The Longest Post of My Entire Life

Before you read this post, note that it's the longest post of my entire life. The words alone total 3108, which is more than double the lengh of my next longest post. Because it is that long, it is also very poorly written. I don't feel like proof-reading it, so it's pretty bad writing. And in case you haven't already, read The Camping Trip - A Nightmare Tale (a joke) first. :P

What a week. Wowser. I have so much I could write about, I don't know where to begin. Several months ago, Ryan Cooper first told me about the camping trip he was planning. I soon became determined to get our family–or at least some of us– to come along. God worked it out very well, and Andrew and I, after much preparation, were able to go! I'll get right to what happened each day of the week-long vacation:

Thursday
It was such an exciting time! The camping trip would begin the next day, but before that, we decided to go over to some peoples' house for a Bible study/sports/dinner. I had never met these people before. My Mom and Grace came along for the night. We arrived and began playing volleyball almost immediately. After lots of games, it was time for dinner.

After dinner, us seven guys played a game of football (and Home Church, this was not girls' football :P). As it began to get dark, we went inside for a Bible study Levi had prepared out of the Book of Jonah. We mostly talked about how we, in modern days, don't literally board a ship in the opposite direction as where God wants us, but we create distractions to help us avoid God's will. After an hour or so of that, Mom and Grace left for home, and we soon left as well.

Ele, Andrew, Levi and I decided to get a late-night movie to watch. We ran over to Blockbuster, but they were closed, so we rented one from Kroger. It was a pretty good movie, and we had a good time watching it. Soonthereafter, we all went to bed.

This is me, getting the movie at Kroger:


Friday
We woke up and had devotions, and Mr. Bendixen told us the As would be coming over at 11:00 (which was moved to 11:30) to play volleyball. Before their arrival, Andrew, Levi and I went to Kroger again to put up supplies for the camping trip. I was glad we were able to see the As, as they didn't go on the camping trip. We played volleyball for much of the time, and they left at around 2:15.

Checking things out at the store:


Playing volleyball:


Hanging out in the kitchen:


As soon as they left, we got straight to packing! We loaded and packed up everything. At a little past 3pm, us five guys (Levi, Ele, Andrew, Jeriah and I) loaded into Ed (the van) and set out northward for the Coopers. It was a really fun drive. We joked and laughed and I really enjoyed it.

We stopped at Jimmy John's before arriving:


At around 5pm or so, we arrived at the Coopers and were surprised (or at least I was) that we were the first there. Ryan C. drove us to the camp site on "the Gator", and we began to set up tent.

Rosie and Seth:


Levi holding onto the back of the Gator:


We found this baby, dying raccoon:


We were total city slickers. This is me (and Ele) with my and Andrew's big suitcases. :P


Once we were all set up and no one else had yet arrived, we decided to go walking through the woods. I followed Ryan C. along the steep edge of a cliff (or whatever you want to call it :P ) along the river. At one point, I lost my footing and could only hold on with one hand! I was this close to falling down into the river, but I held on long enough to move forward. :)

Ele, Ryan C. and Levi hiking along the river:


Climbing in the sand:


We did that for a little while, and then the Wegners arrived! We greeted and walked back to the camp site. They brought their volleyball net, so we quickly set that up. As we played, people started arriving: they Carrigers, then Heyworths, and also some people which I didn't know. Throughout this time, people were chatting and having a great time, and I 100% enjoyed it.

This was the view right next to the volleyball net:


People preparing for a game:



At around 9:30pm, we walked back down to the campsite. People sat around the campfire, played games, talked and hit the volleyball around. As it was nearing time for the Wegners to leave, several of us teens decided to go play more volleyball before they left. We all walked back to the net and started playing. They left sometime before 11pm.

Sometime during this time, the camera started to only take blurry pictures. I didn't know why. So all the pictures from the next day and Monday will be semi-blurry, and I didn't get a single picture from Sunday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Don't worry; we had 20 people with cameras taking pictures of every little thing all trip long. :P

At this time, it started to rain pretty hard. Thankfully, the Bendixens had brought their canopy, so we stayed dry under that. Until past 1am, we played a naming game, which was very fun as everyone sits around in a group. These are the best sorts of games. It was a really awesome day.

