Sunday, April 18, 2004

'The trouble with born-again Christians is that they're an even bigger pain the second time round' [Herb Caen]


TFY. Wow. Last time was a real turning point in my life. I was fourteen, introverted and a complete geek. I was incredibly shy and pretty obstinate when it came to doing stuff. My councillors went at me and went at me, and it changed my life completely.

If it hadn’t been for them, I would be a very boring person indeed.

This time round was no less perfect. My troop started off pretty small, about 25 of us, tops. My group had four in it. That included Ben and I. There was John, Samoan, and Kaitlyn.

John struck up a conversation with Ben and I, you see, Ben and I had been talking about Command and Conquer Renegade. John mentioned Counter-Strike, and we just took off on our daring exploits. Things got interesting when he asked us where we were from.

‘Toowoomba hey? Man, I heard weed was really expensive up there.’

I must’ve looked incredibly confused when he said that, because he went on to say;

‘Do you smoke?’ I said no. ‘Does your mate smoke?’ I said no.

The makings of an awkward moment were beginning to seed, but our counsellor started off a ‘getting to know each other’ activity, and it was pretty cool.

She basically went round to each of us [we’d combined by then with her cousin’s group] and tipped peanut M&M’s into our hands. She and her cousin then said that for each of the colours, we had to say something about ourselves. Name, Ward/Stake, favourite scripture, favourite song and something about ourselves.

I couldn’t think of a favourite scripture, but luckily for me I didn’t have that colour. I ended up with four brown M&M’s and an orange and blue one. I mentioned Jet, the Dandy Warhols, the Living End and I think Muse.

The response from the rest of the troop was comical. The Samoans were confused [seeing as they live and breathe RNB], but on the other side of the circle, I got a lot of smiles and nods from the Sunshine coast guys.

Punks and surfers to the core. I mean seriously, one girl would have gotten on with Penny like a house on fire.

It was really awesome to see how different the youth are in the church, in most cases at least, and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get along with all of them.

I’m still on a bit of a high from Saturday night’s testimony meeting. Our counsellors were just awesome. The troop leader was an R.M. by the name of Xander Orth. He called us all over to troop one by playing his bagpipes. Not surprisingly Troop One had an obvious tartan feel. My group’s counsellor was a beautiful Samoan sister that I still don’t remember the name of, but she has to be in the top five in my best influences list.

Thursday was a success. From the last TFY I learnt the hard way that you only get what you put in, so I threw myself into the fray. Ben was pretty hard to warm up to it, but he got into the swing of things soon enough. [Because of my wonderful influence, lol].

There was the traditional getting to know you shtick, followed by a hilarious performance made up by our counsellors on the ways and wiles of the world and TFY and stuff.

After that was lunch, where our counsellors threw pizza at us [not literally, thankfully], and then we went on to our classes. The first one was by Brother and Sister Stone on us and how planning our lives gives us direction, and how plans without action are just dreams. Dancing was next, and we learnt to jive and such, and how to ask a girl to dance and so on.

After that we moved to another class, a ‘Family Feud’ style thing, hosted by another brilliant counsellor that I remembered from my first TFY. Rebecca asked us what we’d just learnt and when someone said ‘Dancing,’ she asked for an example of how to ask a girl to dance.

A ‘volunteer’ stood up [by volunteer I mean planned volunteer], and he said;

‘Rebecca,’ he placed his hand on her shoulder, ‘will you me the honour of dancing with me?’

Rebecca fluttered her eyelashes, but shied away and said in a mock horror voice, ‘physical contact, physical contact! You do know if you go up to some girl and call them by name like that, they’re instantly going to think ‘STALKER!’

Heh. The little game show was fun, seeing our fellow youth go up there and make fools of themselves [I’m not being mean at all. It was funny].

Dinner was next and Ben and I lined up, and started talking about random rubbish, and two girls in the line next to us just joined in. We finally realised that we hadn’t properly introduced ourselves, and Ben mentioned that we were from Toowoomba ward.

The girls said, ‘wow, that’s weird. Do you know the Dixons?’

‘Yeah.’ I said. ‘Ben and I were best friends with them when we were growing up, we used to go to their place all the time.’

‘That’s bizarre. We’re like, Emily’s best friend!’

