Well over a month ago, we here at Kurume Bible Fellowship had my second ever middle school retreat. some of you may recall my writings of the one last year. i had high expectations of this years' retreat, as last years was one of the highest highlights of my life. i was not disappointed. 25 kids signed up, (which, if i may say, is precisely the number that i had predicted) but only 24 kids were able to come (much to the chagrin of my ability to prognosticate), where last year 18 kids came. and where last year i think 7 leaders were in attendance, this year we were down to 5, including me. so, more kids+fewer leaders=disaster? nope. my leaders were awesome. too awesome, in fact. one of the things that i've been pushing a lot this year is that i minister to my leaders, and they minister to the kids (within reason, of course. i do love the middle school kids as well). so we divided up the 24 kids between the 4 high school leaders, and those were the teams for the big games as well as their small groups for devotions and discussion times. each leader was also in charge of giving one of the 4 talks. i did games and led the worship, and my plan was to also be running around like a madman picking up pieces that had been dropped.
The problem was, almost nothing got dropped- where last year i had about 15 minutes to myself the whole 3-day retreat, this time i had too much time to myself.
i'd just wander around, looking for something to do, or someone to help...but the leaders had taken care of everything and were more than competent in their positions. i realize, of course, that this is awesome, and i've been blessed with awesome leaders, and it's good that i get out of the way and let them lead- really lead, prove to them that i trust them- but it's still kinda sad for me. i missed getting to know the middle school kids!We had tons of fun- great conversations in the bath (gender-specific, of course. but still, how much would that not be at all ok in america?!), huge snow battles, tubing at ridiculously dangerous speeds, snowshoeing, playing dodgeball with marshmallows...pretty much what you'd expect from a middle school retreat!
Not long after that came Cam and Deidre's wedding. it was awesome to me how much the wedding really seemed to be a celebration that was being put on for the benefit of others, including the people involved, as opposed to the typical american idea of a wedding- that is, that it's the bride's day, the one day where she gets to be a princess, so she is justified in being as horrible and selfish as she wants. i dislike that. a lot. but this one wasn't like that at all! in fact, i eventually had to start asking deidre specifically how she wanted stuff, including me, to look, and she just said "do whatever you think would work best. i trust you." how cool is that?! needless to say, if any reservations had been in my mind, which, incidentally, they weren't, all of them would have been dispelled in that moment. go, deidre, and start the revolution!
It was a little stressful for me, as the best man with the most experience in weddingal-type things (as mentioned earlier, me and youngest brother brent shared the title of "best man"), and there were a few moments of frustration on my part directed towards one or more members of my family, (and by "a few" in mean "a lot". sorry about that, guys. i don't really know why i was kinda edgy. thanks for loving me anyways! at least, i assume...) but when all was said and done, the whole thing made me look forward to getting married myself someday- specifically the part about driving away and leaving the bridal party to spend the next 3 hours cleaning up the mess.
Highlights from the bachelor party include (but are not limited to): a "The Life of Cami" quiz, which i shamelessly stole from a bachelor party i attended once. "ringing in" was done by throwing soggy sponges at cami, and score was kept on cami's naked chest using a sharpie. i believe team "right nipple" ended up with the victory. from there we went to a second-hand clothing store, where each
member of the party bought an article of "clothing" for cami to wear. from there we had a bite to eat at baha fresh, which was followed by a few rollicking rounds at the bowling alley. good times were had by all. or at least, by most.Here's a few good photos from the wedding:
1. Ro and Brent strutting
2. Getting Psyched
3.The kiss
4. Remembering to breathe
Following the wedding, i was back in japan for a whopping 5 days before i left for thailand, where i adventured for 6 days. i have many stories from those epic days, including ones pertaining to crashing scooters and visiting a clinic as a result, but those will wait for another day. or week. mostly i don't want to overwhelm your stuggling senses with too much information and eye candy all at once. check back before too long for Part 3 of "Ryan's March of insanity: Koh Chang" it'll be worth it!
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