BLAST 2006 - Day 2

Miguel and Mike kicked off the morning inspiration with a small talk from Miguel about the different types of live music that move us. There are the big rock-style inspirations where the teens can mosh and jump up and down and wave their hands in the air, and then there’s the more simple but no less powerful inspirations with just guitars and the words and the spirit flowing strong through the crowd. Mike and Miguel then went on to play a lot of the inspirational favorites of the Family to get the crowds moving.

While the teens were rocking out, the room captains were in a special meeting to go over aspects of talking to and training teens. This is going to be a daily event, going over issues that relate to training and relating to teens. It’s going to go a long way in training people for when they return to their homes.

The morning classes were divided up by Jr teen and Sr teen/staff. The Juniors moved over to another hall to have a power-packed class titled “Too young to be a disciple?” led by Alex and Natalie, while the seniors and staff attended a class led by Pedro about witnessing in the main auditorium, titled “You can too!” His class covered topics such as learning to be able to answer any questions that may come up, not just through study of the Word and our doctrines, but through being filled with the Spirit. He touched on the uniqueness of our message, overcoming obstacles in giving classes, covering controversial or difficult topics, how to avoid familiarity with your close Active members and sheep, and much much more. The presentation was filled with audience participation and was enjoyed by all.

As the teens were waiting to move to the lunch hall I asked one of the juniors more about their morning class:

Hobbyns: Tell me about yourself?

Amy: My name is Amy, I’m fourteen and I live in one of the homes in Mexico City.

H: Tell me how the class was for you? What was it about?

A: It was super cool. It was about being professional disciples at any age.

H: How did the class speak to you personally? What were your thoughts after it was over?

A: Just that even though I’m someone younger I can still go witnessing and win lots souls… I can be a professional at what I do, and I’m looking forward to doing that when I get back home. ▲

The afternoon was all about the sports, baby! With swimming, basketball, volleyball, and gym, there was no shortage of fun to be had by all the teens (and staff). I usually take advantage of that time to slip away to blog these posts. Once getout ends, in the time between the end of getout and before dinner starts, each of the captains get some time with their team, discussing the classes of the day and getting to know each other better. It's a really good time of "bringing it home" and a good way to relax and wind down before dinner.

The evening activity was especially fun! During the afternoon the musicians began to arrive for a night of live Latin music. Pedro, Jerry Paladino, Clara, Andrew V and co. all kept the teens on their feet for hours of awesome Latin music. I'm not sure where teens get their boundless energy, but after hours of getout and activities (and presumably a lot of late nights in their rooms talking) they can still get up on a stage and dance for two hours straight! When bedtime arrived they had a hard time stopping, but stop they did and head for their beds. This left the staff time to prepare for an evening class on Etiquette. Everyone was required to come looking and smelling nice for our etiquette class. The class started off with a skit giving examples for dance-night etiquette (mostly what not to do in a hilarious skit done by Steven of Amber). After that Miguel announced that the real reason for our class was so that we could put our etiquette training into action by... having a dance! The stage was cleared and a late night of dancing began.

Throughout the camp the Lord's spirit has been flowing unabated, and so far it's been a time of wonderful refilling, fellowship and training. The Lord is so good to all of us for making this event possible, and the effect it’s going to have on the field as a whole will be felt for a long time to come.

Click here for the photos from day 2. They're from several different cameras so they're not necessarily in order.