantasy. As the music started I glanced through my peripherals and noticed that he was singing along. I elbowed Elizabeth to inform her of the fact. He even moved his body slightly back and forth, I think I saw his arms swinging slightly. I was very excited about that. At the part of the service where you do the obligatory “meet and greet” Elizabeth encouraged me to ask Andy to sign my bible or at the very least get a picture with him taken by my phone. I told her I wasnʼt too excited about her heresy and that she could go blaspheme somewhere else. I think what I most admired about him that day was how excited he seemed to be about what he did. When it was his cue to go up on stage to do something he would jump from his seat and like run up there. I love being a part of his ministry knowing that he loves doing what he does. It is a huge encouragement to me. Iʼd like to say that I actually talked to him, but I was too chicken. So... thatʼs my Andy Stanley story.
So Iʼll tell you a date night story... I got an idea from my friend to take her to an event called “Screen on the Green.” Basically, they set up an enormous screen and projector out in a beautiful park. So, I took Elizabeth (thus, we call it "date night"). This, in my mind, was intended to be a romantic evening. On a Thursday night, I didnʼt expect there to be very many people. We arrived half an hour before the show started and there were already throngs of people. It was crazy. When we finally found a place to put a blanket, it was less than ideal. It was loud, crowded and muggy. So we improvised by people watching and making fun of the crazy rednecks. As the sun set and it became dark enough to see the screen without a glare,the movie began. Approximately fifteen minutes later, a group behind us began cheering loudly. I immediately realized what they were doing so I explained to Elizabeth that they were trying to get as many people as possible to cheer at absolutely nothing. They tried this again with the happy birthday song. It was obvious that it wasnʼt anyoneʼs birthday. The point was to get the crowd to join in. Throughout the movie, people were noisy, rambunctious, and walking back and forth in front of the screen. It was quite the cultural experience, Georgians...
For Memorial Day weekend, I spent my time watching Elizabethʼs little sister playing tennis in a tournament. Vani is freaking ridiculously good. In the mornings I warmed her up and then we drove her to the tennis courts. Watching her rekindled a passion for me to play tennis again. It awakened a deep longing within me to restart my tennis career. So that was fun.
If you ever wondered what it would be like to live with a 95 year old, itʼs a new experience every day. On Memorial day, Elizabethʼs family came over for a cookout. During dessert, Grammy began to explain to us how to do the ballroom dance, the two step. Because Elizabeth is a punk, she told Grammy that I didnʼt dance with her because I donʼt know how and I wonʼt just wing it. She manipulated the situation in order to have some fun (did I mention how much I hate her sometimes?) and coyly asked Grammy if she could show me how. I looked at Elizabeth with horror in my eyes. Without allowing for a response, Grammy got up, grabbed my hands, and pulled me to the open space in the kitchen floor. Everyone got involved. Mrs. Shalom and Vani turned on good oldies music to dance to while everyone else watched as Grammy two stepped me around the room. After a few minutes, She asked, “do you got it?” I nodded a yes and she explained to me, “When ya dance, one of the two of ya has got to lead...” I knew from the look on her face that I needed to pick up my game. I did the best I could and we only tripped a few times. Then, my sweet girlfriend cut in and I wooed her with my new skills. She was smitten. Have I mentioned how charming I can be. She is totally infatuated with me. I like her even though she is a brat.
So... that's all... stay tuned.
After that, we headed over to North Point for the service, and youʼll never guess what happened to me! We got to the church with ample time. I figured that getting there early would get us better seating than the ones we had last time. To my surprise, we walked into the sanctuary that was already almost full! I had talked with the couple that lives in the Mr. and Mrs Shalomʼs basement and told them I was coming. They offered to save me a spot, but when we found them among the mass of people, I realized I forgot to tell them I was bringing Elizabeth. As we stood there looking around like big dumb idiots, an usher noticed that we looked aimless and hopeless and asked if we were visitors. We told him no, we were in fact secondtimers. Apparently, that qualified us for a closer seats. He asked if weʼd like to sit "up front." When most people say "front," they are refering to the front third of the building. We didnʼt realize that he meant THE FRONT ROW. He seated us in the front row, center section. It was ideal for “The North Point Experience” meaning, it was up close and personal for all the action.
