Friday, July 15, 2016

Whirl Wind Week! (7/10-7/15)


Psalm 95:8 
harden not your heart, as in the provocation and as in the day of trialsin the wilderness

Good evening everyone, 

Wow! What a week! It’s been crazy here at CBCC. Everyone has been saying that’s it’s been a calm week but when you’re battling fatigue and foot pain any week can seem tough. 

It was celebration week this past week Karl & Ariel Richardson (no known relation) visited the staff this week to encourage us. He spoke on ‘having no purpose’ more about that in a second. First, allow me to delve into the chaos that has been my week. 
Sunday: Early morning shift (cleaning the rec center) then over to ECL and then chores and Sunday night live were we meet Karl. 
Monday: same schedule minus the evening event. 

Tuesday: Okay, here’s where it gets interesting. The night of Monday my foot started hurting. My right foot’s arch was swollen and hurt to put any pressure on it. I went to work Tuesday as normal and just lightly limped about all day. First off; we have certain chores we have to get done before certain hours of the day. After several weeks of trial and error our supervisors decided that it would be better for them to assign morning chores to us. I was given the main chapel chore. SIDE NOTE: I’ve only changed over the chapel and cleaned the entrance. Never just cleaned it. Okay, so I head over limping as I am. For those of you who know, when I’m in pain my patience level lowers considerably. Right, I’m at the chapel and assuming I know what I’m doing (cause I told my supers I did) I begin stacking chairs. I get a whole side stacked and begin on the center aisle. I get four or five rows from the back toward the stage stacked when I decide I should get to vacuuming since I have to be done before 9 am. Time was ticking away quickly. Ben the sound engineer comes in for a sound test before the band comes in to pratice at 9. He notes what I’m doing…alone (normally there are two people) and asks me if I’m suppose to have a partner. I make some comment of being capabale and he calls my supers. Grateful to be getting some help I continue vacuuming. SUDDENLY! Both my supervisors and two of my fellow housekeepers come rushing and begin unstacking chairs. Feeling like a freakin’ idiot I keep vacuuming. Andrew (supervisor) comes to tell me that I was working entirely too hard. I was just suppose to vacuum the chapel and pick up garbage not change the whole thing over in an hour! A bit embarrassed and defeated, foot throbbing already I help put the chairs back in the right spot and get out before nine. I was sent to Fireside next.  
They had had bingo the night before and we had to put the tables away and set up fifty chairs. Fully angry at myself for assuming what I needed to do at the chapel and in pain I broke down tables and slid them to their proper place. Mumbling most of the time about how much my foot hurt. Still I worked. Not because I had too but because I came here to work. There is little else to do. I find myself growing restless if I don’t have work. I’m building a pretty good reputation here and I have to work equally hard to keep it up. Back on point. After the fireside was set up (no easy task) I went back to the office to take my break. I was next assigned to clean the quarantine room. The first person to walk in after me was my partner. Together we were to strip the room to the bare mattress (whether they were used or not) and sanitize the room. When you send Jessica JJ Richardson to sanitize a room. It will be cleaner than a hospital. My partner and I stripped, bagged and soaked the bathroom features in cleanser. While my partner ran the infected linens to laundry I sanitized every surface, facet and piece of furniture in the place. House keeping is the first line between sickness and health for our guests and fellow staff. We’re responsible for clean, healthy rooms every time. In this I take my job very seriously. 
We got the room stripped, sanitize and half stocked before lunch. We closed the room and took the rest of the linens to the laundry. After lunch I was scheduled to train a new program person who needed to know how to do a change over. With heated determination and an aching arch I took my trainee (victim) to room 211 in Tides and walked him through the hectic pace of a change over without rushing him. He was lucky to be trained on a chore day as a pose to an actual change over like myself. I showed him how to do some things but mainly verbally instructed his training. I was very impressed with work ethic and thoroughness. He’d ‘finish’ I’d inspect it like any other good captain and tell him to do it again. He’d jump right back in and do the job better. My goal was to make it so he was the best on any team he was assigned (praying he’s on mine) He was great. Training over I returned to the quarantine room (with a new partner) we finished changing over the room and was sent over to PVL to clean the publics and lobby. The day was turned out better than it started but the pain was bad by the end of the day. 
Wednesday: Maid service/Chores 
This was a special day, not only was I limping from the start but I had figured out by now that I had planters facetious! 
Awesome… So limp and all Geoff (our very own BFG) after morning chores were given our assignments. First off, I have to take a side bar here and tell you how awesome it is when you’re bosses trust you (and say it to your face) that they trust you to complete a task to perfection. It really helped make up for my mistakes the previous day. After our important task Geoff and I headed to PVL to to first and North 2nd (the north side of PVL) We got done at around 3 pm headed back to the office where we had to take a break. If you know me than you know that I prefer to press on and get it done then rest but as per law and sensibility we took a break. 3:15 pm we headed to East. FINALLY! Maid service over we headed back to the office. I was ready to go do chores (despite limping heavily, I had plans that evening and wanted to be done for the day) 
Aaron stops me before I can leave to do my chore, he says.
“JJ, Stop. Walk toward me” 
I try to walk as normally as I can, but got sent home early anyway. I go back to my room, change, grab an aluminum water bottle to ice my foot and spend the next hour with my dad (who had come down to start a SAGA game with my friends from CBCC) after that I went back to my dorm and got ready for my debut CBCC performance in a murder mystery at a wedding!
I played Darlene Simpson, the jealous sister of the groom. Bitter about not being close to her brother as children she’s now enraged that her beloved brother is marrying a rich Italian American. Only instead of the bride the groom is murdered! 

