Several people, especially my supervisor Kenny, didn’t like our name. The Base Team doesn’t really have a ring to it, doesn’t really say much about our ministry and certainly doesn’t tell you a thing about the town we’re living in. We thought long and hard about this. The first vote was for The Asda Team. If you don’t get the joke, Asda IS Walmart and it’s approximately 300 feet from our front door. It’s also the only thing open in this town past 5pm. I was hoping for something to do with Pirates….seems to be a re-occurring theme…or maybe I just WANT it to be. Then we thought contextually and since we spend a lot of time going door-to-door and looking for children we decided on Strangers With Candy.Unfortunately we are not allowed to put that on the promotional material for OM. Sigh.
So officially we just settled for the Halesowen Team.
A few things became evident to me during this brainstorming process the most obvious one being….we aren’t good with names. LOL
I really love my team. I feel it cannot be stated enough. I think I’ve mentioned before it’s the way they rally around things that have to be done and they get through it. Maybe sick, maybe grudgingly or maybe because their English isn’t perfect and they aren’t really sure what we’re doing anyway… BUT the point is things always get done. (Speaking of English dear Lord that sentence was terrifying).
Example:
A week from last Thursday Ulla, Lila and I were in Lye handing out church info door-to-door when a creative thought struck our brains. All the way home on the base we discussed the possibility of doing something for kids. There are tons of kids in Lye and no children’s ministry yet. We wanted to at least get a fun day going to let them know God loves them and they’ve got a local church around the corner. Right. So we hatched a plot and then sprung it on our teammates when we got home. Our really tired, half sick, working hard Kids n Things teammates. Yep. And we told them we wanted to do this in a week. They sighed, and agreed.
SO, our graphic design friend Katrine made us a quick flyer and the next Thursday Ulla, Lila and I hit the doors again. But the 3 of us didn’t get far. So we realized we were going to need help. The next day we recruited more people and hit the doors again. But it wasn’t enough.
I don’t remember who’s idea it was originally, sometimes Lila’s ideas and mine run together. But we decided we needed a parade for Saturday. Why? Who doesn’t like a parade of crazy people?
Last Saturday we had a Thing In The Park…for kids. Believe me we tried to come up with a name for it, but you know our weakness.
It was brilliant (see my use of British wds) and this is not because of us but the Lord. We recruited extra help yet again and with 9 of us managed to throw down a puppet show, games, candy, a parachute, and face painting for around 15 kids plus their parents. :)
And the parade was a success. With crazy hats, a guitar, and giant boom box we roamed the streets of Lye looking for children. After all we are Strangers with Candy and that’s what we do. :)
