Sunday, July 01, 2007

Stand in the Rain



Is a great song by Superchick and appropriate for the present weather conditions. Also, no sunrise. Too cloudy. Adam and I looked outside this morning and it looked just like it did the other day, nothing but fog and clouds. Oh well. We did not wake up people. Minako had to go to work later on in the day, so she set an alarm for 5:30, but when the alarm went off this morning, she was not in the room. She must have left early.


Anyway, back to camp:

END OF FRIDAY: I ended Friday quickly, so let me elaborate. First, there were four cabins for people to stay in. There was the family cabin where the married folks with kids stayed: Mike and Tomoko, Erika, and Kiara, Chris and Danielle, and Emily, and Mr. and Mrs. Snow. I think that was it. The cabin next door was the guys cabin and in it there was Adam, Shane, Bryan, Dan, Hajime, Mr. Segawa, Jun, and Shin. I think that was it, but I feel like I am missing somebody. Hmmm. The cabin next to it was the first girls cabin, with me, Holly, Anna, Hanna, Judith, Makoto, Chie, and Wakaba. Down the way was the other girls cabin which held Tyler, Mio, Sara, Ayumi, Rina, and Masayo. Yipppe! So, that was the sleeping arrangements. Friday night we got kicked out of the pavillion at 10:30, so we moved the games into the first girls cabin. Inside, there was all 8 of us, Sara, Masayo, Rina, Mio, Adam, Shane, and Mike. Can somebody say ultimate game of Apples and Apples! It was! Haha. Great. Finally, people left and started going to sleep. I think Adam was the last to leave at around 12. I took a shower, and then we got all the beds ready, but nobody was really sleeping yet. Hanna was studying some English, so we studied together for quite some time. It was cool. Finally, we went to sleep around 1:30.


SATURDAY:

Early morning. 8 a.m. Actually, before that because people were getting up so much early taking showers and everything. Crazy! Hanna, Anna, and I just laid up in the loft trying to pretend to be asleep. We were having pancakes for breakfast! so Chie was cooking. First of all, the only thing in the cabins were rice cookers and futons. Everything else you had to get from the front lobby. Bowls, knives, cutting boards, spoons, etc. Cool. We brought our own hot plate thingy, so all the cabins had those. Each cabin made their own pancakes and ate breakfast inside. Three pancakes later, it was time for the morning to begin.


All of us met outside for the morning icebreaker. The first game was where you have an adjective to describe your name. For example: Joyful Jordan. Tada! Our group did that, and it was great. Next, we divided into two teams and played a game of electricity. Basically the game is simple. You get in a long line and hold hands with the people next to you. A person flips a coin and if it is heads you squueze the persons hand and it goes all the way down the people and the first team to go all the way to the end and grab the bottle advanced. The first team that had all of its players go through won. Our team won both times. Fun fun!


Next, was group discussions. The first group session, we did not have a translator, so it was a little difficult, but not too bad. This time, we had Tomoko, who is married to Mike, so her English is better than mine. She was able to get the girls talking a bit more so we had a more productive session. Sweet!


Lunch came next. A bento lunch is like a lunch box. A lunch already prepared. There were two choices: fried chicken or a Japanese style lunch. I went for the chicken and I am so glad I did. It was great. We had an hour for lunch, so after eating we had plenty of time left over. All of the students started playing this game called something, but it is similar to Red Light Green Light. Basically, the person who is It yells something in Japanese and turns around. If you get caught moving you go to the front and are captured by It. The object is to release the person or people caught by touching the person who is it. Then, those people run back to start. Fun!!! We played for a few times with not that many people, but then it became more and more crowded. We decided to move the game to this big empty field and we were having a grand time.


Fun time ruined. We had to quit and do another group session. Third one. One more to go. For the third group session I was suppose to lead with Anna and my high school readers, but their train was late or something so they did not show up. Back to Tyler's group. Good session! Great! This one was titled "Who do you say I am" and it was who do we really think Jesus is. Fantastic title and lesson. We had some great answers.


After group disscussion, we had free time! Who-hoo! Most people were going to go to the onsen, and I wanted to go badly, but I did not because I wanted to wait for my high school girls to get there and stay with them. Onsen people left. Chie, Mana and I played UNO attack and Apples and Apples in our cabin. There were also crafts on the table, so we joined some others decorating ceramic flower pots. It was awesome! Finally, my high schoolers showed up. They began being creative. Their pots looked beautiful, mine did not. I have terrible penmanship, cannot draw, and am not terrible creative. Anyway, mine has a bit of everything on it, so it is special.


