I Have a Tendency to Make Myself Laugh

THE LONGEST BLOG POST KNOWN TO MAN!

Well it’s been a whole week without a computer and I have appeared to survive. Camp was awesome. I wasn’t surprised but… well I was surprised at the extent of awesomeness that took place (did ya get that?). I will do my best to break down the past nine days in the most minimal amount of words I can muster. Here we go!

 Saturday August 13^th: I did laundry, watched kid movies and played The Oregon Trail Game (remember that one!)… I did something else too. But I can’t remember what it was… I’m getting old.

Sunday August 14^th: Church was cool… from what I remember (I need to eat more Salmon or something cuz I cant remember anything). What I do remember though is that I had to play piano for Leading Ladies. I have never… ever… in my life played piano for anything but me just playing around. I think God had me do it so I could sympathize with Ramon during camp.

Monday August 15^th: The first day of camp. Long stressful and exhausting… BUT FUN! I got up far to early to mention and did my best to leave my house on time. They were working on my parking lot so I had to lug all my luggage across the street to the Albertsons parking lot. And between Holly, Ashley, Wiley and I we had a lot of crap. That plus I already had the drums packed in my car so there was hardly any room for more stuff (bags, my keyboard, etc.). It was a tight squeeze but we made it. And we left Albertsons so late that we were already supposed to be at the church. (Fast Forward) So Pastor LaTonya and I are directionally challenged. That’s all there is too it. I need to marry someone who has an amazing sense of direction cuz well… We were supposed to go to Auburn… Pastor LaTonya and I ended up at the Airport… yup SeaTac… We literally drove through the drop off section… what a way to start off camp huh! Well we finally got to camp and barely had everything set up in time. Well then we played games ate had a good time. The worship was a little rocky and made me a bit nervous but we got to go to bed and rest at a decent time. That night the Backstreet Girls were kicked off. Why? I’m not too sure they weren’t really a threat.

Tuesday August 16^th: Now I must take this time to point out that in all my years of being camp staff I have never had a nicer room. I’ve never had my own room. I slept like a baby every night in my big comfy bed… it was heaven. Anyway moving on. Tuesday was great. We had a little bit of drama but it was still great. We played fun games and had church I enjoyed it. I love Pastor Calvin; he is one of my favorite preachers. So Monday night and Tuesday night were just awesome. Pastor Calvin is also just so funny its stupid. The comments he makes just… well they are distractingly funny. We played a game where one team member had an empty water bottle on their head and their team members had to try to fill it by pouring water out of a Dixie cup at their chest level. It was funny to watch but what was funnier was Pastor Calvin. He would go up to the guy teams and shout, “You do this everyday just aim”. Sure enough the boys took first and second in that competition. That game also fueled a conversation back at the staff lodge about how the Simmons and the Calvin’s taught their sons (or are teaching their sons) how to aim. I believe this was also the day where Ramon threw a nasty water balloon at me that was filled with tempura paint and covered in corn syrup. I’ve never been one of those girls that gets targeted at camp… naturally I fought back… poorly but I did try. Service was all right. The word was good and the music sounded better then the night before but it felt like something was missing. The Awesome Dudes were kicked off that day it rained most of the night… they couldn’t put up their tent. I went to check it out later… in one word… uproarious (I love shift F7).

Wednesday August 17^th: I don’t remember any of the games. I do remember the skits though. It was funny cuz this year the skits were pretty spread out. We had two hysterical skits Panda and Backstreet just threw down. Then we had two really great skits that we all loved Awesome Dudes and Golden Nuggets. And then we had two awful skits Gators and Mr. Wiggles. So that was about it. Wednesday was when we had our first big breakthrough. It’s funny because I have preached about it and heard about it my whole life. But this was the first time I experienced people that praised but didn’t worship. As a worship leader I have found that it is much easier to lead praise then worship. With praise you can have fun, joke around and still praise God at the same time. It says in Psalms “let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” that means that anything that can breath can praise Him. On the flip side in John it says that “true worshipers will worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Well if you don’t know the truth then you can worship in truth. The first two nights most of the kids didn’t really know God. They would have fun with praise and then stare at me during worship (I’ll have you all know that I hate that). Wednesday night, however, was different. They slowly started to enter in to worship. It was so different for me because I had to explain how to worship (something that I hadn’t really had to explain since my Godworks days). Needless to say God moved powerfully that night. And the Golden Nuggets got kicked off. They were the funniest (or the most uproarious if you will). My favorite part of the whole tent set up deal was when Katie got fed up and started to put it up herself… and I quote, “See half a tent in two minutes”. I couldn’t contain my laughter at that point. Oh I believe that was also the day that Katie and I found out that Annetta (who from this point on will be referred to as the Black Russian Mafia) was the one calling all the shots with all the alliances. The Black Russian Mafia told us that every morning she prayed to God and told Him who she wanted kicked out. In Molly’s words “It was scary”. She told us the next team out was going to be blue. That made me very happy cuz I love to see my brothers ego a little worn (he could use it).

