Sunday, January 25, 2009

Surprise Me God - Day 13 - Saturday

The sympathy vote

Saturday morning was a morning I was dreading and looking forward to. We had a huge fundraiser going on at church that I was going to miss the first part of and a choir "tune-up" down in Bloomington. The reason I was dreading the morning mostly was because I was going to be out of control of what was going on at my job. It's not that I have control issues, but when I know that the two people who are in charge (Mari and I) are not going to be there 100% of the time, then I have to place my trust in the volunteers and youth to get it right. And normally I am a trusting person when it even comes to that, but because of the last minute scrambling I was a little hesitant on this one. Luckily, Heather was going to be there and I know she is awesome and will make sure all is well on this one.

So, I began my morning ritual and thought it necessary to check the weather. Fantastic...12 below with a pretty good windchill. This is not looking good for the fundraiser. How many kids are going to want to go out and sell discount cards in this type of weather? All the work Mari and I put into this and we may have to cancel because of cold? I guess we have to make it a game time decision. Hope it all goes well cause I won't be there to help.

The choir tune-up was good. Not the best of the 6 or so that I have been through. I forgot I was supposed to bring my camera to take pictures (this is a standing order from the choir at any event). And normally it is just a few pictures of people singing and having a good time with each other and the guest conductor. But today, I really should have brought the camera. The National Lutheran Choir was being presented a grant from Thrivent for Lutherans for $100,000! SURPRISE! And a wonderful one at that.

This is an awesome thing to happen because it is really going to help the choir get to the next level of performance capabilities and financial support. A picture worthy moment. The moment was covered by another choir member thankfully.

At the end of the tune-up I dashed to my car, took Kate home and got to Rogers as fast as I could. Everyone was on lunch break so I did the same. Then I played command center. I made calls and kept in touch with everyone on the fundraiser to see how they were doing. I prepared the church for their arrival and waited patiently for the results of the fundraiser. As it turns out John, the fundraiser guy, expected us to sell around $600 worth or $30 cards. In the end we sold, are you ready for this? $4020 worth! We sold 201 cards! That is amazing and a wonderful surprise. The youth went out like gangbusters and knocked this one out of the park. People must have been so amazed that we were out selling on a day like this that they couldn't help but buy from us.

I think the best surprise of the day was with Emily. She has been worrying like crazy about raising enough money to go on this trip. She has to raise it all herself and is freaking out about it. At the end of the day she not only sold the most cards but she also pulled the most money out of the prize bucket. This was a blessing because today she has raised over half of the total amount and we still have 6 months till we leave.

So I guess I learned, again, that we have awesome people working with youth and amazing youth who are willing to work hard. This is always a great surprise. Praise God.

Dain

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