... And we're off!!!! Day 1 in a 15 passenger van with 10 people... let the fun times begin! if we weren't comfortable with each other before... WE ARE NOW! Its funny how such a short time together in a squishy van can bring people closer (and I'm not just talking about them practically sitting on you due to no room). From just one day, i can say that we have a pretty amazing team :) We're all pretty high energy, passionate, and striving for God to move in the churches we visit. I have to say, I think God knew what he was doing when he put us all together :) .. and this is JUST the beginning!
So we left base at about 1pm and didn't actually get across the border till 3:30. D Hong had to get his visa renewed, so we stood in a stuffy border lineup for a good hour or so. If we weren't all so tired from all of our recent late nights and early mornings, we might have actually gotten bored. BUT, somehow we all found ways to entertain one another and those around us in the lineup.
Conclusion #1: When one is tired... everyone near will be greatly entertained.
Conclusion #2: After being tired and a great source of entertainment for others... chances are, you make a fool of yourself and you'll regret it later.
Conclusion #3: When you learn to laugh along with everyone, life is a whole lot more fun :D
Our first stop was Stanwood Washington were we ran a youth group night. We were all surprisingly confident and not nervous. However, once the ministry started... we all started to doubt ourselves. Tough crowd much?? i think we were the only ones laughing for the most part. haha. Our message is about church unity, so we took the idea of the Brady Bunch and made it our own into the Body Bunch. We pushed through till the end and did the best we knew how. By the time we got to our drime i felt like that would be the breaking point for some. For the first time i felt the weight of my role. Basically the drime is about everyone being robotically controlled by satan. He wakes up the relationship boy and girl and then splits them up. Two guys end up fighting over the girl. Then satan wakes up vanity and shows her how gorgeous she is, and she gets totally consumed with pride. Then i am woken up. My role is "lonely". Satan calls me forward and then blocks me with a wall of fear. The rest of the drime is about everyone mocking me cause i cannot get out, them getting caught up in sin, and satan putting me down. Then they are given a rope from satan, and he persuades them into a tug of war with each other. He then cuts the rope and the become disillusioned and fall to the ground. When the rope is cut my box walls fall down. But i am so stricken with fear and tradition that i dont want to leave my 'box'. The whole time that im fighting with my insecurity the others are falling into adultary and sin... all the while wrapping themselves in the rope. Finally satan grabs the end of the rope and wraps it tightly around them and pulls them in the direction he wants them to go .... all the while im fighting with satan and myself to go and join/help the others and step out of my insecurity. the drime ends with everyone tangled in the rope and depressed... and me feeling set apart and frustrated because i didnt know how to step out and have confidence. I felt the weight of my role because for the last half it is the main focus, how i portray it can determine if it impacts the youth or not! WOAH!! what a responsibility! So i decided to throw my whole heart and body into it. By the end i was so breathless and exhausted from fighting the wall and trying to escape. I thought that i might have put all that effort out for nothing... but afterwards a few of the girls came up to me and told me how impacting and effective the drime was. HALLELUJAH!!! All our efforts WERE for a greater cause! I guess i'm really learning that you cannot always read people by their outward expression... cause maybe theres something going on in their heart that they just dont know how to communicate! I am proud to announce that we just might have some PLBC recruits coming in the next few years from the city of Stanwood :) We all had an amazing time afterwards just hanging out with the youth and teaching them new games to play with their friends and vice versa.
SURPRISING NOTE!!! we tried to pull that whole over usage of EH thing... and only a couple of them understood the whole EH Canadian stereotype! THE WORLD IS CHANGING INTO A BETTER PLACE :P now we just have to work on convincing them that we actually do drive trucks and not husky sleds haha.
Well... it has been a long and VERY productive day. I think we are all gonna try to head off to bed after just watching 2 episodes of American Idol and attempting to digest our McDonalds meal of preservatives. I hope to keep you all posted daily on our progress and adventures. Keep us in your prayers! GOD BLESS!!!
*Lana and the tour team*
Tour team members:
-Lana Sullivan
-Jodi Warren
-Bethel Tamarey
-Dawn Marie Small
-Jennifer Tardif
-Samuel Romijn
-Daniel Hong (D Hong)
-Daniel Kramer (Kramer)
-Curt Branscombe
-Joshua Benzinger (OUR LEADER)
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