Under min
missionstur til USA over sommeren holdt jeg dagbog sår’n at jeg altid ville
kunne gå tilbage og genopleve oplevelserne selv engang om 50 år hvor det meste
muligvis bare vil være fjerne minder. Fordi hele sommeren foregik på engelsk,
skrev jeg også min dagbog på engelsk. Efter nogle dage har jeg indskudt nogle
ekstra tanker, som jeg har skrevet på dansk, kan måske blive lidt forvirrende,
men det var mere naturligt i øjeblikket. Når jeg skriver (Yesterday) eller
lignende efter en dato, så er det fordi at jeg på selve den dag enten glemte
eller ikke fik tid til at skrive, og derfor skrev dagen efter.
Det skal
lige siges at der blev holdt to dagbøger. Min med mine oplevelser, og så en
holddagbog, vi hver især skulle skrive i efter tur. Holddagbogen blev afleveret
på det Territoriale Hovedkvarter (THQ) som så vil kopiere den og, på et eller
andet tidspunkt, sende kopierne til alle på holdet i fysisk form.
Billederne jeg har valgt her, har jeg specifikt forsøgt at fravælge billeder jeg allerede brugte til foredraget i mit forige opslag om SMT-turen, men nogle steder var de bare de eneste billeder jeg havde, så de går igen.
Billederne jeg har valgt her, har jeg specifikt forsøgt at fravælge billeder jeg allerede brugte til foredraget i mit forige opslag om SMT-turen, men nogle steder var de bare de eneste billeder jeg havde, så de går igen.
Jeg kan vel
ligeså godt begynde ved begyndelsen. Jeg fik invitationen til at deltage i
Salvation Army US Central Territory’s årlige Summer Mission Team, eller SMT,
tilbage i slutningen af februar. I første omgang takkede jeg nej. Hvorfor
skulle jeg tage til USA? Men Gud ville ikke lade mig glemme invitationen, og
bad mig om at tænke lidt mere over det, og jeg fortalte mine klassekammerater
om muligheden, for at få deres input. Endelig sagde jeg okay, og skrev en
ansøgning. I slutningen af marts mødtes SMT deltagerne til orientering på
hovedkvarteret, og samtidig med det fik jeg endelig svar på min ansøgning;
nemlig at jeg var blevet udvalgt til at komme med.
Oprindeligt
skulle jeg rejse med en fyr ved navn Mark, som jeg egentlig ikke kender. Jeg
har fået at vide hvem er, men jeg kender ham ikke, så jeg var lidt nervøs for
hvor’n det ville gå at skulle holde en hel sommer med seks vildt fremmede, så
jeg var ærlig talt lidt lettet over at han måtte springe fra da han fik et nyt
arbejde og Sabine blev udpeget til at være min rejsemakker i stedet.
04-06-18
 |
| Poserer for opdateringsfoto i lufthavnen |
Woke up at 3 am left for CPH airport
at little over 5 am Anne Westmoreland came an said goodbye to us, and gave us
some souvenirs to give our team.
After 13 hours, with a little pit
stop in Zürich, we finally arrived at O’hare airport in Chicago. Then followed
an hour and a half of security checks, and then at 11:45 pm we were finally out
of the airport – so 4:45 pm local time – and we were picked up by Viki who took
us to dinner at a “Steak ‘n Shake”, before checking us in to the inn where we
will stay the first week. Almost 2 am at home, and I have barely slept at all
these last 60 hours.
“Hopefully it will be a nice, long
sleep, before we meet the teams tomorrow.
-
60 timer? Det kan jeg ikke huske. Enten har jeg
sovet dårligt dagene op til at jeg skulle af sted, eller også var jeg alt for
træt til at rentjekke min matematik. Jeg havde selvfølgelig en skriftlig opgave
for som skulle afleveres den fjerde, så den har nok holdt mig vågen indtil at
jeg kunne aflevere den.
05-06-18 (Yesterday)
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| Sabine og jeg hjalp med at pakke T-shirts og jakker i de nye tasker |
We were brought to THQ, and was
shown around the place before set to help Kristin fill the SMT back-packs with
T-shirts and jackets. Around 7 pm the teams gathered together and “Central” had
our group photo taken.
Afterwards we gathered in our teams
to discuss some things, make a Team Covenant, and play a bonding game – Shutes
and Ladders.
In chat most of the group has
nicknames: Madison -> Mom; Sean -> Swedish Fish; Jonathan -> Papí Jr.
and Yeong-Haw -> Young Money. Austin was given Tarzan and Sabine wanted
Mormor. Then they all looked at me. Am I going to get one too now? I really
don’t want to.
After getting back to the hotel we
all decided to go to Walmart, and so it was past 11 pm when we returned. I went
to bed whilst the others played a game of some sort.
 |
| På en lille gåtur rundt om hotellet |
Central Team Covenant
Central Vibes commit to each other:
-
To
always communicate in an honest direct and respectful way
-
Respect
one another and our boundaries. However, be open-minded and willing to step out
of our comfort zones together
-
We
will challenge and encourage one another daily to grow spiritually, mentally,
physically and emotionally
-
We
will support one another in our struggles and build each other up and rejoice
as well as in the good times
Central Vibes commits to God and our
host locations:
-
To
keep God at the centre of everything we do
-
To
go to God first, pray with Him before going to each other
-
Have
a servant’s heart in all that we do and try to live as Jesus lived
-
Be
open-minded to what God shows us and what our locations asks us to do
-
We
will be intentional in our actions to serve the Lord
-
Viki og Chris tog os med på THQ, men jeg blev
faktisk lidt forarget da vi ankom til bagdøren. Der sad en lille mærkat med en
pistol krydset over. ”No guns allowed here!” Jeg haar aldrig før i mit liv set
en mærkat som den. Hvor’n i alverden kan det være nødvendigt at skulle hænge
sår’n nogle op på sine døre? ”Hvad er det for et mærkeligt land jeg har sagt ja
til at besøge?” tænkte jeg.
06-06-18 (Yesterday)
 |
| Første Team-møde |
We had team discussions on what to
do as a team in certain situations, we also talked about the personality tests
we had taken before we came here, and how important it is to be balanced - not
too passive or too reactive – but have a great relationship with God to lead
your way.
In the teams we discussed games,
camp-songs and object lessons to use throughout the Summer. Afterwards we all
played a couple of these games outside. We were also given a folder with
Vacation Bible School (VBS) Bible Lessons to come up with ideas for a lesson to
show the class.
After leaving THQ we visited a
hunting store called “Cabella’s”, and all the way in the back all the guns were
at display. It was such a foreign sight. Then we went to Target, sorry “Tarshay” and looked around.
They have both “Target” and a “Super
Target”!? Regular Target was already more massive than a Bilka, how can they be
bigger still?
-
Under en af pauserne fra
orienteringsundervisningen gik jeg ud til kantinen for at få lidt vand at
drikke. Da jeg kom tilbage til klasselokalet råbte Austin højt: ”Daniel, vi har
fundet det perfekte kælenavn til dig!” Jeg frøs og ordet ”Nej!” fløj ud af mig,
måske med lidt vrede og foragt i stemmen. Austin fortsatte ”Hvad mener du med
’Nej’, du kan da ikke afvise uden at have hørt hvad det er.” Jeg blev nødt til
at gå ud af lokalet igen et par minutter for mig selv. Var det det hold jeg
skulle til at spendere min sommer sammen med? Et hold som gik bag min ryg og
fandt på et kælenavn til mig, hvilket jeg ikke var særlig meget for, uden
overhovedet at fortælle mig hvad dette kælenavn var for et navn. Jeg blev nødt
til at konfrontere Madison og spørge hende om de var seriøse med det om at give
mig et kælenavn, og hun sagde at hvis jeg virkelig ikke havde lyst, så behøvede
jeg ikke. Tak.
07-06-18 (Yesterday)
 |
| Ja, det er hvad der sker når man løfter sengen mens folk sidder på den |
We packed supplies for the Road trip
and brainstormed ideas for craft materials for each VBS location.
Each team member was pulled aside
for group briefings based on our role for the team this summer. As the team
photographer it is important that I am a team member first and foremost, and
all should be velar on that. I can take as many or as few photos as possible,
but remember to be on some of the photos as well, and not just official team
group photos.
 |
| Edward hygger sig i pausen under orientering |
At Walmart we had to scour for the
supplies we were still missing. Sean & Austin both advocated for matching
T-shirts to help cement the team, but we hadn’t been able to find cool shirts
in all our sizes.
Back at the hotel, Madison and
Amanda, from CAST, got stuck in the couch/bed, and it took forever to free them
again.
-
Amanda og Nikki fra CAST-holdet (Creative Arts
& Service Team) tilbragte meget af orienteringen sammen med os fra Central,
eftersom at de to andre fra deres hold, Erin og Sandy begge havde travlt med
musicalen til kongressen i Milwaukee.
08-06-18
 |
| Sean og Austin ville lige fremvise deres matchende T-shirts |
Welcome to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The day started with packing the
vans & cars as we left the hotel for the final time. We finished packing
our suitcases and marked them our teams.
Then we left for Commissioning at
Milwaukee. The Hyatt hotel is the tallest building I’ve seen so far, of course
we still haven’t been to the big cities yet, so all the buildings are
reminiscent of home in height.
After the final meeting in the
chapel at THQ last night, Sabine and I truly feel like we are a part of the
whole SMT-team. Likewise for Amanda from Florida.
We are supposed to have a full team
dinner whilst we are still for commissioning, to talk about our expectations as
a team. We already signed our covenant earlier today.
 |
| I foyeren. Fra venstre: Mai Khou, Austinf, Sean, Amanda, Lauren |
-
Mødet I kapellet jeg her nævner var at vi alle
fra SMT sad I en kæmpe rundkreds og skulle fortælle om vores historier. Hvorfor
valgte jeg at tage med på SMT? Hvad er mine forventninger for sommeren? Etc.
