Sleeping peaceably in a strange place is often difficult, and this was certainly true of our first night in Willimantic. The fact that we were on tile floors (Sue was smart and bought an air mattress for the trip) and the kitchen work team inadvertently left the industrial sized kitchen fan on all night, thus sucking the heat out of the building made sleeping all the harder. Nevertheless, the LOL team woke up eager to start their first full day in Connecticut.
Our first show of the day was in a local nursing home. To me the best part of this program was after we were all finished the actual show. The students are taught to interact with the audience after a show, bring around the chicken and rabbit we use, pray for the people if they’d like, etc. When the rest of the team had packed up all the props and was out of the building, Rose was still inside with two other girls on the team ministering to one of the female residents. She was fitting right in with the class already.
Our afternoon show was at Nickerson’s Family Campground. Owned by a Christian couple,, the campground offers Sunday services and Christian entertainment (that would be us) but its clientele is by no means all believers in Jesus. We arrived early as the Nickerson’s graciously let us use their campground showers while we were there. Our show was on an outdoor stage, and I was surprised how many people were camping there on an April weekend. We probably had an audience of 50 or more. This was our only outdoor venue of the year, which created certain challenges for some kids. Stephanie walked on the high stilts on rough ground, Lucy and Kat juggled rings in the breeze, and our dancers danced on the lawn. They all rose to the occasion.
Since the school year is coming to a close, I use shows during this trip to highlight 8th graders as they will be graduating out soon. So at this performance Makayla did a juggling solo routine. She was great. She performed machetes and fire torches for the first time, in a routine that also included clubs and juggling three balls with a chicken on each shoulder. The whole idea of a solo was a risk for her as Makayla is a reserved young lady. Her progress has been amazing, though. She ended 7th grade only able to juggle silks. She has worked very hard this year.
Once we were showered and packed, I stopped by the camp office to thank the owners. That’s when he told me something that is one of the highlights of the trip. He explained that there is a family who has been camping here for 15. They are not Christians and have never attended any of the services the campground provides, except once. Five years ago, they went to a service there and walked out half way through. After we did our show, they went to the camp office and asked the owner what time church was the next day because they wanted to attend. The kids are what changed their minds!
After returning to our base, having dinner,a trip to Dairy Queen and evening chapel, we settled in for sleep. The hard floor suddenly didn’t seem so uncomfortable, and everyone was asleep quickly. But in many ways the trip was just beginning.