Free Carnival Today!!!! (Tomorrow) from 10 am til noon!!! Dunk tank! Bounce house! Pony Rides! Games, prizes, food!!!! That's what I'm doing tomorrow, the kickoff Carnival for the Magalia Pines (and Stirling City) Vacation Bible School(s) 2006!!!!

Other than getting ready for VBS, and the Carnival, I haven't done much. VBS this and VBS that and Carnival this and Carnival that and we're doing two VBSs so that adds to it all the more!!!! Magalia Pines does their own VBS and then they put the VBS at Stirling City on as well. It should be fun!!!!!

I'm finding more and more that I am less and less of a perfectionist . . . in some things. Some things that I used to FREAK OUT about, I don't so much care anymore. Other things I still definitely care about, but there are some things that I'm losing my perfectionist grip on.

Going now, hopefully for some food. Later!!

Skippy

Sunday to Wednesday, Wednesday to Saturday. It's a definite pattern.

So, last night I went home for a few hours - that was AWESOME. Not only did I get to see my cat (YEAH T.K.!!!!!!!!!!!) but I got to see all my cute little nieces (pinching the cheek, pinching the cheek) and my sister and my MOM (YEAH MOM!!!!) and my two bestest friends in the whole wide world!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I did an outreach thingy at the Billie Park in Paradise, and it went fairly well. The best part was getting to hang out with two of the girls from here in Magalia and the hike that I took with Duane before the picnic started.

Now I'm sitting in an empty church (having keys is AWESOME) doing all my 'online' stuff before I head up to my pastor's house for the night. Next week is 'call back week' for VBS: I'm going to spend the whole week calling parents back and reminding them and getting addresses for the bus route, and Cathy is going to spend the whole week calling back the workers making sure they're all ready to go!!! That Saturday is the Carnival - with horsey rides and fun games and balloons (hopefully) and snow cones (hopefully) and lots of fun stuff!!!! And then Monday starts VBS, and I'll actually be doing 2 VBSs. I'll do the one here in Magalia from 9 to noon - doing the music and one Bible study (maybe) - and then I'll do the one up in Stirling City - doing music and crafts - from 1:30 - 3:30 and then I'll come home and crash.

The Sunday after VBS is my last Sunday here, and then I'm home for two weeks and then I go to school to work for a week and a half and then school starts. 18 units, 15 hours of work, leadership position on the floor. That's the plan. Am I insane you ask? Probably. Are you? Probably, after all - you are reading this!!!

Going now, lots to do!!! Love to all, esp those I saw last night!!!

Skippy

Ya know, in the grand scheme of things, Sunday to Wednesday is not that long. Not that long at all. Anywho, so far this week I have gone door to door twice, spent yesterday putting up signs, took Duane out to lunch today for his birthday,

Happy Birthday Duane!!!!!!!!

and . . . talked to my mom a few times (she's in Nashville. Well, actually at the moment I believe that she's getting on the plane in Atlanta to come home, but that's beside the point.) And I can't think of anything else that I've done. At the moment I'm at the church in Magalia, waiting for Bible Study to start. Better go make sure they didn't start without me!!!


Love you all tons, hope to hear from you!!!


Skippy

What? You want me to update? Wait, that means that I have to think . . . and form sentences not only in my brain, but on the computer . . . and they have to make sense?????? You might be asking too much, but I'll see what I can do.

First off, typing makes my finger hurt. Know why? Because I cut it, diagonally across the nail all the way through the nail to the skin on whatever day it was that my phone got stolen. Its my index finger, so its pretty important when it comes to typing, and it hurts.

Second, its hot - but I'm much better now that I'm back inside the church building. We (Cathy and I) were out going door to door to register kids for Vacation Bible School. We got like 80% of our area done, and got one child registered and several promising families. But, like I said, I'm back in the church building now and its much better in here.

Thirdly, what else has happened? Well, this week I got my phone stolen and then returned (CREEPY situation) the same day that I cut my finger and that we went out and didn't get ANYTHING. Last night Corinne and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean II and LOVED it!!! And, it was really great to hang out with Corinnne and go to a movie and just have fun.

Other than that, not much is going on . . . I don't think. I spent the week going out door to door and getting stuff ready here for today (we had three groups of people go out door to door) and sorted through a ZILLION camp pics. Which reminds me, if you have any camp pictures, PLEASE email them too me!!! I would LOVE to have them!!!!! If anyone in your youth group has camp pictures, I would LOVE to have them!!!!

