M-Fuge

So it's been a while.

...okay no it hasn't, it's barely been 2 weeks.

Anywhooooo.


Last night I got back from Nashville, Tennesee. I was there for a week with this youth group from a church in Milford called SonRise Community Church. My friend (her name is Lauren) doesn't have anyone her age in her youth group and she wanted me to come, so I agreed. I didn't know anybody except for Angie. Well that's not true, because I knew a lot of names/faces, because a lot of them go to my school, but I hadn't really talked to most of them before. So you could say I was nervous...extremely nervous.

We we were staying at Belmont University. For those of you who watch American Idol, it was the college that Melinda Doolittle (spelling?) went to/revisited, and the place where they renamed this "street" on the campus Melinda Doolittle Lane. And yes, I actually saw the Melinda Doolittle Lane sign. I got pretty excited =) Anyway, the drive down took about five hours, then we got there and checked in, dumped our stuff in our concrete dorm rooms, and proceeded to go to Walmart, where Lauren and I got mass amounts of Special K bars, water, Lean Cuisine, and this tub of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream (that was a BIG mistake, we downed it within the first 2 days. So not healthy).

So this camp was called M-Fuge. There are lots of "Fuge" camps, such as X-Fuge (which is a camp where you spend the majority of the time doing fun stuff and serving others w/your youth group) and Centri-Fuge (kind of like Elevation with tons more people). M-Fuge was a mission camp. There were five hundred people there, and youth groups came from all over the country, it was so cool. Let me just be the first to say that worshipping with 500+ people was probably one of the most awesome experiences I've ever had. It's loud, insane, and completely sweet =) Anyway, there were six different Ministry Tracks you could choose from: 1. Social (interacting/serving all kinds of people) 2. Creative (singing, putting on puppet shows, and doing lots of other things for little kids and the elderly) 3. Games and Rec (basically playing games like kick ball, basketball, etc. with kids all week) 4. PCY (painting, construction, yardwork. Basically self-explanitory) 5. Peer (visiting juvenile detention centers/prisons/AIDS homes) and 6. Children's (basically, hanging out/playing with little kids all week long). I did Social with Lauren.

Now if you know me well, you know that I'm shy around new people. I mean, once you get to know me, I'm totally insane and not shy at all, but until then I tend to be kind of reserved and quiet. So when you're in Social (as would be expected, I mean look at the name of the ministry) you have to be totally cool and outgoing around/meeting new people. I only did Social because I didn't want to be all by myself and I wanted to be in Lauren's track group, but I didn't really want to to the track at all. So I find out what we're doing in Social, and whole going-up-to-strangers-and-starting-a-conversation thing, and I'm like "....Ohhh shoot, what the heck am I doing?!"

We met with our track groups after worship on the first night, and they seemed like a really cool group of people, so I was excited about that. Our group was called the Zoo Crew (don't ask, it's a long story), and there were about 15 or so of us. We were from all over the country: Ohio, Washington, Virginia, and Tennesee. Lauren, myself, and an adult leader named Julie were the only ones from SonRise. We were going to all these different places, and I was so pumped, but pretty nervous too. So here's a quick summary of my days:

Tuesday:
We went to a children's home/orphanage. Now when I tell people that, they all gasp and stuff, but you seriously couldn't tell this place was an orphanage. It's absolutely nothing like the movies, just let me say that. It was this pretty campus-like place with lots of cabins that five or so kids lived in with their "house parents", and all the kids would gather together for events and stuff like that. There were around 30 or so kids in the whole place, and it was obvious that they were really close. We made this massive-50 foot-downhill Slip and Slide with plastic wrap and tons of soap, and went down it with the kids, it was SO fun! We just talked with them and played in the pool, etc. etc. This one little girl named Natasha came up and just plopped down next to Lauren and me and starting talking to us, telling us how her brother had just gotten his driver's license, etc. We asked her where her brothers were (she had 2), and she said: "Oh, I have no idea. We were supposed to see them over the fourth of July, but it didn't work out." That hit me hard, because honestly, what would it be like not knowing where your 14 and 16 year old brothers were and not being able to see them for months at a time? She also had two sisters, and they had all moved into the children's home at different times, and been separated and stuff. And after all this, she was still such a happy person! That was what amazed me.