Jeg ved ikke hvor meget af Sabines historie jeg kan
fortælle, men vi havde begge været nervøse for hvordan to udlændinge ville
blive modtaget. Man ved egentlig godt at folk vil være flinke når man møder
dem, men hvad nu hvis. Nu kunne vi føle os sikre på at vi havde fundet en
familie på den anden side af Atlanten, og det efter kun tre dages orientering.
09-06-18
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| På gåtur i Milwaukee fandt vi et vejskilt der bare lå på jorden |
How big is your table?
Almost came too late for SMT-meeting
since some on the team thought we didn’t meet until 9 am.
We stood on stage and recited the
Scripture for today in Multilanguage. Revelation 7:9-16. Then we were all
presented on stage. Hung out bit at the
hotel, and had lunch at a Subway Café, as well as had a small walk around
nearby blocks to see if we could find anything interesting in town.
13:30-15:05 og 42:56-47:03 er SMT på scenen
“A Long Way Off”, the musical that premiered tonight was based off of “The Prodigal Son”. It was set in 1930, shortly after the Stock Market crash of ’29. I liked it. J
The musical 'A Long Way Off' from a re-broadcast in December (it takes 15 minutes for the show to start)
Back to the hotel. We went to the
girl’s room, where Jonathan had bought Dunkin Donuts’ as a birthday cake. Then
I was sung birthday songs in Spanish, Swedish, English and Korean. As a gift, I
was given a book on WWII POW’s.
 |
| Sightseeing |
 |
| Fødselsdagshygge på pigernes værelse |
10-06-18
The cadets of the “Messengers of the
Gospel” session was commissioned & ordained this morning. We all had to
leave before the final meeting ended, so the teams could make it back to THQ
and do final touches on their packing, before leaving for the airport. The
seatings had to be switched up a little, so I drove back with the Japan team,
and after a delayed start to our drive, we all, for lack of better term,
skrålede along to Disney music. They all fell in love with me enough to all
want me along to Japan. However, when we arrived at the hotel Team Japan didn’t
have a reservation, & had to be relocated to another hotel. Team Central all
did their first round of laundry tonight, and some of us relaxed at, by or in
the pool for a bit. We went to Ihop for a late night dinner.
11-06-18 (Yesterday)
 |
| Fællesfoto i Janesville |
And so, our road trip began.
We received we are going to drive
around all summer from CFOT (College For Officer Training), and so we had to
say goodbye to the CAST-team who had been an unofficial part of our team all
week. We propably will not see them again, as they won’t be joining us at CBLI,
but instead be at CMI the following week, and so: “Farewell Nikki, Amanda and
Erin, it was nice to get to know you”.
In Janesville, WI, we gathered at
the corps in Sutherland. Major Ruth gave us a little tour of the corps, and
then dinner with the Janesville corps’ work partner, Father Earl of the “All Saint’s”
Anglican church, with whom we are going to be working all through the week.
At the hotel, we held our evening
meeting in the pool, and some went to get ice cream. We held a movie night, and
I painted a couple of jigsaw puzzles white.
 |
| Erin og Nikki konverserer med Kristin om de sidste forberedelser før vi tager af sted |
12-06-18
 |
| Hygge om aftenen på hotellet |
We arrived at All Saint’s Church at
9 am and set up preparations for the VBS, but since it was, supposedly, the
last day of school, no one showed up. Instead we drove to Sutherland corps,
where we helped sort things and candies in preparation for a camp some of the
children associated with ‘Sally Ann’ were going on today.
After lunch we went back to All
Saint’s church, and marked some 200 candies with advertisement about the VBS to
hand out at a block-party in the neighbourhood. I really felt like I was misplaced
and didn’t belong there. At least I got a good amount of time at the keyboard
in the church basement.
I FORGOT MY CAMERA TODAY! AAAHH!!!
13-06-18
 |
| Austin prædiker om at lade sig transformere |
Four children came to VBS at All
Saint’s today. Played a handful of games like “Banke banke bøf”, “Grab the
Bacon” & “Football”. Austin held his bible lesson on the broken egg that
will be used for transformation.
From the corps we had to hand out
flyers for the Freedom Fest in the neighbourhood. Major Ruth wanted us to meet
and converse with the people in their doorway, but the uncomfortable feeling of
walking up the carway to the door was nerve wrecking enough, that the added
pressure of talking to them nearly gave me a panic-attack.
In the evening we were taken to see
a water skiing event, it was a high-point of joy after the nigh panic enducing
midday.
-
Det knuste æg kan måske bruge lidt uddybning. Rom
12; 2 taler om at vi ikke skal tilpasse os verdenen, men lade os transformere
gennem sindets fornyelse, så vi kan værdsætte det gode Gud har skabt.
Austin brugte hér ægget som en illustration. I sin
hele skal ligger æggeblommen og –hviden sikkert fra udefrakommende trusler. Men
efter at ægget er blevet knust har ægget mistet sin gamle status. Det kan nu
enten smides ud – gå tabt i forsyndelsen – eller lade sig transformere som en
æggekage, og få en ny mening/placering i livet.
Senere til samme bibeltekst brugte vi også et
stykke A4 papir. Du kan folde det, krølle det, eller rive det i stykker lige så
meget du vil. Værsgo’ at samle papiret som et helt nyt friskt papir. Kan ikke
lade sig gøre, men måske du kan bruge papiret til noget andet? Det foldede til
origami? Det revne til at flette? Papiret har nu gennemgået en Forvandling.
 |
| Til håndarbejde lavede vi små sommerfugle, eftersom at larver "transformerer sig" til sommerfugle |
14-06-18
 |
| SMT-dansen |
Happy Birthday Madison!
For VBS this morning Yeong-Haw used
our jigsaw puzzle man and talked about how each of us has a specific purpose
and need each other to succeed in God’s plan for us. I helped Madeleine (Father
Earl’s daughter) learn a little on the piano in the basement, and she said
goodbye to Madison by playing “Happy Birthday”.
Major Ruth wanted a group photo of
us in front of ‘Betsy’ the cow in front of Arby’s.
For our free day off, we took a
drive to the capital, Madison, so that Madison could celebrate her birthday in
Madison. We visited the museum for contemporary art before going to the
restaurant “The Old Fashioned” for dinner. Madison received a pair of earrings
depicting Obama & Biden by Austin, a mug saying “Go jump in a lake” by
Jonathan, a Chinese scroll* by Yeong-Haw and a greeting card with an Aarhus refrigerator
magnet by me.
* “It’s easy to find a hundred good
soldiers, but it’s hard to find one good General”.
-
Til morgenmaden havde vi lavet sjov med hvad vi
skulle give Madison i gave, for hun bryder sig ikke meget om at få ting. Det
kom frem at hun godt kunne lide Chris Pratt, så hvis vi kunne give hende ham i
fødselsdagsgave, måtte vi gerne give hende noget. Okay, så opkaldte jeg bare
vores puslespilsmand jeg havde designet efter Chris Pratt. Men da Yeong-Haw
begyndte bibellektionen med puslespillet havde jeg ikke fået det sagt endnu, så
han døbte ham for Bob. Resten af sommeren kom han til at hedde; Bob Chris.
 |
| Gruppebillede foran Kongresshuset i Madison |
15-06-18
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| Tja, det går jo ikke at går undt i beskidt tøj, vel? |
Today was our final day of VBS in
Janesville, as we head towards the Twin Cities tomorrow. We gave our parting
gifts to Father Earl before the children arrived, and after we had finished the
VBS and packed up we headed to the corps to finish up some cleaning around the
corps.
The candy we sorted previously, we
had to move to the garage/Social Service Centre. Throw out some cardboard boxes,
and clean the music room. Majors Ruth & Bob were both given the presents
for the corps.
We went to a laundromat to all do
some laundry cleaning, and then we ate at the laundromat. Back at the hotel we
decided to pack the van, “Bertha”, immediately. Afterwards I decided to try and
draw the second puzzle person, this time a woman. Her name is Stephanie.
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| Vi legede "Ninja". Man må kun bevæge sig på sin egen tur, og det handler om at slå modstandernes hænder (deres liv). |
16-06-18
 |
| Venter på parkeringspladsen udenfor korpsets hovedindgang |
We checked out of the Baymont hotel
a little past 10 am and then we went on the road towards Minnesota.
After nearly four hours on the
freeway, we were still in Wisconsin, and so we pulled over for some gasoline at
Menomonie. From there it was just another hour before we reached St. Paul. When
we arrived at the Citadel Corps we found it locked, and no one to greet us.
After calling Viki, Madison got the phone number for our officer. They were
busy packing at home to move next week and so they had forgotten we were coming
today. Major Leti showed us around the corps, which looks small on the outside
but is a genuine labyrinth on the inside.
-
Korpset I St. Paul var det største vi besøgte
hele sommeren, og jeg taler ikke kun om bygningen, men også forsamlingen. Mai
Khou, fra Japan-holdet, stammer fra dette korps, så vi hilste på hendes
familie. Men en af de ting der sidder længst fremme på hukommelsen herfra, er
at vi sov på gulvet i korpset. Der var godt nok gulvtæpper i de to rum, og vi
fandt nogle puder til at ligge vores soveposer ovenpå, men det var stadigt et
meget hårdt gulv. Jeg springer lidt frem, men da vi kom til Mason City sov jeg
også på gulvet, men det gulv var meget blødere at ligge på.
 |
| På vej til restaurant, fik vi et pænt syn på domkirken i St. Paul |
17-06-18
 |
| I gang med at gøre os klar til gudstjeneste |
I got up and took a shower in the
men’s locker room around 6:30 am. After getting dressed I sat down in the
chapel and played some piano. Suddenly someone knocked on the window. It was
Major Geff who had forgotten his keys in the car, and thus locked himself out.
