To the Reds!
Fall break, I thank you for your timely arrival amidst papers, practicing, and peril from sleep deprivation. On Wednesday, Dmitri and I practically skipped to the BCM to head out of town, loading up with a whopping forty-two other people onto one bus, one mini-van, and four cars to road trip all the way to Cincinnati!
Why did we go off to Cincinnati? To have fun on BCM’s annual Fall SPOTS of course! And what’s more fun than doing things together to make other people happy! You see, at the Cru retreat, I learned about putting others first, and during this fall break, I got to put that concept into practice. For one project, we were chipping paint off of a house whose original painters had forgotten to first spread on primer. Victoria and friends even made it all the way through “99 Pieces of Paint on the Wall”. Also, I believe that people who were scraping off the top of the house were exceedingly amused shower the people below with paint chips. They laid it on thick, those ladder people. We also assisted the University of Cincinnati’s Collegiate Ministry with building a fire pit, laying brick, clearing brush, and even passing out lemonade from five-gallon squirting backpacks. People mowed lawns, painted sheds, and planted flowers! Applaud odd jobs!
Saturday night, after a Cincinnati-themed meal at Skyline Chili and Graeter’s Ice Cream, was the evening of mandatory fun. As per SPOTS tradition, we rivaled each other in an insane(ly fun) game of Extreme Never Have I Ever. Chaos ensued as we learned things about each other that night, with revealing questions ranging from, “Never have I ever eaten a crayon” to a shocking, “Never have I ever seen ‘The Little Mermaid’.” The game would only end with a casualty. Just kidding, our buddy George just got a rug burn.
The BCM is so community-driven, and everyone on the trip was so comfortable to be themselves. Each person is so unique and an integral part of this body of people. It was so great to be able to interact with people -this sounds like I live in a hole- and serve with joy and share with the people we met the purpose and intent behind why we were serving rather than spending our four free days of potential make-up sleep. Little steps for change… hopefully steps toward a big impact.
Cincinnati was so great, though there were strange things there. For instance, there was United Dairy Farmers gas station and a rainbow pig statue standing as a mascot to a blinds company. I have to compliment their skies though; it was so beautiful there, even in the rain. And the Krohn Conservatory has plants that I’ve never even imagined. But I have to say, I couldn’t wait to return home to Nashville and Vandy life.
Thank you Ling and Rachel for your pictures!