Harvest, Halloween, Slamquest... this is my life.

Downtown Walla Walla

As inferred by the few and far-in-between posts, life has been busy up here in Walla Walla. Settling in is a much longer process than I realized, and I'm quite content to let my work, ministry, and life meld together. It may seem that I have no life, but that's because I am able to move at a healthier pace since my life is my ministry!

Patrick & I being Epic

Now, I admit that the blog title is a wee bit misleading; I did not actually assist with any harvesting. But I did help with a Harvest Carnival put on by First Pres on Halloween. See, we're like 3 blocks from downtown and they had this big shindig, so we did too (as did quite a few local churches). So a couple hundred incredibly cute kids came through, played games, won prizes, got candy, ate popcorn, watched puppet shows, and ran from the guitar wielding daywalker out front (yeah, that was me). I didn't get home in time to hand out candy, so I'm stuck with 100 pieces of epicly tasty candy... which Hannah has thoughtfully agreed to take off my hands if I can get it down to Lake Oswego.

This last weekend I went on my first Central Washington Presbytery youth camp, aptly named SLAMQUEST. It's a Middle School camp, and the slamming refers to... well, alot. First it applied to a multitude of pumpkins that were scattered on the grounds, which had the misfortune of being chock full of candy (thus the slamming). Literal Smashing Pumpkins (yes, we did play tunes by them). Wonderful place, this Ghormley Meadow, and I hope to take kids back again. I got the chance to lead music/worship with a few other leaders, and we had a blast! "they" said to me, "You're not from here; Eastern Washington teens don't jump around and go crazy during worship songs." Oh really, says I.... [video coming soon]

Now we're getting ready to get into Holiday Festivities, beginning with Thanksgiving Eve Eve Service & Dessert (yes, I volunteered myself and the youth to make desserts) on Tuesday. Should be fun. Then the Youth and I prep Stone Soup for the congregation, kids make crafts, and adults participate in the Hanging of the Greens... and yes, I do get to scale the tower of the 1912 building to hang giant wreaths! (apparently I'm the only one not uber scared of heights) This will then be followed by the Youth Annual Turkey Bowl Flag Football game... which will be followed by warmth, pizza, and a movie. Have I mentioned that I love this?

Ah, and then I intersperse bad horror movies into the mix (beware ThanksKilling), and discover important things like that Captain Morgan's new 100-proof is downright evil. New friends come over for dinner and movies occasionally, and old friends drive up to visit. These are all wonderful things to experience...

Friendliest...

So it turns out that Walla Walla was ranked friendliest town in America last year...

Helpful...

...Sarah and I went to pick up a couple of couches for the church in her family's old pick-up the other day. It's an old '67 Ford, so I figured that both of them would fit in the truck. I figured wrong. So as we're trying to force the 2nd couch in, a woman comes over and asks if we want to put the other one in her pickup and she'd follow us over to the church. Awesome...

...and then she helped us carry both down into the basement where they are currently being enjoyed by teens, adults, staff, and just about everyone who walks past them.

The Digs...

The View From My Back Door

Eh, apparently I've been pretty bad about keeping up this blog. But here we go...

I've been settling in to living in Walla Walla for the past month, and am sorta getting used to it. I can usually find my way around to one place or another (like the grocery, the community theater, the local ball field, schools, cafes, candy stores, pizza joints, and other such great places).

A Seat For You...

All the boxes are unpacked in my apartment, and the Living Room has taken shape; ready for visitors and such. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but there's a little creek running behind the apartment building, which is great for ambience, sound, and a bit of a breeze that runs off of it on hot days. My neighbors moved out, and suddenly a tabby with a folded over tail appears at my back door every day... what to do, what to do...?

"meow, meow, meow, meow..."

It's also great because I'm only a few blocks away from the church that I work at too, and often walk to work. Great neighborhood, right next to the local YMCA. Oh, and I'm also just a few blocks from the downtown of Walla Walla, which is quite convenient. Recently I've been to high school football games, city league soccer matches, local theatre shows, and many cups of coffee...

Enter September...

I can't say that there's much in epicness to report, but still thought I'd post a quick note.