A few minutes into the service, a girl walked to the seat beside me wearing a headset and looking very in charge. Next to her, was HIM. Yes, the Andy Stanley. He sat not next to me, but in the seat next to the seat next to me. We were practically touching.. I leaned over and elbowed Elizabeth. She looked back at me with a knowing smirk. She knew that I was currently living a childhood fantasy. As the music started I glanced through my peripherals and noticed that he was singing along. I elbowed Elizabeth to inform her of the fact. He even moved his body slightly back and forth, I think I saw his arms swinging slightly. I was very excited about that. At the part of the service where you do the obligatory “meet and greet” Elizabeth encouraged me to ask Andy to sign my bible or at the very least get a picture with him taken by my phone. I told her I wasnʼt too excited about her heresy and that she could go blaspheme somewhere else. I think what I most admired about him that day was how excited he seemed to be about what he did. When it was his cue to go up on stage to do something he would jump from his seat and like run up there. I love being a part of his ministry knowing that he loves doing what he does. It is a huge encouragement to me. Iʼd like to say that I actually talked to him, but I was too chicken. So... thatʼs my Andy Stanley story.
So Iʼll tell you a date night story... I got an idea from my friend to take her to an event called “Screen on the Green.” Basically, they set up an enormous screen and projector out in a beautiful park. So, I took Elizabeth (thus, we call it "date night"). This, in my mind, was intended to be a romantic evening. On a Thursday night, I didnʼt expect there to be very many people. We arrived half an hour before the show started and there were already throngs of people. It was crazy. When we finally found a place to put a blanket, it was less than ideal. It was loud, crowded and muggy. So we improvised by people watching and making fun of the crazy rednecks. As the sun set and it became dark enough to see the screen without a glare,the movie began. Approximately fifteen minutes later, a group behind us began cheering loudly. I immediately realized what they were doing so I explained to Elizabeth that they were trying to get as many people as possible to cheer at absolutely nothing. They tried this again with the happy birthday song. It was obvious that it wasnʼt anyoneʼs birthday. The point was to get the crowd to join in. Throughout the movie, people were noisy, rambunctious, and walking back and forth in front of the screen. It was quite the cultural experience, Georgians...
For Memorial Day weekend, I spent my time watching Elizabethʼs little sister playing tennis in a tournament. Vani is freaking ridiculously good. In the mornings I warmed her up and then we drove her to the tennis courts. Watching her rekindled a passion for me to play tennis again. It awakened a deep longing within me to restart my tennis career. So that was fun.
If you ever wondered what it would be like to live with a 95 year old, itʼs a new experience every day. On Memorial day, Elizabethʼs family came over for a cookout. During dessert, Grammy began to explain to us how to do the ballroom dance, the two step. Because Elizabeth is a punk, she told Grammy that I didnʼt dance with her because I donʼt know how and I wonʼt just wing it. She manipulated the situation in order to have some fun (did I mention how much I hate her sometimes?) and coyly asked Grammy if she could show me how. I looked at Elizabeth with horror in my eyes. Without allowing for a response, Grammy got up, grabbed my hands, and pulled me to the open space in the kitchen floor. Everyone got involved. Mrs. Shalom and Vani turned on good oldies music to dance to while everyone else watched as Grammy two stepped me around the room. After a few minutes, She asked, “do you got it?” I nodded a yes and she explained to me, “When ya dance, one of the two of ya has got to lead...” I knew from the look on her face that I needed to pick up my game. I did the best I could and we only tripped a few times. Then, my sweet girlfriend cut in and I wooed her with my new skills. She was smitten. Have I mentioned how charming I can be. She is totally infatuated with me. I like her even though she is a brat.
