Friday, February 25, 2011

Neighborhood Groups

Yesterday I sat in a staff meeting about Neighborhood groups. And I got REALLY excited! Instead of having small groups where people just come to the one they like, or where their friends are, or what days are open in their schedule, people go to a small group in their neighborhood. Why does this matter? Because of the neighborhood activities that can take place! Whether it be block parties or, as one man did, bring his grill out to the front yard and tell the men that he had the meat if they'd come on over. Getting to know people and begin building relationships. After the bible study, the neighborhood group conspires on how to reach their neighborhood. They talk about who they've been talking to and who they can talk to and how they can talk to him. Sure you can do this in your own neighborhood with your group far away but this way there's a group of you which you can do it with. And you can invite them to come to bible study and it's convinently located in that neighborhood! The community that can happen if you live close to your group! Your bible study isn't a tuesday night thing but people live two streets down! They can come over for dinner, to watch a TV series, just living life together! I'm very excited about the possiblities of this idea, the reintroduction of community to a place that lacks it, the intentional pursuit of the unchurched in that neighborhood, and the support and accountablity of the others in your group!

Thursday I finished phone calls for the childrens ministry meeting on Sat and Sun, fixed a foosball table who had some men unscrewed down, and replaced a basketball backboard as the first had shattered. Friday, I tallied up a final count on attendance and wrote a puppet script, before getting off early and having the day to relax. Which was nice.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

First Days in Surprise!

Right now, I'm serving at Parkway Church in Surprise, AZ.
The first day was packed, the second was similar, the third promises to be as well!
On the first day, I walked in on the Childrens Ministry meeting where I got to meet the cool people I'll be working with. Afterwards, I was promptly sent to backstage to take an inventory of the chaos there. There wasn't A LOT of things back there but there was a NUMBER of things back there. Everything from umbrellas to slime machines! My list was four pages long. (During this there was a lunch break, where I was treated to Chili's.) Then I got to make phone calls. I hate making phone calls. Hate. Passionately Hate. But making phone calls I did! for the rest of the day. And it was the first things I did the next day. Then there was a staff meeting/luncheon at the main campus, followed by, you guessed it! Phone calls. The only break from these phone calls was to tally up who would be attending the meetings I was calling about and the number of their children. No matter how many times I did this, the numbers did not, would not match. I ended the day with phone calls and I will be making them tomorrow.
Tomorrow I come in at 9 for a staff meeting. I know I'll be staying late to make phone calls during hours when people are home from work and after that I'll be going to a meeting where I'll meet people who might be interested in supporting me!

Summary of My Last Week in Vegas

Saturday at Verve, I put sprinkles on 360 cupcakes for the Cupcake Girls who take cupcakes out to the women who work in strip clubs to show God's love to them in a practical way!
Sunday, I worked with preschoolers during both services and watched kids Sunday night for Verve University.
Thursday, I worked on painting the inside of the Verve. And Friday, I helped babysit for Parent's Night Out, a date night with free childcare provided for the parents.
Outside of that, I spent my last week in Vegas meeting people, hanging out, and building relationships.
I did meet with one other church, All People's Church. The pastor there was a very ethusiastic man who kept things from being awkward. He had been living on support before and had a job training people how to raise support, so in addition to everything else, he gave me some good ideas to keep in mind. But that everything else is: at least a special gift (of how much is to be decided), perhaps a monthly gift, and perhaps an invitation to go out to Vegas again, serving there instad of Verve. I get to contact him again on Friday and see what decisions have been made!

Traveling! (A few days ago, not presently)

Saturday night I stayed up all night in Vegas. Watched "I am Number Four", drive down the strip, and walked thru the Venetian. I arrived home at 3. Took a shower, and rode to the airport. Despite being so early, the security line was ginormous! And by the time I got to my gate, I didn't wait long before boarding. Then I went to sleep. 2 hours. Got lunch during my layover, because I'd be in the sky during lunch time. (Stack veggies, greek style. Yummy.) And got back on a plane and slept. 3 hours. Arrived at the place where I'd be napping and slept. 4 hours.
I woke up and printed directions. The person who had my keys was on a road trip but her return was imminent. When she arrived, I put my luggage in my otherwise loaded car and, at 12am, began to drive. 14 hours. Straight. 5 Hour Energy drinks are amazing!
I got home, greeted the family I was staying with, took a quick shower (my first in a while if you've been counting these hours), and slept. 3pm-2am. Woke due to sore throat. gargled some cayenne pepper. and woke again at 8.
I would tell you about my fist day of work now, but I need to go start my second!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Getting Some Serving In!

