Ottawa SERVE 2014: Day 6 - Fancy dinner and Talent show

SERVE, Day 6. 

I always enjoy Day 6.  

Wednesday is always a fun day.  

Fancy dinner and Talent show is the highlight of the week. 

Tonight I'm getting at the blog a bit late (it's midnight) because I asked the remaining Mentors to comment on their week.  Their comments will be at the end of the blog if you are interested in reading them.  I didn't edit them (too tired) so if they've made grammar errors, talk to them.  : ) 

Breakfast began at 8 am again. 

Our kitchen crew is hard at work earlier than I want to be : ) 

Sara and Mitchell and Adam are perky this morning.  

As are Shawn and Ben.  

I needed a cup of coffee this morning, and the company of Annette to wake up.  

Pancakes and cereal this morning for breakfast.  

Zack and Amy digging in.   

John, pay attention to your food!  

After breakfast, it was time to go out for our final day of work sites.  Annette took a group to the Ottawa Food Bank Field.  They had much cooler weather. 

They cut and picked broccoli I think.   

It's a long walk from the field to the road. 

Starwood Extendicare.  

Kaitlyn walking with a resident.  

Sara, Sarah, Megan and Carolyn getting ready to chat it up.   

Mitchell, nice picture of you.  

Mitchell, Sara and Carolyn.  A great team.   

Time for a break at Extendicare, eh Amy and Phil? 

Coffee time is always a great time at the Bibles for Mission Store.  

Esther and Carraugh and Jessica playing a game maybe?   

Oh, they are at Carlingwood. 

Talking to the chaplain.   

 Playing sorry with a person who dropped in.  

Adam listened a long time to this gentleman's story.   

Once again we helped out at the Ottawa Food Bank.   

Zach and Amy working hard.  

Shawn too.   

Sorting food.  

Looks like they emptied the bin.   

Kyle taking a break at Jericho Road.  

They did work hard outside, but by the time Joy got there they were done working. They had to wait for me to come back from dropping off the BBQ's.   

Back at the church waiting for lunch, Kaitlyn and Carolyn work on some puzzles.  Apparently Kaitlyn is a pretty intense puzzler.   

Lunch time, which means I make a couple of announcements.   

The sandwiches tasted really good, as did the Pineapple. 

I LOVE pineapple.   

Mark, great eating picture.   

Kyle and Ryan talking it up, between mouthfuls of course.  : )  

After lunch it was time for small group again. 

Here's an experiment taking place.   

Adam reading the story during small group time.   

hmmmm, what are you doing Stephanie.  

Looks like you are balancing them on your nose.   

John, you are an amazing man...just in case you read the blog and wanted to know.  : )  

Zach enjoying small group time.   

Niesje leading her group. She's been a great small group leader.   

Steven placing green tape on Chris' head. 

Interesting.  : ) 

Alex hamming it up in a small group activity.   

Lisa and Adam.  Great mentors with different characters.  : )  

Next on our agenda for the day was to get everyone showered and dressed in nice clothes and, for the girls, some pampering time. Amy is getting her hair done. It turned out rather well.  

Joy's mom getting Stephanie ready.   

Joy was in charge of pampering again this year, with a couple of others helping her out.  Lucy doesn't look to happy getting her hair done....nah, that's just because I took her picture.   

Caralynn and Carraugh with their nails partly finished.  Comparing Holland colours.   

When the boys were done, we drove them to the church to wait for the girls.  I got a good picture of just them. 

The Holland/Argentina soccer game was on so the boys, and various other volunteers, took the time to watch the game in the youth room.  Sorry about the turnout of the game.  : (  

This dinner is always the most work. 

It's a served meal, but once again we had great volunteers for the Kitchen. 

Pork roast and potatoes and carrots and beans, all smothered in gravy.   

And my favourite dessert was once again on the menu....

Thanks Anne and Annet. : ) 

It took a lot of work.  

Mark took a long time getting ready. 