So... that's all... stay tuned.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Life at the Spa: My Living Arrangements
Allow me to affectionately introduce to you the couple with whom I am living this summer: Mr. and Mrs. Shalom are a happily married couple who love people.
Mr. Shalom is a hard working business owner whose favorite hobby is a game of golf by himself. He has the most incredible pastoral heart. I pretty much enjoy anything he has to say because he talks about topics, from books to women’s fast pitch softball, with an attitude I can only describe as somehow affectionate. When he walks in the door, he kisses his wife and gives me a handshake or a hug if I’m around. He still enjoys allowing his 95 year old mother to give him milk and cookies. He is not only a prime example of masculine sensitivity, but he is business savvy and theologically astute. And... I just like him. Last night, he treated me to Starbucks and won my heart.
Mrs. Shalom is quickly becoming a mother figure to me. We spend most nights staying up and talking about all sorts of things from my testimony, to the Israelite Tabernacle, to different churches' methodologies. Every morning when I come downstairs, she makes a delicious green smoothie for me. She has welcomed me into her home from the first day and the gift of hospitality is not lost on her or her husband. One time, when I offered to do the dishes, she told me if I wanted to do them I would have to fight her for it. I’ve been a little scared of her ever since!
Now, for all my girlfriends..
You already know about Elizabeth; let me introduce you to my three new girlfriends..
I live with two beautiful blondes; Alex and Abby. One is approximately 2’3’’ and the other might be 3 feet tall. They flirt, call me by different nicknames, give me gifts, and run towards me when I come home. They are the two cutest little girls and they are the daughters of the couple who live in the basement.
Grammy is my other new girlfriend. She, as I mentioned before, is Mr. Shalom’s elderly mother. We stay up in the evenings talking and she has told me on multiple occasions that I have great teeth. The other day, I took her to her hair appointment. After it was finished, I went to escort her back to my car but it had started to rain. While waiting for it to pass, we stood under the awning of the shopping center. She claimed her hair would go flat if even a few drops of rain got on her, so I ran to get the umbrella from me car. When I came back, she grasped my arm and asked “Where are your muscles?” Playing along, I flexed. She cried out in pain exclaiming, “Ow, ow, ow! Oh you do have muscles.” I burst out laughing and she told me she loved to hear me laugh. On the way home, she impressed me with reciting the preamble and the alphabet backwards.
I really enjoy my living arrangements. I feel very accepted. The couple downstairs cooks me dinner most nights and invited me to sit with them at church. Last night, the husband took a piece of meat and transformed it into a tasty and juicy bite of heaven. Everything I eat is healthy and delicious. I look forward to being with Grammy and having our evening chat. And, Mr. and Mrs. Shalom insistently offer the use all their things. They even loaned me their GPS until I learn my way around. I feel a part of a big, but tight knit family and it has seriously been an unanticipated blessing. I do not feel as though my words can actually give justice to how amazing my living arrangements are. I tried to paint as clear of a word picture as I could, but you’d have to come see for yourself.
Stay tuned for my update on how my internship is going...
Mr. Shalom is a hard working business owner whose favorite hobby is a game of golf by himself. He has the most incredible pastoral heart. I pretty much enjoy anything he has to say because he talks about topics, from books to women’s fast pitch softball, with an attitude I can only describe as somehow affectionate. When he walks in the door, he kisses his wife and gives me a handshake or a hug if I’m around. He still enjoys allowing his 95 year old mother to give him milk and cookies. He is not only a prime example of masculine sensitivity, but he is business savvy and theologically astute. And... I just like him. Last night, he treated me to Starbucks and won my heart.
Mrs. Shalom is quickly becoming a mother figure to me. We spend most nights staying up and talking about all sorts of things from my testimony, to the Israelite Tabernacle, to different churches' methodologies. Every morning when I come downstairs, she makes a delicious green smoothie for me. She has welcomed me into her home from the first day and the gift of hospitality is not lost on her or her husband. One time, when I offered to do the dishes, she told me if I wanted to do them I would have to fight her for it. I’ve been a little scared of her ever since!
