Youth Rally-Set Me Free

Our human video team went and performed at a Youth Rally off base, done at a local church. I love helping out with these Youth Rallies, and they love having us out to perform so it all works out great. There were a lot of changes to this one, in contrast to the one we did at the Edgren Talent Show (placed 3thd). For one, I'm the devil.

Here's the team that performed (6 others were not there last night). I'm the one with the grey jacket, Arielle is far left, and Nolan is directly to my right.

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You'll have to watch the video to understand what is going on! lol

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Getting ready to fight-the one in white is playing Jesus

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There's my little bro!

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Back at the house!

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It was a lot of fun! A lady from the chapel did the make-up for us. She did a really good job!

VBS-Day 1-2

We're almost half way through with this years VBS at the chapel. We've got around 250 kids attending, and a lot of volunteers. We've all been really busy.

I am a crew leader for the 3-4th grade boys......needless to say, they keep me on my toes! My crew, Crew #20, and I are all going to be really tight pals by the time this is done. We all have a blast. It kinda makes me think about House of Faith. I shutter to think about how immature I was that first year with dealing with them at HOF. I'm really glad I've had so much experience with dealing with hard kids, cuz I've not lost my cool once or even been close too.

Everyone knows Crew #20 is gathering up when they hear, "Hoorah, hoorah!" shouted everywhere. When I need their attention, or we need to gather up or move somewhere, I call, "hoorah!" and they all answer with "hoorah!" until we're all together. They're awesome guys. And then when we move from station to station, we form a Kongo line and sing. lol

Day 1 Funny:
The theme was God's Word being our compass. One of my crew members looked up to me (and this was after I'd been telling them how important it is to read the Bible cuz it will give you guidance for ANY life problems you may have) and said, "So the bible is our compass?"
Me, "Yep, that's right." He then reached out and randomly opened a pew Bible and started to read. I was suddenly distracted by one of my other crew members and so I looked away for a minute or two. My attention was quickly brought back to him when I heard, "Hey look! It says sex!" I looked down and he was reading something about sexual purity.
Me, "Ahh! Give me that!"
Kid, "But why does it say sex?"
Me, "Well the Bible is about real people and life-"
Kid, "And so it has sex in it????"
Me, "Just put the Bible down, let's sing this song."

Day 2 Funny:
It was at the end of the day, and we were singing the last song before announcements and then dismissal. Well......one of the kids in the crew in front of us decided to put his gum on the pew and one of his friends sat in it. So when we all stood up to sing, the kid suddenly got really freaked out because the gum was stuck to the back of his pants and it was holding him down.
Kid1, "AHHH! somethings got my butt!"
Kid2,"Oh my gosh, what is that????"
Kid3, "haha! it's stuck on his butt!"
Kid1, "Get it off!!"
You'd have to see it to really see the full humor in this. Kid1 was trying to stand up, but the gum wouldn't let him, and so Kid3 reached across and was trying to pull the gum of his butt, while Kid2 adds in sarcastic comments throughout the process. I tried to keep it under control, but all four of us were laughing really hard.

At the Library! (this is more exciting than it sounds)

I'm sitting here at the library......I just rode my bike up to base. Mom and siblings were at a deployment camp thing, and so I was chilling at the house till I needed to head into base for human video practice. I'm glad I left early, cuz the normal 25 minute bike ride took almost an hour.

Friends had told me to hand the chains (kinda heavy, need them for human videos) off to them last night at the VBS training night. I forgot to, and so I carried them with me. They were very heavy, and cumbersome. I held the bag with chains (I was afraid it would be to heavy and break the straps) with one hand and steered with the other. It was a bit wild, and it started to rain, but I made it! And now I've got about 15 minutes before I need to go and get the practice set up at the gym. I tried to log into my facebook account, but I've completley forgot the password :(

Fishing and Human Videos

It' has been a craazy week! I'm doing the final drive for a couple of my school subjects! Whew.....I'm tired!