Sunday, I had sanitized toys (blocks may be talked about as a category, but when wiping them down, they are many many individuals), worked in the nursery, and help set up and clean up the superbowl party. Tuesday, I helped get pictures and items for a class Vince is teaching. But that's little stuff! Most of those days were spent experiencing strip life.
But now that my friends have moved on, my days, especially yesterday, have had a bit more work to them.

Wednesday I met with a man from Canyon Ridge church who assured me that he would pass my information to the missions committee, which meets on the 20th. I also met with someone from The Crossing, who also said that he would pass my story on but didn't think that The Crossing was interested in taking on another missionary. After these engagements I waited from 3 til 6, alone at the Venue (my housemate and ride had to go to work). I was given the task to cut out 20 large hearts from red cardstock. I did this one at a time so that it would take up a lot of time and keep me busy. Student Ministry was a 6 and I was interviewed by the students, who, like most people, were astound that there are 6,909 languages in the world with 5% having the Bible, who, like most people, took that they had English Bibles for granted. So it was cool being able to bring their attention to that.


Thursday, I got to design the tickets for the Parent's Night Out on Friday. I copied, one by one, 20 copies of about 30-40 pages for Verve University. After that, I cut out 200 hundred of my tickets one at a time. (and this time, one at a time was a necessary evil and not done for the sake of consuming more time). With the tickets, which were printed on cardstock, the cardstock kept jamming the printer. so I'd pull a page from the printer, go cut it while the printer warmed up and tried again, then get up and walk back to the printed to pull the next page out and so the cycle repeated.

See, this work isn't little stuff like sitting with children for an hour. This work is the kind where you think it's little but you come in at 8:30am and the one or two little task(s) doesn't stop until 4:30 pm. This is the serving I came to do. The mindless, hated jobs that consume one's life and prohibit them from making phone calls and meeting with people to do real ministry.

I did get a chance to do more touristy things Thursday night. Vince and his family took me to The Rio Buffet. He said it was big and good. And it was. It made me think of a Golden Corral. Then we went to the Bellagio, when I saw the conservatory in the Chinese New Year theme and then two of the fountain shows which has water choreographed to the music. It was really cool but hard to express in words. Then we drove down the strip and the noteworthy casinos were pointed out to me. It was a good time.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Update from Vegas

I've been in Las Vegas for four days now!

The day before - I discovered that my ride in Vegas thought I was coming in Sunday instead of Saturday. We ironed out those details thankfully! My ride to the airport came over to spend the night and a friend I hadn't seen in a while joined us to drink tea and tell stories. At 2 am, I decided that I should probably pack my car before I left for the airport at 3am. We got my car packed, parked at the office, made it thru the icy roads to the DFW airport, found that you cannot subsitute a carry on for a personal item and so I had to check one item, and then I sat for two and a half hours (the icy roads were not as treacherous as anticipated) on my flight.

Day 1 - The flights were uneventful and I used them to catch up on the sleep that my guests were so kind to deprive me of. I was picked up from the airport by, not my new housemate, but another Verve staff member. Kandyss (pronounced Candice) is pretty awesome. Generally, when two strangers meet theres a degree of awkwardness thats rather uncomfortable. But Kandyss has a bubbly personality that held the conversation when I was still adjusting to my surroundings but, when I got adjusted, let me contribute to the conversation too! The lack of awkward is always a great thing to be welcomed with!
After we got some lunch, we meet up with my housemate, Holly, who just got off work at her other job. She had a similar welcoming personality. (How lucky am I to meet TWO of such people!)
After grocery shopping, Holly had a double date, Samantha, my other housemate, had a date, and Samantha's friend had an exclusive dinner (remember, they didn't think I was coming in for another day) so I sat in an apartment with no internet or cable. Luckily, thanks to FB, I found some friends from bible college who just happened to be passing thru Vegas on their way to their final destination, so making plans for when they arrived concluded my evening. (They decided that I should not pull out my wallet whilst with them!) Evening passed and morning came,

The second day: I was up at 6:30am and at church by 8am. I went to first service which was awesome! During second service, I worked in the nursrey. After church, we stayed to help set up for the super-bowl party. Taking only a short break to get a small snack at Tropical Smoothie, the super-bowl game began and the next four hours of my life involved trying to understand why people were so excited about this. Samantha's birthday dinner followed the game and then I went to see the Strip with my college friends. A very active day!

Monday: After a staff meeting, I tried to help serve but when Kandyss heard my friends were in town she insisted that anything that can be done today could be done tomorrow and that to really understand and get Verve, I needed to understand life there. Which meant experiencing the strip. Just being on the strip, seeing the chaos and absurdity there would give me some insight into the days of those working there. So Monday I spent on a cultural experience, taking a break only to attend Monday night service. That night, I was kicked off the casino floor for being too young. We then headed off to enjoy the hot tub. It was a good night.