Wednesday:
We went to a soup kitchen in downtown Nashville. I'll admit, I was kind of nervous. I mean, we walked in, and they all stared at you, and it was rather intimidating. Our job was to take trays full of food and deliver them restaraunt-style to the homeless people, get their food ticket, and ask them what they wanted to drink. I encountered so many personalities, some people were friendly, some people didn't say anything at all. This one man named Atlas (is that a cool name or what?) was probably the sweetest person I've ever met. I brought him his tray, and he said: "Hi beautiful! Would you pray with me?" I'll admit, I was pretty taken aback at his total openess and kindess, but I said of course, and I said a blessing over Atlas and his food, etc. It was a simple thing really, but it had a big effect on me. Later, Pam (she was an adult leader in my group) and I talked for Atlas for a long time about his life. I don't want to post details here for everyone in the world to see because that's not very considerate, but if you ask me I'd be more than happy to talk with you about him. I'll just say that he had seen/been involved with a whole bunch of horrible stuff in his life, but he had found God three years ago, and was in the process of re-inventing his life and morals. He asked Pam and I to say what he called "The Sinner's Prayer", which is basically inviting Jesus into your heart, and even though he had already done that, he insisted that he needed to again, so we did. Again, small event, huge effect on me.

Thursday:
This was the day that we got to play with little kids =) We went to this massive park and some employees from a church called Grace Park were there, trying to do some outreach and interact with/get to know the parents and get them to come to their church, while we played with their kids. Simple as that. Lauren and I found this adorable boy named Bryn. He was three years old, blonde hair, huge blue eyes, round face, and absolutely adorable. He ran away from my friend who tried to talk to him, and then he ran away from me, but then Lauren and I decided to make him our mission, and we tried again. Eventually he opened up and talked to us and had us running alllll over the playground. He liked to play this game where he would go to the very top of the playset (which he called his car) where there was a steering wheel, and he would drive it. Then he would freak out and say that "There's no more gas!" So we would have to run ALL the way down to the bottom, fill up the "gas tank" with "gas" (wood chips), then run ALL the way up, and do it all over again 30 seconds later. Let's say that I definitely got a workout. There was also facepaint at the park, and we said "Hey Bryn, do you want us to draw something on you?" He had a different plan, and though it'd be better if he decorated us. Lauren and I ended up with paint ALL over our faces, it was absolutely hysterical. All the little kids (I'd say there were 20 there) absolutely adored painting us, and my whole track group went back covered in paint. I was so sad to see Bryn leave, and he was quite upset too. On his way out he was like "I'll see you later...right?" We insisted that we'd see him again, when we very well knew we'd most likely never see him again. It made me sad. Nevertheless, we all had fun, and it was one of my favorite days.

Friday:
We went to another soup kitchen and a nursing home. In the soup kitchen, we just served food to people coming through the line. Again, I encountered lots of personalities, because my happy/high pitched(my voice gets really high when I first meet/talk with strangers, especially on the phone... don't ask why.) "Hi there! How are you doing today?" was met with so many different reactions, some people didn't say anything, some people said "I'm doing great, thank you darling." A few said "Well, I'm alive, that's enough." After we were done serving, we sat and talked with them. We had to do the whole going-up-to-strangers-and-start-a-conversation thing a whole lot this week. It was hard at first, then it became much easier. Our leader, Dave, would say "Ok guys, go mingle," and we would have to go up to them and say "Do you mind if I sit with you?" then start talking. But seriously, I could hang out with homeless people all day long. They are very wise and have lived through SO much. They do most of the talking, which is fine with me, I'm a good listener. They're so open and honest, it's absolutely unbelieveable. Lauren and I sat with these two guys named Charles and John, who had known each other for years, and fought in Vietnam together. John taught me that it's not always the homeless person's fault that they're homeless. He fought in Vietnam, and they used this chemical called Agent Orange (I know I said Asian Orange before, but it's not. The guy had a thick southern accent and I guess I misunderstood. Thank you Chris for telling me that, hahaha) to kill foilage in the trees so they could see enemy soldiers. It turned out that the chemical was horrible for you, but it took 25-30 years to make you sick. So John got really sick in 2005, had to go through a year of chemo, and they wouldn't let him work for a year, so he lost basically everything. And all he did was serve his country! That seriously blew me away.
In the afternoon we went to a nursing home. It was ok, I don't like elderly people that much, I don't know why. Maybe they don't like me. I don't know. But it was fun, we had an ice cream social and there was band of 3 middle-aged men playing. They LOVED to get my track group up there telling jokes, dancing, playing piano (Lauren and I played Heart and Soul, hahaha). There were these two ladies working there and they got my entire group up on stage dancing with them. It was basically hilarious, and the residents liked it a lot. There was this sweet old lady who actually came up on stage and danced with us, and she must've been at least 85! She was so sweet, giving us all this advice, like "Stay in school, stay in church, stay close to God, and you're going to do so much with your lives." I absolutely loved her.

