"One would not ask questions if one did not know someone was listening." - John L. Bell
I AM BACK FROM MONTREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!
it is weird being back home. i really love montreat. i am so glad that i went. i am glad to be home so that i can see my friends and especially Ryan, but i am sad because montreat just makes me feel important to the world for some reason. i love it.
i am going to have a very long entry because it is going to include many details from the entire week. bear with me...or dont read it. BUT PLEASE DO READ IT!!! AND COMMENT!! :)
Sunday:
-my packet said that we were leaving from "the lower parking lot at 8:00". so naturally my mom and i assumed that meant the lower parking lot of Quaker Memorial because that's the church i went with. but there was no one there at 7:50 when we got there. so we freaked out. we went to the gas station so i could use the phone and call beccie....no answer. we freaked out even more. then we went back up to the church and by then it was 8:05 or so and we saw a van in the LOWER PARKING LOT....whew..i guess we were supposed to BE THERE at 8:00 :)
-registered. found out i wasnt in Drama but Beccie was. it was sad.
-first worship service. our pastor/minister/preacher was SCOTTISH!! how awesome. his accent was really cool and i think he is in his 50s but even so..what a hunk. but that must have still been the accent.... but seriously...his name is John Bell and he is just one of those few people in the world that seem to have an inner light and inner peace within themselves and they are just so close to God it is amazing to everyone surrounding them. and he preached barefoot...like Jesus...cool :)
-he taught us the "Amen" song that he wrote. because he is amazing and writes songs. but he taught it to us part by part. like soprano, alto, etc. and as he was teaching us..he sang it and conducted it but he moved his hands as is he was placing each note on a musical staff. he leaned to the side sometimes and if our notes were wrong he wavered his hands. it was wonderful. he is brilliant.
-saw Sam, Jonathan, Myra, and Laurel whom i met two years ago. they are from Tennessee and very awesome. -Mixer...YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! star trekkin'
Monday:
8:00-Drama. me and katie/catty snuck in. we did this walking around game where we couldn't bump into anyone. it wasn't drama, it was...recess. but i liked it :) beccie hated it and never went back. luckily katie/catty went with me.
9:00- choir = best part of montreat...excluding john bell
10:00-Bible. one of our leaders had really short hair and dressed like a boy and didnt shave her legs but she was really funny and cool so yay for her. 11:00-worship.
lunch
1:30-choir again..the first sorprano part was not fun
2:30-keynote speaker = John Bell. heck yes. we sat in the front row every day.
3:30-vocal techniques for me. it was the only day i went.
then i had free time until dinner.
Tuesday:
- me and katie/catty went back to drama. beccie slept. I WAS MOSES!!!!!!!!!
-choir..i sang alto. it was hard! -bible yay -worship yay..I PLAYED MOSES IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!!!!!..over 1,000 people :)
-lunch yay -choir...back to first soprano
-KEYNOTE...direct quote from John Bell...i was spacing out and i think a lot of people were too but then we hear "Jesus had a penis." ...and all of us perk up. yay for john bell. oh and did you know there is nothing wrong with sexuality? sexuality even includes hugs. sexuality is normal. if it was a sin to be attracted to someone, God would not have given us hormones you know.
-tennis with David and Beccie in the rain in the parking lot...he is mean when it comes to tennis
-TALENT SHOW!!!! wow sam sure can sing and play that guitar. woot woot. -CHEDDAR :)
Wednesday: -same...except no moses, no penis talk with john bell, no tennis, and no talent show. oh but there was cheddar
-Open Mic. katie/catty and beccie stayed home. YAAAAYYY for Sam and Jonathan. and laurel. holy crap what a voice.
"God is the plunger that clears all the poo out of the pipes of life. And He gets rid of the pain and strife. And He gets us through so we can live our lives the way He wants us to."
YAAYYY!!!!
-Jonathan invited me to lunch with his group. so i gladly replied indeed.
-Huckleberry with Sam and Company. it was dark and scary and bears live in the woods and i didnt have a flashlight...only jonathan's umblella of doom and that just wasn't gonna cut it so they walked me home :) i felt special.
Thursday: -same -our choir sang during worship. it was good i guess
-some adult guy stepped on my foot and it hurt really bad so i sad OW! really loud and he said "oh im sorry, but you'll be okay. you have another one." so i should have called him a Fat Cow just like Sam and Jonathan suggested
-lunch with Sam and Company. their house was a lot nicer than our's.