I'm getting settled here in Walla Walla; I unpacked the last box at my apartment, so that's quite an accomplishment... plus it makes it more difficult to folk to walk off with my stuff in case that is their intent...

My office at the church is coming together nicely as well, with the furniture in an open format now... I just need to acquire a chair or two for people to sit in when visiting. Now for the rest of the Youth Cave System... Did I mention that my office and the youth rooms were in the basement?


Anyhow, it's the weekend of the Walla Walla Fair & Rodeo and I'll be wandering about that, hopefully running into a plethora of students from church who can show me the epicness of the fairgrounds...

More About Moving, Missing, and Meandering...

"Deadeye" Gates

I would like to say that the folks would miss me as I left, but Mom pulled out the Nerf gun and acted quite menacing toward my nephew, which caused me to be on my best behavior the rest of the week for sure!

The Quesus

But people do miss me in Portland, and my friends Tricie and Scott took me to Coalition Brewery and the Grilled Cheese Grill my last couple of days... talk about epic grilled cheese; No bun, instead there's a cheese sandwich on each side of the big ol' burger! And a Stout called Hanzo? Why had I never gone there before?!

Harpo Marx?

Ironically, "Kevin" got thrown away

 I got a chance to chill with the Calvin Pres youth one last time, and was surprised by an awesome cake, cards, memory book, Nerf bullets, and many hugs. I also used the opportunity to see what I would look like with a white haired pony-tail.  Eh, I can wait...

So many folks made the move so easy, helping by loading up the truck, organizing it all, and then greeted by a handful of folks from the church who did most of the unloading too! Though driving a 20+ foot Uhaul and towing my car was a bit of a pain whenever I had to leave the Interstate.

Deadly Weaponry

I must say, the Dollar Tree is a staple of restabilizing after a move. So many household items and other things that I don't really need if they weren't only a buck. And the history here; so many places where nothing actually happened. and a few other places, but I haven't been there yet, so I guess that'll wait for another day!

Nothing Happened Here

Rememories...

Cartman won't go away...

It’s amazing the things you learn when you’re unpacking after moving. Well, maybe “learn” is too strong of a word, though I did learn that if you leave dry-erase marker on a whiteboard for almost a year it becomes permanent. And that certain tables don’t like it when you pile boxes of books on them. They take their revenge by furniture-suicide. Now I need a new TV stand. Anyway…

Go Lakers!

It’s more about things discovered that I had forgotten about. Like that I own way too much stuff… although it’s pretty cool stuff sometimes. and also gems like this; I found a Lake Oswego High School newspaper from 1993 that asked graduating Seniors where they were headed after high school. My intentions were to “attend Multnomah School of the Bible to earn a degree in Youth Ministries. Then work as a director of Youth Ministries, possibly in music and theatre.” Amazingly enough I just secured a position as a Youth Director at a church, and plan to play with the worship band as much as possible. Huh, amazing how these things work out, eh?

Cassettes, VHS, Beta, oh my!

It’s also remembering the things that have once been in my life. I have uncovered dozens of pieces of art created by my [ex]step-daughter, Hannah. Each and every one of them brings me joy… joy and a bit of sadness, because I miss her so, especially now that I’m over half a state away. Speaking of profound sadness, I also uncovered wedding photos that I had forgotten about. It’s uncanny how many feelings are still there just under the surface when faced with the histories we all have.

Epicness

Anyway, before I get too melancholy, I’ve also rediscovered my music collection, and have even found my mix tapes that I put together in the 80s and 90s… mostly of 70s music, ironically. The thing that I’ve found most to be true, though, is that my bad ankle really hates stairs. And I live in a townhouse. Igh, I’m getting old. Oh, and Robot Chicken is funny as all get out.

Whirlwind to Walla Walla

I realize that my blog has been rather sporadic and that may soon change; you see, I went to an interview this past weekend in Walla Walla, Washington.

It's about 4 1/2 hours (reasonably) to Walla Walla from my home south of Portland in Lake Oswego. So I loaded an overnight bag, my guitar, a lesson on Jonah, some good music, and got in my dad's car to head East. My car's air conditioning doesn't work, and it's supposed to be in the 100s up there, so the Toyota worked as a substitute... thanks dad!