Anyway, I'm hoping to put together something soon that I can upload so you guys can see a lot of the GREAT pictures we got from camp. . . any suggestions???

Okay, I'm leaving now. I hope that everyone is keeping cool but still ON FIRE for Christ!!!

Love you all loads!!!! Skippy

Sunday

Okay, so I’m late again, deal.

Sunday of Missions Camp: Sunday consisted of two main things: the electric fence and the all night vigil. We did our other Bible studies, and we ate and all that, but the main things were the fence and vigil. Getting over the electric fence (in 6 minutes flat, I might add) was totally NOT my team, it was GOD. We know that because we were all so physically, mentally, emotionally exhausted, that there was no way that we could have done that on our own. SO it was AWESOME to get to see God work through us for that. The other thing was the prayer vigil, and that was also cool. Much needed, intimate, one-on-one time with God. AMAZING. We finally got to bed around 5 in the morning, and then had to get up for youth camp. Hey, no one EVER said you got to sleep at camp!!

Friday AND Saturday

Okay, so I’m late; what’s new?

Friday:

Missions Camp: Goodbyes are never easy, but for Missions Camp, they don’t come for a while!!! We did, however, have to say goodbye to the children who had been at children’s camp. We did a final skit, helped them to build pyramids (showed them one of our really cool ones), and then watched as they left. That afternoon we reverted to 1^st year, there was need for some knee bending back arching, but it didn’t happen. (If you understood that, laugh, if you didn’t, don’t try.) Friday was the first day that we tried to get up the tree and get the stick that Duane pointed at. It didn’t happen, we failed. And we failed not because we didn’t get the stick, but because we didn’t communicate, prepare, or think at all let alone think it through.

Youth Camp: Goodbyes. It such a sad thing. And for Youth Camp, they are on Friday. We started the morning hurrying to pack, and then I got yanked from bathroom duty (YEAH!!!) to go belay Tim for him to help Duane take Jacob’s Ladder down. That was . . . interesting. Long and hard, and much MUCH harder for Tim and Duane than it was for us. At one point, I had Tim on belay all the way, because that he wasn’t standing on anything or holding onto anything. YEAH for Rachel being on my rope behind me giving me extra weight, balance and pull. After Jacob’s Ladder was down, we sang, took pictures, cried, hugged . . . and then everyone left.

And now (drum roll please . . . ) Saturday!!!!!!

Missions Camp: Camp on the weekend? DEFINITELY!!!!! Saturday consisted of two and a half things. The half is Duane beating up Corinne and me breaking in to help and only adding to the problem AND getting dirty!!!!! The first, was taking the first years on the blind walk. (picture a BIG, HUGE, mischievous grin on my face.) And the second thing was the second attempt to get the stick on the tree. Today was much different: today we planned, we prepared, we worked it through, we talked about it, through it, we communicated, we PRAYED. It was amazing, absolutely AMAZING. No, we didn’t get the stick, but we did accomplish one thing: teamwork. After we tried for a while to get it and couldn’t, once we were done, we gathered in a circle and each one of us prayed. That day, we succeeded.

Okay, okay. I'll stop rambling now. Love to all, Skippy

Thursday:

Missions Camp: Thursday was probably the highlight of the week; Duane and Lisa got baptized!!!! Now no jumping to conclusions. Duane has been saved for several years, and while baptized as a child, he had never been baptized when he actually understood the significance. Lisa has also been saved but is making a decision in her life to live for Christ no matter what. It was AMAZING!!!! Also, two of the children’s campers were baptized, and that was pretty cool too!!!

Youth Camp: Thursday was pretty normal, we did Sword Drills, Bible Study, lunch, afternoon activities. We also stayed late at the ropes course and up on the rock so that people who wanted to go again had the chance too. AND we had cake for the birthdays of three of our campers!!! DON’T LOSE YOUR PLATE, THERE WILL BE CAKE!!! Thursday evening was filled with cabin bond builders and games: that was fun to watch!!!! Thursday night was, of course, campfire. It was a great time of sharing and getting to know each other, as well as worship and praise and fellowship.

Wednesday

Missions Camp: Wednesday is the real official first day of Missions Camp. We did our Love Bible study in the morning and then we (well, we had lunch, but then we) headed up the big hill to the rock. We started with pyramids, and after working our heads out a little we moved onto our study on God. Much to our delight, on our return (from somewhere, I don’t remember where) we found that the first year mission campers had been taped together!!!! The boys (Matt and Brock) and then the girls (Chrissy, Nicole, and Kristin) were TAPED together at the wrists!!!! It was AWESOME, and we spent a large portion of the afternoon congratulating Corinne on being so brilliant. I believe Wednesday night was the first night tears came at camp fire, but it was great all the same.