Friday night, back at camp, we had a Mega Relay, which is basically like 10 follies that we do at Elevation all jam-packed into one event. Our track group really came together and had so much fun. We all dressed up in black and green, had black and green bandanas, and put "war-marks" on our face with mascara, it was soo much fun =)

* * * * *

So that's basically my week. A special shout out to my Zoo Crew: I pretty much adore you guys, we most definitely had the best group. We encountered so much together this week, and it was my pleasure to get to know you. I miss you all so much, and you were such a huge reason that my trip was so awesome. I LOVE YOU!

Now don't worry, just because I went on a trip with a different youth group does NOT mean that they can EVER replace all of you. You guys are well aware that you're as close to me as family, and you are most definitely irreplacable =) I just thought it'd be a good experience to go, and it was. But I'll admit, it was weird be at a youth group camp without all of you.

Okay, this blog is so incredibly long. But I had a lot to tell, so there.

Tons of hugs and kisses,
<3 Gaburrayy

Stuff

Ok, creative blog title, I know.

Anywhoo.

Soo I'm back from Michigan. I don't know about you, but I'm really loving this heat. It was so cold and windy where I was, and I'm super excited to be back in the sunshine, plus I missed all of you a lot.

Last night I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3 with Lauren and Ach. We had planned a whole group of people to go, but then everyone bailed so it was just us three. It was actually quite fun and I had a very good time. We went to Red Robin beforehand and had a very nice server named Bryan, who, as we were informed, was the best server in the whole restaurant, haha. I had already seen the movie, but I totally didn't understand it the first time, but then the second time I actually got it, which was quite exciting. It's super long movie, it started at 10 and we didn't get out of it till around 12:30, but I highly recommend it.

So after I got back from walking my dog, I decided to watch the Elevation movie from last year. I put it in, and it was actually the Elevation DVD from two years ago. I hadn't watched it in at least a year, so I decided to keep it in. It was so strange to see how different we all looked. I mean, Dustin was all pale and had black hair, and Hannah and I still had braces, etc. etc. Seriously, I barely recognized myself, I looked so different two years ago, it's weird.

On a different but slightly the same note, my family dropped Julia off at Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha summer camp on our way home from Michigan. It's this awesome camp that I went to last year, and she's gone to for three years now. You can either go for four weeks or two, and she and I went for two last year. You get to go on these amazing trips while you're at camp, and there's a different one each year. For instance, last year I went to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and hiked for four days in this place called Pictured Rocks. It's on Lake Superior and it's probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to, no joke. The hike was absolutely amazing, and so much fun. I mean, yes, I felt totally disgusting afterward, and it was kind of hard hiking with my huge pack, but it was absolutely awesome. Julia is going on that trip this year, actually. She leaves camp Thursday and gets back Monday or something. Ok, I'm rambling. Back to my point.

