When the LOL juggling team woke up on Sunday morning, they had their work cut out for them. The fellowship hall and Sunday school rooms which had been the male and female dorms for the team, had to be returned to their normal state for the soon-to-be-arriving worshippers. While one work team prepared breakfast, the other LOLers packed up and picked up and the building was ready for use with time left over.
Sunday was a day of surprises and opportunities to spotlight individual students. Noah was chosen to do his 8th grade juggling solo during the morning service, and he did a fine job, ending with a blazingly fast 3 machete cascade. But this was only one of several students who were in the spotlight in new ways.
An hour and a half before his service started, Pastor Fred called me and told me his worship leader had the flu. “Do you have anyone in your group who could lead singing?” Immediately I thought of Brandon. Only 14, he has already led worship in his own church and leads the middle school class each week at school. I handed him the phone, and he and Fred had things planned out a short time later. Together, they sang “Jesus is Victor”, a song both LOL and the Supreme court Jesters use in their shows, as well as a few other worship songs. With Fred on keyboard and Brandon on guitar, they sounded excellent.
Fred had also asked me to have a student ready to share a brief testimony. I made an unlikely choice when I asked Amanda (the student, not the aide). There are many other students who are more comfortable speaking in public, but I really felt she was the one. In the end, she spoke about how God helped her through the death of a friend. Amanda was confident, poised, had great eye contact, and spoke with clarity and passion. Later that day an older woman from the church told her how much her testimony blessed her as she had been through something similar.
After we did our 20 minute set, Pastor went on with the service. We were asked to provide six students to help with their children’s church time downstairs. Unfortunately, I misunderstood and thought their leader would have a plan and my students would just assist. They thought my students would do more routines. When there’s a room full of little kids with nothing to do, this type of thing is a potential disaster. However, led by Alex, the students adlibbed and the teacher raved about how well they did. Alex especially demonstrated the ability to think on his feet I was told.
We had our first significant free time Sunday afternoon. We explored downtown Willimantic, then some on the team went to the local mall while others stayed at the church and rested. The free time was well timed, because our biggest moments were to come that night.