Pull my strings

I'm going to try to catch up a little this morning. It seems there has been no time (or else I've been making no time) to write about what has been going on.

Monday was one of the team building days. Before I go into that though, let me introduce the team that I'm on.

Clay is the leader of the team, he apparently has passed the bar to be a lawyer, but they won't let him practice until he has a degree so now he's going back to school to get his degree, which he says is rather boring at times.

David is a tall, slender youth who always has a good attitude and is ready for fun at all times. He has somewhat of the same background I had, coming into the RP church and went through the same struggles I did, about doctrinal issues. I look forward to getting to know him better.

Nathaniel is the third member, and was/is an Eagle Scout. He is much better at tying knots than I am. Everyone on the team is rather tall (and as Abigail pointed out, wears glasses) except for me. While I don't consider myself to be short, I'm certainly the shortest one in the bunch!

On Monday, the team went to the nearby ropes course, owned by the college, as part of our team building, along with many other youth from the church. The challenges and activities were designed to help us to trust one another and to of course, have fun. The first activity that we did was called "toilet tag" which personally I didn't care for all that much. If a person got tagged he was supposed to kneel on the ground with one knee out and an arm held out and someone else was supposed to come along, sit on the knee, and "flush" the arm and then the person would be able to run again. The extra time to get a person back added a new element to the game (as opposed to Freeze Tag) but I don't know, maybe I just don't feel comfortable sitting upon some people's knees....

After that we did some stretches in the form of a peanut butter worker. The man directing us, Tim, said that the place used to be a peanut butter factory (whether it was or not I have no idea) so in tribute to the workers that would clean the huge vats, we had to get into our "suits," then climb into the vats, and scrub from side to side, top and bottom, with our elbows and knees, etc, and all make believe of course. It was designed to get us stretched out.

In keeping with the peanut butter theme, we next had to cross a toxic river of peanut butter waste (two ropes stretched apart on a grassy area) using teamwork and "magical crackers" (pieces of carpet) that would float on top of the river. If we let go of a cracker it would float away so we had to have someone touching every one of the five crackers at all times. Since there were 14 people and only 5 small crackers, they sent over six the first time, and lost two crackers on the way (due to forgetfulness and lack of practice), which wasn't a good ratio for the first trip. David came back with the crackers and tried to take another group but then wound up with just two crackers and trying to get two people across at a time (though in reality only one, since the other kept having to come back with the crackers).

We were told we could have a "mulligan" if we wished, but we had to bring everyone back who was over and start from the beginning, which we did and this time we didn't lose a single cracker and got everyone across. Stephen was the rear most of the time and did an excellent job, never forgetting a cracker and making sure that there was always a foot or something touching it. He also volunteered a couple of times to make the trek back across the river with the extra crackers tucked under his shirt in his back, with my belt strapping it all to him :)

After successfully conquering the toxic peanunt butter, we went down to where they had a couple of ropes strung between some trees, with smaller cords in between to make a web. Due to the toxic waste from the peanut butter, apparently the area grew some gigantic, mutated spiders! Our job was to get the entire team through the holes without awakening the spider by touching any of the cords. Each hole in the web that we used would close up after we used it, so we had to plan our strategy accordingly. I first went through one of the lower ones, barely getting my leg and head through, with the guidance of others, and waited on the opposite side. Then came Jessie, being fed like a "sausage" as someone aptly put it, Once her head was through I was able to support her upper end on my side, we got down to her legs and with a yank (from me) we able to "pop" her through and onto her feet.

I believe we got one more person through but jiggled the cord, so rather than having the spider eat us, Tim said that it just sprayed a toxic poison on all of us, which thankfully only affected anyone over 18, so that we were made mute and couldn't speak (to get the younger ones in on the action rather than just the older taking over). So the youth strategized and would point to a hole and we'd nod or shake our head, depending on if we thought it was a good idea. We got a couple more people through but bumped another cord and this time, the youth were affected with the "I love you" disease and had to say that phrase before speaking to anyone. It was rather amusing, but I was thankful I was mute at the time! It's not exactly a phrase I want to just loosely throw around I guess. J.D. said he just didn't talk at all so he wouldn't have to :)

Next we went over to the trust fall, which is a platform about three and a half feet off the ground and one person stands on it and falls rigidly backwards while the others catch him (being in two rows on the ground with their arms outstretched). That part was difficult for a few people, but no one stayed up there "building up courage" and everyone did great.

We took a break for lunch and then went back to the high ropes course. We were instructed how to use uh.... "Caribeaners" (I have no idea how that is properly spelled) which were little clips used to hook you on to a rope or loop and the harnesses. We split up into teams of two people each, with one on the ground spotting the person up in the air. I was with J.D. who went through the course right behind Daniel, and in very quick time! After one member from each team had gone, it was the turn for the other member. I went through trying not to use the rope as much as possible, just balancing on the logs and such (which were about 25 to 30 feet in the air) yet the cables were not taut enough to balance upon. It was fun and at the end was a long zip line (about 100 yards I'm guessing) which was a suitable (and fun) ending to the challenge. The only thing left after that was to do the "trapeze jump," which was a horizontal bard suspended from a rope about 10 feet away from a tall telephone pole, probably about 25 feet high. Laura didn't want to go first so I was nominated/volunteered and got all strapped in (Billy, the other worker there had us by a safety rope) and climbed up the pole.

The hardest part was once you got to the top of the pole you had to get yourself on top of it, about 10 inches in diameter and with nothing else to grab on to. You just had to press yourself up by your palms, balance, get a foot underneath you, and stand up. After giving a count of three, to warn Billy, I made a "superman leap," all stretched out and grabbed the bar, my momentum swinging my legs violently past me. The bar was metal and rather weather-worn and slippery. After hanging onto it for a few seconds and wondering "now what?" I let go and was lowered to the ground (which was all you could do).

J.D., Sam, Daniel, Bruce (is what I remember but I'm sure there was at least one more, probably David) grabbed the bar but it was too slippery to hold on to. Everyone did great getting on top of the pole though. Several saluted before making the death-defying leap, and Betty did a little dance to loosen up and build up courage ;)

Everyone came home a little tired from being in the sun all day (it was past four in the afternoon when we finished) and happy I believe. It was a very enjoyable day and I think we got to know each other a bit better.