Youth Camp: Again, Sword Drills and Bible Study preceded by the boys having to do wall sits (Don’t sleep in) and followed by (for my cabin at least) some trust building exercises. We did some trust leans, a group sit, and then trust falls off not only our cabin porch, but a rather high stump. My girls of course did WONDERFULLY and I got some great pictures. Again off to the afternoon activities. That evening, after Duane spoke, God moved in that place like I have never seen before. The entire camp was in tears, just being broken and put back together, leaning on each other and God like crazy and it was just amazing. People all over the place were on their knees crying out to God, we were encouraging each other and getting to know each other. It was just awesome. The weird thing was that it usually happens on Thursday night, so us old times (Tim, DJ, Me) were all messed up on our time lines because usually after people finally get their heads out of their butts its time to go home; but this year, we still had a whole other day!!

Tuesday!!!!!

Missions Camp: YEAH!!! Finally!!! After a year of waiting, we were finally back at Missions Camp!!! And what did we start with? The luggage move. Over, under, over, under, over, under, over, under . . . ALL the way to our cabins, with Tim muted and Lisa blinded and my EXTREMELY heavy bag. It was great. That even we started a skit series for the children’s campers in which I played the tomboy who…yeah, I’ll save that one for later. Anyway.

Youth Camp: Tuesday was my first every counselor meeting, that was interesting. We did the first official Sword Drills, and our first Bible Study. We had Mac and Cheese for lunch, and then headed off to do our afternoon activities. I couldn’t tell you what happened on the field or up at the rock because I was down at the ropes course. Tuesday I belayed my first person ever, not really though cuz I belayed Tim on Monday while Jody was registering people. I can’t really think of anything interesting on Tuesday.

So . . .

. . . I have decided that what I’m going to do to debrief all of you about camp is this: each day this week I will post a section on Missions camp for that day and on Youth camp for that day. So, here’s Monday:

Missions Camp: Unfortunately, Missions Camp doesn’t start until Tuesday. So, for me, Monday was spent cleaning and getting ready and packing and freaking out.

Youth Camp: Do to our exhausting Missions Sunday Night (more on that later) we slept in until around 10 on Monday morning. I got up and got clean (only stayed that way for about an hour but it was a nice shower all the same) and then I went up to the ropes course. The boys, Tim and Duane, were putting up Jacob’s Ladder (five rungs, each progressively farther apart, hung up in a tree, you must climb it using only the boards and your partner, climbers were roped into a person on belay, one of which was me). Jody taught me what I was doing and I roped in and then I took over Tim’s rope and Jody went to register kids. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting my cabin, meeting my girls, moving into my cabin, moving my girls into my cabin, getting to know each other, finding out that my watch was an hour fast, and then dinner. We did a demonstration Sword Drill, which was the only Drill of the week that I got to be involved in. Then worship, sermon, and Capture the Flag!!! No flag was caught, but Duane basically turned himself in so the girls got to say that we got him.

INSANITY!!!!!

One of these days I will learn how to remember everythign that happens at camp; until then, ya'll will just have to wait for my brain to start working again - which could be a VERY long time. In the mean time, I decided that I should post, and let you all know (in case you care) that I made it back safe and in one peice (with a few things (okay, a LOT of things) VERY VERY VERY far out of line) from two WONDERFUL weeks of camp!!!!

I'm so exhausted, its funny. I know, the phrase is usually I'm so exhausted its not even funny - but I'm way past that, I'm so exhausted that EVERYTHING is funny. Isn't that funny?!?!?!? Just ask Duane and Corinne, they'll tell you what a nut job I am at the moment. Or my mother, she'd tell you too. I do some pretty stupid things when I'm tired.

I'm in Magalia right now, and I"ll be here until the beginning of August, and then it's two weeks of work with Mom and then back to Redding for work and school. I'm SOOOOO excited!!! I get to be a prayer leader this year!!!!! You'll hear lots about that as school gets closer.

Other than that, not much is going on, mostly exhaustion and more exhaustion. k

Okay, leaving now.

Love from:

Cpt. Skippy


P.S. I miss you all terribly and I think that you should leave a comment or email me!!!!