So I wasn't going to camp this year because it didn't work out because stupid band camp got in the way. Anywhoo, I was really excited to go back, even if I wasn't staying. We pulled in to the camp parking lot and proceeded to check Julia in. We passed all the counselors, and they gave me this look, like "Ok I sort of remember you, but not enough to say anything to you." But I passed this one counselor named Louise who actually went on my trip last year with my cabin,and, you know, I talked to and got to know last summer, and I smiled really big at her, but she didn't remember me at all. It was weird, really. Fortunately, one of the girls from my cabin named last year named Taylor saw me and actually did remember me, and then did the whole run-at-me-screaming-hug-me thing, which was actually nice, because I hadn't seen her in a year, and it was nice that someone remembered me, haha. She looked very different, had gotten braces, cut and straightened her hair, and looked more grown up, but she still had her classic blue highlights in her hair, and I could still tell that it was Taylor, if you get my drift. On my way out, this girl named Amanda who wasn't in my cabin and I didn't know very well remembered me and said hi to me, which, you know, made me feel better, haha.
I only saw one other girl from my cabin, named Natalie. I had gotten to know her, too, and I spent at least two hours just sitting and talking with her and another girl named Elise on our last day at camp last year. So you know, I just kinda sorta assumed she would remember me. But I walked past her and gave her like this "I know you do you know me?" look. But she just glanced at me and kept walking. Not wanting to freak her out and go ambush her, when she clearly had no clue who I was, I kept walking too.

But this whole event got me thinking. It's so strange how quickly everyone and everything around us is changing. We're all growing up and changing physically and emotionally so quickly, and people that knew us a year ago may not even recognize us today. It's just weird. I'm the kind of person that absolutely despises change. But I know that change has to happen, or else life couldn't happen. I mean seriously, I don't want to stay fifteen forever. But I don't know, things just seem to be moving so quickly lately, and everyone's growing up so fast. It's just weird, but a good kind of weird I suppose. I'm sorry, I'm kind of rambling, my apologies if you're still reading this pathetic excuse for a blog post.

Ok, I have to go help with dinner now. I'll see you all tomorrow!

Hugs and kisses,
<3 Gaburray

ELEVATION 2007!

7/3/07

I don't even know WHERE to begin. I've never really blogged about an Elevation before, and I have a feeling this is going to be a reeeallly long blog that I'll have to work on over the course of a few days.


Let me start out by saying that this trip was easiliy the best and most amazing (you're going to hear me using this word a lot this blog, get used to it) week I've ever experienced.


If you went on Elevation, you're probably experiencing the same post-Elevation depression/withdrawl that I am. I've been on three retreats, and it never gets easier/better. I still always cry the first night I get back because I don't want to be home and I want to be with all of you, haha. And I still read my e-mails over and over and over and over again, and paste them and my pictures to my closet door, so that your beautiful faces and words are the last things that I see when I go to sleep and the first things I see when I wake up =)


I have probably never missed you people more than I do now. I find that talking my fellow Elevationers helps, because we're all feeling the same crummy emotions. Drew Troller randomly texted me this, which basically sums it all up: "I've come to the conclusion that the post-elevation depression is there because it's impossible to go from non-stop action, non-stop hangout with friends to boredom in the blink of an eye. I miss it so badly. I miss the sound of gravel against my sandals, the random junior high girl laughs that filled the dining room. the stillness when someone began a prayer, the feel of the e-mail paper as i frantically ran a sharpie across it. But more than that...I miss the people. I miss feeling for seven days like I had sixty friends just waiting to make me feel like I was worth something." Basically, I think that's me in a nutshell. But I'd also like to add that I miss the way we all felt like family, the way we laughed alllll the time, but also cried together. The way we weren't afraid to show our true selfs, and just be downright crazy and insane. The way you could just go up to anyone and give them a hug and they'd be totally cool with it. The way you could just be sitting with someone and you didn't have to say anything, but it wasn't awkward. And how you could completely fall asleep on someone on the bus (just ask Acheson, I slept on his shoulder pretty much the whole way home), and it was totally okay. How I only slept alone for two out of the six nights of Elevation (I slept with Katie for 2, because she was scared of the ghosts...hahaha, and Slon and I fell asleep talking one night, then Alexis joined us the other night. I woke up on the last day and Alexis was totally curled up against me, it was so funny). How, after the nasty chocolate sauce folly (you don't want to know), all sixty of us jumped into the lake, had lots of splashing/dunking fights, then got out and left the water looking a really nasty brown, ahhaha.


I don't think you people realize how incredibly amazing and special to me you are. You make me laugh more than anyone else can (ok, so it's not that hard to make me laugh, pretty much anyone can do it, but that's beside the point), and I love being around you.