I passed his office and he was looking at his computer and trying to tie his tie.  Apparently he doesn't know how to tie a tie and had to look it up on the internet.  Too funny.  

It turned out ok though...even if he was late for the picture taking.   

Three great pictures of our team in their finest. 

Mark may not know how to tie a tie, but Ben doesn't know how long to make his tie... What's with that Ben?  I like the new hair style though.  

Everything is ready to go, and people start to sit down for the dinner.  

Everyone looks so nice.  

Hey Caralynn, you look very nice tonight. 

Awe, nice picture of Amy and Zach.   

Any Amy and Jessica look lovely too.   

Sarah and Sara.  Best buds.  

Alexa and Olivia. 

Good friends too.   

Mitchell and Sara having a touching moment.  

Mitchell and Megan.   

John and Maddie. 

Great buds too.   

A nice picture of Becca and Lisa.   

Hey Colton, you made it to the dinner too.  

Hope you enjoyed the food.  :)  

Opening devotion time.  

I look pretty nice if I do say so myself....oh, I AM saying so myself.  : )  

The kitchen crew getting final instructions.   

Alexa agreed to play this year for us since we had a minor change in our instrument player.  Thanks Alexa. The music sounded great.   

Niesje, I've said it on the video and I'll say it here, you look very nice today, and this picture of you is framable.  

  

Hey, Jonathan, finally a picture where you are smiling nicely. Took a while.  

A nice picture of Harold and Bea. 
Both great volunteers who believe in what we do and why.   

Summer and Amy. 

Interesting picture Joy.  

Kaitlyn and Carolyn.  

The desserts are taking shape. 
Lots of work.  
Thanks Alisa for your hard work. 

Masterpieces.  

Peter, our drummer,
Brenda, our nurse
And Joanna, our craft helper. 
It takes a lot of volunteers to make this SERVE function properly. 

Kaitlyn was VERY happy to get her dessert. 

The kitchen crew enjoying the fruits of their labour.  

After dinner it was time for the long anticipated talent show. 
Becca and Ben did a great job of Emceeing.
I even enjoyed listening to Ben's corny jokes.  

Sarah and Sara sang Amazing Grace, and Carolyn accompanied them.  

Zach showed us his karate moves.  

To a Starwars tune.  He was awesome.  

Deshawn sang Justin's song "Baby"

John did some great beat-boxing with the Canadian flag draped over him.  He did a great job.  

Ryan played a great piece on the piano. 
I didn't know he could play the piano. Way to go Ryan.  

Stephanie and Lisa and Maddie danced to Hannah Montana.  Best of both Worlds.  A great job. 

Here's Braidon playing with Mitchell...

Mitchell played to the song "Our God".  

The audience is always very encouraging for all our participant acts. 

Our last act was Kyle who also beat boxed.  
He did a great job. 

After the show it was time for worship again.  

I love all the pictures of the group praising God.  

Tyler finally picked up a guitar.  

Adam and Lisa and others praising God.

And then it was time for another "skit"
John started off things by going for a bike ride.   

Jordana noticed someone coming down the aisle.  I wonder who that could be...... : )  

This old guy, of 90 + now,....

Who got arrested by officer Shawn for driving his bike in the middle of the road.  

I was put in jail, and felt lonely, and useless, and people came to visit me, which was nice.  : ) 

Mark talked about how the good things we do in life are like yeast that weave it's way into the lives of others, and that they are meaningful and precious.  
I had fun again doing the skits, and Jordana and Carolyn were nicer to me tonight too, which was great. :) 

Ben, putting his normal face on again. 

Mark finishing off his talk by interacting with each participant again.  He's got a great gift in doing that. 

After worship time, we watched the movie CARS, for a bit, and then it was time to put everyone to bed, for the last night.  Most of them went to bed fairly quickly, and willingly.  They are just as tired as we are.  

