Grove? What Grove?

I took a job this summer as a youth director (official title: Senior Chapel Leader) at Asbury Grove Camp Meeting.*       

 

*I keep trying to type "Asburgy..."

This is a 150 year old traditional Methodist Campground, and I get to build experience working with youth on Bible studies, fundraisers, fun events, devotions, etc.  I also get to live part time at the Grove and participate in alllllll social activities.

Including Fourth of July egg tosses.  The chaplain and I were like the fourth or fifth pair left standing (out of about 15-20), but then he chucked the egg at my feet...

In less than a week, I'll be taking the kids to a revival/Christian music festival (SoulFest), and then a week after that the "real" camp meeting here at the Grove starts.

In the meantime, did you know that continuous-spray, spray-on aloe mist/gel gives you a Captain Kirk like sheen?  This PSA brought to you by my sunburn, Salisbury Beach, spray on aloe gel, and Star Trek: TOS.*


*Except not really, because only my sunburn knows who I am, and it doesn't appreciate me or my humor.

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Cooking for a Crowd

Oh my Lord in Heaven.  Anyone want some Chicken Pot Biscuit?  Cuz I just cooked it for 100-ish people.  In case you're wondering, that's:

• 25+ pounds of chicken breast
• 30+ fluid ounces of condensed soup
• 192 (I think?) ounces of frozen mixed veggies
• 180+ frozen buttermilk biscuits

Not to mention some insane number of brownies, and several tubs of vanilla ice cream.

But it was goooood.  And my feet don't hurt TOO much.  Think I'll put the laundry off 'til tomorrow though.  If you want to know HOW I cook my Chicken Pot Biscuit (it's easier than almost any other recipe I know, and still totally nummy), click the link at the top of this post.

I did slightly misjudge though, in terms of our vegetarian option and our biscuits...  and our brownies.  I might be eating that stuff for the rest of the summer.

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A Collection of Random

• The Marquee Blog reports that there's going to be a new Sweet Valley book in 2011.  I totally read these as a kid.  Started with SV Twins, read a few Kids, moved on to High, poked at the Unicorn Club, and read quite a bit of University.  Kind of gave up on things at Senior Year, though.  By then, I was moving onto "grown-up" books.  Nevertheless, the idea of reading about the twins at 27 (and the book says the word "ORGASM"???!) seems endlessly fascinating to me.

• In other news, I'm apparently cooking for like 100 tomorrow.  We're making chicken pot biscuit.  I'm an okay cook.  The kids will help.  It's mostly their dinner, after all.  (Oh, this is part of the summer job I haven't really mentioned yet.)  But I'm not sure I *really* know how to cook for 100.  Yay, new experiences.

• Speaking of that summer job, I'm the "Senior Chapel Leader" at Asbury Grove Methodist Camp Meeting.  That means I lead the older kids (12-16+) in devotions, bible studies, fundraising (see - dinner), and fun stuffs.  I also live there part-time.

• I need to do laundry.

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My Brain on Exhaustion

I have friends who put up with my random ramblings, believe it or not.  Sue tends to tolerate my whining, in large part because I tolerate hers.  Usually.  Instant messenger conversations usually wind up being the most bizarre, but sometimes they truly embody the way I'm feeling.

 Me: so's it September?

Sue: not yet

Sue: sorry

Me: dang

Sue: yeah

Me: August?

Sue: nope, not yet, either

Me: dang

Me: bed time?

Sue: could be... if you were in India

Me: hm

Me: I declare it nap time

Me: or I declare it India

Me: but I think the former is easier

Me: though Columbus sure tried the latter

Sue: and look where that got us

Me: where?

Sue: here

Sue: where it still isn't India

Sue: or September

Me: or bed time

Sue: exactly

Sue: so it's all Columbus' fault

Me: d*mn Columbus

Me: it's all his fault

That's not a picture of India.  Or even America. It's Bosnia.  It's just a pretty cave with pretty spring water.  Don't ask me to make sense.