So yeah, small world. The talent show was that night, and we managed to secure some decent seats. The youth are always involved in the show, and it started off in the parking lot, with our Troop Chant, that we had practiced for a couple of hours before dinner. [I’m sorry this is so disjointed. I’m remembering as I go.]

We kind of screwed up, but being a Mormon audience, we had a riotous applause complete with screams and cheers. I still can’t get over how appreciative an audience they were.

At school activities, you usually get calls of derision and such, but these guys just went off and took it in their stride.

So often I forget who I am and slip into the role of a heckler.

Talent night, yes. Auditions were held during the troop chant creating period, and these performances were good. Really good. The youth weren’t the only ones that performed, the counsellors joined in and so did some of the adult leaders.

Popular songs were performed, [Evanescence twice. But who’s keeping score, lol ~_^], along with some RNB and such, but it was bearable.

Three Samoan boys started it all off with some seriously good beat boxing [or whatever], and we went through the whole Destiny’s child phase and such. One of the adults there that helped out the music played a really beautiful piece that he had composed for his wife. It was so haunting, but it was filled with a passion that just struck me.

We cheered, we shouted, we applauded, and we did the TFY chant over and over again until our throats were sore. The first day was finished with an evening devotional.

Second Day

This day was the second best out of the three. This day I met one of the most beautiful young woman, inside and out, that’s a member. She was in my troop, and part of the Sunshine Coast crew.

Ben and I were sitting around for something, lunch, I think. Well, she came over and started talking to us [Ben was reading.] and we just hit it off. She was such a truly beautiful person, and I was honestly surprised that she started talking to me. She asked what ward I was from and I said Toowoomba.

‘Hey, I’ve got an aunt who lives there.’

‘Would that aunt happen to be Janice Parish?’

‘Yes!’

‘Yeah, she’s a close family friend of ours.’

‘If you haven’t remembered from yesterday, my name’s Brie, Brie Parish.’

We exchanged old war stories, and I talked about my friends outside the church. She mentioned her friends and how they always seemed to be getting drunk every other night.

Something clicked inside me, I don’t know if it was a prompting of sorts, or if I’m just skilled, but I laughed and mentioned the Term One ‘party’ that happened at the beginning of the holidays. I talked about Hannah and Luci talking about having a ‘Liam friendly’ party.

She was surprised at this, and mentioned how her friends are hardly ever that interested in her standards.

I laughed, and jokingly mentioned that I had a sort of protective clique at school, I made sure to mention that they were all incredibly insane. Mainly Dave and Mark, but you know.

She said how I was so lucky to have such a supportive group of friends, and up until that point, I’d never thought of it that way before. I guess in my naivety I just assumed everyone had friends like that. Everyone of the youth in my ward had it that way, so I took it as a given.

She talked about subjects, I said mine and she was honestly surprised at my choices.

‘Okay. I can understand the English, Maths, Chem, Physics and Ancient History, but Art? Most guys I know wouldn’t even touch it.’

I laughed and said it was one of my favourite subjects, and she talked about her preferred styles and I did the same.

I’ve honestly never known a moment when I’ve bonded so quickly to someone that I only met an hour before.

I just spoke the truth and said how almost all of my friends are artistically apt [I’m sorry Toby, but Physics isn’t an art form], and how they’re pretty much all muso’s. I guess most of the conversation was about my friends, but there was so much to tell, and she was rapt.

It got to the stage when I’d talked about Dave and our incredibly stupid exploits, and Mark, and how he was so perfectly balanced when it came to study and socialising. Flynn and our Physics antics, not to mention the Inter-house music and Drama festival, and she just said, ‘that’s it. I’m moving to Toowoomba and adopting your friends.’

In reflection of our experience together at TFY, I’m still surprised at how alike we are; I can picture her in our ‘clique’ at school, and just fitting right in. A little insanity goes a long, long, way.

Ben finally put his two cents in and we talked about both our musical sides, how he’s been to MOST and State honours, and how the only spare time we seem to have is when we go to church.

I agreed and mentioned how my lunches are all taken up by Choir and Committee meetings. She was interested in the committees, so I explained them to her and about the stuff we do in Global service.

She commented, ‘you are really amazing, do you know that?’

Saying I was surprised, caught off guard, would be an understatement, but it’ll have to do.

