Worlds in Collision

Last week, two of my worlds intersected: my Fairwood world and my Indianapolis world. Twenty-three Fairwood students and eight staff trekked to Indianapolis for "Service Week," a combination of ministry and fun activities. A summary of the week in highlight form . . .

Sunday, April 18

• Scheduled departure time was 3:00 AM. I was the last in the van around 2:57, and we pulled out at 2:58. Not bad for a caravan of three vans with 31 people.
• I rode most of the day in the red van with Daniel, John, Bobby, Sarah, Larissa, Mercy, Amy, and hmmm, maybe Klara? Whoever it was, she musn't have been too noisy. I didn't have to drive at all because Gerry had drunk energy drinks and was on a roll. I don't remember if I heard John say one word the whole trip. Well, probably I did eventually, because after 12 hours or so, I pointed out that I hadn't heard him say a word, and he probably said a word then, just to humor me.
• We drove down near Hartford and took a main highway across Pennsylvania. We didn't attempt the Green Mountains, because snow was predicted for that morning, and we figured that van + trailer + mountains + snow = bad combination. The PA route turned out to be pretty good.
• We slept a lot, though not always at times I would have predicted. There was some talk early on, and again around 7:00 AM.
• We played Trivial Pursuit with the other two vans over the walkie for a while, Diane reading questions. We didn't score very well.
• We did score well when we played team alphabet against the other two vans. We beat the van that had my mom, dad, Aaron, Craig, and maybe Kayla in it. Of course that raised discussion over whether we had the advantage because we were ahead of their van. I pointed out that it shouldn't matter, because they had access to their random sequence of letters, just as we had access to ours, but most people concluded that we had an advantage. Oh well. It was nice to feel temporarily superior.
• When we played alphabet as individuals in our van, I sat up and played with all my might, because I realized that, since the rest of my family wasn't in the van, I actually had a shot at winning! I did win the first time, but Daniel beat me the second.
• We had bag breakfasts, bag lunches, and cold fried chicken for dinner. Each van had a generous snack box. There was no chance of going hungry. Our rest stops and gas stops were short, and we made the trip in an incredible 16 hours, arriving at 7:00 PM.
• Youth group was going on at Nora when we arrived. The young people greeted us, and after we unloaded, the Fairwood students joined the youth for a game of soccer. Kaleb more accurately termed it "pinball," because there were a lot of people on a very small field.
• Jim S. stopped by and showed us some details on the church.
• We had an evening meeting outlining Monday's activities. Brandon instituted an 11:00 PM curfew for the week, for which I was grateful. It didn't seem like any too early.

Monday, April 19

• The menu listed "pickup breakfasts" for all week, but Sarah spoiled us and cooked breakfast almost every morning. We ate like kings and queens!
• We reported for work at 9:00 AM. Merrill and Donna B. and Jim S. kindly supervised us. Gerry drew up the work teams for the projects they had outlined to us in advance and assigned leaders for each crew.
• Comical moment: When Gerry read out that Dad and Jayne R. would be the team building picnic tables, and someone asked, "Who's the leader?"
• I worked on a grounds crew and ended up spending a lot of time in the morning with team of girls cutting weed paper and laying it around the bushes lining the west and south sides of the church. Meredith was the artist and figured out how to cut the weed paper so as to lay nicely around the bushes, instead of having to cut strips to place around the bushes. She and Mary and I were a team. Another team worked on the same, while others raked and hauled small stones and mulch to improve those beds.
• Others worked on cleaning, painting a shed, building a foundation for a bike enclosure, chopping wood, trimming trees, power washing the building, building and staining picnic tables, painting lattice work for the bike enclosure, and painting the trim of the church sign out front.
• Fun moment: Mercy came to me and said, "I feel like I'm at Fairwood." We talked for a minute about why this might be: because we were all working together on common projects, perhaps? Then it hit me: it felt like Fairwood because of the sound of the chainsaw Daniel was operating to chop up an old picnic table. I told Mercy. "That's it!" she exclaimed. So Fairwood goes with us wherever a chainsaw goes.
• In the afternoon, I mostly helped paint latticework. It was a long and tedious job, and there were six or eight of us working on it. It was fun to hear Brandon and Mercy tell stories about Brandon's children. I liked the one where Rachel was trying to bribe Joseph to obey her by withholding a piece of jewelry that he wanted. Mwahaha. He obeyed her once, and Mercy asked her if she was going to give him the bracelet (or whatever it was.) "He has to obey me more," Rachel replied. She's got the big sister thing down.
• We wrapped up around 3:30 and accomplished more than Merrill and Jim had hoped! We wanted to do so much that they wouldn't have to have a church work day the following Saturday, but Jim told us that we had to leave some work for the men to do.
• We left at 4:30 to go to ITC for dinner. Our time there was far too short. I ate dinner with my parents and the Gergenis and Bobby, Mary, and Tony. The Fairwood choir sang "Before the Throne of God Above" and "Only Jesus" for the small staff, then the Karen students sang a song. The only staff I knew were Chef Grose, the Rodgers family, the Williams family, Jessica G., and the Gomez family . . . and the Gergenis, of course. After dinner we took a quick tour and Mrs. Rodgers opened the gift shop for us. On the 13th floor, we had a brief time of prayer for the city of Indianapolis.
• We had to rush back to Nora in time for a fellowship meeting with church people at 7:30 PM. They introduced their elders and had us introduce our staff. We sang some songs and had a nice time of prayer, and Kaleb blessed us with Ebenezers for the week.
• Before the meeting, I had a nice chance to catch up with Amy P., my former Believing God Bible study leader, as she pushed her daughter Selah on the swing. I got to talk to her son Dylan some, too, which I enjoyed.
• After the meeting I was able to visit with other loved friends from Nora. It wasn't a massive turnout, but I was touched by the people who did come: Dave and Sue W., Carolyn M., Patrick & Amy P. and their children, Dave & Jane H. and some of their children, Jim and Melinda U., Gus and Mary B., Adam B., Merrill & Donna B.
• Sue W. told me that Aaron & Jill W. had sold their business and bought a house to fix up to make into a youth center. I e-mailed Jill later that evening to see if there were anything we could do to help them this week, and she happened to check her e-mail right afterward and called me back, starting a ball rolling that I had not anticipated when planning the trip!
• We had another meeting to debrief and pray over and plan for the next day.