Now, for all my girlfriends..
You already know about Elizabeth; let me introduce you to my three new girlfriends..
I live with two beautiful blondes; Alex and Abby. One is approximately 2’3’’ and the other might be 3 feet tall. They flirt, call me by different nicknames, give me gifts, and run towards me when I come home. They are the two cutest little girls and they are the daughters of the couple who live in the basement.
Grammy is my other new girlfriend. She, as I mentioned before, is Mr. Shalom’s elderly mother. We stay up in the evenings talking and she has told me on multiple occasions that I have great teeth. The other day, I took her to her hair appointment. After it was finished, I went to escort her back to my car but it had started to rain. While waiting for it to pass, we stood under the awning of the shopping center. She claimed her hair would go flat if even a few drops of rain got on her, so I ran to get the umbrella from me car. When I came back, she grasped my arm and asked “Where are your muscles?” Playing along, I flexed. She cried out in pain exclaiming, “Ow, ow, ow! Oh you do have muscles.” I burst out laughing and she told me she loved to hear me laugh. On the way home, she impressed me with reciting the preamble and the alphabet backwards.
I really enjoy my living arrangements. I feel very accepted. The couple downstairs cooks me dinner most nights and invited me to sit with them at church. Last night, the husband took a piece of meat and transformed it into a tasty and juicy bite of heaven. Everything I eat is healthy and delicious. I look forward to being with Grammy and having our evening chat. And, Mr. and Mrs. Shalom insistently offer the use all their things. They even loaned me their GPS until I learn my way around. I feel a part of a big, but tight knit family and it has seriously been an unanticipated blessing. I do not feel as though my words can actually give justice to how amazing my living arrangements are. I tried to paint as clear of a word picture as I could, but you’d have to come see for yourself.
Stay tuned for my update on how my internship is going...
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Day One
Monday was my first day on the job. Being me, I left early enough to allow myself ample time to find the church and get acclimated to the environment. I printed out directions from MapQuest, but I got a little turned around. Every other road here is peach this or Peachtree that. I wonʼt even begin to point out all the variations of Martin Luther King Jr roadways there are. I do not blame myself for getting lost. The people I am staying with loaned me a GPS and it was a serious lifesaver today. Conveniently, I still arrived twenty minutes early (remember, I allowed time in my schedule for getting lost..)
I didn’t know what to expect, but I wasn’t prepared for what I walked into. The room was full of young adults. I was really intimidated and I had no idea who any of them were. Someone in charge announced that the meeting was going to start at 10:00 AM and to hang out until then. I discovered, when I started to mingle, that they were all interns. NorthPoint has several locations and today was orientation for all the campuses. There were 14 or 15 others.
I met the three interns that I would be working with; Meredith, Emily, and Alex:
Meredith has a twin brother and sister who are in same grade as her. All three of them go to Samford University.
Emily is from Pennsylvania and is staying with her sister who lives near NorthPoint. She goes to Eastern university and lives outside of Scranton.
Alex is a genetics major at Clemson and is debating about whether or not he should pursue law school. He is the only one of us who actually grew up going to NorthPoint. He is a very energetic person and has nice teeth.
Above the summer interns on the pecking order is the full-time interns; Mallory and Jared. We will work directly with them this summer. Mallory is also energetic. She and Alex dominated the conversation because they talk really fast and enthusiastically. Jared is a long time intern. His father works at NorthPoint and writes books with Andy. We were called into the meeting which was held in a pretty big auditorium called “The Attic.” We had to go around and introduce ourselves and say something quirky and it took a long time because we were all joking around. I had to admit that my schoolʼs mascot is “the Arch.” Not something cool like an Archer, but a stone structure. That got quite a laugh. After everyone was introduced, they gave us a brief history of NorthPoint. Then we were dismissed us for lunch. We went to Qdoba and they paid for it! I am going to like this job!
I figured out pretty quickly, that I was one of the older interns and so I chose to not admit my age. At lunch, I was cornered with a barrage of questions until I had to affirm that I was the closest to dirt in age out of everyone in the group.