Holding Lem over the fire! :P


Driving the Gator:


Around the campsite at night:


Saturday
On Saturday morning, we went to the Coopers' house, had breakfast, and hung out for a long while. It was such an awesome time because, in the back of my head, I knew I had the whole day in front of me. Here are pictures from it:

Having breakfast (blurry):


Ryan C. and Jordan showed me their "real" gun. :P


We had a good talk in the living room:


Ryan C. and Andrew:


Sometime in the mid-morning, all us teens were hanging out, talking, playing, etc. in the Coopers' basement. We Home Church guys hug each other a lot, so I wasn't surprised when Kevin and Ryan C. both hugged me, saying "group hug." Little did I know their secret plan. I looked around and the girls on the other side of the room were looking at me and whispering. I thought it was a little quirky, but it's something I can live with. :P :P

I went upstairs to take my shoes off. When I returned to the downstairs, everyone was looking at me. Ryan C. began, "J.J...", then all of the people started laughing at me! I felt a piece of paper on my back, and it read, "I'm a geek. Please laugh." And so they did. (In case you missed it, that is what I said what would happen in my last post. :P) I smiled so big; on the outside and in. I have the greatest friends in all the world. :D

Sitting on the fence ("no pun intended"... right...) :P


Mr. Ca. telling the kids a story:


Walking through the woods:


In the afternoon, much of us gathered around the campfire. We were singing such awesome songs. I was hold Luke in my arms, and Rosie was sitting in a small chair next to me. We were playing and singing at the same time. It was just so once-in-a-lifetime, precious. As all this was happening, I honestly was close to have tears fall. It is something I'll never forget. Wowser. :D

The only other thing of the day that sticks in my memory was playing jailbreak at nighttime. I hid with Jessica, who is one of my newest little friends, and we had a pretty good time talking while hiding. She was finally caught, and so was I. We played a ton of volleyball that day, and also a long game of girl's football (a.k.a. Ultimate Football). :P

Late into the night, we sat around the campfire playing a game. At sometime after 1am, most of the group had gone to bed. That is, except for Andrew, Ele, Levi, Jeriah, Ethan, Jacob and I. It was so late. We were being very obnoxious, but it was just too great of a time not to be! :P

Sitting around the campfire; playing a game:


Sunday
On Sunday we woke up and went to the Coopers' house soonthereafter. In some ways, this was my favorite day of the weekend, but I did not get a single picture of it, as I didn't have the camera. Before church started, we played a few games a volleyball. Then we had church around the campfire. It was truly amazing. Very good discussions, Mr. A read a good sermon about The Prodigal Son, and phenonenal music.

After church, we walked back to the volleyball court and played several games. All weekend long, I had played so terrible, probably the worst of my life. For the first time in my life, I hated volleyball. I was playing so bad, I asked if I could play in the back-left corner, which no volleyballs ever come to. That's just what was happening. I was so sick of it. I honestly considered walking off the court without my team, as I wasn't playing, and when I did play, I'd totally mess up.

We stopped to have lunch. We decided to play Sardines, where someone goes and hides in the woods, and everyone searches for that person. When they find him, that person hides with the person until everyone has found him. I'll be honest: there are some games which I just hate. Girl's football is one, jailbreak is one, and Sardines is another. Basically, here's how the games went: I started off looking for this person who's hiding. Looking for someone who's not trying to be found can be very frustrating. On top of that, all the game is that you walk through the woods, along. Where's the fun in that? I hope I've made myself clear. :P

All afternoon, we had been deciding whether or not we wanted to see Katie's tour group sing at a church less than a half hour away from the Coopers' house, at 6:30. We ended up opting to go, so we needed to pack quickly. Sadly, after saying goodbyes that was the end of the camping trip, In writing this, I didn't make it sound very good, but it was – it was awesome. We drove off and went to the church where Katie was singing. The whole sermon, we all were laughing like crazy (sometimes not because of the pastor, though... :P). After that, we went out to Big Boy for dinner. Yet again, it was an awesome day.

Monday
The weekdays are beginning to blur together as the week passes on. I can only remember a few things from Monday. After doing service calls and routine things, Andrew, Levi and I decided to stop and see Amanda, and then walk to the park to go witnessing. When we stopped at her apartment, we weren't planning on staying long, but I'm glad we did. While Levi and I did her dishes, Andrew set up The Game of Life and we started playing.

Playing Life:


Guess who won?!? Yep! It was me. :) I bought the most luxurious things I could possibly buy all game long (starter house, investments, home, millionaire estates, etc.), and I won by about $500,000. That's my sort of game play. :) We left there at sometime past 5pm, and biked to the park. It was the same park we had went to with the Home Church a year before. That was the first time I had ever, ever given out a tract. I remember it so vividly. :D

Before long, we noticed a young-adult guy sitting on a bunch, and we decided to walk with our bikes up to him. Levi gave him a tract, and us four chit-chatted for a minute. To my surprise, Levi said something like, "Well, it was nice talking to you. Have a nice day," and we started to walk away. I didn't understand why Levi wanted to end the conversation. I asked him, and at that time it dawned on me that I should personally do and talk to the guy alone. Levi and Andrew went on a head, and I walked back to the guy.