Tuesday, April 20

• One van load went to the Greencastle area to work with Seedline International, an organization that puts together Scripture portions to send to places in need.
• Gerry, Tony, and Mark finished up a painting project at the church.
• The rest of us went to Butler University to talk to the students about Jesus and pray for the campus. I mostly did the latter. I did talk to one girl a little bit, but I'm pretty sure she was already a follower of Jesus, and other Fairwood girls had already talked to her for a while before I met her. I was a little disappointed in myself for not being bolder to engage people in conversation, but I have to trust that I was doing what God wanted me to do, as I had prayed I would. I had never walked around the campus that much before, and it's a lovely spot. Craig had a really good conversation with one guy, who asked for Craig's e-mail address and commented, "I never would have thought that a survey would help me more than the person doing the surveying." Ben and others had good conversations, also.
• Tuesday afternoon and evening, I took a group to the Good News Youth Center. Wow. Talk about fun to have Fairwood people there--Brandon playing basketball with the guys, Klara and Mercy having Bible study time with the little girls, Htoo Eh working with the boys who wanted him to teach them how to say "Shut up" in Karen. Cara and Abby opted not to come up with something to share with the older girls, so I shared, like old times, as I love to do. Keyaunna and Jamanisha were the only older girls present, and we talked about friendship with God. There actually weren't a lot of kids there that day. I did get to see Mark and Kenisha, though. Many of the others I didn't recognize.
  
  Rachel did most of the leading off, so that the Fairwood people are still describing her as "the girl who runs the place." Jesse is there, and a girl named Lauren, and the interim director, Dean. Rachel led the tutorial time, which was a time to learn about Asia. We broke up into small groups, and the Fairwood people helped the kids learn facts about Asia, and the kids told Rachel their facts and got to sample Asian food as a reward. I had to chuckle when Neil found out that Dad's name is Neil, then used that against Rachel when Rachel instructed "Mr. Neil" to be quiet. "Oh," I thought you were talking to him," Neil would say, "because he's Mr. Neil. I'm not Mr."
• During free time, we played a lot of knock-out, and Dad liked to position himself strategically behind me after he figured out that it was not hard to knock me out. :-) Well, maybe he didn't do it on purpose, but he did knock me out a lot. I loved it when Htoo Eh finally won a round, and one of the kids picked him up to congratulate him.
• While we were at the youth center, the other half of us worked on cleaning up the yard of a lady across the street. Dave W. had suggested to Ben Hol. that she could use the help, and the group really seemed to enjoy doing it. She and her brother are Muslims, I believe.

Wednesday, April 21

• Kayla's birthday! We didn't let her forget it. Both vans sang to her on the walkie the minute she was born.
• But I get ahead of myself. Yes, we drove over to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, so we were all on the road at the minute Kay was born, 9:08 AM.
• The time at the Creation Museum was fun, albeit a bit short. I had thought that we might not need all day, but I was hardly ready to leave when we departed a little before 5:00. Mom and Dad paid for everyone to go to the planetarium, so I enjoyed that for the first time. I confess that I fell asleep for a little bit of the presentation, what Kayla called an "expensive nap."
• After we left the museum, we went to Fazoli's for dinner, paid for in part by the Fruit & Extras fund. Well, my part wasn't paid for by that, since the F & E fund is only for current Fairwood students. But I did eat dinner with everyone. Fazoli's was a new experience for most.
• We drove back to Indianapolis, a tired bunch. Before reaching the church, we stopped at Ritter's for another F & E treat. Yay. Ritter's is every bit as good as I remembered it.
• Kayla gave us all glow bracelets, a happy ending to a happy day.