*******

7/11/07

Allright, so I wrote that section of the blog about a week ago. My post-Elevation depression was preeeeettty bad. But now it's definitely much better now. I'm a pretty happy person, and it's hard for me to stay sad for an extended period of time, haha. Sooo I'm writing you from my grandparents' house in Walloon Lake Michigan. It's really close to the place we went for Ski Retreat this year, in fact we drove right through the town where I stay on our way to Nubs Nob this year. Anywhoo, it's really windy and chilly today, and not an ideal day for being on the lake, so I decided to use my grandma's ancient computer and blog. Not only is it cold today, but my family is currently all sleeping. Did I mention that it's 2:00 in the afternoon? It is. And everyone but me and Julia are completely asleep. My family went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night at midnight (the movie is pretty much AWESOME, and I absolutely loved it), and we didn't get home until three a.m. Yeahh, I'm kind of a Harry Potter dork, haha. But not as much as my dad. He was definitely more excited to see this movie than my sisters and I combined, hahaa. But I thought wrong when I believed that my dad was the biggest Harry Potter fan ever. Because trust me, you see some hardcore fans at the first midnight showing of the movie. There were lots of people dressed up. In fact, there was this one guy who dressed up as Dumbledore, with the robe, beard, and his pet bird. He even had iPod speakers shoved into his robes, and they played the Harry Potter theme music non-stop, so you'd just randomly hear it as he passed you. I found this hilarious, personally.

Allright, so I suppose I should blog a little about Elevation, since I have yet to do that. It's really difficult for me to know where to begin. There was so much packed into this week, and it was definitely the best retreat we've ever had. They just seem to get better and better =)

Before I move ahead, I'd like to take a moment to speak about/to my family. You can read this if you weren't in X-Rated, but I don't know if you'll really care or not, hahaa.

X-RATED: Sorry, that was the best pink I could find. They don't have our trademark hot pink as a color option, haha. So basically, you guys were absolutely amazing. I knew I was going to have an awesome time with you when,at our first meeting, we got distracted and started doing one-handed push-ups, to see if they were really all that hard/how many we could do, etc. Dustin and Wiggers, you were pretty much the best parents ever, and I had so much fun getting to know you this week =) You got competitive and pushed us all, but you never got angry or yelled at us, and you both were so sweet to the whole family. And Dustin, I pretty much loved our catfight in our skit...most definitely was a high point of my week! We pretty much had the BEST family ever. All of us got along so well, and family meetings turned out to be more of hangout sessions than time forced to be with each other. You all made my week so special (not to mention insanely fun), and I was so upset when retreat was over and I didn't get to see all of you every day, because by the end, you seriously felt like my family, not to sound cliche or anything, haha. To be brief, thank you all for everything you did to make this week so sweet, you guys were the best family I've ever had, and I had so much fun with every single one of you. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Okay so I'm not going to go into specific detail about every day like Katie did, because frankly I'm not that patient. So I'll just do some highlights, k?