Thursday August 18^th: The last full day of camp. It was a blast. I don’t remember any of the games but just knowing all day that Wiley (aka The Bass Man) was going to be sleeping outside in that now dirty and worn tent was enough to keep the smile on my face. Service that night was amazing. God totally moved from beginning to end. Literally from the prayer to the dance team to the worship to the word it was powerful. And then Pastor Julia came up. She’s just crazy. You never know what she’s going do or say. She just prayed crazy things over people. And not only that she made them walk it out. God did so many things that night it blew me away. That was the night that God gave me what I needed. As simply as it sounds I just needed someone to tell me (from their heart not in passing) that I was doing a good job. With Jo-Anna gone and all the responsibility on my shoulders I’ve been really insecure about my ability to not only lead worship but to just serve in general. I’ve never really served anyone who sat me down and told me that I had served them well. That’s all that Pastor LaTonya told me but it set me off. Sometimes you need someone to sit you down and encourage you. Not in passing but really from their heart tell you that all your hard work has paid off. It was just what I needed. That and seeing all the kids changed. Well Thursday night was also the night were we announced the winner. And it was Mr. Wiggles and the Five Heart Beats. Wiley’s team. I though it was funny cuz they were totally going out in the tent; and instead they got to sleep in the lodge with the staff and eat pizza.

Friday August 19^th: Well camp wrapped up nicely. And we finally have the dancing church every youth pastor has tried to produce for the past five years. These kids just dance. I was blown away. They put together their own dance off in the chapel before lunch. And then had another dance off in the cafeteria during lunch… it was crazy. Then we left Beracha. We are going back next year by the way. We got our contract all written up before we left! After everyone got picked up my brother and I set off to meet our mom and grandma in Tukwila. We waited and waited for her. When she (my grandma) finally arrived we were both asleep in armchairs in the foyer of the Tukwila Embassy Suites. But it was worth it for a free steak dinner and some Crème Brule (that’s how you spell it I looked it up)! Then I went home and fell asleep on my couch.

Saturday August 20^th: Um… I slept and went shopping and went to a wedding. Mike and Gina’s it was beautiful. I didn’t stay too long cuz well I was tired. Then Steph C spent the night.

Sunday August 21^st: Sunday was fun. I was so proud of Nu Image they all just came down in front and praised and worshiped it was awesome. You could really see a change. The video Pastor Darnell did was awesome. After church I went to Qdoba (shocked???) and chilled with Steph C and my Bro. Then I went out to visit ANCC SV with Dave and Jess. It was cool cuz I wanted to see everyone and I have barely hung out with Jess since she got married so we got to have some chill time together.

Monday August 22^nd: Which brings us to today. Compared to every other day I have posted about this one has been completely uneventful. Normally that would annoy me but I’m actually quite content with doing nothing but file, answers phones and update my blog and myspace.

Uproarious?!

1:01 PM, Aug. 22, 2005 .. Posted by Ryan

I'll show you uproarious! *shakes fist*

Oh, and you completely forgot to mention the most controversial part of camp. You know what I'm talking about. "Do the turquoise".

Doing the Turquoise

1:28 PM, Aug. 22, 2005 .. Posted by LindseyTaylor

That part wasnt so important to me so I didn't care to mention it... but if anyone wishes to comment on the list... go for it! Linz

What?

2:58 PM, Aug. 22, 2005 .. Posted by Bristin

Does anyone care to mention what doing the turquoise is because you know I was the leader of the turquoise team and I should know these things. And by the way Lindsey I would just like to say that you are the best worship leader I have ever witnessed and I don't think that you missed anything. What you said basically somes up the awesomeness of camp. I knew all along that Pink was calling the shots- too bad nobody believed me. By nobody I mean Holly and Ashley. I think they are the ones that I mentioned that to.

TheTurquoise

5:23 PM, Aug. 22, 2005 .. Posted by LindseyTaylor

It has something to do with your brother, my brother and all the other brothers... and a list... 1-10... we call it The Turquoise

OOOH...

5:51 PM, Aug. 22, 2005 .. Posted by Bristin

Ok, hahaha. However, Ramon wasn't on it so it was only 1-9.

HEY

12:21 PM, Aug. 23, 2005 .. Posted by Jesus

I didnt even read it

BRISTIN

12:32 PM, Aug. 23, 2005 .. Posted by Wiley

I think your confused about who was in charge at camp. Annetta didnt have total control. It was more like 50/50 or 60/40 between me and her. If you look back on camp there was only one surprise and that was when black team got voted off. The first night it was all my idea to vote your team off and the third night it was my idea to vote gold. I was never scared that i was gonna get voted off. I just acted like it. Just like Annetta acted like she didnt know what she was doing. "Get your facts straight" said Lindsey. Next year is gonna be hard. The game is at a whole new level now.

Dear Wiley

9:01 AM, Aug. 24, 2005 .. Posted by CareFree

I am sorry, but if you count that would mean it was 75% me and 25% you. I am sorry, but remember there will not be a next year of camp for me. lol Black Russia out!

One More Thing

9:02 AM, Aug. 24, 2005 .. Posted by CareFree

The Gold thing was planned the night before, my cabin knew about it... I wanted her team out a long time ago!!