We had our mentor time, which was great fun again, and I even got misty eyed as I talked about our mentors and how proud I am of them.  They are amazing...in case you didn't know.  : )


Well, it's 1:18 am, so I'll end this blog entry with words from our Mentors.  I hope you enjoy reading their thoughts, and how inspired they are in doing this week.  I'll see you tomorrow afternoon for one last entry about the end of our week....it's come fast again, but it's been an awesome possum week....  :) 

Enjoy the comments 
  

Rachael

This was my third year as a mentor at SERVE and it was a blast!  When planning for this serve, I was feeling pretty confident that I would know mostly what to do, since I had all this “experience” from the past couple years.  Although I was prepared for the week, I was still faced with new experiences and challenges that I hadn’t expected.  This week has been full of learning opportunities, from the different work sites, and from all the participants.  Even though I was a mentor for the week, I can honestly say that I’ve learned so much more from all the people around me, through how they interact with each other and all the patience and love that they so easily show.

Nicolette

This long and wonderful week has been more of a learning experience than a teaching one. Of course having Alex again for my second year at SERVE has made the job much easier, every activity and work site was filled with lots of laughs and smiles. The long nights, frustrating moments (for example: trying to figure out how to spell frustrating), evil hot glue guns and hard work was all worth it to see the participants happy all day every day- praising God in worship, goofing off with each other and rewarding us with signed certificates!! Thank you to EVERYONE who made the SERVE 2014 mission possible, inspirational and awesome!!!!

Lucy

This was my third year being a mentor at SERVE. This week was challenging at times but also very rewarding. I had an awesome time going to work sites with Stephanie and watching her come out of her shell. It was a great week filled with laughter, a few tears, lots of love and very little sleep. SERVE is one of the highlights of my year and I hope to come back for many years to come.

Amy

This is my second time on SERVE. This year I was partnered with Zach and I greatly enjoyed watching him rocking out on the guitar, performing his karate and just getting to know him through our many conversations. He taught me a lot through his friendly attitude and many questions. This week had its challenges but it was such an awesome and rewarding experience. Thanks to everyone who made this week possible!

Megan

This year I had the privilege of working with Mitchell, a first time participant. It was so great to watch Mitchell work through the bible studies and participate in activities with so much enthusiasm and excitement. Some of Mitchell’s gifts include politeness, loyalty and being such a gentleman. Thanks for putting away my plate after meals, Mitchell! I always enjoy worship time at SERVE. It is inspiring seeing each of the participants praise God in their own ways. One thing that stood out to me this week was the encouraging atmosphere. The little comments, good mornings, high fives, and hugs throughout the week really made a difference. A highlight of the week for me was helping the girls get ready for the fancy dinner. It was a joy to see the smiles on their faces when they were all dolled up. I am thankful for the joy that shone through the participants during the week. This experience has been a blessing in my life, and I am thankful for the support and friends that walked it with me. 

Janika

This is my first year at SERVE and I loved it!  My participant was talented in so many ways. John  Brouwer would wake up every morning with a smile on his face and that would just make me laugh. Also, the speeches at the end from the participants was very touching, in fact one of them made me cry. I’m sad to see the participants leave cause I’ve made sooo many bonds  with the mentee’s. I would love to come back, Ron. (I’ll get my form in faster next time ;)) ADIOS AND SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!!

Chris

SERVE was completely awesome. I made a bunch of new friends and I got to know Steven really well. Everyone here is really nice and I am glad I could meet everyone. I got to do a lot of fun activities and we had some great worship services. I had a lot of fun and I hope I can come back next year.

Braidon

This week at SERVE was lots of fun I loved being with Kyle he was a really cool guy. Everyone as so nice to me it was fun hanging with all the guys. We got to SERVE at all different places. I really want to come back next year and get to know a new awesome participant.

Joy

So this is my fifth year being at Serve and my second year as part of the host team. This week long camp is one of the highlights of my summer months and the anticipation mounts months in advance, as soon as the first planning meeting is called and the bare bones of Serve are laid out. But, as I have finally figured out, it is the relationships that are made at Serve that keep me coming back. Friends I only see for a week in the entire year have become some of the dearest people to me. Seeing the participants and interacting with everyone throughout the week gives me the feeling that I am fully enjoying life. Because even though I may be sleep deprived, hyped up on bulk barn candy and have a sore right hand from holding the camera and taking 6000000000 pictures (this is merely an estimate), I fully enjoy life at Serve. There is so much love, so much trust and so much joy packed into six days and I will keep coming back so long as there is a Serve to come back to.