Back on campus after lunch, it was time to get acquainted with the campus. To do that, the staff sent us on a scavenger hunt. We had to go all over campus finding coffee, coffee, soda, and post it notes. We had to get signatures from people and find out how to become a member. We even had to take group pictures. Alex was very useful during this time. He knew where a lot of the places were already. We only had an hour to do that.
Then we got together with the NorthPoint campus team for a team meeting. The Staff introduced themselves and their romantic background. Then they asked us why we wanted this internship. We went over the job description and found out which full time intern we will be working with. I am working with KT (i.e. Kevin Turner). Kevin is in charge of guy small groups. We take spread sheets and identify who is where and find the best locations to have small groups. We are also going to be in charge of recruiting new small group leaders. I get to do interviews for
new leaders and follow up interviews to take care of the old leaders. Another cool thing that I will be doing is holding our own bible study on Wednesday nights. The interns get to brainstorm and come up with a plan and then they will open it up to the youth group. We will also each lead a service project for each of the different grades.
At the end, they gave me a gift. It had books for me to read, a CD, and two t-shirts. One of the t-shirts is really soft!
Last, we reviewed their program. It is called “InsideOut.” We talked through every aspect of the service chronologically discussing what went well, and what could be improved. Though I had no idea how the service went, it was really interesting to hear them all discuss it.
I am in a state of shock -a white noise type of thing. I know there is an image, but it isnʼt in focus because it so bright. Itʼll take me awhile to adjust. I keep getting the “whoa!” feeling. This program is nine weeks and it is packed with optional opportunities like the mission trip, summer camp, bible study, and service project. Iʼm just trying to wrap my mind around it. They set the expectation level so high. Iʼm 24 and way more experienced than the other interns in I was overwhelmed with what they are expecting. It is cool to think this is what they want from a 19 year old.
They have certainly the bar high!
I’ll describe the place I am staying in my next post, but to give you a little taste, I’ll let you know that I met “grammy” today, and she thinks I have great teeth!… to be continued...
(P.S. Actually, this post was written by Elizabeth, my girlfriend. I related this story to her Monday night, and she, being awesome, volunteered to do my blog update since I was very very tired. I went through and edited it quickly, and all the information is correct. We made a bet that she couldn't make it sound like me. Could you tell that it wasn't me writing? Please let us know!)
I didn’t know what to expect, but I wasn’t prepared for what I walked into. The room was full of young adults. I was really intimidated and I had no idea who any of them were. Someone in charge announced that the meeting was going to start at 10:00 AM and to hang out until then. I discovered, when I started to mingle, that they were all interns. NorthPoint has several locations and today was orientation for all the campuses. There were 14 or 15 others.
I met the three interns that I would be working with; Meredith, Emily, and Alex:
Meredith has a twin brother and sister who are in same grade as her. All three of them go to Samford University.
Emily is from Pennsylvania and is staying with her sister who lives near NorthPoint. She goes to Eastern university and lives outside of Scranton.
Alex is a genetics major at Clemson and is debating about whether or not he should pursue law school. He is the only one of us who actually grew up going to NorthPoint. He is a very energetic person and has nice teeth.
Above the summer interns on the pecking order is the full-time interns; Mallory and Jared. We will work directly with them this summer. Mallory is also energetic. She and Alex dominated the conversation because they talk really fast and enthusiastically. Jared is a long time intern. His father works at NorthPoint and writes books with Andy. We were called into the meeting which was held in a pretty big auditorium called “The Attic.” We had to go around and introduce ourselves and say something quirky and it took a long time because we were all joking around. I had to admit that my schoolʼs mascot is “the Arch.” Not something cool like an Archer, but a stone structure. That got quite a laugh. After everyone was introduced, they gave us a brief history of NorthPoint. Then we were dismissed us for lunch. We went to Qdoba and they paid for it! I am going to like this job!