Tuesday: Began with a visit from Alex McManus (Erwin's brother) who was a very good speaker. Afterwards, I looked for pictures for an activity in a Verve University class that Vince is teaching. Then Kandyss and I went to find objects for another activity, before I headed off to the strip for my friends last evening. On this evening, I was treated to a massage (they had gotten all day passes to a spa on the strip)and dinner. I had tried to convince those footing the bill to go off the strip to a less expensive restruant but they were insistent that they blow their winnings on an outrageously priced meal at Shibuya. I decided with one friend to share a sushi platter I wanted and get an entree to supplement. I had thought we'd share the entree too. I was mistaken. An australian wagyu skirt steak was brought to both of us. It was the most amazing steak I've ever had. When the sushi platter came out I was pleased that I was still hungry but only a few pieces of sushi remedied that. However, despite the fact that your tummy might burst, you cannot ignore a spread of sushi. I might've said "ok, I'm done" more than a dozen times, but it was as if my chopsticks were moving of their own accord. When the waiter asked if we'd like dessert my stomach moaned in rebellion. One of our party did order dessert and after trying a bit of the raspberry dessert called Calpico Pannacotta, which has a layer of raspberry gelee, a vanilla cream, and... I'm thinking of what words to use to explain the awesomeness of this but, trying to keep this brief, my tastebuds vetoed my stomachs proposal to deny dessert. This was a great decision. My stomach later tortured me but I do not regret this dining experience. My friends hit the casino and I, too ill to move (such a glutton I am), fell asleep in the hotel room, not to rejoin the world of the living till morning.

My friends have moved on now. and while I'm really glad that I got to hang out with them and see them again after so long, I'm glad that they've left. While Vince assured me that if his friends were in town he would do as I did and Kandyss said it was a cultural experience, I'm glad I can now focus on serving Verve as was my goal in coming here.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Today I almost died

(I wrote this Tuesday, February 1st 4:00)

Today I almost died. And that is not the climax of this story. I woke up this morning to many Facebook statuses declaring snow, but to my great displeasure, on of these came from someone living in the same neighborhood as me. It was in this moment that I knew today would be a bad day. But I had a list of things to get done and Texas’ common excuse for snow would not deter me. Little did I realize that this was not TXs common excuse for snow but a rather uncommon layer of ice. The roads were paved with ice. I was not concerned! I drove at a slow reasonable pace, rarely accelerating over 30. I quickly learned that stopping was a bad idea as getting that initial momentum was difficult to do without swerving. And alone on the highway, I was not concerned. But then more Texans came out to face the day and danger mounted. I was less than pleased with the idea of driving past someone who was swerving (what if he swerved into me and pushed me off the road?!?!) But stopping to wait for them to regain control only caused me to swerve dangerously. Sometimes I was afraid that I wouldn’t regain control myself. Once, I slide so badly that cried out in terror. The steep frozen ditches, I knew, would not be kind. But I straightened myself and finally turned on the road that opened to my neighborhood.
I was surprised to see the ice had melted on this road there the tires worn through. But this pleasant surprise was not to last. I came across a police car and two SUVs which had fallen down the steep shoulder. A pickup with huge monster wheels was trying to pull one out but was slipping himself. I watched as the other tried to drive on to the road but only to fall further and further back. Once the man in the monster pickup parked and got out to talk to the cop. When he left his vehicle, it began to slip sideways off the road. My concern crescendo-ed into terror. These big SUVs can’t get their bearing, how will I in my old lady car? The man who’s helping can hardly keep his car on the road!
The officer came over to me and said that I couldn’t get up the hill. He told me to find another route. “But, officer, I live at the top of the hill!” His response did not leave me confident that I would be able to navigate the twisted uphill road. He said that the man with the monster truck could spin me around (spin!?!?) but I’d have to sit at the wheel. Seeing those SUVs slip back as they were being pulled, no control of themselves either way, I thought the dose of adrenaline I’d get if that happened to me would be lethal! So I admitted my fear. Another man came to man my steering wheel and they turned my car around in manner that I know I would not have been able to do so well. But where could I go? My house was uphill. Everywhere was closed. I didn’t want to face the highway I had just been on again. So I called my coach and he told me that a woman who volunteered for PBT lived just downhill from where I was and would welcome me into her home while I was unable to get to mine. So I’ve been at this lovely house for 4 hours now with the beautiful grandmotherly volunteer, a friend of mine, and two Missionary Care personnel who happen to be staying here. We had lunch, and coffee, and baked brownies, and told stories. It was a good place to rest from the day’s misadventures. But I have a ratatouille party tonight and must return to my house! I hope the Sandman will have come and made the hill passable!