For church we did the SMT-dance, and
apparently it was livestreamed on Facebook. Austin and I were admitted to play
in the worship band, him on his guitar, me on a bass. After church majors Leti
& Geff took us out for dinner, after which we headed out for grocery
shopping so Sabine could make some Danish food. Frikadeller. Whilst she, Sean
and Jonathan were cooking, I worked on my devo as it was my turn tonight.
After dinner we took to Woodbury
where we saw “Incredibles 2”, and that ended our day before meeting and devo.
 |
| Efter gudstjeneste tog majorerne os med ud at spise |
18-06-18
 |
| Vi blev sat til at rydde op i fitnesscentret |
At 9 am we met with Major Leti who
introduced us to Dazzle, who might be the one responsible to give us
assignments for the day. Then we were brought to the nursery to help take care
of the children, either 2-3 years of age (Madison, Sabine & Yeong-Haw) or
4-5 years of age (Austin, Jonathan, Sean & I).
Vanessa, majors Leti & Geff’s
adopted granddaughter spent most of her day before going to the gym with me.
Once everyone was back from the gym, they had lunch and then five minutes
before naptime for book reading. After naptime had begun, we went for lunch in
the cantina and afterwards we were sent with the janitor to clean up the
fitness room and the library.
At our team meeting tonight, “Mom”,
“Tarzan”, “Young Money” & “Swedish Fish” all shared their testimonies.
Tomorrow the rest of us will too.
 |
| Major Leti ville møde os i børnerummet inden vi fik vores opgaver for dagen |
19-06-18
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| Sean og Jonathan i gang med at rydder op i et skab i garagen |
After breakfast we headed for the
nursery, and sat with the children for around 15-30 minutes before Dazzle came
by with the other group of volunteer workers who would be with the kids today,
whilst we helped the other half of their group with cleaning the garage.
We moved Christmas stuff up on top
of their 3 meter tall shelves, cleaned and moved around some refrigerators,
emptied some shelves, and filled them up with other stuff, disassembled some
tables and put some “light” boxes on top of the shelves. After lunch we were
going to move some kitchen utensils from the garage to the stage in the gym,
but some people were already using the gym playing Basket, so we couldn’t do it
yet, an instead we helped sort out some “fresh” food that was just delivered to
the corps.
We took a 15 minute break before we
headed to the Mall of America in the Minneapolis part of the Twin Cities. Three
stories tall, with a mini Legoland, and an amusement park in the middle of the
mall, rollercoasters and everything.
On the way back to the corps, we did
some grocery shopping in Cub Food, and when we got back we transferred the
stuff from the garage to the stage, and my SMT jacket was left locked in the
garage. X\ I got it back, so it’s all good. Sean & Jonathan, with some help
from Sabine, made Sloppy Joes, with rice, for dinner.
I created a Flickr account to upload
all the photos from my camera, for the team to see.
 |
| Helt alvorligt! Der VAR en forlystelsespark midt i storcentret! |
20-06-18
 |
| Alle korps havde sådanne inspirerende beskeder |
Today we went to St. Paul East side
where Major Leti had asked if we could help with their camp program, but when
we got there we were expected to lead the day’s program, even though we hadn’t
prepared for that.
We played some games, taught the
SMT-dance and Madison quickly talked about the Gospel Lesson. When the children
were sent to their classrooms, we were asked to stay behind and talk with some
intern leaders about SMT and why we applied this summer. In the classrooms we
were split into two teams, in my room we drew some hearts and coloured our
prayers in them. In the other room they played some board games.
We went back to the corps for lunch
and afterwards we, minus Yeong-Haw, went to the Como Zoo and Conservation. The
zoo was a bit of a let-down for me – like they didn’t even have a
Prehensile-Tailed Porcupine (Kek). But seriously though, I was much more
engaged in the botanical garden section than the animals. Probably as the only
one in the group.
We were invited to supper in Oak
Dale, a suburb, by Chip & Dawn. The meal was Meatball Marinara in Burger
Buns.
For team meeting Madison had us
write some things on a piece of paper for all of our teammates, based on what
we have felt inspired by through either their actions or their testimonies.
 |
| Foran den botaniske have i Zoologisk have |
-
Chip & Dawn et par af soldaterne i korpset,
som ville sige tak for den hjælp vi havde givet inden vi skulle videre til
næste by. Chip holdt andagt for os baseret på hvad Jeremias skriver om ungdom.
Jeg blev udspurgt om Danmark, og om hvor jeg kom
fra. Jeg svarede at jeg kom fra Aarhus. ”Den by har jeg ikke hørt om”, ”Nej,
det er jo også kun den næststørste by i Danmark” sagde jeg med et smil, hvad de
blev overraskede over at høre. ”Nå ja, han har jo næppe heller hørt om St.
Paul”, hvortil jeg svarede, ”Jo, St. Paul er hovedstaden i staten Minnesota, så
den har jeg hørt om.” Så blev jeg spurgt om hvor’n jeg kendte så meget til
amerikansk geografi, men foruden de byer jeg besøgte over sommeren kan jeg ikke
placere hvor byer ligger. Jeg kender bare til navnene på hovedstæderne i
staterne på grund af en sang fra animationsserien Animaniacs.
Derefter drejede diskussionen ud på et sidespor,
som lavede lidt sjov med Jonathan, fordi han et par dage tidligere havde
fremvist at han ikke var den bedste til amerikansk geografi. Han troede
oprigtigt at St. Paul var navnet på korpset vi var i, og at det lå i byen
Minnesota i staten Indianapolis. Åh det stakkels forvirrede pus. I første
omgang smed vi skylden over på at han havde slået hovedet mens vi ryddede op i
garagen den anden dag, men baseret på ting han ville sige senere, var det ikke
noget vi bare kunne skyde skylden over på, han sagde virkelig sådanne nogle
”Jonathanismer” hvis han ikke tænkte før han sagde noget.
21-06-18
 |
| Flittigt i gang med at lægge vores puslespil |
I spent my free time yesterday by
colouring Stephanie, so that today we could use both her and Bob Chris in our
puzzle lesson. The colours we have though are not permanent and can be smudged
out or erased even if dried for a week.
In the classroom today we played
hangman, and Madison, Sabine & I were all allowed to come up with a word.
We had lunch with the kids at East Side today, unlike yesterday, but when they
had to go swim we were unneeded and went back to St. Paul Citadel corps. We
headed to the garage to finish up the cleaning; it is much prettier to look at
now. Then we tried to move a refrigerator from the garage to the kitchen, but
the doors were too small and the fridge didn’t fit.
For free time I called my mother on
Skype and wished her an “innuini pilluarit” & talked for over 2 hours. For
dinner the guys made Mac & Cheez and Hotdogs, I just ate hotdogs, because
cheese.
Then Madison, Sabine & I baked a
cake and prepared popcorn for movie night after devo, though since tonight’s
movie is “It” I’m not watching it.
 |
| Vort obligatoriske gruppebillede i St. Paul East Side |
22-06-18 (Yesterday)
 |
| Forberedelser til maduddeling |
We participated in the corps’ food
distribution program. The Dining Hall had over a dozen tables placed in a
“U”-shape from one door to the other and the tables were filled with, in order of entrance: Sandwiches, Meat
– mostly chicken – Dairy products, Salads, Fruit, Pastry and finally Bread.
Together with Sean & Jonathan and two Mormon missionaries, I handed out the
chicken.
We gave some parting gifts to Major
Leti, then I, Madison, Jonathan, Sean & Yeong-Haw walked around in some
thriftshops looking around. Sean got a PS2 and was ecstatic of joy. Dazzle
volunteered to take our group photo from St. Paul, and then we departed to meet
Macy, one of Madison’s friends from last year. We visited Minnehaha falls and
had Chinese buffet for dinner.
 |
| En (svag) regnbue manifesterede ved vandfaldet |
23-06-18
 |
| I gang med at tømme bilen i Black Hills |
We left a little gift for Dazzle in
her office, and then we left St. Paul Citadel around 9:30 am. Austin took the
wheels, with Madison as co-pilot, for the first half of the drive to Rapid
City. After lunch at 3 pm, or 2 South Dakota time, Yeong took the wheel with me
as navigator. As we approached our destination, it started to rain rapdly,
which wasn’t too fun for narrow roads up a mountain. We got situated in the
cabins and went shopping in Target, and had Sonic for dinner. It was already
8:30 pm when we arrived, and we missed a turn at the end even. I’m so tired
right now.
 |
| På de amerikanske Interstates (motorveje) er der mange reklameskilte. I South Dakota var en tredjedel om Mount Rushmore |
24-06-18
 |
| Søndagsskole |
Spent some of the morning’s waiting
time by walking around taking scenery photos. We were asked to do Sunday
School, though by following a program and video learning. For Junior church
Austin told the creation story and Madison built upon it with the Gospel Story
and we made the bead bracelet craft. Then Major Nate & Auxiliary Captain
Michelle took us out for buffet dinner at Golden Coralle and afterwards we
split up in two groups, one to go with the Major to camp to get things ready
there, and the other group with the Captain to the corps for signing kids in
for the camp.
At camp everyone* got their shirts
& Sweaters and a sleeping bag, afterwards we grilled sausages and had
hotdogs. We were supposed to go to Mt. Rushmore, but since it rained the entire
first half of the day, the Major & Captain dared not go out there and took
everyone to the movies to watch “Avengers Infinity War”.