-got a pic with Bell. he seemed to not be happy. oh well. -beccie and tyler had a lysol war and tyler fell down the stairs :)..im sorry why am i smiling? it's not funny... :)
-AHPAM Festival of Songs. we didnt sing. we just listened. beccie and i wrote notes to Sam and Company..well mostly to Jonathan apparentally because sam was not "allowed" to read them. but HOPEFULLY i made myself a pen pal :)...please?
-dance after the festival. it was mucho fun. sam stepped on my foot during the electric slide and i said "ouch you fat cow!" just as i was taught to say. we learned how to swing dance. kind of. but i know how to do the stunt where the guy kicks his leg over the girl's head and she goes underneath his legs while sliding on the floor. yippee. thanks much for choosing me as your partner sam. i am glad i didnt have to be a wallflower
Friday:
-i forgot to mention that it rained at least once a day. so it did that again.
-usual routine except we didnt have keynote!!! BAH.
-beccie and i explored. katie/catty showered i think.
-and i must mention the worship service..
It was our last one and so we were taking communion again. Bell made some brilliant quote about how if you are looking for Jesus, you can find him here at the table. so people started taking communion and this guy walks up onto the stage and talks to bell and then bell looks astonished and bewildered and he takes the guy's head in his hands and starts like blessing him or something. so then i started crying. by then time i had to get up for communion i was shaking TERRIBLY. when i was walking down the aisle i felt like i could puke at any second...literally. i could have, but i didnt. the guy gave me the bread and looked really concerned because i looked TERRIBLE and definitely wasnt breathing normally. but i unsteadily dipped it into the wine (grape juice) and stuffed it in my mouth. i felt like puking. i walked back to the pew..still bawling and shaking...and i sat down. then i saw another boy go up onto the stage. i asked beccie what he was doing and she said that she guessed he was being blessed or something...after i heard that i KNEW that i needed to be up there. so i stood up and stepped on people's feet while getting out of the pew...i pushed through people coming back from communion and stepped on more feet....still bawling and almost regurgitating. i went up the steps and walked up to Bell. he came over to me slightly and bent his head down to say whatever i needed to say. but i didn't have anything to say. nothing. so i said "i dont know. i just..cant stop..crying.." and he looked past me because obviously i was UNBEARABLE TO LOOK AT ;)...and he said in his Scottish accent..."okay. well..do you love Jesus?" :::nod::: "Do you want to be his disciple?" :::nod::: "okay..well that's all the matters then." he took my head in his hands and said stuff. who knows what it was but it sounded fabulous...especially with all of my sniffling to enhance it. when he finished he gave me a hug and i snotted on him...and then he took my hands and i squeezed them and said "thank you." more bawling followed. Helen told me that it took guts to go up there but i think that i wouldnt have had any guts left if i hadnt. they would have been on the floor. so yes i just shared a very very very very personal experience with whoever wants to read this but for some reason i want to. i want everyone to know. afterward i left a message on ryans cell telling him about it and then i called my mom. i was STILL crying... :)
Thank you John Bell
-me and beccie hung out with jonathan. he told me that he thouse i went up on stage to profess my love for john bell. wrong.
-it rained really hard so we went to take shelter in the huckleberry. sam arrived drenched and gave me the mayonnaise that i have ALWAYS wanted. thanks so much for that sam. beccie, liz, hunter, tyler, and i played egyptian rat screw and didnt finish cause we had to leave.
-Finale concert. i wanted to find john bell so i could thank him again. so i asked the director of the conference where he was and he said he hadnt gotten there yet. so when he got there i went up to him and he saw me and smiled a little and i said "i just wanted to thank you for earlier today" and he said "oh, well you are welcome.." then i hugged him and released and said "i am going to start crying again..." and he said "well you know, i was crying up there as well. it is a very emotional thing. thank you for coming up there." then he grabed my hands and i said "no thank you" and we parted.
-concert. wahoo.
