camp...
Well so far training for camp has been fun...(oh kat...I am working at Camp Hunt - Wheeler Mission's Camp for inner City kids). They were not able to find enough guys to work there this summer so there is not a guy arts and crafts instructor or archery instructor. It should work out it just means that I will not be a counselor at all this summer. There are several people back from last years staff. Both Nature instructors (Emily and Justin), the head lifeguard and male assitant (Jared and Adam), our female archery instructor (Amanda), and I. Jason and Justin are also back as maintanace guys. Our new staff members seem to be a lot of fun and have fit right in with the rest of us so I think it should be a good summer.
We really haven't done much...learned some camp games...fun I get payed to play tag! Went on a trail ride with the horse crew ... yep got payed to do that!
and then worked through a little of our training manual.
On Friday night we had a bonfire and spent the night at the archery range. It was a lot of fun...
Right now there are a lot of storms (tornados) and stuff in the area so I should probably get off the computer... Oh I was watching the TV and they showed a traffic cam a few miles from my house (465 and 65 for those who know the area) and there was this huge storm cloud. All of a sudden a funnel cloud came out of it and touched down on the ground. It was neat to see but it was also really scary because I knew it was hitting an area with homes and businesses... so far the pictures don't look horrible but there were homes severly damaged and many people are without power.
CAMP!!
Well it is finally time (almost) for camp to start. Training starts at ten tomorrow morning! I am so excited! I don't really know when I will be around. Once we actually have campers (in about a week and a half) we have campers every day except the tenth through the month of June... So I will be busy... but when I do have time to post I know I will have some good stories because life with campers is never dull and then there is the staff... I don't know everyone who is working there this summer but the people I do know...wow we should have fun! Well I need to finish packing... I will probably be back this weekend but I don't know that for sure...so everyone have fun...till later
terrorist using kidnapping
just ran across this
article outlining the techniques in Al Queda training manuals to kidnap someone and use them for their own purposes. Daniel Pearl's kidnapping is used as an example.
I'm back...
Well DC was fun... We got to Daniel's apartment early Sunday morning... then we went to his church on Sunday and went to a family's house for lunch...
Monday morning Mom dropped the girls and I off at the subway station and we headed into DC. We went to Chinatown to begin with but there was really nothing there so we walked towards DC and ended up by the White House and then headed over to the mall (note...it has come to my attention that many do not know what the mall in Washington is it is
not a place to shop. Instead it is wher the memorials (lincoln, washington, jefforson, war memorials etc are) Well we checked out the new World War II memeorial (it was just opened and hasn't even been dedicated yet but will be this weekend so we were some of the first people to have seen it). Well then we went to the Holocaust museum. I twas increadible! I highly recommend it! You get a booklet containing the information of someone caught up in the Holocaust and read it as you go through. My person died in Warsaw, Poland during the war. I was amazed by how wicked Hitler really was. I knew the stuff from history but I never really thought about it. The museum really brought it to life! Part of the display was on the issue of whether the US should have done something to stop this genocide before the war ended (some had suggested bombing austwitch (sp) in 1943 or so) If that had happened it could have stopped the mass murder taking place at that prison. However, it would have killed everyone inside and Hitler could us that (the killing of civilians) as propaganda against the allies so they never did bomb it. As I thought about this I wished we had done something sooner but then my mind went to the current world situation. Now I am by no means saying Saddam and Hitler are the same by what I am about to say because I don't think there is another Hitler out there! However, Saddam was killing his own people. He did have children in prison. There were mass graves. Family members did disappear. Speaking against Saddam often led to death. I saw so many similarities. And the US led coalition went in to Iraq to stop this (along with the threat of terror he brought to the world). To me it just cemented in my mind more the rightness of the invasion.
Well after the museum we rented a paddle boat and headed out onto the Potamac river for awhile. While we were out there a military helicopter flew over at us and landed in the White House area. A few minutes later it flew back. Well I don't know for sure that the President was at the White House but he did have to be in Pennsylvania for his speech so I think the helicopter was picking up our president and he flew right over us! thats my story at least. Well the Potamac was beautiful! Afterwards we found a stand to buy FBI, CIA sweatshirts for the girls and I ended up getting a pink tie die FBI t-shirt...Well we drove through the night and got here about nine this morning... I don't sleep well in cars so I went to sleep when I got home and woke up at about two...
well thats all for now... AND CAMP STARTS ON THURSDAY!!! FINALLY I WILL HAVE STUFF TO DO (camp goes till August ninth and I have to move into my dorm on August 16th for a week of leadership training so my summer is pretty much over... no more being board!)
life...
Well I am heading to the DC - Maryland area today... Monday the Rebekah Mary and I will explore DC...Should be fun... But hopefully we won't have any Grenades in the capitol building incidents... well Isaac won't be there so we should be safe (he causes those problems)...
I went to the outlet mall in edinburgh yesterday with Mia and Christie and their friend Jess. On the way down all these dump trucks turned in front of us. I got in the other lane and pulled up next to one at a stop light. All of a sudden this guy is waving at us and smiling... Oh my he was like like 40... Well we just bust out laughing and he is accelerating and I just let him go by and pull in behind him. And we can see him in his mirror laughing at us... It was so funny. Well I didn't really buy anything for me but I hit the Claire's 10 for $5 thing and got all kinds of prizes for camp this summer. The thing I was most excited about was a pink doorbell thing that we will use on our cabin door...should be funny. I also got a miniture pool game to play during free time... and then just normal prizes like lip gloss and eye shadow and some toys and jewelry and hair things. But really there wasn't much else to buy.
in their own words
I just ran across this letter from one of our troops over seas.