Monday/Tuesday:
--The ride down was a typical busride. Katie K and I ate pita chips and these caramel chocolate things, and we had fun reading the little words of wisdom on the back of the wrapper, hahha. Around four in the morning or so, I fell asleep for about two hours. Then Katie woke me up and insisted that we were stopping, though we were still moving and no one else was up, hahaa.
--We got there and I was rooming with Stacy P and Maddie B. Maddie had to help me out with the pull-out couch, because I seriously took forever to try and get it out, and then she comes and just whisks it out easily. So not fair. After that was the quizbowl. X-Rated took third. Heckk yesss :)
Wednesday:
--I was on Dustin's boat with Slon, Katie, Maddie, and Joe. Katie and Joe did most of the tubing. Joe had the biggest wipeout I've ever seen. I'm not joking, the tube flew at least 15 feet into the air, flipped upside down, and Joe fell out. It was SO cool! Katie said something crude about how tubing made her feel, but I'll let her share that lovely sensation with you, I don't want to type it.
--Maddie Barnhill drove our boat while Dustin was in the tube. No comment on that, just let me say that it was one of the more terrifying experiences of my life. Let's just say that Maddie likes speed and turns.
--We had a sick nasty chocolate sauce folly during lunch on the lake, and all sixty of us jumped in the lake after, it was so much fun :)
--After some more tubing, we met up with Acheson's boat and went to this little cove thing and decided to go swimming. We ended up having some pretty intense chicken fights. The teams were Katie and Dustin, vs. Slon and Corey, vs. Chris and myself. Three way chicken fights are pretty darn hard, but Katie and I took Sloneker down, ending the first round, and then we had to fight each other. Now, the two of us are pretty good friends, so it was kind of funny to actually fight each other. Most of the time we were laughing too hard to actually push each other down. Acheson kind of walked off the dropoff backwards and fell into the deep part in the second round, so that was kind of bad/hysterical. In the third round, Katie and I are kind of having difficulty actaually pushing each other off, (we're not that strong, hahaa). So then Chris randomly yells: "Gaburray, kick!" Being a fairly obedient person/not really thinking it through, I kick Dustin in the crotch (I still feel bad, I'm sorry Dustin). But then Acheson and I ended up WINNING. Hecckk yessssss. :)
Thursday:
--This was the service project day. We went to this couple's house to paint the husband's tool shed. They were the cutest people I've ever met, their names were Linney and Sherry, and they were soo sweet to us, always telling us to get drinks and take a break, offering their bathroom, and thanking us for all we did. They took picutres of all of us, and they took a picture of the back of my shirt (which Maddie had so beautifully decorated with an X, our family's symbol, haha. Btw Maddie, it didn't wash out and it's still on my shirt). They found it hilarious that I was covered in paint, hahaha. We had this man named Ernie helping us out with the painting, and he had this motto that Rachel and I found funny, because he kept repeating it over and over and OVER. He'd tell all of us: "Put more paint on that brush! You won't get anywhere without more paint!", haha. I guess it was one of those "you had to be there" things. He was a very nice person though, and I'm glad we got to work with him.
Friday:
--White water rafting day! I had never been before, and I was extremely nervous. But we had a super-nice guide named Patrick, and he was very tolerant of our screams. My boat consisted of Katie K, Stephanie, Stacy, and myself. I had SUCH a great time, and I'd do it again in a second. I loved body surfing, as well as jumping off the enormous rocks =)
Saturday:
--This was basketball/cornhole tournament day. X-Rated knew that they didn't have much of a chance in basketball, so we decided to just ham it up. We had a team of all girls, and we became the Spice Girls. I was Scary, Maddie was Posh, Rachel was Baby, Erin was Ginger, Wiggers was Sporty, and Paley was "Old Spice". She even had a deodorant necklace. It was SO much fun, even though we kind of stunk, we tried really hard, hahaa. And we had a sweeeeet intro dance! X-Rated DID win the cornhole tournament, Tyler and Hayden were pretty much awesome =). My personal highlight of the day was when everyone just dumped their shoes and jumped into the pool with their clothes on.
Sunday:
--Obstacle course day! It didn't seem as hard this year, but it was definitely very fun. I liked the challenge where we had to build a raft and swim across the pool. X-Rated attached a rope to a container, and Sarah jumped in with the container and swam across the pool, and we pulled ourselves along the rope. Digging in the sand for the treasure chest was also fun, as was jump rope (Hayden pretty much saved our team, he did over forty jumps in a row), and untangling the hoses. Our team did really well, and we had a ton of fun too =)
Monday:
--This was the sad day. We cleaned up (which was hard for my room, we were so messy!), and had a fun awards ceremony, then got on the bus home. The bus ride actually went really quickly, and I even got to sleep. We got our E-mails, which happen to be one of my favorite parts of Elevation. I keep mine every year, and read them when I need cheering up.
After the bus ride, I went to Chipotle with my family (on the service day we discussed what we normally get at Chiptole and decided to go there right after we got back to Cincinnati, haha) and other people and then went home and was really sad. I always hate the night you get home from Elevation, it's so sad and lonely!


I don't think I mentioned how awesome worship was this year. The band was absolutely fabulous, and we sang a great mixture of new and old songs. I seriously grew in my relationship with God, and it was just...amazing. Such an overused word, but oh well :)

Ok, my hand hurts from typing. I think I'll get some lunch, it's close to three thirty. I've been blogging wayyy too long, hahaha. I'll see you guys when I get back on the 15th, can't wait to see you!

Love you so much,
<3 Annieee