Thursday, April 22

• Dad had a pre-9:00 half hour, then we headed into the morning's activities--sightseeing around the city.
• On the way we stopped at ITC to drop off some things Craig had borrowed.
• We first parked by the War Museum and gave people two hours to spend downtown, suggesting that they hit places like the war museums, the Soldiers & Sailors Monument, Circle Center Mall, the Chocolate Cafe . . .
• I walked to Circle Center Mall first to see if Megan was working, 'cause I wanted to surprise her. She wasn't working, and her Gap co-workers couldn't tell me when she would be coming in, for privacy purposes. I might be a stalker, after all. I called her then, and left a voice mail. I also called Mary H., because we had talked about doing lunch this day. John answered the phone, "Mary's secretary," and told me that she was in the process of being induced. So I knew that I wouldn't be seeing her that day! I also called Jamie and told her when I hoped to be at the Lilly House, and she said she would come and see me.
• I spent the rest of my time in the War Museum. As I entered, Ben and Craig were walking into the lobby. "Are you finished?" I asked. "No, we just finished the radio room," they told me. It was fun to go through the rest of the museum with them and Klara, enjoying it through their eyes. I forgot how much I like the museum myself. It's really nicely done.
• One van of people had gone to the Speedway museum, so we let them have a little longer to see the downtown sights. My van headed over to the Canal Walk for lunch. Alas, the other vans got lost (a simple matter of putting "Washington Blvd" instead of "Washington St" into the GPS) on their way to the Canal Walk, so we weren't reunited quite on schedule. Everyone did get to go to the White River State Park and see a little bit of White River and/or the Canal Walk. Sarah, Aaron, and I were the only ones who actually walked on the Canal, I think. Good times.
• We raced over to the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Eli Lilly house next. I spent my whole time visiting with Jamie and Chloe out front. Others seemed to enjoy the things they saw.
• When we got back to the church, I turned around and took the half of the students/staff who had not gone to the youth center on Tuesday to the youth center. More kids were there this day, including older guys, which I think was nicer for Bobby and Ben on the basketball court! I watched the guys play basketball and others play dodge ball for a while. I had to laugh at Greg, who sat on the bleachers and told the other youth center guys how to play basketball against Bobby and Ben and youth center Mark.  He would yell at the youth center guys, then say, "Do yo' thing, Carrot Top," to Bobby. Then, "Oh, man, those guys is hyper. They have too much energy, man." I finally asked Greg why he wasn't playing. He gave me a reply something like, "Look at them, they have too much energy!" It was a strange thing to have a youth center not want to play basketball with volunteers. Greg did eventually get up and play.
• Tutorial this time was on Europe and N. and S. America. Kayla and Mary did the little girls' Bible study, and Heidi and Meredith did the older girls' Bible study. There were eight or nine older girls there, and though I could tell that Meredith and Heidi were a little nervous, they did a good job and I could tell that some of the girls were listening closely. Tierra was actually one of the most respectful during and after. (And before I left, she called me "my nigger Kendra," which was a lot nicer than the "Good riddance," she gave me when I said goodbye to her before I moved! :-))
• The group that didn't go to the youth center went over to Aaron & Jill W.'s property to help them. They burned brush and mowed and knocked down a wall in the house . . . probably did more, too, but I couldn't be in both places at once, so I missed it.
• I took the youth center group over to Aaron & Jill's, and they fed all of us dinner. They had built a fire in their fire pit out back, and we ate and visited, then sang together. They seemed grateful for all of the work, and it was so nice to spend time with them and catch up with Carrie and Katie, too. Ah, bliss to connect good people from two good worlds.
• Dad suggested that we bring two of the guys Aaron works with to the potter's with us the next day, and Paul and Deon jumped up and down when they heard they were invited! So fun. Deon was saved earlier in April, so he is a baby Christian.