Austin held a short (30 mins) Bible
lesson based on Matt 5, 43 – Love thy enemy. Afterwards it was shower time and
the bedtime for the campers. No team meeting, is that going to be the norm for
the entire week?
* There has been a mishap with the
order, so every XL or higher will be delayed a couple of days.
 |
| Major Donna (ret.), Major Nate, Madison, Sabine og Auxilliary Captain Michelle foran en tændt grill |
25-06-18
 |
| "Colour Guard" skal til at hejse flaget |
The boys were mostly awake by 6 when
Jonathan and I got out of bed, but aside from the three that still needed a
shower since yesterday everyone stayed in their beds until the other cabin left
around 7:25.
We drove to “Bear Country”, a
safari-in-your-vehicle. There were deer, wolves and bears, because if not it
wouldn’t be Bear Country. Now would it? I felt just as bored, if not more, as
when we visited the zoo last week. Then we drove to “Evan’s Plunge” in Hot
Springs some 40+ miles from Rapid City.
Home at 6:42 pm. I feel like it has
been a pretty boring day, too much driving and a lot of things on the schedule
that I had no interest in… The rest of the evening did feel better, though why
do teenagers think it’s fun to tell everyone they hate them?
 |
| Frokost i Bear Country |
-
Hver dag og aften skulle vi hejse/sænke flaget.
Foruden synet af de hundredevis af pistoler i butikken i børnehøjde var
flaghejsningen nok det største kulturchok jeg fik på rejsen.
Det ikke nok at man skulle have hånden på hjertet og kigge
på flaget som det blev hejst (eller sænket), men der skulle være en kommandør
som råbte militærlingua for hvert skridt der skulle tages i hejsningen. ”Colour
Guard face left! Colour Guard prepare to raise the Flag!” og så videre. Jeg fik
det ret dårligt af at se på det. USA proklamerer jo at være ”Land of the Free”,
og så indoktrinerer de børnene på en så militæragtig façon, at tankerne fløj
over på militærdiktaturer. Det clashede virkelig med min forestilling, og jeg
begyndte her, ikke just at få hjemve, men at savne mit eget kære Dannebrog som
”almindelige” mennesker kunne ære uden militærformaliteter.
26-06-18
 |
| Første ridehold gør klar til at trave |
Today was the day of
horseback-riding and hiking, this ought to be fun… oh, there’s a weight limit
for riding the horses at 230 lb = 100 kg? Guess I cannot do that then. Well at
least there’s hiking… 4$ fee for the hiking trail? Per person? Welp, that’s out
of the question too.
At least I can see the Crazy Horse
memorial from the horse stables… Several miles in the distance… Wow, this day.
The “hiking” group would drive to Hill City where we walked around for some
time. They had a train museum with train rides on a train from 1880. Too bad we
didn’t have the time for actually visiting the museum.
On the way back to camp, we crossed
Pactola Lake, and we got some tourist photos of the lake from a viewing point.
Free time at the camp included some of the boys try out some fishing in the
creek, but several of the fishing lines got stuck, and were unable to get loose
again, and thus we had to cut the lines. Madison, Yeong-Haw, Sean &
Jonathan were playing a card game called “Skip-Bo”.
During the lowering of the flag, the
rope broke and our hearts skipped a beat as the flag fell halfway down the
pole. After dinner, Sean held a bible lesson based on verses 1&2, then it
was craft time, making bird feeders of pine cones painted with peanut butter.
We took a hiking stroll in the area around the camp, and Captain Michelle
showed me the view of the creek from atop the hill of the camp.
Jesse swung a stick around, and I
got a scratch below my eye.
 |
| Hill City Main St. |
27-06-18 (Yesterday)
 |
| Yeong-Haw købte en pose med mineralsten og kunne så skylle dem i ægte guldgraverstil |
Today was the going home day for the
boys. We packed all of our stuff and said goodbye to the boys, cleaned the
mattresses and the cabin & then we boys moved into the lodge, whilst
Madison & Sabine moved into the cabins.
The rest of the day we spent by going
to Hill City and spend a couple of hours walking around the main street. I got
souvenirs from the Train & Railroad museum, and got a photo of the
locomotive. We had dinner at the Bumpin’ Buffalo, Sean ordered some “Rocky
Mountain Oysters” for appetizers, and everyone but Austin* tried them out. They
tasted a bit like chicken, but the texture was almost like rubber, and whilst
edible not worth more than a single try, let alone the 16$ Sean spent on them.
* Jonathan cut off a tiny piece only
so he barely tried them out either.
 |
| På vej tilbage til lejren fra Hill City tog vi et svinkeærinde forbi en slikbutik |
28-06-18
 |
| Får en omgang is ved Mount Rushmore |
We drove to the corps, most of the
team wanted to go around Rapid City and look around, Yeong-Haw and I stayed
back at the corps, him to do some Powerpointing, and me to upload for our first
days’ worth of photos.
Girls’ camp started, and we actually
got to go to Mt. Rushmore today. We asked a passerby to take a group photo but…
1) Sean, Sabine and Jonathan weren’t in the picture & 2) we didn’t even get
the faces of the mountain in frame. Total rip-off :P
It got pretty late; it was 11 pm
when we got back to camp. I sat in Captain Michelle’s car with Madison and
Jonathan, with Sean driving. Because it was dark out, everyone kept a scary
mood >-)
-
Der havde været ti drenge under hele
drengelejren, men nu da det blev tid til pigelejren dukkede næsten 20 piger op.
Til udflugter blev det besluttet at vi skulle lave ”stammer” – to voksne med
hver to piger – som altid skulle være sammen når vi tog på udflugter.
 |
| Skal lige kigge sidste uges billeder igennem ;) |
29-06-18
 |
| Nogle af pigerne på den anden lejr |
It was the girls’ turn to go to Bear
Country & Evan’s Plunge. Some of the older girls, who have been on camp
before, didn’t really want to go to Bear Country as they had gone the last
three years. We walked around in our “tribes” from yesterday, so Madison &
I together with Aliana, Royale, Shaleah & Zale.
At Evan’s Plunge Austin tried out
the rings again, and whilst he made it across on first try, he stopped
afterwards, and instead another guy took his spotlight by making it across 3
continuous times.
Back at the camp, Jonathan held a
bible lesson and then he went with Sean to do laundry. For free time many of
the girls played games, Austin played his guitar, and several of the girls
walked around with my camera and took photos. For goodnight, Captain Michelle
wanted Austin to play a song, and he wanted me to lead in song, so we sang
“Here I am to worship”. We then proceeded to give the Captain her and Major
Nate’s gifts.
Madison has talked a bit with Chris
Shay, and she said that if Captain Melissa in Mason City approves, then we can
stay tomorrow as well. The laundry closed at 9 pm for new laundry, so not all
of our laundry has made it in in time. We’ll see whose were lucky and whose
not, when Sean & Papí Jr. gets back.
 |
| Venter på at tage af sted til Bear Country |
-
Det Territoriale Hovedkvarter havde rykket rundt
på en lejr, så Divisionshovedkvarteret også matte rykke rundt på sin lejr, og
derfor matte Major Nate og Kaptajn Michelle også rykke rundt på deres lejre. På
grund af alt dette gik det ikke i spænd med vores rejseplan at kunne blive i
Black Hills fra drengenes første lejrdag til pigernes sidste, og vi blev derfor
nødt til at rejse af sted dagen før pigernes lejr afsluttede. Hvilket bare
føltes forkert, næsten som om vi bare vendte ryggen til dem. Kaptajn Michelle
forsikrede os at det ikke var tilfældet, ud af alle de år de har fået SMT op på
lejren, forsikrede hun os at vores hold var det tættest sammenknyttede og mest
som en familie, og dermed havde kunnet hjælpe børnene bedre end tidligere hold.
Øhm… tak J.
Jeg havde accepteret at vi skulle af sted en dag tidligere, men de andre
kæmpede alligevel for at kunne blive denne ekstra dag, og til sidst gav Chris
Shay altså tilladelse til det, hvis vores
næste destination også gjorde.
30-06-18
 |
| Et farvelgruppebillede |
Madison did not get the okay from
Melissa, since she is afraid we were going to be too tired for Monday, so we
said our goodbyes to the girls. Captain Michelle took our official team photo,
& her & Major Nate gave us all coasters as a parting gift, with the
camp’s logo.
We did the final laundry at “Laundry
World”, filled the gasoline tank to full, and then we set off on the I-90. We
arrived at the hotel in Mason City at 11:20 pm, so nearly 12 hours after we
left camp. When we arrived, we were told that there had been a mistake with the
booking, only 2 rooms, one for the two girls, and one for all five boys. Wow.
So now some of us has to sleep on the floor.
-
Til gudstjenesten den næste dag, ville Kaptajn
Kenyon gerne fortælle himmeriget, og ville give folk en forsmag på nogle af de
ting vi vil opleve når vi engang skal forlade Jorden. Blandt andet ved at have
elementer i gudstjenesten, som bøn og bibellæsningen, på forskellige sprog.
Sabine var blevet spurgt om hun kunne bede på dansk, men hun har aldrig været
særlig tryg ved at bede højt, så hun skrev sin bøn ned i sin blok. Under
bilturen mod Iowa, spurgte hun om hun kunne læse den højt for os på engelsk, så
alle ville have en idé om hvad hun ville bede om, og som træning til at føle
sig lidt mere tryg til når hun skulle bede til gudstjenesten. ”Dear Heavenly
Father…” begyndte hun, og fortsatte. Da hun afsluttede sin bøn kom Jonathan og
sagde: ”Yo, Was that Danish? I Understood all that, I can speak Danish now!” Vi
knækkede alle af grin ”Øhmm… Jonathan… Det var altså på engelsk” Lol. Bare
endnu én af de klassiske Jonathanismer. :D
01-07-18
 |
| Kenyon og Melissa inviterede os til hygge og grill hjemme hos dem |
Slept on the floor last night, might
even do it the rest of the week, IDK yet. Got into our uniforms and came to the
corps where we met Captains Kenyon & Melissa, as well as their daughter
Trinity. Sabine prayed in Danish, Sean in Swedish & Jonathan read scripture
in Spanish, meanwhile the corps regulars did in English. It was “a small
showcase of the many languages in Heaven” as Capt. Kenyon preached.