Anyway, the scenery is quite beautiful, because I traveled through the Columbia River Gorge as I headed out. Suddenly, at Cascade Locks, the clouds parted and there was clear skies, accompanied by warm weather! I was wondering where Summer had been hiding (mid 70s and cloudy in Portland for the most part so far). The drive was pleasant, and I was able to see such sights as several dams, hundreds of wind turbines producing power (go green!), and lots and lots of sagebrush and wheat grasses. Once leaving I-84, the land is pretty much all agriculture as far as the eye can see... and that's pretty far.

I drove through Milton-Freewater on the way to Walla Walla, and find it interesting that there are a dozen or so (that I could see) frog statues in front of several businesses. Being me, I stopped and took pics, because frog statues infesting a town amused me quite a bit. I'd have a frog statue in my yard if I lived there. You know you've reached your destination when you see that big sign welcoming you: "Wal*Mart Superstore". That was at College Place, which borders on Walla Walla. But on to the interview...


I've never done an interview like this before. Basically I meet with members of a search committee over a day and a half, learn about the town and the church that they are a part of (did I mention that this is for a ministry job?), eat a lot, meet the pastor and talk theology, missiology, and ekklesiology, go to church and consider the service styles, and end that with an official interview followed by running an hour long youth group so that they can see me in action. Good thing I had just realized that you can make Angry Birds a real life game if you have water balloon launchers, eh? Epic game, which will be repeated!

I gotta say, I love the town, the people I met were awesome, the teens that I got to work with were top notch, and I see and understand the vision of what they want to do with the Youth Director position. It all went well, and then I got in my [dad's] car and headed home. On the way, I even got a call from the pastor to clarify some things. I had no idea if that was bad or good. Getting home at 1 in the morning meant I was sleepy, but I had more calls from the pastor on Monday, and then...

Monday afternoon the chair of the search committee called me to offer me the position of Youth Director at Walla Walla First Presbyterian Church. I accepted immediately. Much dancing, singing, shouting, and drinking of iced water followed suit (I was thirsty, and don't actually have champagne on hand). Then I realized the start date: 9 days from now. "To the internet, boy wonder!" I shouted to noone in particular, and started looking up apartment and house rentals. Dad and I jumped back in the Toyota on Tuesday (my car was then in the shop having the air conditioning remedied), and spent 2 days in Walla Walla looking at potential living spaces, of which some were ok, some weren't, and some were great. But having a place ready to move into within a week or two just wasn't the norm. Those wonderful folk at WWFPC were working on it though... making calls to friends in the realty biz, property management friends, and also finding possible temporary digs until a place more permanent opened up.

Maybe now is a good time to mention that Walla Walla was recently rated Friendliest Small Town in the United States of America by USA Today and Rand McNally. And they really are! Albert, my new boss and the pastor of WWFPC, gave dad and I the full historical and potential tour of the church building, and we talked into the wee hours of the night (about 9:30, but it had been a busy day).

Leaving Walla Walla without having secured housing, I had a backup plan for an apt outside of town (that's only 2 miles folks), and another that I was waiting for a call back for. Meanwhile, the WWFPC folk where still making calls for temp and permanent housing for me. Have I mentioned how awesome these folks are? Anyway, the short side is that I got a call back from a townhouse about 1/2 a mile from the church, and they will be ready for me to move in on Tuesday. Not Tuesday in several weeks, but this next Tuesday. The day before I start work. Talk about timing, eh? Thank the Lord!

This has all happened in about 4 days, and it's now all about packing and finding movers to help load the Uhaul from my storage unit. The church will have members ready to unload it when I get there. And then I hope to breath. It truly has been a whirlwind affair, but I couldn't be happier about the way things are going. Oh, yes, I will miss my friends and family, and realize that I am leaving behind ministry and personal support networks, but I am confident that this is where I am supposed to be. The level of prayer that has been applied to this possibility by folks on both sides is staggering, and I'm glad that God is big enough to take that all in... because it's His path that I'm trying to follow in the first place.

So look for more posts, pictures, and random observations as I leave the Greater Portland area and relocate to Walla Walla, Washington... home of the Walla Walla Sweets, over 100 wineries, acres of wheat, and some of the friendliest people in the nation. Yeah, I can live with that.