-after the concert i found bell again and waited for a free moment for him. when he saw me come up again he chuckled and said "hello" and he smiled a smile of recognition which was cool. i said "one more thank you" and he said "oh..okay." ::hug:: then i said "i'll never forget you" and he said "oohh i'll never forget you either." i said "thank you" and we grabbed hands and he said "goodbye" and i said "bye" and he smiled. YAY!!! i made a Scottish friend. and he really did touch my life. more than he will probably ever know. and it is making me cry writing about this so... the end.
oh but i had a tattoo on my arm that was a heart with a bell in it and then it said john. i hope he didnt see it. actually no i hope he did. it's funny.
-me beccie and katie/catty got invited to a party at some house near the convocation hall. i didnt think we were going but then sam and company invited us as well so we went. there was dancing..which i did not do. but there was also benedict who is 15 and a glorious singer and just cool in general so we hung out with him. "I am really hungry! Did I eat dinner??....yes..ok...good. i did."
-we sang phantom together.
-time to leave so we walked halfway back with Sam and Company + Andrew who is very tall. but we had to part ways so we said our goodbyes and i was picky about hugs. sorry. i dont like back pats..it just makes it seem like the person doesnt want to be hugging you. -some guy from Sam and Company asked for my phone number. i said no. he then tried to escort me but i declined. until we went down a very steep hill, then i gladly used him for a railing. but after then i steered clear. i guess i used him?? :(
-then me, beccie, katie/catty, and briana ran back to the house cause we were late
-we did our Skit where we made fun of things that happened over the week. such as the household obsession with john bell. actually more of the CAMP's obsession. we bought his sermons and keynotes. and a CD of his songs.
-they loved the skit.
-bed
Saturday:
-we left. and i asked tyler to get my cereal. and it was in the stow thingy under his feet and he couldnt get to it so david turned around and helped him and yelled at me really angrily saying i didnt need cereal and cussed which he shouldnt do and his face turned red and i pulled my pillow up in front of my face and he said "oh great shes gonna cry again" which i guess he was referring to the only other time i cried..at worship on friday. but i did cry. cause it was scary.
HOME.
I am going to put a quote from Bell's sermons or keynotes on here each time i update. they are quotes that particularly stuck out as deep or important to us and we wrote them down as he was speaking. should have gotten his autograph...you know he is quote famous in Scotland.
anyway, the quotes will be the Subject..so you have already seen my quote for today.
it is weird being back home. i really love montreat. i am so glad that i went. i am glad to be home so that i can see my friends and especially Ryan, but i am sad because montreat just makes me feel important to the world for some reason. i love it.
i am going to have a very long entry because it is going to include many details from the entire week. bear with me...or dont read it. BUT PLEASE DO READ IT!!! AND COMMENT!! :)
Sunday:
-my packet said that we were leaving from "the lower parking lot at 8:00". so naturally my mom and i assumed that meant the lower parking lot of Quaker Memorial because that's the church i went with. but there was no one there at 7:50 when we got there. so we freaked out. we went to the gas station so i could use the phone and call beccie....no answer. we freaked out even more. then we went back up to the church and by then it was 8:05 or so and we saw a van in the LOWER PARKING LOT....whew..i guess we were supposed to BE THERE at 8:00 :)
-registered. found out i wasnt in Drama but Beccie was. it was sad.
-first worship service. our pastor/minister/preacher was SCOTTISH!! how awesome. his accent was really cool and i think he is in his 50s but even so..what a hunk. but that must have still been the accent.... but seriously...his name is John Bell and he is just one of those few people in the world that seem to have an inner light and inner peace within themselves and they are just so close to God it is amazing to everyone surrounding them. and he preached barefoot...like Jesus...cool :)
-he taught us the "Amen" song that he wrote. because he is amazing and writes songs. but he taught it to us part by part. like soprano, alto, etc. and as he was teaching us..he sang it and conducted it but he moved his hands as is he was placing each note on a musical staff. he leaned to the side sometimes and if our notes were wrong he wavered his hands. it was wonderful. he is brilliant.
-saw Sam, Jonathan, Myra, and Laurel whom i met two years ago. they are from Tennessee and very awesome. -Mixer...YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! star trekkin'
Monday:
8:00-Drama. me and katie/catty snuck in. we did this walking around game where we couldn't bump into anyone. it wasn't drama, it was...recess. but i liked it :) beccie hated it and never went back. luckily katie/catty went with me.