I guess it was one of those movie moments. She smiled and my heart melted.

The concert was next, a performance put on by our counsellors, yet again, and it started off with our Xander playing a stirring bagpipe solo. The rest was a bit off a blur, and I’m really regretting not bringing a journal to write in, my brain is leaving out some of the details.

The concert was followed by ‘sportsmania,’ where we ran around doing all these quirky activities that had been meticulously planned by our YSA counsellors. Half of the areas had spiritual meanings, and the rest were just for fun.

We had free time next, and we wandered around, wasting an hour at looking at some touch football match, and minigolf. Then we wandered inside, to find out, THEY HAD HALO! ACK! I’d wasted an hour outside when they had Halo inside!

It was the last thing I expected to see, but there it was!

Mind you, two ‘boxes and only three controllers did kind of suck, but not as much as the opposition! Ha! BURN!

lol

Owing to the minimum amount of controllers, we played by ‘when you die you switch’ rules, and let me tell you, the other box was switching an awful lot.

I’ve never realised what good Halo players we Mormons are until that day. On our ‘box we pretty much aced the competition, even when they got their act together.

The guy that was on gave me the controller when he died [ugh. Hang ‘em High. Hate that level], and I basically stalked around slapping them in the back. Lol. I wasn’t invisible until I picked up a rocket launcher. When I set someone sky-high and cried ‘corpse!’ I actually got a cheer, lol.

But wow, it was fun. Cheering on the other guys when it was their turn, playing Chiron, mind you, it wasn’t until Blood Gulch that I came into my element.

Mhm…8 kills in a row. Four head shots on the same guy, each time he respawned. They called me a sniper, so I cruised around in the Warthog and took it up close and personal.

^_^; Moving along, I switched with Rebecca [the crazy counsellor] and she proceeded to run around in circles like a lunatic crying ‘shoot! Shooooot!’ It was about then that Ben and I went to get picked up to prepare for the dance.

Dance! Yes, dance! After sportsmania we went home, had dinner, got changed and came back at 7:30 for one of the biggest church dances I’ve been to.

Mmm..rainyness. Just a note to everyone out there, dancing outside in the rain to YMCA, while fun, is not good when you’re wearing suede shoes.

My T-shirt went down well. That is to say, the people who read it thought it was hilarious. Mind you, I had two people walk pass me, do a double take and read the shirt to say,

‘Same shirt different day? I like, totally missed the ‘r’.’

Wee…but we danced, we had fun. I had a stalker. [Don’t ask. Just don’t. Fifteen year old girls need to be locked up]. I talked to Brie some more and made some really good friends.

I also ate free snow cones until my brain froze. Ehe..x.X;

Ben and I limped to our Evening devotional, and it was really good. Chris and Xander went around with a bucket of water and a towel, and proceeded to wash everyone’s feet and dry them. The then cut up the towel into pieces and gave us each a piece.

This was with it;

‘At first glance you may look at this towel and think, “Good, I can use that. Mine are getting worn.” But have you ever stopped to think that for years, even thousands of years, the towel has not just been used in the kitchen, but for a variety of reasons?
Take for example the mother who wipes the tears of a little child to soothe the physical and emotional hurt: the physician who binds the wound of a bleeding patient: the woman in her home wiping her hands as she moves from task to task: the weary traveller who wipes his sweated brow: the manager who ‘throws the towel in’ to save the live of his protégé: or the young man wiping the grease of his hands as he fixes the old car.
Perhaps the most significant use of the towel, however, was about two thousand years ago when our loving Brother took and ordinary towel in His hands and dried the feet of his disciples only hours before his crucifixion. The towel is a handy item with a myriad of uses, but it also has deep meaning when seen in the hands of the Saviour doing a work of kindness for his fellow men.
So take this towel knowing it is given with love and do works of goodness with it, as the Saviour worked goodness with His so many years ago.

I thought it was something of importance, it really finished the day on a high note for me.

Third Day

This was the big one. We went to the Auchenflower basketball stadium for some fun. We did all these little activities with handicaps and stuff. Armless egg and spoon race, putting on a shirt without an arm, feeding each other jelly while we were both blindfolded. Ben and I were the best, apart from me stabbing him in the throat. At least I didn’t miss him completely, lol.

