I've said this before but thank you for taking time to read my blog. They are long but sometimes it is hard to explain the details of situations in a few words! Once I type I just get on a roll! :)
I mentioned a few blogs back that this week in Louisiana was going to be one of our busiest weeks yet and it was! Now I have to say though that our schedule really does not compare to what other teams have been doing all semester, but we had a little taste of it this week. I was actually really grateful for a full week of work, but I'm sure other teams would be grateful for more days off!
The week was busy but it was by no means bad. We were in one school district all week outside of Baton Rouge, LA. The school district was wonderful! All of the staff we met were extremely friendly and hospitable. We were in 10 different schools this last week, 2 a day. By the time we got back to our hotels in the afternoon all I wanted to do was go to sleep, but I had to fight it until at least 9 or 10pm so I could actually sleep through the night! We had to be up between 4:30-5:30 every morning but then we would normally get back to our hotel by 3:30pm.
All the shows went great! Well except for one which I will explain soon. Our setups were easy, we had good help, and everything went really smooth. One day in particular that stands out to me is Wednesday. God really showed himself to me that day! Wednesdays can be difficult as I sure all of you know because it is the middle of the week, you are starting to feel drained and you just want it to be Friday. I wasn't overwhelmed with this feeling but it was definitely starting to creep in the back of my mind. Our first school on Wednesday wanted to start the day with our presentation so it started at 7:20a.m., which meant we had to get to our school at 5:35 to start setting up. It really wasn't THAT much earlier that the rest of the week, but it seemed that way saying we had to be at our school in the 5o'clock hour! ( I know many people have to wake up early, and when I have a consistent schedule, I'm more used to it, but that hasn't been the case) Anyway, we got to our school and I felt like we were a little short on time but I wasn't afraid we wouldn't get things setup. As we were working some guys walked into the room. I thought they were students and possibly here to help us. They were friendly and asked if we needed help. This was a normal occurrence for us so we took some of them up on the offer. Not to much later a few more guys came in and I noticed how all of them were dressed nice and they really didn't look like middle school students, but I didn't ask questions.
Finally one of them asked me what all this was for. He said that he wasn't from that town and so he had no idea what was going on. Come to find out these guys, and the girls that came a little later, were taking part in an internship at a local church in Baton Rouge. Basically what they did was go around to school, meet with students, talk with them about Christ, form relationships, disciple them, and if they get permission from parents they take them to church. Now realize that the school we were in was a public school. I asked if they go to a lot of schools and they said yes! What an amazing ministry where God has opened the doors and given them so much favor. Not many schools would allow such an open invitation. Talking with them brighten my morning and just really reminded me about ministry and what that can look like in my life even though I am a little bit more restricted (because the school pays for us to come) unless a student talks with me first. I was so blessed by them being there and is kind of awakened my soul!
After the morning presentation we had over 3 hours where we could head back to our hotel before our next school. Perfect time for a nap. Unfortunately I didn't feel the greatest (thankfully this wasn't anything that progressed after a few hours) when we got back and it was one of those things that it kept be awake instead of allowing me to take the much needed nap. That being said, I had no motivation to go to our afternoon school, but thankfully God hears prayers! I was praying that God would just get me through the show. When we got to the school we were greeted and then sent to the gym where the custodian was going to help us. He was a super cute old man and his southern accent, language, and hospitality made me so happy! Anyway we came to help us and automatically I saw he was wearing Ohio State gloves. It was just a little piece of home! As we continued setting up our equipment we also had some great students help us. Now after working with several groups of students you notice different things- sometimes they mean well but just make things take longer, some are just glad to get out of class, some are quiet but still do a good job helping, some just want to joke with their friends, and some can joke and have a good time while still listening and doing a good job helping. Thankfully that last description described the students we had. With them and the custodian it made the setup enjoyable and also I was feeling better by that time too!
One other thing that stood out from that day was from my introduction at that second school. I always do the intros and explain the show and Dorina does the conclusion. After I walked away from the mic a lady came up to me and said that she works for the company who sponsors this show at the school She told me that hat a the best introduction she has heard since they have been bringing Camfel to the school and she really appreciated it. I needed to hear that! I don't include that to build myself up, but sometimes after saying the same things over and over again it can be tiring so it was such a blessing for her to verbalize some specific encouragement, I even heard about it again later that week from someone else who had heard about through the company. So God really provided Wednesday and gave me a lot of things to not only help me through the day but make it great as well!
~ Like I said earlier, all the shows went well this week except for one. Our last show of the week, Friday afternoon, we were in a pretty small gym that had high windows on two of the sides. Because of the time of day the sun was shining directly through the windows onto our screen so you couldn't see much. We were almost completely setup and decided to shift all of our equipment to a different side of the gym to try to make it better, it was still bright, but possible to see. Once the show started the sun decided to shine even more and it basically washed out our screens. You couldn't see a thing. I felt miserable, not because it was my fault, but because of the students and them not getting to see it. I had been sitting next to the principal and not even 10 minutes into the presentation we decided to stop it and reschedule, and possibly do it during a morning where the sun shouldn't be an issue.
So now it was time to tear down, but it was just me. Dorina and I are allowed to alternate taking breaks during shows because both of us are not needed to sit and watch the show each time. She had decided to run to a store/gas station during the show. No big deal, but unfortunately by phone was left in the van as well so I couldn't call her. So I ended up have some help and started to tear down. It wasn't a huge deal I just really had to be on top of things. There was one student who was making me frustrated because he would just start doing things without being told anything... and the thing he was doing would actually mess up some of our stuff in potentially bigger ways! Other than that all went well. In that moment I was extremely grateful that things like that don't stress me out. Dorina ended up getting back just as we were finishing up, having no clue that the presentation was even stopped!
After calling our office and telling them what happened, they contacted the school and rescheduled the show for Monday morning. We are headed to Texas next but luckily we don't have that show until Thursday so it worked out to stay in the area for a few days longer. We had a good time laughing with some of the administration while we were waiting for new plans to be made which kind brighten the whole situation! Hopefully all goes well on Monday and this school actually gets to see our presentation.
So there was some of my week! It was good overall but I was definitely grateful for the ability to sleep past 5:30 this morning! Next week we have 2 shows, one the make-up show and one in San Antonio, Texas then we will drive back to California. Lots of driving next week, but not quite as busy! Please pray that the shows and all the travels go well!