Back at the hotel we got changed,
whilst the receptionist tried to fix the room situation with Expedia. The
captains invited us to their home to hang out. We played “Codenames” &
Watched “Remember the Titans”. Grilled burgers & hotdogs/bratwürsts for
dinner. Back at the hotel, it was my turn to hold devo – after a whole week
with only a single devo, by Sean, all through camp last week.
 |
| Hos kaptajnerne så vi Danmark >< Kroatien i VM |
02-07-18
 |
| I det nye Ungdomscenter var der nogle ret majestætiske stole. En mulighed Madison ikke lod gå fra sig |
Thirteen kids showed up today for
VBS at the corps. Jonathan was responsible for the introduction and games
today. Sean had the bible lesson (Transform not Conform), Madison had both
craft and dancing & Austin closed off the VBS for today. There’ll be a
prize to anyone who can memorize Romans 12; 9-10 before Friday, and captain
Melissa promised an extra prize to the person that could bring/invite the most
friends to VBS by Friday. Ooohhh, two prizes.
We were brought to the old Thrift
Store to be converted into a Youth Centre, preferably before autumn, and
started cleaning that up. We had two wagons full of clothes and other stuff
often categorized as trash, and tossed it all in the dumpster. Sabine &
Sean were both “attacked” by discarded furniture and they got to repay by
smashing them with a, for a lack of better term, Sledge Axe.
Afterwards we went to Super Target,
and bought some TV-dinners for the week, and went back to the hotel to chill
out. Both Jonathan & Sean had forgotten their keycards and we had to get
extra keys for them in the lobby. (facepalm)
 |
| Yeong-Haw demonstrerede at man stadig kunne bruge iturevet papir til at forme nye ting - her en flettet kurv |
03-07-18
 |
| Køkkendamerne i Mason City Korps |
We decided to meet at the
lobby/breakfast table at 9:15 today instead of at 8:50. Sean & Sabine went
for a “date”; as they themselves called it – don’t worry, Madison will pull
some strings – to the visitor’s centre. Madison left a few minutes earlier to
pick up kids with Captain Melissa.
For introduction Sabine had planned
two activities: “Name bingo” & “Banke banke bøf”. Austin had the bible
lesson today about the One Body, Many Members. I was in charge of the dance for
today; we did it twice, and the second time we persuaded some of the kids to
come up and dance with me in front of the rest.
For craft Sabine had us make our
little felt ginger bread men, that we were supposed to cut out of the felt, but
a few of the girls didn’t want theirs cut out, so we didn’t. Lunch was
spaghetti & marinara meatballs, and then Sean was in charge of games, they
played “Line Football”, similar to that “Steal the Bacon” game, only when your
team member is called you have to play Football. At closing Madison handed out
the Romans 12: 9-10 verses, attached to some M&M’s for them to help
memorize the verses for Friday. Avery actually almost had the full thing
memorized, only a few bits at the end tripped her up.
At the “Youth Centre”, we carried
four doors outside to be cleaned, and we pulled out some dead grass and tossed
it out, then we started to put up some of the walls for the new classrooms that
are going to be there. We got to set up eight walls and two doors before we called
it a day. Captain Kenyon mentioned how he was sceptical about the process at
first – would it ever be done? – but now everyone could finally see some
progress in the building, it is finally beginning to take shape as intended.
 |
| Madison skyllede de "nye" døre så Sabine kunne vaske dem med sæbe |
Back at the hotel, Austin was
ecstatic because his friend Tony was on his way. He lives in Iowa, and when he
heard that Austin was in Iowa he decided to come visit him. Austin brought him
to the room for a quick introduction, and then grabbed his guitar & left.
Yeong-Haw & I rested in our
room, whilst the others went to some thrift stores. The captains had invited us
out for some ice cream, and afterwards we went to their yard and played some
games – Frisbee toss and Baggo. Kenyon tried to start a bonfire but the tiny
twigs he found were burnt out in no time. At 9:30 pm the captains took us out
to an open field in their neighbourhood to watch some fireworks show.
When we left, went to refill
Bertha’s tank with some gasoline, and then we went to Walmart to get some Tie-dye
so we could make some matching shirts for “Central Vibes”, which meant it was
already 12:20 am when we came back to the hotel. That didn’t stop Yeong-Haw
though, who still went to spend time with the others instead of going to sleep.
 |
| Hos Kenyon og Melissa. Spiller lidt "Baggo" |
-
Denne dag var også dagen hvor jeg fejlede. Jeg
ved ikke hvad der var skyld i det; kulturchok? Stress af at være blevet bedt om
at gøre det samme tre gange indenfor 5 minutter? Hvad det inden var, så kan jeg
kun komme med undskyldninger som forsøg på at skubbe skylden væk fra mig selv.
Jeg blev overvældet af synd.
Efter at vi var blevet færdige med arbejdet i
Ungdomscentret var Austin ellevild og udbrød sin glæde til den efterfølgende
dag, 4th July. Jeg endte med at sige nogle ting som i bund og grund gjorde grin
med dagen og amerikanernes hyldest af dagen…
Under aftenens fyrværkerishow begyndte jeg at
skrive nogle tanker i min journal for at finde en årsag om hvorfor jeg
reagerede som jeg gjorde, og da vi kom tilbage til hotellet satte jeg mig ned
med Austin for at sige undskyld, og forklare alle de mulige årsager jeg kom
frem til, men først og fremmest for at undskylde og sige at jeg ikke mente
noget.
Det var et mørkt øjeblik under rejsen, og jeg
fortryder fuldt ud alt jeg sagde i det øjeblik…
04-07-18 (Yesterday)
 |
| Kaptajner Kenyon og Melissa med lille Trinity |
This was mostly a slow and inactive
day. It became a free day off for us as there were no jobs to do on 4th
of July. So we, for the most part, just sat in our hotel rooms, waiting for the
day to pass. The captains had to participate in a parade, but none of us
participated. At noon Austin and I tried to visit a music store for him to pick
up some new gear, but they were closed. TJMax didn’t have the vacuum bags I’d
need for my luggage, and so we returned to the hotel empty handed. When the
rest wanted to take a walk around town later, it started to pour down.
 |
| Fyrværkerishow nede ved havnen |
Finally past 6 pm the captains
picked us up for a common dinner at a Chinese buffet, and afterwards they took
us to Clear Lake to see the fireworks show at the fair there. Back at the hotel
we started to tie-dye our white shirts.
05-07-18
 |
| En hvid due (med flammer) symboliserer Helligånden, der kommer med nådegaver til os |
“Only” ten kids for VBS today, it
seems the number of kids decreases daily, although we did have one new girl
today. Yeong-Haw talked for the bible lesson, as a continuation of Austin’s
teachings last time, about the spiritual gifts in Romans 12, he briefly
mentioned that there were more in 1 Corinthians, for craft, which I was in
charge of, we made white doves out of paper plates.
After VBS we split up in three
groups – Sean, Jonathan & Sabine with Adam in the Youth Centre, Madison and
Austin went to the Thrift store, and Yeong-Haw & I went to the Adult Day
Care Centre. I was asked to play piano for the elders during their
sing-along/devotional, and then we sang birthday song for Dave and had roulade,
after which we played Baggo. One of the adults in there was a Guatemalan woman,
Wendy, who became very infatuated with me, gave me two hugs, and she could be
pretty sassy. She preferred not to talk in English, but she understands it.
After just two rounds of Baggo, Captain Kenyon passed by and asked one of us to
help him for a bit. I volunteered and had to help him drive two children home,
Lilyana and Timothy. Lilyana thought that I pronounced her name in a special
way, and said she actually like that way.
When we returned to the Adult Care
Centre, half of them were gone, and they were just waiting for the bus for the
remaining ones. When they were picked up, Yeong & I went to the thrift
store to help there. Not much to do though, just sorting some things here &
there. We were given a box of toys to place on the shelves – Madison &
Austin were veering some masks, bobbing their heads to the sounds of the toys.
On our way out we bought “Coyote Ugly” for Sabine, who wants that to be the
next movie watched. We spent the evening with Kenyon & Melissa at their
house.
 |
| Sidste gang vi besøgte "Ungdomcentret" |
06-07-18
 |
| Madison løb rundt med kameraet her til morgen |
Final day of VBS here in Mason City.
I was in charge of intro/icebreaker, so we played Stopball. Jonathan did
today’s bible lesson about creation & the gospel. Sean had craft, and
Yeong-Haw held a little competition to see which of two teams remembered the
dance the best. After VBS we were all at the thrift store to do various sorting
tasks.
We gave Adam one of our spare white
shirts, and he took our group photo in front of the corps. Ruth took an extra
group photo at the thrift store. Dinner & games at the Sibell’s again
tonight, they really do act like everyday normal people inviting great friends
over. Lastly Kenyon lit a bonfire for us to sit around in the dark. Also they
let us do our laundry in their house.
