♪ Rainbow You'll Always Be Mine ♪
Ow...I totally just stabbed myself with a trash can T-T.
Anyway, this weekend, I was at Grand Assembly which is the state convention for the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in Ohio. For those of you who don't know what Rainbow is, here's a link to my local Assembly's site: http://medinamasonictemple.org/rainbow/what_is_rainbow.htm
The whole weekend was rather lovely! I was a member of the Grand Choir, trying to help get those shy new girls to sing out a bit, singing songs about how "God sent a rainbow" and how "I'm counting the colors in my life." The choir is known to be mainly for younger girls, so I knew I'd have to sing all these cutesy rainbow themed songs...but hey, I get service points toward my charm bracelet. But now I need to explain more stuff D:. We have things like girl scout badges in Rainbow, but they're nicer and the majority of them are metal pins. In my Assembly, it goes like this:
Merit bars - A gold pin is the first merit bar, which serves as the top of a chain of rainbow colored metal bar, each with the word "SERVICE" upon them in gold lettering, that hang down from it, connected with metal rings. At the end of the bars is a pot of gold, and then an additional golden wreath gets attached around the pot of gold...It's pretty impressive looking. Merit bars are 50 points each, whereas the wreath and pot of gold are both 150 points each.
McAlester Pin - IORG was founded in McAlester, Oklahoma in 1922. In commemoration of this, one of our pins is a replica of the International Temple of IORG, located in McAlester. This pin costs 250 points...I think. lol
Silver Tray - After the McAlester pin, your pins are done...you get to move on to bigger and better things! The next award is the Silver Tray, which is an actual silver tray with your name, and the date you recieved it engraved upon it. Everyone's trays are different, and they're very special momentos. These cost a whopping 700 service points. It generally takes a very active girl about a year and half to two years to earn this award, where with the merit bars, an active girl can earn three to four of them in six months.
Precious Moment - This is what it sounds like...for a very costly 1500 service points, a girl can earn her Precious Moment figurine. For the most part, the only girls who ever earn this award are ones who have been in the organization since they were 11, because otherwise they would never have the time to earn all those points. The figurine is always different, but it's always a treasured possesion.
Charm Bracelet - After the Precious Moment, the work seems easy yet again. The charm bracelet is 150 points, with charms costing about 50 points each.
When I joined rainbow, I wanted to earn all the awards possible. Once I get a few charms, I believe I will have gotten farther on the awards chain than anyone in my Assembly has, and I'm very eager to get more...hence why I did choir...But I also enjoy singing and I like to lend myself to Rainbow and use all the talents I possess that I can offer.
Anyway, so yeah...I sang in the choir...lol. All of the sessions open with heralds giving a trumpet call to order. I think we're one of the few jurisdictions that do this. The Grand Representatives to different Grand Jurisdictions in the world paraded the costumes they make representing their states and countries. For example, when I was Grand Representative to California and Wisconsin, my costume was an escaped prisoner from Alcatraz. The jail outfit had cow spots instead of stripes, and there were squeaky sharks attached all over wearing cheese hats (for the green bay packers and for wisconsin's dairy production). The prisoner dragged a golden ball and chain behind her (for California's state mineral and nickname, the Golden State), and her handcuffs were also golden. I got second place on it! Anyway, after a very very very long night of introductions of dignitaries, a few awards were given, and I received two scholarships! yaaay.
Friday is the looong day. In the morning, the Grand Officers (state officers) performed the formal opening ceremony, the initiation ceremony, and a memorial service. A girl in our Assembly, Crystal, was elected as Grand Faith last year, so she had some very important ritualistic work to carry out, and she did it wonderfully. I sang in the choir yet again...haha. Friday afternoon's session is the fun one with all the good awards! Although, it starts off sadly with the Majority service. When girls turn 20 (or 21 if the girl has applied for an extension) they "Graduate" from rainbow...it's very sad, because Rainbow becomes something special to you, especially after you have been in since you were 11 years old. All the friendships you make and opportunities you receive are so great, and what you put into Rainbow, you get back tenfold. I cried a little bit at this part because I will be receiving my majority in two years (since I'm getting an extension). But after all of that sadness, there were elections. A girl from a nearby Assembly was elected to the very special Grand Office of Grand Faith, so we were very happy for her. I was a bit sad because a girl who sat next to me when I was Grand Love (she was Grand Religion) ran against her and lost...but not everyone can win T-T.
Awards followed the elections! Yaay! Our district banner was disqualified because it was three inches too long X_X. Our scrapbook received second place, due to the fact that it was so epic that we had to divide it into three scrapbooks, one of which fell apart during judging. But we received the Overall Impression travelling trophy for the second year running (and they only started the trophy last year...haha), which is an award that you give to the scrapbook which best depicts what it is to be a Rainbow Girl. We received an award for the most increase in members from Grand Assembly to Grand Assembly, and our Assembly's name was added to an absolutely lovely plaque (is the award kind still spelled like the nasty teeth kind O_o?). Friday afternoon is also when they announce who the next year's Grand Officers are going to be. It's always very exciting! My roommate from this year, Bethany, got her first Grand Office, Grand Christian Flag Tribute. This is an Auxiliary office that's purpose is to write a tribute to the Christian Flag, memorize it, and recite it at next year's Grand Assembly when the flag is presented at the altar. This is one of the higher ranked Auxiliary offices, so we were very very proud for her!
