To the Best Followers In the World...

Well, this week, I went on a ski-trip with the Bendixens, and many other good friends. (Some of which I just met.) We planned this as a ski-trip, but we only spent around 6 hours of our 4 days skiing. ;) Here is what happened, in full detail, for you, my followers. ;)

After church on Sunday, while the others were playing outside, several of us stayed inside and talked in the Bendixens' living room. After that, many of us guys decided to go witnessing. It was my first time ever actually evangelizing, besides giving out tracts. I went with Joe, and we had a really good time (except for all the people who rejected us...).

When we arrived back, we were pelleted with snowballs. Soon thereafter, we began a snowball fight against the girls (...although I don't understand why everything turns out boys vs. girls...). After that, we played Jailbreak. Although these two things were enjoyable, I largely preferred the talking in the living room and evangelizing at the mall.

Leah and Nate playing Foosball:


Sitting around in the living room:


On Monday, Levi and I decided to Canoe down the snow path Ele and Levi built along their house. It was a lot of fun, and I am surprised we went down so fast. Here are some pictures from that:

Levi going down:


Me jumping on:


Levi tipping back and forth ;)


On Monday night, we went to Orchestra Practice. I spent most of my time building a car track with Victoria and Elizabeth.

Orchestra Practice:


Elizabeth & Victoria:


Nine total people on a three-person couch ;)


Late on Monday night, Levi, Andrew, Ele and I went on a shopping trip to Kroger and picked up some things we wanted for the ski-trip in the morning. I was the cart guy. :) Here is a video of us looking through the candy isle, where we spent like half our time choosing which candy to get ;)


The Ski-Trip
The night before, I fell asleep really quickly. Usually it takes me awhile to fall asleep, especially as I had woken up really late the day before. Thankfully, I was able to get several hours of sleep before waking up at 4:15. We packed up, and were off to pick up Jacob, then merge vehicles for the trip northward.

On the way there, I ended up being in Red, the Bendixens' "unpopular" van. For the record, here are those who were around me: Barak & Amanda, Ryan W., Kevin, Abigail and Victoria. The Heyworths had the popular van, and we figured that because they were having such a good time, we needed to have fun as well. We ended up playing I'm Going To China..., drawing pictures and having a good time. Yay for us! :D

Here are some pictures from the ride:

Barak & Amanda:


Ryan and Kevin:


Abigail and Victoria:


Love my bunny ears ;)


Through the first few hours of the day, it felt like I was just searching for the others. I would go from area to area wondering where they are. Finally, I met up with Barak and Brianna. The several hills and lifts we went on together were probably the best time I had skiing all day. This is probably because we went on the back trails, which are simple, and I could practice more. Whereas on the main hills, it was a straight-down drop and I mostly snow-plowed down, not improving much at all.

Now, it is time to mention my personal falls. ;) Firstly, I was going down the main sidehill, entitled Hemlock. I fully wiped out, and skidded down the hill like 50 feet. I actually felt cool doing it – it felt like I was in an action movie, flicking snow in front of me. Thankfully, a snowboarder saw it and brought my other ski down to me.

While I was with Barak and Brianna, Bear had his sweatshirt off, with only a long-sleeved shirt on. So, I did the same, and tied my hoodie around my waist. While I was going down my favorite hill, I crashed and slid on the snow. I had rolled up my sleeves, so my elbows were really cut up from it.

This was my main fall of the day. I was, again, going down my favorite hill on the side. It is a fairly simple hill, so I wouldn't expect to fall much on it. But as I was beginning going down it, somehow I flipped forward head-first into the snow. It crushed by sunglasses into my face, and jammed my thumb really bad. I use my right hand a lot in skiing, but without my thumb, it made it really difficult to turn. As I was taking the lift up, Ryan W. was the first to ask me this awful question: Did you fall on your face? :) I kept being asked questions like What happened to you?, Does your face hurt?, and, my personal favorite, Is there something wrong with your face?, all day long. ;)

In reality, my face didn't hurt much. It was my thumb, which I later learned I had sprained, that really hurt. For the last several months, I have been practicing using my left hand while eating. I've gotten really good at it, and it is almost natural now. As I write this on Thursday, my thumb is all swollen and I can't use it much at all. So I am proud to announce, I am now officially left-handed!

As far as I can tell, I fell down more than anyone else, at least around 10 times. As I write this, every muscle in body is sore, especially for my arms. Several hours after lunch, I finally was able to catch up and stay with the group. After going up and down the hills several times, we decided to go to the highest point of the mountain (I believe so), and take a group picture. Now, it was the end the day, and time go finish up. Every since my fall, I had very little strength in my right hand, and for some reason my right ski wasn't working. So, not only did I have to snow plow, but had to do it from the highest point of the mountain on one wobbly ski. :)

I made it down alright, and had time for one more lift up. I decided to go over one last time to my favorite hill. As I went over there, I saw Bear & Manda standing and taking pictures. So, after getting my picture taken, I went down for the very last time. We packed up all our belongings, and loaded into the vans.

Here are some pictures from skiing:

Faith, Rachel, Ele and Jemima:


Hannah, Victoria and some others:


Lucy, Victoria, Andrew and Ele:


Bear, Myself and Brianna:


Levi, Joe and Andrew:


Charity, Hannah and Abigail:


Abigail, Kevin, Ele and Ryan W:


Jemima, Levi and Victoria:


Faith, Ele, Lucy and Ryan C:


Grace, Bear & Manda:


During the ride home, we stopped at B.C. Pizza for dinner. I sat at the younger kids' table, and had a good time (although pizza is a terrible food to eat in front of people ;). We also stopped at Dairy Queen, which I bought a Large Blue Raspberry Arctic Rush for the ride home!

The group photo at the pizza place:


Our table:


On the following ride home, our group (two benches) played many different games. Of course, we had camera wars. ;) After at least an hour, we started not finishing our games at all – we would start a game, but then get tired of it and not finish. One of the most fun things we did was have Kevin and I read a book together. It was fun. ;)

After a while, we made Kevin sing his version of The Star Spangled Banner, and we joined him. That began a chain reaction of singing, and soon most of the van was singing along. We sang many songs for the next few hours, and I really liked it. I also got to know the people around me really well. After saying our goodbyes, we went home.

On Wednesday, we watched a Pride and Prejudice-like movie entitled North and South. All of us watched it (for most of the time), and we had a really good time with it. (Watching any romantic movie with the Bendixens will be fun. ;)

Everyone (except me) watching the movie:


Levi and I (Note: I edited out my scars. :)


In conclusion, I have been on three ski trips in my lifetime – Boyne Highlands, Caberfae and Boyne Mountain. In these three three trips, I been on the best mountain, had the best overall time, and enjoyed the greatest ride home ever, respectfully.

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God bless, J.J.