Saturday, July 9, 2016

Ottawa SERVE 2016 - Day 1 - Mentors Arrive


Greetings all. 
Well another SERVE here at Calvin CRC has begun. 

This is our 8th one in 9 years, having taking one year off to go to Winnipeg as a group.  

We are excited to begin again.  
Lots of plans have been brought to fruition, and today our mentors arrived. 
WHOOT!!! 



Our warm fuzzy area is all ready to go.  Thanks Sarah and Olivia for putting this together again.  Here we take time to write encouraging notes to everyone.  A great place to hang out. 


Harold hard at work planning the driving schedule. Always subject to change.  : ) 


The them this year for our SERVE is 
"Jesus is our SuperHero" 
Lots of stuff on that one.  : )  


Our photo booth where people will be able to dress up as a superhero and have their picture taken.  

Bea and Juliette getting things ready.  


This is our craft/small group time.   


The sanctuary is taking shape.  Lots of work done on that by Annette.   


Some theme puzzles.  


Hmmm, somehow Maddi and Bea got these really cool shirts.   None for us.  I'm not bitter.   : ) 



We began our day with breakfast for the mentors that came last night.  


I take them to a place called Melo's.  A nice diner.   


Good food at a good price.   


Ready to dig in.  


 After breakfast we moved in. More or less. 


Joanna has her private room all ready to go. 


Annette and Bea and Joanna figuring out the last minute stage set up.   


And others around to simply help.  


Some nice posters going up.   


Getting rooms ready.   


Getting the welcome bags ready for our participants.  Once again there's really neat stuff inside.   


Welcome Table set up.  


Furniture to move.   





Once again Bea, and her daughter Melanie this time aroud, have outdone themselves.  

Streamers with super hero stuff.   


The full entourage of  Mentors arrived at 11 am.  We had lunch and then headed of to LaFleche areal park in Quebec where we once again did the 3 hour high ropes course.   




Tobie and Kayla...you are goofy.  


We all arrived safely and then got harnessed up.   








Anika doing neck exercises?? 

Hey Janika.  She's ready to go.   


Our youngest high roper.  Melanie's son.  He JUST made the height limit. : ) 

Ryan, that is a BRIGHT shirt.   


Selfie done with my Iphone.  Not bad.  


Hey Bea!!  : )  


These two decided to stay on terra firma.   





Nice nails.  They may be a bit banged up by day's end though. 


Ella helping out her mom...I think? 




Just chillin waiting for things to get going


And soon we were all harnessed up and put into our traditional line to get things moving.  
These are the 24 that went on the course... 


These are the 6 that didn't.  : ) 


After a steep climb to the course, it was once again instruction time.   






It's important to know what you are doing on the course.  It is dangerous if you are not paying attention.   


The group ready to practice.   


Way to go Ryan.  





And then the course began. 
There are LOTS of pictures, and I'll let most of them speak for themselves.  Most of them. : ) 









Hey Joanna.   



I'm actually scared of heights, and this course gets higher by the minute.  




My not so little Katrina.   





Lots of different types of bridges as they called them. 




Mark was a pro.  


If you click on this picture you will get an idea of how much Tobie is enjoying herself.  : )  




If you click on THIS picture, you will get a better idea of how much Kayla is enjoying herself.  : )  





Melanie started out in front of me, at the back of the pack. 
Let's just say I made her first couple of bridges very memorable for her.  : )  


I gave a mentor, sorry, forget who, my Iphone to keep after we all got on the course.  She took LOTS of pictures of me, many of which I have deleted for this Blog.  You'll be glad I did.  : )  





Despite my fear of heights, I do enjoy this course. 




Zip lines are also part of the course.  They are fun. 




There are a couple of spots where you come off the course and have to wait for a zip line.   


Getting higher 




Having fun Juliette? 


Look dear, no hands.  : ) 


I've had enough. : ) 


And Higher!!!! 










This was one of the longer zip lines.  


A busy Place 

Christine enjoyed herself again this year.  




So Kayla, how do you like the course.....







And HIGHER!




 Even some wall climbing.  
I wasn't fond of that part. 







Now Ethan wasn't so happy at first to be on the course, but after he did a couple of bridges, he gained confidence and did very well. Way to go Ethan.  



I'm trying not to look down.   


This is the end of the course.  













Look, no hands.   


Looks like Daniel had a really good day.  : )  


After showers, we headed back to the church and had dinner. 
Our dinner cooking crew.  Wonderful people serving wonderful food.  


Hanging out until everyone's ready.  


The food is ready.   





What's the matter Nicolette?  Not enough gravy?   


Ella had to wait for her food. Not happy are we Ella?  



Roast beef and potatoes and beans and applesauce and salad.  We will eat well again this week.  


Line them up.  


Thanks for your help again Carmen.  




My plate.  


Hmmmm, Samantha..you are strange!  


After dinner we gathered in the youth room for some get to know you stuff.   




I had everyone gather information about another in the group and then they introduced that person to the group.  We learned some new things tonight.   




Everyone talking it up.  Nice to see.  







After sharing Bea went over our small group stuff and some things for tomorrow.  

We then went over some rules and stuff, and ended our time in prayer in small groups.  






A bad panorama of the group. 

And then it was snack time, and now everyone is sleeping, and I soon will be too. 
I just needed to show you the wonderful room that Bea and Annette B will be sharing for the week.  So cozy.  : ) 

So day one is done. 
Mentors are here safe and sound and ready to greet their Participants tomorrow.  
We have some more planning and orientation time tomorrow morning and then some set up and then we are ready to welcome our 20 participants and get this week moving. 
We are excited. 
Please pray for us during this week.  God will do amazing things again, as he always does.  I look forward to witnessing that once again. 

Until tomorrow evening then.................

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