It was great fun. I went full out on make—up (Thank you Hannah H.) my roommate and she even made me a dress from a bed sheet. I asked myself, If I were vindictive and hated the bride of a wedding I was in what should I wear… A WHITE DRESS! No joke! Priscilla (the minister who organized the event) was in stitches when she saw me. People mistook me as the bride until the “real” bride showed up in an epic, white 80’s prom dress (Courtesy of Staff minister Leslie). Everyone in attendance dressed as if it were a real wedding. It was awesome. The ice and frankincense oil I had put on before helped keep my foot from swelling too bad. Other than breaking into giggles a few times we all stayed in character. At one point the bride and I (my co-captain/friend Marci) I were suppose to get into a verbal fisticuffs. It was great! We were slinging PG insults at each other and when Leslie gave us the cue to wrap it up I told her groom (and real life boyfriend) to break us up. It worked out well. I was unaware of who was going to be murdered and so after their ‘first dance’ the groom “my brother” fell in a gasp. I screamed his name and rushed to the stage. Shaking to wake him. Apparently I was ‘aggressive’ ‘awesome’ and some peoples ‘favorite character’ It was a nice to blow off a little steam from the past week. 
By the end of the event my foot was really paining me. My friend Abbie (who played the wedding planner) walked me to the coach house below and treated me to some water and a cookie! After the first few minutes my saga training kicked in and I was Darlene Simpson. It was cool to flex my acting skills a bit. Abbie walked me back to my room where we talked for a bit. 
Thursday: MAJOR DEHYDRATION HEADACHE! Ugh. I didn’t drink enough the previous day and was paying for it. My foot was still pretty swollen but I had the day and the next off. I was so grateful to my manager, Dawn for my new days off. I needed to rest my foot. Frankincense, Deep blue and ice. That’s how I was solving the problem. After watching Netflix, sleeping and eating all day I made my way slowly over to beach front to listen to our guest speakers; Karl and Ariel Richardson. I was working on the other sessions. His point was that we have no purpose that we can perceive. God has appointments and assignments for us that can’t be boiled down to a single ‘purpose’ in this I felt a great freedom. I’d been wondering what I should be doing after this summer was over. I’ve gained many skills while working here and several friends. An opportunity back home would seem the easiest but perhaps it’s a ministry that God wants me to pursue. To protect and teach my family what I’ve learned while being here. I’m not positive yet but I know that whatever I do, as long as it glorifies God I will be blessed. I slept well that night, knowing that my future was secure in God alone and that I wasn’t too worry. 
Friday: SHOUT OUT TO MY NEPHEW JUDAH! IT’S HIS 9TH BIRHTDAY! Speaking of which I called him at 8:30 am to wish him a happy birthday. I ended up talking to my sister-in-law, Belle for a bit which was nice, cause every time I talk to the kids I choke up. I miss those guys so much. If I take the opportunity then it would allow a lot of freedom and ability to see and spend time with the kids. All of them. As I write this now I realized that since my sister died (two years in nov.) I haven’t spent nearly enough time with her kids. I love them and miss them too. They remind me of her. Often I think of how she’d come and visit me if she could. She is a voice in my head now. Just a echo in my mind, and an ache in my heart. 

TOMORROW is change over. My parents are driving down to give me special insoles for Planters F. I’m very grateful! I’m praying that they work and my co-captain and crew will get the building done even sooner than 2:20. I’ll keep you updated. 

I’ll leave you with this thought;
Without purpose, we are limitless.  

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