9:00- choir = best part of montreat...excluding john bell
10:00-Bible. one of our leaders had really short hair and dressed like a boy and didnt shave her legs but she was really funny and cool so yay for her. 11:00-worship.
lunch
1:30-choir again..the first sorprano part was not fun
2:30-keynote speaker = John Bell. heck yes. we sat in the front row every day.
3:30-vocal techniques for me. it was the only day i went.
then i had free time until dinner.
Tuesday:
- me and katie/catty went back to drama. beccie slept. I WAS MOSES!!!!!!!!!
-choir..i sang alto. it was hard! -bible yay -worship yay..I PLAYED MOSES IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!!!!!..over 1,000 people :)
-lunch yay -choir...back to first soprano
-KEYNOTE...direct quote from John Bell...i was spacing out and i think a lot of people were too but then we hear "Jesus had a penis." ...and all of us perk up. yay for john bell. oh and did you know there is nothing wrong with sexuality? sexuality even includes hugs. sexuality is normal. if it was a sin to be attracted to someone, God would not have given us hormones you know.
-tennis with David and Beccie in the rain in the parking lot...he is mean when it comes to tennis
-TALENT SHOW!!!! wow sam sure can sing and play that guitar. woot woot. -CHEDDAR :)
Wednesday: -same...except no moses, no penis talk with john bell, no tennis, and no talent show. oh but there was cheddar
-Open Mic. katie/catty and beccie stayed home. YAAAAYYY for Sam and Jonathan. and laurel. holy crap what a voice.
"God is the plunger that clears all the poo out of the pipes of life. And He gets rid of the pain and strife. And He gets us through so we can live our lives the way He wants us to."
YAAYYY!!!!
-Jonathan invited me to lunch with his group. so i gladly replied indeed.
-Huckleberry with Sam and Company. it was dark and scary and bears live in the woods and i didnt have a flashlight...only jonathan's umblella of doom and that just wasn't gonna cut it so they walked me home :) i felt special.
Thursday: -same -our choir sang during worship. it was good i guess
-some adult guy stepped on my foot and it hurt really bad so i sad OW! really loud and he said "oh im sorry, but you'll be okay. you have another one." so i should have called him a Fat Cow just like Sam and Jonathan suggested
-lunch with Sam and Company. their house was a lot nicer than our's.
-got a pic with Bell. he seemed to not be happy. oh well. -beccie and tyler had a lysol war and tyler fell down the stairs :)..im sorry why am i smiling? it's not funny... :)
-AHPAM Festival of Songs. we didnt sing. we just listened. beccie and i wrote notes to Sam and Company..well mostly to Jonathan apparentally because sam was not "allowed" to read them. but HOPEFULLY i made myself a pen pal :)...please?
-dance after the festival. it was mucho fun. sam stepped on my foot during the electric slide and i said "ouch you fat cow!" just as i was taught to say. we learned how to swing dance. kind of. but i know how to do the stunt where the guy kicks his leg over the girl's head and she goes underneath his legs while sliding on the floor. yippee. thanks much for choosing me as your partner sam. i am glad i didnt have to be a wallflower
Friday:
-i forgot to mention that it rained at least once a day. so it did that again.
-usual routine except we didnt have keynote!!! BAH.
-beccie and i explored. katie/catty showered i think.
-and i must mention the worship service..