Friday, April 23

• We drove out to the potter's, Linda O.'s, just like the good ol' EQUIP days. She gave us her demonstration of analogies from pottery to God's work in our lives. It was actually very abbreviated, since we had to leave around 2:00 PM. Of course those who heard her for the first time didn't know what they were missing, but I missed a few points here and there. And there wasn't time for any students to get on the wheel, but besides that, it was a good time. The students seemed to enjoy it, including Deon and Paul. Deon interacted with Mrs. Owens a good bit, even teasing her some.
• It was our first rainy day, so we had to cook lunch inside, though it stopped raining long enough for some of the students to get outside on the trampoline and on the paddle boat.
• When we returned to the church, we spent time preparing for our presentations at the juvenile detention center that evening, then we went to the detention center!
• I was really impressed with the staff at the JDC. They were very sharp and professional, yet relaxed and fun. I really liked Mr. Daniels, the program coordinator who assisted us. He was even better than Mr. Williams used to be, I think, if that's possible. Anyway, they helped set us at ease.
• We taught in two groups--a group of all guys and a group of girls and guys. The all guys group was supposed to teach an older unit of guys at the JDC, and the mixed group was supposed to teach a group of 12-14 year olds. Their girls' unit already had a program scheduled, which was why we weren't teaching them.
• I wasn't surprised when we got there to be told that they had switched things around, and the group that was supposed to be the group of younger guys that our mixed group of guys and girls was to teach was now not the younger group. After the lesson, Mr. Daniels told us that it was their unit with the most behavioral problems. :-) We were glad that he told us that after we taught. There were a couple who weren't very responsive, but they were fairly respectful overall. I can't really say much about the youth there for confidentiality reasons, but suffice it to say that the Lord helped things go smoothly, and we seemed to make some good connections with the guys. I actually felt like our presentation itself was a bit disjointed and didn't necessarily connect, but the guys seemed grateful regardless. They also told us that they had had presentations on anger and bitterness all week long. "Maybe God is trying to tell you something!" I told one.
• The older guys' group talked about purpose in life, and their lesson seemed to turn out very well. When our group finished and we were escorted over to the other room, some of the guys were praying with Bobby and Mark, and they told us later that the residents had initiated that.
• We had Sabbath meeting and a bonfire after we got back to the church. Diane and Sarah provided root beer floats, and Dad & Mom provided Krispy Kreme donuts.

Saturday, April 24

• Megan arranged on Friday night to take me out to breakfast, so I rose and packed early. Then she overslept, so I had some extra time on my hands. Wonderful--I got to drive three miles down the road to St. Vincent's Women's Hospital and visit Mary H. and baby David for about 15 minutes.
• Lynn W. also came over to say hello and brought me Starbucks.
• We left around 9:00 AM and drove to the Air Force Museum near Dayton. I slept like a log on the way, Starbucks notwithstanding.
• Loved the Air Force Museum again. I think my favorite display this time was the hall of heroes, large photographs of soldiers currently (or recently) serving our country. The thing that stood out to me the most was the variety of last names they sported--Hispanic, unpronounceable Polish, etc. John and Htoo Eh were walking through when I was, and I tried to explain the beauty of America being for everyone. I'm not sure they grasped it, but I hope so. We had a picnic lunch at the museum before pressing on.
• Another relatively uneventful van trip. I got to share a seat with Kay, which was fun. I got to listen to her MP3 player, too.
• It wasn't uneventful when we realized that we left Tony at a rest area. Still not sure how that happened. We were a minute down the road when Htoo Eh looked over and said, "Uh oh. Tony." In our defense, Tony was sitting all the way in the back and had been uncharacteristically quiet that day. We turned around and got him, and it only set us back about 12 minutes.
• We arrived at the Heagy farm around 7:30 PM. Hooray! It was so fun to see Lydia again and meet other family members. They fed us a pizza dinner, then Liz showed one group around the farm, and Lydia showed Sarah and me around (because she and Sarah and I had been talking when the others left). I got to drink raw milk again, too.
• We had a good laugh over Brandon, Gerry, and Craig spending the night in Lydi's sister's birthing center next door. Craig said it made him feel pregnant.

Sunday, April 25

• I got up around 6:00 to help with chores 6:30-7:00. When I got to the barn and tentatively worked my way inside, Mr. Heagy commented, "You aren't accustomed to barns, are you?" Hmm. Wonder how he could tell! :-) I watched the milking for a little while, then went and helped Lydi hunt eggs. I rode the four-wheeler, too, but I was on the back with Lydi, Erinn M., and Jane T. all on it, so I was afraid I would pop off and didn't ride for very long.
• Laura and Suzy and Mrs. Heagy fixed us a fabulous breakfast! Sarah N. came down to say hello just as we were leaving. Wish it could have been longer, but it was great to see her again!
• We had another uneventful trip home. I drove for a couple of hours, which was the only time I drove on the drive there or back. I drove quite a bit during the week, though.
• Right before we got home, we stopped at the Keene Buffet, and Brandon's family joined us for dinner. It was a nice way to finish off the trip.
• We arrived home maybe around 8:00 PM, and the unloading went quickly and smoothly, thanks to many hands!

During and after the trip, I have kept thinking, "I know that the God who wove together the details of this trip has the details of my life in mind and is able to care for them." I cling to that at a time when there are a lot of question marks in my life. He caused things to go smoothly and scheduled in things that we planners never anticipated. It was a really sweet time, and I'm so thankful for it. Amen and amen.