I packed most of my stuff before
going to bed, even though we don’t leave tomorrow until noonish.
 |
| Vi havde egentlig aftalt tilbage i St. Paul at hvem vi end møste i Mason City skulle have resterne af vores gaver - Hvad spændende kunne der være i Iowa? - men alle her var fantastiske mennesker, og især tak til Kenyon og Melissa for at have, bogstaveligt, inviteret os ind i deres hjem. Så da vi skulle finde gaver til Mason City skrabede vi hvad ekstra vi kunne finde sammen og forærede dem det. |
07 & 08-07-18
 |
| Pakker på hotellet i Hoffman Estates, henimod klokken 01 |
We left the hotel at noonish, and
even though we only stopped once for gasoline & no lunch, it was an overall
calm drive. (East) Iowa & (West) Illinois are so much more interesting to
look at when driving than South Dakota is. We emptied as much out of Bertha as
we could before we left for THQ for a briefing with Chris. There’s a carnival
just outside THQ?!!
We stayed up during the night to
pack everything before we left for the airport at 02:30 am our flight was at
5:36 am. We boarded on time, I fell asleep for a bit, when I woke up we were
still not airborne . Turns out that there was a problem with the aircraft’s
computer communication, and everyone had to disembark. Whilst they found a new
plane to carry all 150 odd passengers, the flight from Miami to Eleuthera
departed, so we were stuck in Miami – maybe all the was to Tuesday (the 10th).
Elines (*Clap*EL-LY *Clap*), Amanda
& Chris have all joined Central Vibes as “ringers” – partners/buddies – for
this final stage of the SMT-summer.
 |
| Chris tog et gruppebillede af os alle. Fra V: Amanda, Madison, Elly, Sabine, Yeong-Haw, Sean, Daniel, Jonathan, Austin |
09-07-18
 |
| Vi oplever solen gå ned over Miami lufthavn for anden dag i træk |
Chris escorted Amanda to the
hospital to see a doctor about her kidney stone, meanwhile the eight of us went
to the airport to see if we could get seats for today. We were given boarding
passes so we could get on board if they had the seats, we sprinted through
airport security, and all the way to the gate, but they only had two sets
available, so we’ll stay an extra day in Miami.
After approximately 5 hours in the
airport we could finally get room reservations at the hotel & our boarding
passes pre-printed out for tomorrow. We had dinner at the restaurant on the 9th
floor, and had one of the waiters take a group photo of the nine of us. Yes,
NINE. Amanda apparently had multiple kidney stones, and therefor had to fly
home due to too much pain. Fare thee well Amanda, it was a way too short of an
acquaintance.
 |
| Jeg er blevet spurgt et par gange om det virkelig kunne passe at vi var fanget i selve lufthavnen. Selvfølgelig sørgede flyselskabet for at vi kom på hotel, men vi var gennem Airport Security om morgenen før vi kunne få afslag. Her tager Madison en middagslur ved Gate D37, hvor informationsskranken holdt til. De kunne ikke behandle vores sag og sørge for nye hotelreservationer før kl. 14, så vi sad fra kl. 10:30 (da vi fik afslag om at komme med på flyet) til eftermiddagen i lufthavnen. PS. Hvis du vil have Starbucks, kan det findes ved Gates D10 og D31 |
10-07-18
 |
| Efter at have spist på restauranten tog Chris et nyt gruppebillede. Jeg følte mig inspireret af Tilbage til Fremtiden, og løftede let mine solbriller som homage |
We finally got on the plane to
Eleuthera. I got to sit next to the window at seat 3A. Our luggage seems to
have been sent yesterday, so we found them in the Customs & Immigration
building waiting for us. Amanda’s suitcase was there too…
All our luggage was placed on the
back of a Ford pick-up truck, and we were picked up in a Jitney (bus), and the
drive to Atlantic Suites was around an hour long, and we were given five
minutes for photos of both the Atlantic and the Caribbean seas where Eleuthera
island was the slimmest.
The girls sleep downstairs in a room
that is smaller than the boys’ room upstairs, but there is only AC in the
bedroom & that is not enough to cool down the entire flat, so the others
are complaining about the heat. We took a trip to the beach, Sean and I were
the only ones who didn’t swim, though we did go out and stepped in the water.
Some of the waves were extra high and my clothes got soaked – I can still taste
the salt water – phew!
We had dinner at the restaurant of
the neighbouring hotel, and it was a bodaciously delicious meal. Jonathan came
up with a new slogan (Jonathanism). His feet accidently touched Madison’s leg,
and she doesn’t like feet so she refused to speak to him or even look at
Jonathan during the dinner, as he haphazardly attempted to come up with
different ways to apologize until she accepted one. He got up to walk over to
her, to look her in the eyes, I jokingly told him to get down on his knees in
front of her, and I believe he actually would have done that, if Madison didn’t
stop him from coming around the table. “I’m looking at you okay! I’m looking,
I’m looking!” Jonathan sat down again, took her hands in his and said:
“Madison, look at how calm the sea is. Just like that, I want my love to flow
into you.” The whole table cracked up at that. Oh Jonathan, please don’t ever
change. J
At team meeting we made a schedule
for the rest of the week, then Austin, Sean & I went upstairs to watch a
Football-movie, when suddenly, out of the corner of our eyes, we all saw a dark
shadow flow across the kitchen floor. A rat? Maybe? The hunt has begun!!!
 |
| Eleutheras berømte "pink" sandstrande. |
-
Det var en øgle af en art som havde fundet en vej
ind i lejligheden, så det var ikke noget at være bange for i det store og hele.
Da jeg skrev at jagten var gået i gang, var det en lille henvisning til hvordan
både Sean og Austin gik ud i køkkenet og fandt store køkkenknive som brug til
at spidde dette indvaderende kreatur hvis de fandt det.
11-07-18
VBS started today, at first it was a
little slow with the number of kids, but it grew steadily to the mid-thirties –
I counted 37 at one time. Sure by kids, I mean people who were registered and
paid for the day, as there were a couple of fourteen to sixteen year olds, who
can hardly be considered kids in the same vein as three year olds.
We split them in three groups; and
rotated them around us. Sabine and I had games, Yeong-Haw & Jonathan had
the bible lesson and Madison was in charge of craft. Sean and Astin, I think,
were helping wherever needed. Elly mostly helped Chris out with the
administrative side of things, but she did go around to take a few photos.
After we were done, we had ten minutes to change, and Chris took us to the
“south side”-beach, where we’ll take them after VBS tomorrow, so we could get
accustomed to the waters, before we go there. Afterwards, some of us stayed in
our rooms, whilst the others were at the other beach where we were yesterday.
We had dinner in the girls’ room –
Mac & Cheese, Crisps and Beef Jerkey. Quite a fancy dinner compared to
yesterday. We played a card game (Five Crowns) about getting rid of all your
cards.
 |
| Madison instruerer i Sommerfulgen |
12-07-18
 |
| Chris og Elly stod for registreringen af børn når de ankom |
“I just saw a majestic beast pass
by.” – Yeong-Haw, when Jonathan came out from the shower. Speaking of Papí Jr.
he decided to sleep in the bed next to Austin last night.
VBS came and went without problems.
Sabine and I did the gingerbread man – for the older teens we had them make
persons out of popsicle sticks, and for the youngest Sabine made balloon
animals. After VBS, we went to the beach with all the young folks, and saw some
tornado-looking water pumps over the horizon. Nothing to worry about, but when
we saw a giant lightning flash across the sky, we pulled everyone out of the
water and brought them back to the corps. The water was much higher than
yesterday. We then went to Governor’s Harbour to look for souvenirs, but aside
from T-shirts or coffee mugs, there really wasn’t anything.
 |
| Jeg kan godt lide kontrasten i dette billede: Fra lys til mørk. En lav bølge til en stor. Tre personer (liv) til tomhed. Midt i det hele er der så lidt rødt fra solnedgangen for at give lidt mere farve, |
13-07-18
 |
| Venter pænt på at komme i gang med VBS |
My turn for Bible lesson today.
Sabine had switched places with Yeong, so he would be with me, and she would do
miscellaneous with Jonathan. The topic of today’s lesson was Spiritual Gifts,
so for the older groups, we had them take the simple 28 question survey on
spiritual gifts. For the youngest group I told the story of Jesus and Peter
walking on water, and told of how similar in function Peter’s incredible feat
was to our spiritual gifts, when he was focused on Jesus he could do anything,
but as soon as he got distracted he lost his faith.
We went back to Governor’s Harbour
today, and visited the other main gift shop. Here were a few goodies. Dinner
was pizza, yay -_- , with ice cream for dessert. Back again we had our team
meeting and decided roles for anyone for the church sermon on Sunday. We also
made goodie bags for the kids tomorrow.
 |
| Elly var fantastisk til at arbejde med børn. Hun var så sandeligt en himmelsendt hjælp |
14-07-18
 |
| Taget i betragtning at jeg kun havde taget én selfie i mit liv før denne rejse, og at man ikke kunne se hvad man lavede, synes jeg selv at jeg blev ret ferm til at tage selfies over sommeren. |
Quite a fewer number of participants
today. Jonathan has had a rough day yesterday, and he was still not up to full
this morning, so Chris took him to the clinic, and he was brought back to the
hotel to rest up. Fewer kids meant that there was no miscellaneous group and so
Sabine & I became floaters who helped out where needed. At first I was with
Yeong-Haw, whom was now alone in craft, but then suddenly Sabine came barging
in as she was now alone to play with the youngest children, so I had to help
her & Elly do games. When it came time for the middle aged kids it started
to pour down all at once now, and I had to help Elly bring a cooler filled with
water balloons in some cooled aqua up from the quarters, so I got soaked. Lunch
was Ham (& cheese) sandwiches, so I actually got to eat lunch today – Yay
\o/. Afterwards was the beach – I didn’t go further than just below the knees
today – and since the water was very high today, that means I only stepped
three steps out.
