Catchup

Heinz ketchup can be found in our dry storage, back and on the right. 2nd shelf has dispenser packs, par 4 and 3rd shelf has emergency ketchup packets... I love knowing where everything is!
I'm getting ahead of myself. Where did I leave off, Saturday?
Saturday went well. More job shadowing. I went into work at 10 so that I could get out early for our campground call. This meant that I got to wait around for an extra 2 hours. Work went fine, when I finish my storekeep stuff I get to start with kitchen prep. I get to make our special vegetarian lasagnas and our pizzas. Two of our biggest sellers. Secret recipe of the veggie lasagna: Stouffers. And the pizza? Freschetta. Kinda disappointing, but hey, if people love it and we can sell em, fine! That night we went to Rod and Linda's trailer (they have a tv and cable so I can watch the World Cup there!!!). We had tacos, SO nice having a home cooked meal. Sarah and I were the only ones who could make it. Maybe a good thing because there isn't much room in that trailer. Also, we me the other couple who is joining us. Vince and Kristi. They're middle aged, and they've worked with ACMNP for the past 6 years in a different park each year. This year they weren't planning on working with ACMNP, but God worked things out and its nice to have them helping since we've lost 2 people. They're both very cool people. They're from Georia, and Vince reminds me a bit of Flanders from the Simpsons... Kristi is a tiny little lady but she's extremely energetic! She's pretty funny. After dinner, (brownies and ice cream YUM.) we drove up to Madison campground for our campground calling. We hold 3 services in Madison in an amphitheater that overlooks a BEAUTIFUL river/valley landscape. It was raining for most of our campground call. Which I was kinda thankful for because we walk through the campground and invite everyone we see to a few "special weekend events". We advertize for Ranger talks, that's our in for being allowed to tell about our church services. Otherwise, it's illegal for us to "prostheletize" in campgrounds. That night I got back to my room and I looked over what I had for my sermon for Sunday. I had written it all out, like I do with most speeches, and when I casually read through it and timed myself it came out to 5 minutes... we shoot for 8-15 minutes. This really freaked me out. I started scribbling more stuff down and really confusing myself. Then I didn't like what I had written out and I wanted to start over. Finally it was around 11 and I had to get up at 6:30 and I just put it away thinking that I would work on it in the morning.
Sunday morning. Got up and went to breakfast with Staci, the other girl that I work with. Even though she worked with ACMNP last summer, she still seemed just as nervous as I was. I don't think she got much experience leading services last summer, she's pretty shy too, I think Amber is the most outgoing one out of all of us. We're a pretty quiet group! Anyway, Vince was at our service to see where and when and how we did things. He offered to help, but Staci and I already had everything planned out so we figured we could handle things. It was still good to have him there for morale support, he was a pretty big comfort. We sang our hymns a capella, which can be kinda tough when you only have 13 people but we managed ok, and got to my sermon. I preached on Job 38, a few verses out of there. My main topic was focusing on Gods creativity in creation and His specific design for everything, and how everything He created points to Him in worship. I read through the verses, prayed, and set to it. I half read through my first paragraph, just kinda getting the feel for things. And then God took over. All I had to do was start the sermon, I somewhat used my notes, mostly as a reference, otherwise it all came from God and He really put the finishing touches on the sermon. I know it wasn't me preaching on Sunday, because things went VERY well. We had almost 3 hours before our next service so we grabbed a couch at the Inn and sat with Staci and Sarah and talked... I took a nap. Next service, I was still a little nervous, but there was this excitement that started to show up too. I remembered the feeling and thinking it was weird. It was almost like the adrenaline rush I used to get when getting into the starters blocks for a race in Track. Nervous excitement. Again, I started things out and God took over. Things changed a little bit, I added some parts and left out some parts but all went well again. (each sermon lasted about 10-13 minutes by the way) We ate lunch after that, pizza in the EDR, not bad at all, and I went back to my room and took another long nap. After that, I went to dinner, really gross looking fish soup/mash stuff that I didn't bother getting. I had plenty of time before our next service but I went to the Rec hall anyway. There is a Mormon service that is held right before ours in there so I sat in the room and watched the whole thing. It was pretty sad really. They were giving testimonies, and most of them had pretty moving stories. But they're just mislead. It all sounded well and good, until they declared this guy as their prophet and leader, whoever he is I can't remember his name, and declaring the Book of Mormon as inspired by God. I half listened and started reading Wild at Heart and my Bible. I've been reading through 1 Corinthians and I came across a verse that totally stood up and slapped me in the face. In the Message version it reads, "And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you." I kinda stopped and read through it again, a definite double take, and again I was just hit with the realization that I am exactly where God wants me to be. Instead of being disappointed, it was a comfort and I know it was from God.
Our third service also went very well. Rev. Bill Young, the resident minister for Yellowstone NP and our head guy for ACMNP was there. He offered a few critiques on our service but told us that we did an EXCELLENT job. He really enjoyed my sermon, he told me I shouldn't even think to throw away my notes but to add to it a little bit more, particularly a gospel message. That was very encouraging as well. After that we met as a whole group. Vince and Kristi, Rod and Linda, Staci, Sarah, Amber and myself. We talked about work and our services, and the next week and prayed at the end. I really like our staff here, I think we're going to fit very well.
Yikes. That was Saturday and Sunday, and right now I have to get to work!