Starting Our Last Week

Realizing that SOUL finished about a week ago, I have finally been able to relax and reflect on the last week to put my best efforts into writing about it. If you have been following this blog all summer I apologize for the delay. If this is the first you are seeing of my SOUL blog then please, go to the beginning and start from there. I promise it will make more sense that way.

Once again, we had a prep week before camp started in Goldsboro. Which is nice, don't get me wrong. It's great to be able to make sure that everything is lined up to run smoothly, to be able to relax a little bit before more participants come. But, at the same time, after 3 weeks of living with the same people and having little to no time to yourself, things get a little tense. Again, it's not like we were in each other's faces about everything, or even anything, but spending that much time with someone nonstop, little things start to get aggravating.

And maybe that's just me. My beaver personality means that every once in a while I need to step away from everyone, get away from the place I've been cooped up in, and spend some time BY MYSELF. Since our only vehicle was the van, and New Hope is off of the highway, there wasn't really anywhere to go.

Let's just say, I was super excited and ready to hang out with the participants and campers that were coming to Goldsboro. At the same time though, I was ready to begin heading home.

The Fourth of July

Hello again everyone!

I wasn't planning on waking up until 7:40 this morning, but for some reason I woke up at 6. So I figured that maybe it was God giving me time to update everyone on what we've been up to. The coming week is going to be kind of crazy, so I'm hoping I can pull off posting about three times with lots of pictures.

Let me start where I left you. One the morning of the 4th the staff got up and started working. We got through all of the sports camp drills, and finished some painting. In order for the participants/volunteers who come to help with camp to be able to teach the kids the drills, we have to be able to teach them. So we went through a rotation working on drills.

Megan and Samie, working on wiffleball.

Elliot demonstrating how to throw a soccer ball.

Every year we head up to Somerton Friends for their Fourth of July cookout. In order to be there in a reasonable time, we left Up River about 3:30. At Somerton we played some corn-hole  hung out with the kids, and after dinner there was a cake walk fundraiser.

After the cookout, we went into Suffolk looking for a firework celebration. We ended up at a park that I cannot remember the name of, but it was the same place we ended up last year. Except that this year we got seat that were much farther in. I don't know how long their celebration went, but it was going strong when we got there about 8 o'clock. There was a live band, concession booths all over, and plenty of kids running around with bubble guns.

That's all the time I have for now. But, just an update, our participants came in last night, and we all played some get to know you games and such. Our devotion last night was about having your heart in the right place for service. I ask that you please pray for our group as we continue through this week. It is going to be busy and it's going to be fun, but without the Lord none of it would be possible.

I hope that you have a wonderful day.

Those first couple of days

Whew!

Now that I have a moment to catch a breath, let me tell you about what has been happening for the past couple of days.

I guess I'll start at the beginning. Monday morning Heather and I got up and went for a jog on the longest dead end road either of us has ever experienced in our lives. Although it was absurdly long, we also went on Tuesday morning. While we were out I managed to get this shot.

The rest of Monday and Tuesday we spent the majority of our time working on things for next week.

I'm not going to tell you too much about decorations and devotions and things yet, just in case anyone reading this is planning to come to SOUL, I don't want to ruin any surprises. But later this summer, when we're in Goldsboro, I will be able to reveal everything to you guys. For now, just know that we are working very hard to make sure that everything will run smoothly.

Tuesday afternoon we took a break and headed out to Chesapeake, VA to go to Walmart and see a movie. While we were at Walmart we picked up a lot of items that will be needed next week as well as some food. On the way there, *surprise*, we got lost. That means, that we went to a movie that was later than we had planned, which also means that our dinner plans changed. Originally we has planned to make a family style dinner at Up River (which is what we did Monday:

                           

                           

Since we were late getting out of the movie, we decided that it would be better to stop and pick up some food, so we all decided on Chic-fil-A. Now, remember that we are driving around in the Yearly Meeting van. Which says Quaker on the side, so we get a lot of weird looks as we are driving around. When we all climbed out of the van and had gotten in line, a man came up and started asking me what we were doing, and if we had a "fake van". - He was joking. So I told him about SOUL, and the camp and service projects that we are doing, and that we have worship every night. Then out of no where, as our last staff member has ordered, this man (no, I don't know his name) jumps in front of Heather and pays for all of our food. It was amazing. It's times like that when you can really see God working around you. Not only were we shocked, he completely blew the minds of the cashier and a couple other employees working at the front. As it turns out, the man was a Quaker himself, from a meeting in Virginia.

This morning I was working on worship decorations for a good couple of hours. I won't tell you what we are doing yet. but I will tell you that it is really cool. For dinner this afternoon, we visited with Piney Woods Friends as they held their weekly Bible study and carry-in meal.

We are going to be pushing hard throughout this week and praying that we have the energy  and the patience to keep up with all that is asked of us.

The Beginning

And so it begins.

This morning the NC SOUL 2013 team left from the Yearly Meeting Annex at about 5 am. Yes, you read that right, 5. In. The. Morning. All so we could make it to Belvidere in time to attend the worship services in the area.

We made it!

I spent this morning with Heather, Megan, Tanna, and Charles at Piney Woods.

I haven't talked about Tanna or Charles yet, but they are assistant staff for us while we are staying at Up River. Tanna has been a participant for a couple years, and Charles goes to the church that Heather and Megan attend. He's going to be leading music for us this week.

Joe Kirby is the new pastor at Piney Woods, and his message this morning was about the differences between a contract and a covenant. One of the main differences that came up was that in a contract, if the terms are violated then it becomes void. However, in a covenant, it does not matter what happens. In a covenant those involved have become parts of one another, and there is no reason that this agreement should be broken. In a covenant one is not able to be selfish, instead they must look out for the best interests of their partner. That sounds intense right? Well, that's because it is. And that is the kind of relationship that God wants with us. He isn't going to abide by rules that we can set for him. A simple contract is not going to work. I'm going to leave this train of thought up to you. I hope that you take some time to think about what the difference is for yourself.



Going on through the day: we got to go out and have a wonderful lunch with some church members. Then grocery shopping happened. Getting through the line at Food Lion with food for 9 people for a week can be a task.

After getting back and unloading all of the groceries and luggage out of the trailer, we took some time to get settled and relax. That meant getting out air mattresses, it also meant that several people napped, but Paige went for her run. (so inspiring)

At 6 we came back together and started to work on lining up the things that we will need to accomplish this week before the participants arrive on Saturday. Megan and I were focusing on worship things, while other groups worked on sports camp.

The devo that the staff had tonight was about recognizing what we are actually worshipping in our lives. Is it God? Or is it something else that we have given a God-like status? This is not something that is always easily answered, but is always convicting.

In order to keep you all up to date with everything that we are doing, these posts will probably be shorter and slightly less comprehensive than some of my previous ones. The work that we are doing is fast paced, and honestly I don't need to spend too much time working on this blog when I could be sleeping or otherwise recuperating. However, it is important to me that SOUL become less of a mystery to so many, so my plan is to post something new every night.  If you have questions, comments, or anything of the sort, please feel free to leave a comment.

Good night everyone! See you tomorrow morning bright and early.