Our Corps sergeants had invited all
helpers throughout the week for a giant dinner, with cake for dessert, that we
brought back to the hotel in Burger Boxes to eat later. Elly had devo tonight,
and she wanted us to write a little something about everyone, like we did at
St. Paul. So sweet (cry smiley).
 |
| Sabine, Madison og Chris poserede med et par af børnene, mens vi ventede på at resten ankom |
-
Tidligere dage havde vi til frokost fået
tunsandwiches hvorfor jeg ikke fik frokost de dage.
15-07-18
 |
| Chris tog et stort fællesfoto med forsamlingen. Jeg tog også et hvor hun var på billedet. |
Our last day here at Eleuthera,
Bahamas. Tho think I would get to see this tropical paradise in person. I still
have a hard time believing in it. The wonderful lush colours on the various
trees, the joyful smiles of every inhabitant who crosses our path waving at us,
even though we are total strangers. Everyone has been so nice to us, and
accepted us into their little community. Andrew, Greg, Sergeants Joseph and
Frida, and all the others, this short week has left as big a mark on me, as we
as a group has, hopefully, left on your community. May God forever bestow his
Grace on this Island.
We led church today. Chris had
welcome, Madison, Elly & Austin held testimonies, Sabine & Yeong-Haw
held prayers, Sean did Scripture reading – or Scripture recital as it was
Romans 12; 9-10 – Jonathan held the sermon. As for me, I led the SMT-dance
& played piano, with Austin accompanying on guitar, as we, or mainly me I guess, sang “What a
Beautiful Name”. We said our goodbye and Chris took us, sans Austin, to a
different beach, so we got to see a little more of this wonderful island. “Ten
Bay” was the name.
For dinner we had a mismatch of
whatever was left over. Chris had devotional tonight, and instead of doing
highs and lows, she wanted us to think of the moment of this week that has
stood out to us the most. I feel like my moment was telling the “walking on
water” story for the little kids – it really felt like I had free reins to do
whatever I wanted and felt like. Afterwards some of us did have a few words to
share, & I finally gave the team the fridge magnets I brought from home –
Madison did get hers on her birthday last month. Chris took one too, so Sabine
& Elly didn’t get one. I’m sorry – I didn’t know we would be nine in the
Bahamas. ,-_-,
 |
| Et sidste, officielt, farvel til North Palmetto Point, Eleuthera, Bahamas |
16 & 17-07-18
(Yesterday)
 |
| Så gør vi sår'n når vi vasker vort tøj |
In the morning, I went down to the
girls’ room and gave Elly my homemade pipe cleaner Dannebrog so she too could
get a Danish souvenir. We didn’t get to stop at the post office for Sabine, but
I think they left the postcards with Corps Sergeant Major Jospeh to send them
once we were on our way. Back in MIA, and what a surprise our flight is
delayed, so we are staying here at our dear “home” a little while longer.
 |
| Da vi kom tilbage til THQ, tog vi et gruppebillede i samme stil som vores første |
Finally back in the Chicago area,
Viki picked half of us up in CAST’s van, whilst Kristin picked up the rest in
Big Bertha. The next day we did a major team laundry, before going to THQ to
sort out the team suitcases, and for Madison to work the team money with Chris.
We put back the missing seats for both vans, and then we headed for dinner at
“Noodle Company”, a new place we haven’t tried. Hmm… How does this menu work?
“Choose with meat or Tofu”? What does tha…OMG!! They have Japanese noodles?
UDON Noodles!? This is the best place ever!!! やった!!
 |
| Intet under at de ikke havde plads på flyet fra Miami til Eleuthera tidligere. |
18-07-18
 |
| Pariserhjulet i Chicago - Centennial Wheel - tager officielle gruppebilleder, gratis, for besøgende |
Chris & Kristin took us to
Metropolitan Chicago today. We wanted to avoid traffic but still hit some both
ways, though it was manageable. On the way there Kristin asked Sabine and I
what we knew about Chicago. Me, I knew: Tall buildings – Sears Tower, Chicago
Bears/Cubs, Great Chicago Fire (1871 according to Chris), and that the city
lies somewhere in the middle of the US.
We couldn’t really find a parking
spot so Chris stayed in the van, driving around whilst Kristin showed us
Millennium Park, took our group photo in front of “The Bean”, and a
fountain/weeping mural. Afterwards we went to a parking lot by the coast and
had a ride on the “Centennial Wheel” Ferris wheel with a nice view of the
skyline & the Great Lake Michigan. Back in Hoffman Estates we did a little
shopping spree – I got a few souvenirs and a new 3-piece suitcase, that can
hold all my stuff.
 |
| Wrigly Square i Millennium Park. Vi blev ikke vist dette ellers flotte monument, men gik bare forbi det, så jeg måtte tage billedet i farten |
19-07-18
 |
| I gang med at hjælpe med at sætte op i Teen Track. Lederen Barbara så jeg havde kameraet fremme, og poserede så |
Today we were escorted by Kristin to
Camp Wonderland for CBLI (Central Bible Leadership Institute). Whilst waiting
for the other teams to arrive we were sent to the lodge where we helped to set
up for the nursery & the 2-3 as well as 4-5 year olds. In the middle of
work we were called to help set up the teen track or something, building a
stage, setting up prayer room and games outside.
When all teams were here we went to
“Famous Dave’s” for the big SMT-Dinner. Afterwards it was just
hang-out-together time before going to sleep. Stephen from Team Japan handed
out various different Japanese snacks. どもありがとう.
Team Japan havde ikke nået at bosætte sig på lejren endnu, inden at vi tog til restauranten, så vi hjalp dem derefter med at bære deres bagage til deres hytte. Jeg spurgte for sjovt om "楽しかったですか" (Har det været godt/sjovt?) og bag mig hørte jeg så "え? 日本語を話してるか?" (Du taler japansk?). Det var så kaptajn Chris som lige var vendhjemt til USA efter 7 års tjeneste i Japan. "少し話せます" (Jeg kan snakke en smule japansk) "スプルースはどこですか?" (Kan du vise mig i retning af Spruce?) "あそこに" (Derovre) "それはスプルースか" (Er den bygning Spruce?) "いいえ、ええと、あとで" (Nej, øhmm, på den anden side) "はい、ありがとう" (Jeg forstår, tak). Det var første gang i fire år at jeg rigtigt fik udfordret mit japanske, og måtte så prøve at finde de rigtige ord frem fra gemakkerne. Men god repitition.
 |
| Hytten Spruce hvor alle SMT-fyrene skulle sove. |
Team Japan havde ikke nået at bosætte sig på lejren endnu, inden at vi tog til restauranten, så vi hjalp dem derefter med at bære deres bagage til deres hytte. Jeg spurgte for sjovt om "楽しかったですか" (Har det været godt/sjovt?) og bag mig hørte jeg så "え? 日本語を話してるか?" (Du taler japansk?). Det var så kaptajn Chris som lige var vendhjemt til USA efter 7 års tjeneste i Japan. "少し話せます" (Jeg kan snakke en smule japansk) "スプルースはどこですか?" (Kan du vise mig i retning af Spruce?) "あそこに" (Derovre) "それはスプルースか" (Er den bygning Spruce?) "いいえ、ええと、あとで" (Nej, øhmm, på den anden side) "はい、ありがとう" (Jeg forstår, tak). Det var første gang i fire år at jeg rigtigt fik udfordret mit japanske, og måtte så prøve at finde de rigtige ord frem fra gemakkerne. Men god repitition.
20-07-18
 |
| Mens Jake og jeg hjalp med at hænge de sorte gardiner op, arbejdede Shannon på at klistre et gulvtæppe fast |
Camp doesn’t start until tomorrow,
so today was an overall quiet day. Last night at dinner we were all given a
schedule for the whole camp, and this morning I, with Jake & Shannon for
Team Sportugal, were helping set up the Jr. High track at Ottawa Gym – on the
opposite side of camp.
After lunch I haven’t had anything
to do. At 7 pm we could finally be registered and then some went out to watch
Incredibles 2 whilst others played the card game “Avalan/Resistance” – another
variant of Mafia. We also caught a little up with each others’ summer travels
throughout the day.
 |
| Venter på at der åbnes til morgenmad. Kaptajn Chris, Mai Khou, Lindsey, Austin, Jonathan, Stephen, José, Edward, Jake og Sam |
21-07-18
 |
| Mens turneringen foregik hyggede resten af SMT sig. Fra V: Liam, José Kaylee, Stephen og Edward |
Another mostly quiet day. All SMT’s
(minus Costa Rica, as they had more work yesterday than the rest of us) were to
help out with the registration process, so we split into two ten man teams.
After dinner José tried to wrestle with me, but he was unable to really move
me, so when I lifted him up and carried him to a bed, I just sat on him and he
couldn’t move so after a minute or two of tiring himself out he finally
yielded.
At 7:15 pm we had the camp’s opening
congregation. The sermon was based on James 1: 19-21. “Always be quick to
listen and slow to speak”, those were the main points and the words we should
remember. For Afterglow there was a 4 Square tournament and Andrew (Costa Rica)
won the tournament. In the cabin José tried once again, and this time there was
an audience who recorded his humiliation.
* Caleb var ikke en del af SMT i år, men han er venner med mange der var. Han spillede bas i lovsangsbandet på lejren.
 |
| Mere hygge. Lauren, Rebecca, Abigail, Edward, Madison, José, Stephen, Lindsay, Jonathan, Caleb*, Mai Khou, Kelsey, Sabine & Sean |
22-07-18
Camp has started, but I still ended
up with a 4 hour long break-time spent lying in bed listening to music.