I finally made it and got up early so I could go fishing. I didn't catch anything, but I did get a bite this time! haha I know there are fish in there, cuz there was this monster fish swimming within a few feet of the shore.....which is when my harpoon idea came to mind. If the fish are going to cheat and not bite my hook, then I'll cheat right back at 'em! I'm now in the process of creating a harpoon.....any design ideas? I'm thinking a barbed tip so that I can pull the fish in, and not just impale it! lol

It has been really hot these last few days. We've gone to the beach every day this week. The water is cold, but that can be pretty refreshing! Mom bought some water mattresses (ever tried blowing one of those up????) and those are a lot of fun on the waves. I was on one of the mattresses and had been getting rather close to the shore when a big wave rolled over the top of my and crashed me on the beach....and then pulled me back into the ocean.....hmmm note to self: don't float to close to the shore!

I've been busy these last few days with human videos again! Cavalry Baptist Church is having another youth rally and invited us out there again about a month ago for the rally at the end of July. I've been communicating with their people the last couple of weeks: what song we're doing, the message, and then I needed to get them a copy of the script. I wrote the script, so it is a bit messy and I wrote it to read while I worked with the team. Needless to say I spent a bit of time editing the script! I sent that off to them, and now they're translating it into Japanese for the speakers.

A lot of the team (5 out of the original 10) won't be there....one moved, and four others are traveling. I'm sooooo extremely glad that I thought ahead this time and left a couple of the actors to learn all the parts, the "Jacks of all Trades," and so we've got most of the parts covered. I'm having trouble getting the last part covered, and so I think I may just grab my little brother and give him a crash course lesson this Saturday. I know he's not 7th grade or up, but he helped me write out the fighting scenes and we really don't have many other options so last minute.

And then today we decorated for VBS.....more details to come! It is going to be awesome!

School!

It's been a pretty slow, but somehow busy week! I'm pressing to get done with math by the end of next week, science is giving me some problems and so it is likely it won't be till around August that I'll be done with that :(

I've tried these last few mornings to get up 5; I was planning an excursion to the pond where I'd sit and fish for a couple of hours before the day started.....I attacked the alarm clock the first morning and went back to bed. The second morning it was raining, but I was awake! And then last night I just decided to go to bed and not try....but I woke up at 5:30 on my own. Weird. Maybe I'll try Sunday morning.

I'm going paint balling with the youth group tomorrow! And then after paint balling I'll run over the gym and get cleaned up and join the family. We are going on an ITT tour to see fireworks in Towada. I'm sure pics will follow!

I've been working my way through Crime and Punishment. That is a really good book! It is kinda dark, but I'm finding it very interesting. Yet at the same time, kinda disturbing. I've enjoyed comparing it to other "deep" books I've read this year, and seeing the similar technique that Dostoevsky and Victor Hugo used in their novels.

For the best books that I've read this year, Crime and Punishment ranks in the top three (with Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities). All three are really good. Crime and Punishment is by far the most thought provoking though.

Random sightings

Saw this sign at the Morioka Zoo (a long post will follow :). It really is a good thing they had this sign posted, cuz who knows, I may have started to smork.

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We saw this old Orthadox looking church while lost in Morioka City, which was a bit of a zoo for that matter.

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Wandering Around Japan

A science experiment needed me to go and collect some leaves from trees in the area. During my search for leaves I found this picturesque Shinto shrine.....I really need to start taking my camera with me, because all I had was my cell phone. So I took pictures with the cell phone and then took pictures of the cell phone's pictures with Mom's camera. That is why they're kinda grainy. lol

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Last Saturday I went with the youth group up to Aomori Christian center to help clean up the place (Cavalry Baptist sent a group as well). WOW! there was a lot of work to be done! And there was a lot of poison ivy and and poison oak. We did a lot of different stuff...from clearing brush to mowing 6.5 acres of grass with a push mower......it looked sooo funny to see five guys all pushing mowers in a circle on the same plot of grass!

It was a lot of work, but I had a blast! Hopefully pics will follow later!

Human videos is basically done for the summer. We will perform Set Me Free at Cavalry Baptist' youth rally for the Japanese at the end of July, and then we'll be dormant till school starts again. *Deep breath of relief* it has been a lot of work! But the team is awesome, and I'm going to miss it for the summer :(

This and That

I've been enjoying partial retirement.....I've had a lot of free time lately. Mostly I've been working out and chilling with siblings

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We ran to the mall to get some dinner the other night (mom was at meetings all day, and we forgot to start the charcoal). It is funny to see Japanese on ToyStory! haha

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