The people who went to the onsen got back (jealous!) so we had more fun. We were having a talent show that night, so most were preparing for their talent. It was so much fun. Lots of noise, talking, and laughing. See, moments like that I treasure more than the group discussion Bible studies. These non-Christians get to be themselves around us Christians, and vise versa. It is during these times of fellowship that the best questions come out. Love it! Don't get me wrong, I mean I love the group discussions, but the free time game stuff works just as well. Especially when you have some Christian music in the background, and that initiates conversation pretty great.


After free time was dinner. Japanese BBQ! Yippee! Not like Texas BBQ, but still delicious. Basically, there are a ton of vegetables and meat and you just throw them on the Shogun, Benihana tables look-a-like. Awesome. Throw on some sauce and those things are awesome. Next, was yakisoba. Awesome! Love it. Tomoko cooked our food an it was awesome. Delicious.


The talent show was next, so people were finishing up dinner and getting the last minute preparations for the show. Hanna and I decided to play the guitar and sing the song All in All. Catch is, neither of us play the guitar. Or sing. We decided that she would strum and I would position my fingers against the strings in order to attempt to find cords which would create a melody, rhythm and such. Haha! We practiced for a bit and were ready.


TALENT SHOW!!! Whooo! Mike was the MC and he did a swell job. His family went first and sang the beautiful Josh Groban song "You Raise Me Up." Nice rendition. The young kids were next and they sang "Jesus Loves Me." APN people sang "Blessed Be Your Name" and it was beautiful again. The talent show was off to a great start. Many people went up there and did their great, wonderful, awesome and funny talents.


There is guy who is teaching English here from Fiji whose name is Nuimaiah. Like Nehemiah. Wonderful guy. He gathered up practically every guy not doing something in the talent show and did a Fijian? island dance. Fantastic! They were all getting into it, when all of a sudden shirts go flying! They ripped off their shirts and it was hysterical! Quite possibly the best one yet. The people involved were Nunu (his nickname), Sugao, Shin, Dan, Lee, and Jang. Awesome!


We were doing the show under this giant pavillion. The pavillion next to us was also having a party, but there was alcohol involved. They mosied their way over to us and became part of the audience. Awesome! As Mike said "I do not condone drinking, but drunk guys are funny." Indeed they were.


Next came the LST skit. It was titled "The Dating Game." We picked Sugao, Mike, Dan, and Nunu to participate. Basically, they had to come up with pick up lines so they would be able to sit down next to Holly and Tyler. The catch was that there was only two chairs, so when they went to sit down, the girls would stand up and the sleeping bag covering the chairs would collapse under them, causing them to hit the floor. Hard. It was great. Me and Shane were in charge of keeping the other "contestants" from looking at the skit. Nunu got the biggest laugh by using the line "want to see my Fijian war dance?" Plus, he hit the concrete the hardest.


After that was mine and Hanna's turn. It was great! Got a lot of laughs. I do not mind being humiliated in front of other people. Two people playing the guitar and singing off key is always fun.


This one guy, Masaaki, is a black belt in karate, and is heading to nationals soon. He demonstrated a few ways to defend ourselves. He even had on his karate suit and everything. Awesome. Michi showed us all her beautiful voice and guitar skills. She wowed us all.


The last skit was called "Sports Quiz." Bryan, Adam, and Shane chose Masayo, Sara, Michi, and Anna to participate. They put sports objects underneath blankets and towels and the girls had 30 seconds to name as many items as possible. One catch: Adam was hiding under one of the blankets and when they lifted it up, he would scare them. Awesome! Masayo, Sara, and Michi were all terrified. Success! Next, however, was different. Anna came with a plate full of whipped cream ready to pie Adam. Bryan lifted the blankets to the reveal the various items and Anna played along. When it came to Adam he tried to scare her like normal, but wound up with a face full of whipped cream. Awesome! Haha! It was great! The audience loved it.


Two hours later the show ended and it was a blast. The devo came next, and two of the drunk guys were there, so we gave them some song books and they sang along with us. We were singing this one song called "The Greatest Commands" and it is simply beautiful. There are four parts to the song (Bass, tenor, alto, and soprano) and each have different words to sing. Put it all together and it sounds beautiful. The guys seemed to enjoy it. Then they left taking the song books. Oh well. It will give them something about Christianity to read about. Pray for them.


It was nearing 10:30, and that meant the lights on the pavilion were about to be shut off. Jun and Mio left, and everybody else stayed so more games! Anna and I moved cabins so I could be with the high schoolers. We needed two more cabins for the many more people that showed up. Games, scary stories, and fellowship commenced until around two. Lights out.


What a wonderful Saturday. It was great. So much fun, food, and fellowhip. Fantastic.


Stay tuned for Sunday's adventures!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Sounds exciting. I should have made plans to attend the friends camp. I am looking forward to picking you up on Monday and getting some Mexican food!

Love Ya!!!!

Dad