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Love, Summer School Style

So with everything else that it was, the trip to Ukraine and Russia was also Summer School.

This Friday, I have due a project that is something of a "report" expressing my "personal spiritual transformation" during the trip.  With what the trip was, the amount of writing I do during the year, and the summer job I've got, I decided I was neither motivated nor possessing of the time to write a normal paper.  I decided, instead, to go with a blog entry.

People

Not that this even begins to cover all the people, but the real point is: stories.  Everyone had a different story on why they were where they were, how they had come to know God, and where they were planning to go with their life.  My story didn't transform, per se, but I did become even more aware of what many Christians would say it is lacking: evidence of a specific realization of God.

Love

Married couples; ministries; old friends; new friends; animals.

I guess there are two reasons I've never had a spiritual revelation.

• I like scientific proof of things.  If I have epiphanies, they're because of observable facts.
• I've never needed a revelation.  Observable fact has always suggested to me that there must be some greater good.  That's what all the above types of love represent.

It's hard for me to quantify or qualify any spiritual transformations from Ukaine and Russia, but if I experienced one, it wasn't from the buildings or the artifacts or even the culture.  It was through the living/breathing embodiments of love (human and otherwise) that we interacted with.

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Moscow, Russia

So, like, ages ago I said I'd do the Moscow post.  Then I got a job.  But more on that later.  Or next week.  Or something.

So anyway.  Week three of our trip saw us hopping another overnight train to Kiev, where most folks either went back to the community center for the day, or went to the souvenir shopping district.  I did neither - being pretty sick by that point, I stayed back and slept on the couch all day.  That evening, we hopped ANOTHER overnight train to - you got it - Russia.  We were woken up around midnight by the Ukrainian border patrol, and then around 2AM by the Russian folk (all normal, we were warned ahead of time).  It was interesting that we heard my name over a walky talky after our agent had walked off with our passports...  Guess they were discussing the Americans on the train.

Me on the Moscow River, a short walk from the seminary (which is where we stayed).  This was taken our last night in Moscow, around 10:00PM (later?).  June 13, so not quite the solstice.  Not that we saw them, but you could totally get a sense for the famed white nights.  More proof that I was there!

On day one, after getting off the train, the Bishop spoke to us some.  His offices are in the seminary, though because Russia recognizes him as the leader of a "cult" or "sect" (AKA, not Russian Orthodox), he is only allowed to be in Russia for 180 days per year.  I believe his jurisdiction also covers Finland, and perhaps some other areas.

I missed day two because of the blasted illness (which is finally mostly gone!).  Most of the group went to the Monastery of St. Sergiev Posad outside of Moscow - another Orthodox compound that I'm sorry to have missed.  The third day, I was by no means healthier, but the schedule was to go to the Kremlin and Red Square, and I refused to miss that.  I can't begin to pick one or two photos, so here's a short series, and you should REALLY check out my photostream for the rest!

Tsar's Gardens

Tsar's Gardens and Stables

Tsarina's Palace

Canon of Ivan the Terrible

One of several old Orthodox Cathedrals inside the Kremlin walls

Red Square and Lenin's Tomb (sadly, blocked off that day)

These next several are St. Basil's Cathedral

We also went to the circus that night, but not quite anything so impressive as you might imagine from a "Moscow Circus."  Saturday saw shopping in an outdoor market, where I found wonderful hand-crafted goods for not much money.  Sunday brought a visit to a United Methodist Church, pastored by the District Superintendent of SE Moscow.  Since this is a rather image heavy post, I'll leave those to the photostream.

The church on Sunday hosted us for morning worship, a cookout (turned eat-in due to rain), and a Bible Study, followed by a time of prayerful sharing.  This time was a fitting in to our trip, as the next day we caught our plane home - in fact, we left Moscow at 1:00PM on the 14th and arrived in Boston at 6:30PM on the 14th.  You've got to love time zones!

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