It was our last one and so we were taking communion again. Bell made some brilliant quote about how if you are looking for Jesus, you can find him here at the table. so people started taking communion and this guy walks up onto the stage and talks to bell and then bell looks astonished and bewildered and he takes the guy's head in his hands and starts like blessing him or something. so then i started crying. by then time i had to get up for communion i was shaking TERRIBLY. when i was walking down the aisle i felt like i could puke at any second...literally. i could have, but i didnt. the guy gave me the bread and looked really concerned because i looked TERRIBLE and definitely wasnt breathing normally. but i unsteadily dipped it into the wine (grape juice) and stuffed it in my mouth. i felt like puking. i walked back to the pew..still bawling and shaking...and i sat down. then i saw another boy go up onto the stage. i asked beccie what he was doing and she said that she guessed he was being blessed or something...after i heard that i KNEW that i needed to be up there. so i stood up and stepped on people's feet while getting out of the pew...i pushed through people coming back from communion and stepped on more feet....still bawling and almost regurgitating. i went up the steps and walked up to Bell. he came over to me slightly and bent his head down to say whatever i needed to say. but i didn't have anything to say. nothing. so i said "i dont know. i just..cant stop..crying.." and he looked past me because obviously i was UNBEARABLE TO LOOK AT ;)...and he said in his Scottish accent..."okay. well..do you love Jesus?" :::nod::: "Do you want to be his disciple?" :::nod::: "okay..well that's all the matters then." he took my head in his hands and said stuff. who knows what it was but it sounded fabulous...especially with all of my sniffling to enhance it. when he finished he gave me a hug and i snotted on him...and then he took my hands and i squeezed them and said "thank you." more bawling followed. Helen told me that it took guts to go up there but i think that i wouldnt have had any guts left if i hadnt. they would have been on the floor. so yes i just shared a very very very very personal experience with whoever wants to read this but for some reason i want to. i want everyone to know. afterward i left a message on ryans cell telling him about it and then i called my mom. i was STILL crying... :)
Thank you John Bell
-me and beccie hung out with jonathan. he told me that he thouse i went up on stage to profess my love for john bell. wrong.
-it rained really hard so we went to take shelter in the huckleberry. sam arrived drenched and gave me the mayonnaise that i have ALWAYS wanted. thanks so much for that sam. beccie, liz, hunter, tyler, and i played egyptian rat screw and didnt finish cause we had to leave.
-Finale concert. i wanted to find john bell so i could thank him again. so i asked the director of the conference where he was and he said he hadnt gotten there yet. so when he got there i went up to him and he saw me and smiled a little and i said "i just wanted to thank you for earlier today" and he said "oh, well you are welcome.." then i hugged him and released and said "i am going to start crying again..." and he said "well you know, i was crying up there as well. it is a very emotional thing. thank you for coming up there." then he grabed my hands and i said "no thank you" and we parted.
-concert. wahoo.
-after the concert i found bell again and waited for a free moment for him. when he saw me come up again he chuckled and said "hello" and he smiled a smile of recognition which was cool. i said "one more thank you" and he said "oh..okay." ::hug:: then i said "i'll never forget you" and he said "oohh i'll never forget you either." i said "thank you" and we grabbed hands and he said "goodbye" and i said "bye" and he smiled. YAY!!! i made a Scottish friend. and he really did touch my life. more than he will probably ever know. and it is making me cry writing about this so... the end.
oh but i had a tattoo on my arm that was a heart with a bell in it and then it said john. i hope he didnt see it. actually no i hope he did. it's funny.
-me beccie and katie/catty got invited to a party at some house near the convocation hall. i didnt think we were going but then sam and company invited us as well so we went. there was dancing..which i did not do. but there was also benedict who is 15 and a glorious singer and just cool in general so we hung out with him. "I am really hungry! Did I eat dinner??....yes..ok...good. i did."
-we sang phantom together.
-time to leave so we walked halfway back with Sam and Company + Andrew who is very tall. but we had to part ways so we said our goodbyes and i was picky about hugs. sorry. i dont like back pats..it just makes it seem like the person doesnt want to be hugging you. -some guy from Sam and Company asked for my phone number. i said no. he then tried to escort me but i declined. until we went down a very steep hill, then i gladly used him for a railing. but after then i steered clear. i guess i used him?? :(
-then me, beccie, katie/catty, and briana ran back to the house cause we were late
-we did our Skit where we made fun of things that happened over the week. such as the household obsession with john bell. actually more of the CAMP's obsession. we bought his sermons and keynotes. and a CD of his songs.
-they loved the skit.
-bed
Saturday:
-we left. and i asked tyler to get my cereal. and it was in the stow thingy under his feet and he couldnt get to it so david turned around and helped him and yelled at me really angrily saying i didnt need cereal and cussed which he shouldnt do and his face turned red and i pulled my pillow up in front of my face and he said "oh great shes gonna cry again" which i guess he was referring to the only other time i cried..at worship on friday. but i did cry. cause it was scary.
HOME.
I am going to put a quote from Bell's sermons or keynotes on here each time i update. they are quotes that particularly stuck out as deep or important to us and we wrote them down as he was speaking. should have gotten his autograph...you know he is quote famous in Scotland.
anyway, the quotes will be the Subject..so you have already seen my quote for today.