He was reading a book, so that gave me a good conversation starter. After talking with him for several minutes, I was able to give the full Gospel. I'm not sure if he was saved or not, but it didn't seem so. Pray for him, if you will, his name is Chase. I said goodbye, and went on to find who Levi and Andrew were talking to. To my right was the beach volleyball court, and to the left was several walk ways. I decided to check left first. I biked along, but didn't see them. I went right.

As I neared the volleyball court, I saw a bunch of guys playing. The horrible thought occurred to me that two of them might be Levi and Andrew! What a terrible idea; there's no way it could be true. Well, as their faces came into focus, my theory was correct: Levi and Andrew had skipped witnessing and were playing volleyball. I joined in the game, to make the teams even. I must say, I was disappointed that our witnessing trip turned into a volleyball trip – I had come on a mission.

The beach volleyball court:


We played three games of volleyball, and I did fairly well the whole time. Levi tried to walk to some of the guys afterwards, but we only had the opportunity to give one of the a tract. I don't remember anything special that happened that night.

Tuesday
I am beginning to forget everything we did on Tuesday. That is, until the evening time. At about six, Mrs. Bendixen, Andrew, Levi and I got together and schemed out something fun to do. I'm so glad we did it. With Mr.'s approval, we decided to invite people over with the excuse of eating ice cream and watermelon. :P

Ele, Levi, Andrew and I ran to Kroger to pick up some more ice cream, and ended up getting 10 cartons! The Heyworths, Matt and Clayton Rothenhauser all were able to come. Matt and Clayton arrived first, so we sat around in the living room chatting. After it was now 15 minutes past the said arrival time, Mr. Bendixen decided to call the Heyworths and see where they were. They said they were only a few streets away, so I initiated us all hiding from them. We ran outside and hid, but Levi had to give away the hiding place! Levi, Levi, Levi... what ever will we do with you? :P

But hey! I'm not complaining! As soon as they arrived, we started playing volleyball. Whoever invented the game deserves $100 and a barnstar! :P We played for a while, then breaked for ice cream, watermelon and talking. We then went outside for a storytelling time! Once again, we played volleyball! We played it until 11pm, when people left. It was a great night!

Wednesday
While some people went on service calls, I stayed home, and did miscellaneous things. The biggest was rake up leftover grass from the yard. At 1pm, Levi and Andrew returned home and we biked straight for the park to meet up with two boys Levi had previously witnessed to. As we were biking on the sidewalk, Andrew turned down a wrong street, so Levi followed saying, "Andrew, it's the next street..." I wasn't sure if I should stop and wait for them to return and go to the next street, or to follow them. I was going fairly fast.

I somewhat turned onto the street, but without making a complete turn. I was headed straight for the curb if I didn't stop immediately! I put on my breaks, but it didn't do any good as I was going too fast with too little time to stop. My front tire pounded into the curb's ridge. My body flew backwards off the bike and I tilted somewhat head-first onto the road. I slid along my right side and now have cuts on my ankle, knee, hip, elbow and shoulder. I also hit my head very hard and was partly dazed for the remainder of the day.

After a car stopped by and asked if I need them to call 9-11 (I said no), we continued on to the park, cuts and all. When we arrived, I stopped at a bathroom to check if I had any extremely bad wounds. I didn't so I exited and found Andrew was hiding from Levi with the two guys we had come to meet. Let me quote from my last post:

I ... went face-first into a sharp rock [the road]. I could feel some cuts on my face, which left red marks for several weeks [it has!]. I was going to be meeting some new people [the two guys]! What a good first impression. It hurt a lot [it did].

That's exactly what happened! My post came true! :P Once Levi joined us, we threw the Frisbee around for a while. We stopped that and began a conversation about spiritual things. It was a good discussion.

At around 2:30, we were heading back when we passed the pool next to Bear and Manda's apartment. Someone yelled, "Hey!", and it as Katie (my sister)! I was amazed to see her. My Mom was behind her and my little sisters were swimming! I was so shocked–and excited– to see them. There weren't many people at the pool, particularly immodest people, so Levi, Andrew and I changed into our (modest :P) swim clothes and went swimming. I'm just not a fan of swimming, so I hardly swam at all.

After that, we packed everything into our van and began our drive to see Katie's tour group sing at a church. While there, I met a little girl named Amanda (and her sister Emily and brother Trevor), and we became friends. :D (Read this post regarding little kids. :D) It was a really good service and singing. Afterwards, we went out for ice cream, and had a good time with that. We drove home, and so ends my week long trip. :D

Thanks for reading through this long post! It is my longest ever, which suits the trip, as it is the longest vacation I've ever had. Wowser. It's so hard to explain something like last week with words. It was just so amazing, phenomenal and outstanding. Katie's tour group sang a song titled I Have Been Blessed. Is it ever true. :D

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God bless, J.J. Biddinger