After the sessions, there is a ceremony for an award that is presented to girls who demonstrate exemplary service to their Assemblies. Bethany was receiving hers this year, so we made sure to go to the ceremony to support her. After the ceremony, there is a really big party, where we finally get to wear casual clothes! I actually danced this year...hahaha. We all bought these rainbow colored tattoo bracelets for everyone in the assembly to wear with some tickets that we won from playing some rather entertaining games.
Saturday is a very exciting day. After a short and tearful session in the morning consisting of the balloting ceremony, and farewell of the Grand Officers and Grand Worthy Advisor (the head honcho...kind of like the Rainbow president), it was time to get ready for Super Teams. Super Teams is the field day we have and here are the events:
Relay Race: First, the smallest girl in your assembly is elected to squeeze through one of those scrunchy kiddy tunnels. Then they run over and tag your wheelbarrow team, where one person crawls on their hands and other holds her ankles. They wheelbarrow over to the tire person, who runs and tags the three-legged race people. Fun times....lol
Flamingo Toss: Contrary to what this misleading name suggests, flamingos are not thrown. Hula hoops are tossed around yard flamingos, and your get points depending on which ones you go for...the father, the more points you get.
Ladd-ski: Named after a Past Grand Worthy Advisor, three people stand on two boards, and hold on to jump ropes..they have to work together to pick up the skis and get across a finish line.
Softball throw: yeah...
Waterglass run: Grab a spoon and race water into a cup...lol.
Anyway, we did bad...X_X;...no awards for us. We wore aprons though! Hahaha, we wore matching aprons to all of our meals over our fancy dresses (it's kind of a fashion statement in rainbow to protect the formals) so we randomly decided to wear them to Super Teams.
After Super Teams was the Installation of all the new officers..I kindly switched with a girl who was assigned to stand in the back and take the chairs of the new Grand Officers as they stood up to get talked at about the duties of their office....I'm so nice. XD The new state theme was announced and it's music related and stuff, so I like it :D.
This morning we had breakfast and church, and we left...As co-pilot in the car, I was in charge of making sure my mother didn't fall asleep and crash other people's kids in the car.
I guess that's it...feel free to ask any questions. Lol...
<3 メロディ
Anyway, this weekend, I was at Grand Assembly which is the state convention for the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in Ohio. For those of you who don't know what Rainbow is, here's a link to my local Assembly's site: http://medinamasonictemple.org/rainbow/what_is_rainbow.htm
The whole weekend was rather lovely! I was a member of the Grand Choir, trying to help get those shy new girls to sing out a bit, singing songs about how "God sent a rainbow" and how "I'm counting the colors in my life." The choir is known to be mainly for younger girls, so I knew I'd have to sing all these cutesy rainbow themed songs...but hey, I get service points toward my charm bracelet. But now I need to explain more stuff D:. We have things like girl scout badges in Rainbow, but they're nicer and the majority of them are metal pins. In my Assembly, it goes like this:
Merit bars - A gold pin is the first merit bar, which serves as the top of a chain of rainbow colored metal bar, each with the word "SERVICE" upon them in gold lettering, that hang down from it, connected with metal rings. At the end of the bars is a pot of gold, and then an additional golden wreath gets attached around the pot of gold...It's pretty impressive looking. Merit bars are 50 points each, whereas the wreath and pot of gold are both 150 points each.
McAlester Pin - IORG was founded in McAlester, Oklahoma in 1922. In commemoration of this, one of our pins is a replica of the International Temple of IORG, located in McAlester. This pin costs 250 points...I think. lol
Silver Tray - After the McAlester pin, your pins are done...you get to move on to bigger and better things! The next award is the Silver Tray, which is an actual silver tray with your name, and the date you recieved it engraved upon it. Everyone's trays are different, and they're very special momentos. These cost a whopping 700 service points. It generally takes a very active girl about a year and half to two years to earn this award, where with the merit bars, an active girl can earn three to four of them in six months.
Precious Moment - This is what it sounds like...for a very costly 1500 service points, a girl can earn her Precious Moment figurine. For the most part, the only girls who ever earn this award are ones who have been in the organization since they were 11, because otherwise they would never have the time to earn all those points. The figurine is always different, but it's always a treasured possesion.
Charm Bracelet - After the Precious Moment, the work seems easy yet again. The charm bracelet is 150 points, with charms costing about 50 points each.
When I joined rainbow, I wanted to earn all the awards possible. Once I get a few charms, I believe I will have gotten farther on the awards chain than anyone in my Assembly has, and I'm very eager to get more...hence why I did choir...But I also enjoy singing and I like to lend myself to Rainbow and use all the talents I possess that I can offer.