I figured out pretty quickly, that I was one of the older interns and so I chose to not admit my age. At lunch, I was cornered with a barrage of questions until I had to affirm that I was the closest to dirt in age out of everyone in the group.
Back on campus after lunch, it was time to get acquainted with the campus. To do that, the staff sent us on a scavenger hunt. We had to go all over campus finding coffee, coffee, soda, and post it notes. We had to get signatures from people and find out how to become a member. We even had to take group pictures. Alex was very useful during this time. He knew where a lot of the places were already. We only had an hour to do that.
Then we got together with the NorthPoint campus team for a team meeting. The Staff introduced themselves and their romantic background. Then they asked us why we wanted this internship. We went over the job description and found out which full time intern we will be working with. I am working with KT (i.e. Kevin Turner). Kevin is in charge of guy small groups. We take spread sheets and identify who is where and find the best locations to have small groups. We are also going to be in charge of recruiting new small group leaders. I get to do interviews for
new leaders and follow up interviews to take care of the old leaders. Another cool thing that I will be doing is holding our own bible study on Wednesday nights. The interns get to brainstorm and come up with a plan and then they will open it up to the youth group. We will also each lead a service project for each of the different grades.
At the end, they gave me a gift. It had books for me to read, a CD, and two t-shirts. One of the t-shirts is really soft!
Last, we reviewed their program. It is called “InsideOut.” We talked through every aspect of the service chronologically discussing what went well, and what could be improved. Though I had no idea how the service went, it was really interesting to hear them all discuss it.
I am in a state of shock -a white noise type of thing. I know there is an image, but it isnʼt in focus because it so bright. Itʼll take me awhile to adjust. I keep getting the “whoa!” feeling. This program is nine weeks and it is packed with optional opportunities like the mission trip, summer camp, bible study, and service project. Iʼm just trying to wrap my mind around it. They set the expectation level so high. Iʼm 24 and way more experienced than the other interns in I was overwhelmed with what they are expecting. It is cool to think this is what they want from a 19 year old.
They have certainly the bar high!
I’ll describe the place I am staying in my next post, but to give you a little taste, I’ll let you know that I met “grammy” today, and she thinks I have great teeth!… to be continued...
(P.S. Actually, this post was written by Elizabeth, my girlfriend. I related this story to her Monday night, and she, being awesome, volunteered to do my blog update since I was very very tired. I went through and edited it quickly, and all the information is correct. We made a bet that she couldn't make it sound like me. Could you tell that it wasn't me writing? Please let us know!)
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Auschwitz
So I have a myriad of stories to tell you from the last month in Iraq, so I'll release them as I have time to type them up.
The last month before we left, we had to make room for our incoming replacements, so we had to vacate our three-man CHUs (Containerized Housing Units, which were boxcars with a door and linoleum flooring) in favor of wooden C-huts approximately three times as big that we managed to fit 30 guys into. If you do real quick math, that means we fit 10 times as many guys in a space 3 times as big. The room as 40' X 30' equaling 1200 square feet divided by 30 guys, meaning 40 square feet per guy... the equivalent to having 8' x 5' of my own personal space. And I had to fit a bed in there.
Also, we had two trailer bathrooms with 8 stalls a piece for 500+ guys to share. That means a big stinky overused undertoiletpapered mess you sometimes had to wait to use to relieve yourself.
So we affectionately called it Auschwitz. And every morning as I'd wake up and hit my face on the exceedingly short bunk above me, and take a big whiff of the smell of men's body oder that had a suspicious dill fragrance, I'd think about how grateful I was to be going home soon.
Well, a problem with living in such close quarters is that people have a tendency to get sick. Especially when you introduce a large group of people from another country. Well, when our replacement unit from Mississippi showed up, our guys started going down with a horrible illness. The warmed into a fever, nausea, massive full body cramps. We had 8 guys in one C-hut that were sick. Soon, it jumped into the my C-hut and two of the guys in my hut got sick.
Our medics took one of the sicker specimens down to the Troop Medical Clinic for evaluation, and they diagnosed him with "the Flu."