For church in the Chapel, I thought
it had been random SMT’ers chosen to be Ushers doing the offering, but it was
just Central Vibes doing it. From lunch to dinner was only free time – really
exciting… After dinner SMT had a debriefing, which we will have all days of
camp, to help us readjust to the normal daily lives we shall return to next
Sunday (or Monday, for me and Sabine).
Tonight the Young Adult track had a
prayer night, all dedicated to receiving the Holy Spirit, & repent for the
sins the Holy Spirit has told us tonight. Lord Forgive us, have Mercy.
23-07-18
 |
| Vores kartonbåd holdt sig flydende, men det lykkedes den ikke at sejle særlig hurtigt |
Today’s morning worship was the
first lecture on “Peace” by Fulton Hawk, talking about the vice of “Pride” vs
the virtue of “Humiliation”. Reading through Scripture it is very clear that
God hates pride in humans. So what when we are proud of our kids, is that
really because we are proud of the way that we OURSELVES have raised our kids?
In our small groups discussion we reflected on the lesson. I am in a group with
Justin (Japan), so I followed him up to our group.
For SMT-Debriefing we had to draw a
word that we felt God had made a change in us. Afterwards there was a concert
with “Joseph Solomon”. For Afterglow we were in our small groups to make cardboard
boats and had them race in the pool. At free time I had a lovely, long, conversation
with Lauren (Costa Rica) at the docks, but all evening she kept bugging me
about going in the pool with her. It really annoyed me, which is a shame after
that lovely talk earlier.
24-07-18
This morning Fulton talked about
Entitlement and Gratitude. “I deserve more” and as such, I forget to show
gratitude for what I already have. For Leadership Soapbox we were asked the
question “who are the violently unloved where you will go back to after camp,
and what do you intend to do about their situation?”
During Free time Edward (Sportugal)
& I went to search for David Tooley who is to do our individual
SMT-Interviews. At SMT-Debriefing each team had to look over their covenant
from the beginning of summer and reflect over how well they followed it.
Afterglow was a Kubb/Viking Game
tournament, end Eric Himes wanted as many national anthems as possible. Okay, I
sang for Denmark, Japan, Sweden and Germany. Others presented were US – of
course – with sign language, Korean, Bahamian, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
(Black National Anthem), Chile and Mexico. I was on a team with Jonathan and
Mai Khou. We won four matches and made it to the final. I’m quite content with
that. J
-
Jeg mødte en kvinde, Victoria, som gik i Young
Adult Track, selvom hun var over de 30 og faktisk burde høre til Adult Track.
Hun spurgte om hvor jeg var fra: Danmark. Er det første gang du er i USA? Ja.
Hvor længe har du været her? Lidt over 7 uger. Er du så klar til at bo her i
USA? Øhhh…
Jeg syntes det var lidt af et stort spring i
spørgsmål. Det var de samme spørgsmål jeg havde svaret på 50+ gange i løbet af
sommeren, men så pludselig: ”Er du klar til at sige farvel til alt du holder af
derhjemme for at komme og bo i det bedre land?”
Det var ikke ment på den måde, hun spurgte uskyldigt et
spørgsmål som kunne interessere hende; men det føltes virkelig som et angreb på
min identitet som dansker. Men inden jeg begyndte at blive vred følte jeg en
stemme der sagde: ”Du gjorde grin med deres nationaldag, og du har forsøgt at
angre og søge tilgivelse, men kan du selv tilgive andre når de sårer dig?” Jeg
forsøgte derfor at komme på den mest respektfulde måde at svare nej på. ”Øhm,
hvis du spørger mig om jeg er klar til at give afkald på min familie og mine
venner for at starte et helt nyt liv op i et land jeg kun har besøgt som turist
i 7 uger, så er jeg desværre ikke rede til det, hvis du forstår.” ”Ja, det kan
jeg godt forstå. Måske en dag. Hyggeligt at møde dig Daniel.”
25-07-18
Fulton’s topic this morning was
“Greed & Generosity”. What constitutes as greed? Is having a hobby as a
collector being greedy? After Bible we got in line to order a shirt or cap with
an airbrush design of our own wanting. I got a cap with a paraphrased version
of Philippians 2; 1-2.
Family Day – or “Community Day”, as
it was also called – was like a small fair. Little shops were set up outside
the offices beneath the chapel, archery and boat rides were open, and the grass
field was full of various games like Baggo, Horseshoe toss, Connect 4 and
Django (Klodsmajor). Dinner was out in the field today, and then we packed
everything away before “Xtreme Obedience” – a dog show with Christian messages
– in the Chapel. I was almost put to sleep of boredom, and had to go back to
the cabin, as fireworks were fired off down by the lake. I washed my Tie-dye
shirt in the bathroom sink, but it’s still seeping colours…
26-07-18
Morning’s study subject was “Fear
& Faith”. At Leadership Soapbox, the main topic/discussion was inspired by
a question from Tuesday’s Soapbox: How should we – The Salvation Army – as
Christians deal with the LGBTQ-community? The official IHQ statement on it says
“It’s okay to be attracted to someone of the same gender, but sexual conduct is
against Scripture, and should therefore live a life of celibacy.” But that
statement hasn’t been updated since 2002. Hebrews talk about how the old law of
Moses was a failure, and all that matters is the word Jesus – that is, love
EVERYONE, including people who are homosexuals.
Both Edward and I went to do our
individual SMT-interviews today, but David Tooley was a no-show. We have until
tomorrow to do it… :s For SMT-Debriefing we had to write down some goals for
the foreseeable future, that we’ll work on to accomplish. Oh yeah, I won a
“Lucky Seats” this morning and gave the gift basket as SMT-snacks.
Then there was the Afterglow, the
“No-Talent show”. I was sooo confused as to what was happening. So you
bring/hire someone as a “Hype man” to hype the crowd up for your introduction,
and then you try to be as awkwardly atrocious as possible. Kris & Joel
(Both from my small group) won second and first place respectively. Joel is
tall, and literally won bending over touching his own feet.
27-07-18
 |
| Nogle gange har man brug for en at kilde, hva' José? |
Anger and Forgiveness was the
subject of this morning’s Bible lesson. Fulton brought up Matt. 6; 14-15 which
I usually quote whenever I quote the Lord’s Prayer. If we don’t forgive those
who wronged us then God won’t forgive us either.
David approached me & Edward at
lunch to set up a meeting time, but when time came he was gone again, to the
hospital this time. On the plus side Team CAST arrived today, good to see them
all again, and glad that Erin is fine, and up and running after her panic
attack earlier in the summer.
Tonight was SMT-Night, I was part of
the Scripture recital: verses 7-9 (good thing I had just learned 6-8 a few days
earlier, huh). It was wonderful to see a little of the life experiences
everyone had during the summer. Team 日本 ended the
service with a thought provoking presentation よかったです. Final
prayer -> Group photos -> selfies. You know the drill.
28-07-18
Final Bible study of camp was about
Laziness vs Discipline. In the small group I told the story of me learning to
play the guitar as an example of 8 years of laziness crushed by 2 months of
discipline, it really is that powerful.
For SMT-Debriefing we all shared one
major thing God taught us this summer. Afterwards I had a small talk with Viki
about the Grant and how I didn’t feel like I’ll ever need that amount of money,
so maybe it could be donated to Eleuthera and the Guatemalan Library project.
She was moved to tears by my suggestion – I don’t need them, so why not give
them to someone who does?
Edward and I finally got our
interviews with David today. It was award night for tonight’s meeting. I’ve
been packing for tomorrow, ready to go to sleep, and then suddenly five
“Jyde”-size family pizzas are brought to the cabin. It’s gonna smell of Pizza
tonight… X-(
Den sidste
dag fik jeg åbenbart ikke skrevet ned hvad foregik, men i det store og hele var
der nok ikke så meget andet der egentligt skete. Hvad jeg skriver nu er jo
foregået for en hel måned siden.
 |
| Farvel Erin :) |
Vi havde en
Farvelgudstjeneste på lejren, og så sagde vi de sidste par farveller til alle
de venner vi havde skabt over sommeren, og lejren her. Sabine lånte lidt rum i
mine nye kufferter så hendes ikke kom til at overskride vægtgrænsen, og vi
sagde farvel til Erin som den sidste på lejren, og mit sidste billede med kameraet
var en selfie med hende og Sabine. Nu da jeg taler om Erin, jeg ved ikke hvor’n
det begyndte, men hver gang vi så hinanden lavede vi nogle mærkelige
ansigtsudtryk og kæmpe armfaktor, så skøre var vi de få gange vi var sammen.
Viki kørte os til middag på en Diner hvor jeg fik en steak og Sabine fik en
milkshake. Det sidste hun viste os inden hun kørte os til lufthavnen var et nyt
storcenter vi ikke havde besøgt. I lufthavnen skulle vi selvfølgelig lige have
et sidste billede med hende, som hun kunne bruge til at give en
statusopdatering. Så var det et farvel til USA, og hallo til Europa igen. I
mellemlandingen i Zürich kunne jeg mærke at jeg mentalt ikke havde forladt USA
endnu, da jeg syntes jeg så flere af vores SMT-venner gå rundt i lufthavnen.
Jeg faldt i søvn ved gaten mens vi ventede på flyet, Sabine beskrev mig som en
zombie, så jeg har været helt slået ud. I lufthavnen i Kastrup ventede vores
familier på os, såvel som Anne der ville hilse os og sikre at vi var kommet
sikkert hjem. Anne sagde farvel til os i lufthavnen i begyndelsen af vores
rejse mens Viki samlede os op i Chicago, og her på rejsen afslutning sagde Viki
farvel til os i lufthavnen mens Anne var der for at møde os da vi kom hjem. Det
kan man da kalde en ramme over vores rejse.
-
Daniel
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