Anyway, so yeah...I sang in the choir...lol. All of the sessions open with heralds giving a trumpet call to order. I think we're one of the few jurisdictions that do this. The Grand Representatives to different Grand Jurisdictions in the world paraded the costumes they make representing their states and countries. For example, when I was Grand Representative to California and Wisconsin, my costume was an escaped prisoner from Alcatraz. The jail outfit had cow spots instead of stripes, and there were squeaky sharks attached all over wearing cheese hats (for the green bay packers and for wisconsin's dairy production). The prisoner dragged a golden ball and chain behind her (for California's state mineral and nickname, the Golden State), and her handcuffs were also golden. I got second place on it! Anyway, after a very very very long night of introductions of dignitaries, a few awards were given, and I received two scholarships! yaaay.
Friday is the looong day. In the morning, the Grand Officers (state officers) performed the formal opening ceremony, the initiation ceremony, and a memorial service. A girl in our Assembly, Crystal, was elected as Grand Faith last year, so she had some very important ritualistic work to carry out, and she did it wonderfully. I sang in the choir yet again...haha. Friday afternoon's session is the fun one with all the good awards! Although, it starts off sadly with the Majority service. When girls turn 20 (or 21 if the girl has applied for an extension) they "Graduate" from rainbow...it's very sad, because Rainbow becomes something special to you, especially after you have been in since you were 11 years old. All the friendships you make and opportunities you receive are so great, and what you put into Rainbow, you get back tenfold. I cried a little bit at this part because I will be receiving my majority in two years (since I'm getting an extension). But after all of that sadness, there were elections. A girl from a nearby Assembly was elected to the very special Grand Office of Grand Faith, so we were very happy for her. I was a bit sad because a girl who sat next to me when I was Grand Love (she was Grand Religion) ran against her and lost...but not everyone can win T-T.
Awards followed the elections! Yaay! Our district banner was disqualified because it was three inches too long X_X. Our scrapbook received second place, due to the fact that it was so epic that we had to divide it into three scrapbooks, one of which fell apart during judging. But we received the Overall Impression travelling trophy for the second year running (and they only started the trophy last year...haha), which is an award that you give to the scrapbook which best depicts what it is to be a Rainbow Girl. We received an award for the most increase in members from Grand Assembly to Grand Assembly, and our Assembly's name was added to an absolutely lovely plaque (is the award kind still spelled like the nasty teeth kind O_o?). Friday afternoon is also when they announce who the next year's Grand Officers are going to be. It's always very exciting! My roommate from this year, Bethany, got her first Grand Office, Grand Christian Flag Tribute. This is an Auxiliary office that's purpose is to write a tribute to the Christian Flag, memorize it, and recite it at next year's Grand Assembly when the flag is presented at the altar. This is one of the higher ranked Auxiliary offices, so we were very very proud for her!
After the sessions, there is a ceremony for an award that is presented to girls who demonstrate exemplary service to their Assemblies. Bethany was receiving hers this year, so we made sure to go to the ceremony to support her. After the ceremony, there is a really big party, where we finally get to wear casual clothes! I actually danced this year...hahaha. We all bought these rainbow colored tattoo bracelets for everyone in the assembly to wear with some tickets that we won from playing some rather entertaining games.
Saturday is a very exciting day. After a short and tearful session in the morning consisting of the balloting ceremony, and farewell of the Grand Officers and Grand Worthy Advisor (the head honcho...kind of like the Rainbow president), it was time to get ready for Super Teams. Super Teams is the field day we have and here are the events:
Relay Race: First, the smallest girl in your assembly is elected to squeeze through one of those scrunchy kiddy tunnels. Then they run over and tag your wheelbarrow team, where one person crawls on their hands and other holds her ankles. They wheelbarrow over to the tire person, who runs and tags the three-legged race people. Fun times....lol
Flamingo Toss: Contrary to what this misleading name suggests, flamingos are not thrown. Hula hoops are tossed around yard flamingos, and your get points depending on which ones you go for...the father, the more points you get.
Ladd-ski: Named after a Past Grand Worthy Advisor, three people stand on two boards, and hold on to jump ropes..they have to work together to pick up the skis and get across a finish line.
Softball throw: yeah...
Waterglass run: Grab a spoon and race water into a cup...lol.
Anyway, we did bad...X_X;...no awards for us. We wore aprons though! Hahaha, we wore matching aprons to all of our meals over our fancy dresses (it's kind of a fashion statement in rainbow to protect the formals) so we randomly decided to wear them to Super Teams.
After Super Teams was the Installation of all the new officers..I kindly switched with a girl who was assigned to stand in the back and take the chairs of the new Grand Officers as they stood up to get talked at about the duties of their office....I'm so nice. XD The new state theme was announced and it's music related and stuff, so I like it :D.
This morning we had breakfast and church, and we left...As co-pilot in the car, I was in charge of making sure my mother didn't fall asleep and crash other people's kids in the car.
I guess that's it...feel free to ask any questions. Lol...
<3 メロディ