Some how that turned into "THE FLU."
And soon, everyone was talking about how Bravo Company had "Swine Flu."
So, an order came out from my First Sergeant that I had to round up everyone in the company who had THE FLU and take them to the TMC for evaluation.
So anyone who had a cough, sneeze, or diarrhea within the last month went into my notebook and down to the TMC.
All but three of the guys in my company were cleared as not having THE FLU.
But later that night, the Camp head Medical Officer decided that it would be better to be safe than sorry, so we were ordered to take anyone who had gone to the TMC for evaluation to be mass exodused (can you use that as a verb?) to a different C-hut for quarantine.
Nearly fifty guys attempted to fit into a C-hut with the max capacity for thirty before they figured out that we didn't have enough room for them all and had to split one of the healthy C-huts into a "sick half and unsick half" to fit the rest.
Unfortunately, because I had gone down to the TMC with all of these soldiers, and conscientiously had gotten FLU tested, I too was quarantined. And as we made our exodus to the other C-hut, I warned the guys that if they tried to force us all to take off our jewelry and force us into the showers together, that we should run away. (I'm not making light of Auschwitz, I'm merely trying to point out in a really silly frustrating situation, that it's actually not that bad.)
But it wasn't so bad. They started bringing us food. And they quarantined one of those to toilet trailers. So 50 of us were sharing one, and the other 450 guys were sharing the other. That was honestly quite pleasant for a night.
The next day, they figured out that the vast majority of us were not actually sick. And only the 8 Soldiers who were genuinely sick were kept there.
So that's my Auschwitz story.
I'm an American!
Well, Friends. I'm an American again. And I really like it.
Some of the things that we have:
1) Beautiful climate. Whether you like sunny, rainy, desert, trees, wind, hot, city or farmland, America's got it.
2) Freedom. I can talk about what I want wherever I want. I can believe what I want, and talk about what I believe. I can protect myself from bad people, and I'm allowed to publish my opinions about any of those things without harassment.
3) I can go running down the street with my iPod in and my shirt off.
Please, please, enjoy your freedom today. There are a lot of people who have given up a lot of things to give it to you. So don't sit in your house and forget today. Do something just because you're free to do it.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
For six dollars, he'll light your ears on fire.
This entire deployment, I've cut my own hair. My dad always cut my hair growing up, and it just seemed like what we do in our family. It saves money, and the only person I can be mad at in the end is myself. I do a better job than them anyway. I just take my razor into the bathroom and go to town.
Well, I sent my razor home, and it came time for me to get a hair cut, so I ventured out into the wild yonder, and found a little Turkish barber shop on post. What a wild experience. Maybe they do this at all Barber shops. I guess I can't really say, because I never go, but here's what happened.
First I sat down, and in barber speak mixed with TurkEnglish, I got the point across that I want it short on the sides and a two on the top. That's what I always do. And it works out pretty well in the sweltering heat here. Well, he buzzes a neat line with his trimmer all the way around my head. Then he pulled out an old-school horror-flick razor to take it all the way down to the skin. Well... that sure was neat, and an exercise in faith.
Then he cuts the rest like normal, gradually buzzing from nothing to next to nothing to the two on the top. He does a nice job, and when he's don,e he coats me with lemon-smelling aftershave... actually, I smell exactly like Pledge-- the stuff you dust wood furniture with. He then grabs the my jaw and the back of my head, and before I know what's going on, he yanks and cracks my neck. I thought I was murdered right there, and wondered why he didn't just use the razor blade. He goes to grab my head and jaw on the other side to even me out, and I say... uhh... no thanks.
Next he dunks a cotton swab into alcohol and lights in on fire. Then he flicks in on my ears to remove the peach fuzz... I'm not sure what that's all about. Was the peach fuzz really that unattractive? I mean... I've seen some gues with some craaaaaazy ear hair, but I was never self-conscious about mine... until now.
I get done, and ask him how much it costs. Six dollars, sir. Well, I guess it's not so bad to pay six dollars for a story.
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