After that we crowded into the stadium itself for the best basketball match I have ever seen. Dude. Forget Olympic basketball, it pales in comparison when you see it done in wheelchairs.

Our leaders got into wheelchairs and took on the Australian Wheelchair Basketball team. To be frank, they got whipped. But it was so damn cool! Tight turns, insane amount of speed, ultimate ball control!

One guy’s wheels flashed! C’mon!

After that we got picked up, half an hour late I might add. But Ben and I don’t mind standing in the rain, lol.

We went home for some lunch, and Aunt Mary-anne forced food upon us. I mean, I felt bloated by the end of it, lol. We got changed into our Sunday best and came back for our last piece of TFY.

This was the special moment. We had our last ‘counsellor cluster,’ where we had a Troop photo taken, which will be emailed to me sometime soon by one of our counsellors. I’ll stick it up, mmkay?

Dinner!

Okay, weird moment. I really don’t look that old do I?

I had two of the adults there say to me, ‘are you eighteen, or one of the counsellors?’

To which I replied; ‘no, sixteen turning seventeen, but if I say yes, do I get a bigger dessert?’

Way, way back at the beginning of TFY, I had a few people ask me if I was going to come back as a counsellor, seeing as it was my last TFY.

^_^;

I don’t look 18+ do I?

Fireside!

That was cool. Our troop was seated at the back, on the stage, but we could see a lot better than those in front of us. One of the youth sang ‘Look and Live,’ and I could really feel the spirit. A few people were crying and it was just a beautiful moment.

President Stone stood up for his talk and pulled out this nine-volt battery and asked for a volunteer.

Sister Young was picked and she went up. He gave her the battery and said, ‘go on. Lick it. It’s dead, trust me.’

She shook her head and we laughed.

‘Go on. It’s flat, show a little faith and lick it. Trust me.’

She refused again, and he turned to face us, a huge grin on his face.

‘Sister Young was lucky, because for once, I’m a dirty rotten liar. I bought this battery on the way over.’

He went on and finishing off by talking about the worldly snares Satan has in store for us. Some other people spoke, but I can’t remember the details. Through the course of the fireside, Brie and I just grew so much closer, I’d only really met her the day before, but it felt as though I’d known her my entire life.

Just before we sang the EFY youth medley, a Samoan girl and her friends introduced themselves to us. She smiled and said, ‘are you two together? It just is, you really look like it.’

Neither of us said anything but I guess the thought hadn’t really crossed our minds.

The EFY medley was beautiful. I know I’ve used that word a lot, so shoot me, but it’s right for the job. When the young women started singing ‘As Sisters in Zion’ and the guys started ‘We have been born as Nephi of old…’ I felt so…well, good.

We piled out after prayer and each troop peeled off for our last session together. Testimony meeting. I suppose 9/10th’s of this has been for me, but you get that. This next bit is one of those moments that mean everything to me, but nothing to someone who wasn’t there.

Our counsellors stood up, and you could just tell that they were shining with pride. It wasn’t pressed upon us to stand, but people got up of their own accord. Kurt, resident punk complete with the fishnet gloves, stood up and you could really see that he changed.

‘This was the last thing I expected myself doing.’ He said. ‘But I saw you others stand up, and I just knew it was something I had to do.’

The others stood up and did the five, but also mentioned how much that the conference had meant to them, how much of an example the other youth had been to them, how much they knew that they needed to set themselves to get closer to the gospel.

We closed with a hymn and a prayer, and everybody was running around, giving hugs and making promises to email, to call, and to visit each other.

My counsellor came up and gave me the biggest hug and said how proud she was of me and so on. I tackled Kurt [literally. It wasn’t enough to knock him over, but it was enough to give him a hug] I managed to get his number and email so we’ll keep in touch.

Brie made a promise that she’d hunt me down when I moved to Brisbane, and gave me the biggest hug. I’ve got her email around her somewhere. She said that she’d come up and visit sometime, so I guess you guys will see her soon enough.

^_^

I’ve still got my TFY tag on, and I’m seeing how long I can wear it without being told to take it off. Seeing as I can’t take it off without breaking it, *pout*

Well, I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed TFY, if not, sucks to be you.

*waves*

[Damn. School tomorrow and here's me without having done my assignments]


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