Today started out a little frustrating. I told the new council about the competition that we’re having today last Friday. Today I’ve been calling everyone and reminding them and asking them to bring something for the barbeque. So many of the council are so willing and excited, so that is fun, but the problem is unity. I want everyone to be there so that everyone can get to know each other and see how great each person is, but Rachel isn’t going to be able to make it the whole time, and Michelle was basically not planning on coming at all and never even told me.
It’s tough because I’m sure they are busy and have a lot on their plate, but it’s particularly disheartening because the two people I probably most worry about integrating into the group and feeling unified with the council aren’t making the sacrifice to be there and make themselves a part of the group. Missed opportunities early lead to large gaps later. I can’t punish the rest of the group and take away their opportunity for fun and team-building, but I don’t want everyone to come together and leave others behind. The toughest part is that others have made huge sacrifices to be able to be here tonight and then when they see that others didn’t it will probably hurt their feelings a bit.
This is the first council challenge but I feel confident that we can overcome it with awareness, work, and love.
It wasn’t long for us to overcome this challene. Now I feel like a jerk for not having faith in the members of the council. They seriously are amazing. So Michelle changed plans with her date so that she could go laser tagging and to dinner.
In the end it was a wonderful evening and a great bonding experience. I’m so thankful to Mckenna and Sam for putting it on. I want to give a brief agenda on what we did.
1. The best buddies talent show
2. Laser tagging
3. Dinner in Midway
4. Games
It’s hard for me to pick a highlight of the evening so I’m going to describe a little bit of all of it.
The best buddies’ talent show was seriously one of the cutest things ever. It was amazing to see their talent and excitement. Jamie was the emcee and we stayed until he performed. He sang “You raise me up by Josh Groban, and it was truly touching. He then proceeded to give a shot out to us, and that was fun to hear.
After the show we went laser tagging. A whole bunch of the old council didn’t show up, so we couldn’t go old council verses new council. We ended up having a battle of the sexes, girls versus boys, and it was super fun, even though I was terrible and the guys got demolished. The bright spot for the boys team was that Scott got 3rd place and that was the highest for anyone in our group.
A few people had to leave after laser tagging and it was sad to see them go, because we were having such a fun time together. It really got me excited for Martin’s cove in two weeks.
At the Strong household we had a ton of food. I got to barbeque and really had a fun time doing that. I like to cook; I just wish I had more time to do it. Dinner turned out to be fantastic and then we played games and that was when the night got crazy.
We started off easy with some relaxing catch phrase, then played an elimination game and Alex came out on top. During “100” things got wild. Everyone was on edge and Alex won the first game and then Marshall the second. The last game we played was probably the most fun.
Everyone wrote down a funny experience, but did so generically. They put their name on the paper and then turned it in to the mediator (Sam). She then would select a story and three people to tell it as if it was their own story. A brief explanation would be this
· Mckenna got locked in a Walmart
· Alex got in trouble with the law
· Katherine was taught the first discussion on a date
· Scott got his first bra from his gradma
Sometimes the lies were as good as the truths.
Overall it was a really fun night. I appreciated everyone’s sacrifice in being there.