Sarah

This is the third time I have done SERVE and this week has been great like those years. As in the past, I met old friends, made new ones, laughed, and had a wonderful time. I felt so great simply serving others for a week and not focusing on me. As my Dad (Ron) said, this week wasn’t about us. I think it is very healthy and Christ-like to have this mindset. But this year a thought really hit home. The past two years I have done SERVE and had so much fun doing it. But this year, Sara made me realize that you can’t truly categorize the participants under the word participants. They are friends, workers, helpers, students, teachers, and dreamers. The relationships we make with the participants have a truly lasting effect. I have thought this but it hasn’t really been realized in my heart until now. I will always remember Sara, her serving/helping heart and kind words.

Esther/Summer/Carraugh

This week was so phenomenal. Esther and Carraugh were with Jessica, and Summer was with Amy. Seeing the bonding between us and our participants was truly amazing. God taught us patience, perseverance in trials, but most of all a love for people. As we leave this week, we will miss all the participants, mentors, organizers and volunteers. Our hope and prayer is that God continues to work in us in these areas.

Becca

This being my second year I thought I would know what to expect… I was wrong. Some things that were the same were that I had an amazing time and laughed a lot, some things that were different were everything else. Being a mentor is an amazing challenge that I wish everyone could experience at some point in their lives. Being a mentor allows you to exercise leadership, patience, and faith like a child. Even though I’m a mentor I feel mentored by my participant every day. I learn new ways to look at different situations, and different ways to look at new situations. I pray I’ll be able to come back next year and experience this all again with a different participant. This is certainly a week I will not forget.

Ben 

Another serve gone by. I have always enjoyed serve, and this year was no exception. I had a great time with Shawn in everything that we did, whether it was getting arrested by him or receiving random hugs when I’m not expecting them. I loved bonding with all the other mentors and participents, and look foreward to doing it again next year.

Caralynn

Many people think that SERVE is nothing but work, but those people are wrong. Though SERVE can be frustrating at times it is also such a great place to learn. Everyone here has taught me something. For example, I have learned how to be patient, grateful, generous, happy and, most of all, how to love wholeheartedly. I know that I will miss everyone here and will think back to the memories of SERVE 2014 for a very long time.

Lisa

This is my first here at SERVE. I was advised to come by my good friend Becca Bokma. She made it clear that SERVE would be a great experience, and she was absolutely right. At first, I was not completely sure of what to expect. But when I arrived, and started to meet the mentors and participants and at Calvin CRC’s SERVE, it was so much more amazing that I could have imagined. This is a wonderful community, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to be a part of it. I have formed many new friendships, and hope to see all these wonderful participants, mentors, leaders and organizers again next year. Thank you all so much for making SERVE 2014 an amzing experience.

Jonathan

I was not formally a mentor this year, but a part-time mentor helping with everybody as well as videotaping everything Ron told me to. It’s not the same as being linked up with a specific person. Honestly I liked it better. The freedom of being able to go to any participant I want to talk to was great since each one has their own special qualities that make them great, each one having something that can make you realize that the people we so often label as handicapped should be the models by which we live. Things like being happy in any circumstance or getting excited about the little things in life or believing that there is something so special about you that it may as well be superpowers. The ‘smarter’ people don’t seem to understand things like that. I love all the people here and I can’t wait to see them again. It’s always wonderful.

Olivia

This year was the first time I attended SERVE. I had heard about it through church and wanted to experience it for myself. I decided it was a good idea and then the adventure began. Lisa and I were paired up with Maddie and the week was fantastic. I  learned so much through this amazing experience, including patience, perserverance and positive attitude. God did so much in the three of us and I could not be more thankful!