This is a letter from Ray Reynolds, a medic in the Iowa Army National Guard, serving in Iraq:
As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have done a very poor job of covering everything that has happened. I am sorry that I have not been able to visit all of you during my two week leave back home. And just so you can rest at night knowing something is happening in Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this on to you. This is the list of things that has happened in Iraq recently:
(Please share it with your friends and compare it to the version that your paper is producing.)
* Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
* School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
* Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.
* The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster.
* The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
* Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq.
* The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
* 100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35% before the war.
* Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in place.
* Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
* Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
* Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country.
* Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side with US soldiers.
* Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.
* Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to prevent the spread of germs.
* An interim constitution has been signed.
* Girls are allowed to attend school.
* Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first time in 30 years.
Don't believe for one second that these people do not want us there. I have met many, many people from Iraq that want us there, and in a bad way. They say they will never see the freedoms we talk about but they hope their children will. We are doing a good job in Iraq and I challenge anyone, anywhere to dispute me on these facts. So If you happen to run into John Kerry, be sure to give him my email address and send him to Denison, Iowa. This soldier will set him straight. If you are like me and very disgusted with how this period of rebuilding has been portrayed, e-mail this to a friend and let them know there are good things happening.
Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard
234th Signal Battalion"
What is happening in Iraq?
Well I have been saying for days that our people are really helping in Iraq. Today I ran across a web site that shares some of that information and I thought I would pass it on to all of you
soldiers in Iraq
Question
Is having denominations OK? What would Christ say about them. If you look at history some (not all) denominations split over little things like if it was ok to use zippers instead of buttons. Legalistic things that the Bible does not address. But Christ's command is to Love. He tells us that the mark of a Christian is their love. So is it OK to have denominations. I know the church I grew up in has four churches in one block on its road. However I have never done anything with those churches. Is this OK are we showing the world Christ's love as we live this way. Or does the world then have the right to say (as many do) "christian's can't even figure out what they believe so why should I join them?" If the world will know us by our love if we don't show love are we being a good witness? Just a thought but maybe Christ's "Blessed are the Peacemakers" statement in Matthew 5 would help Christians.
My personal belief. There are some things that are very clear in scripture that everyone agrees on. There are other things that we don't. but one thing that is very clear is that we must show love to other Christians and the world. Perhaps we should pay more attention to those commands and get that right before we start emphasizing things like who to baptize, or what to sing, or what predestination and fee will mean. Lets get back to the basics of showing love for all Christians! If we start doing that then maybe our discussions on theological issues would be much more benificial and we can maybe start working through differences and begin working together.
My challenge: Therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all, ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO ARE OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH!
The Apostle Paul
Galations 6:10
What a difference we would make if we followed this!
big frustration
Does anyone else find it funny that the news media and all these citizens know more about foreign policy than the President of the United States and his advisors and the security agencies? And I am talking about everything the WMD's, the prison scandel, the subject of who is winning the war. Yesterday in the congressional prison abuse hearings a senator read to the generals from Iraq who were appearing news stories and asked if they were true. The generals time and time again said what the news media was reporting was false. And what was the senators response to these men who have put their lives on the line for our freedom for years? THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE THEM! Many indicated they believed the news media not the generals who were there. Why? Does the media have access to inteligence? Were they in the prisons when the abuse took place? Have they personally talked to the people involved? NO! The media does not have access to our inteligence! The media was not in the prisons when the abuse took place (oh and the media did not show the military the abuse the military was practically done investigating the abuse before the media even found out). And they have not personally (to my knowledge talked to anyone involved in it). They have talked to lawyers and family members of the people involved but that is it. So why should we believe the media? They don't have the information the generals do. And frankly in my opinion many in the media do not have the charactor of military personel who have risked their life for my safety and freedom for years.
Know lets talk about WMD'S all we have hard from the media is the administration lied about Iraq having WMD's. Well lets see
Fact: it has been known for years that Iraq had these weapons.
Fact: Saddam Claimed they were gone.
Fact: Saddam would not allow weapons inspectors to search for them.
Fact: Saddam had lied about having weapons before.
Fact: Saddam did have the capability to use these weapons because he had used them on his own people.
FAct: our inteligence agencies found good indication he had WMD's and intended to use them.
But the news media says it was a lie. Well what does the news media base that on? I cant think of one thing.
Fact: WMD's have not been found.
Oh wait... They were found the other day. And currently there is a big concern in the inteligence world that the stockpiles of WMD's that they believe (knew) Sadddam had before the war have fallen into the wrong hands and will be used against our troops soon. But I suppose that to will be the administrations fault because they didn't do something correctly.
Oh and winning the war. If you look at the news media you would think the US was losing the war like nothing else. Well lets look at the facts
Fact: 200,000 US troops are in Iraq
Fact: Some are being attacked.
Fact: Many are living at peace with and helping Iraqis rebuild their country
Fact: Many troops who have been over there or are currently over there say the news media is not showing what they saw while there (I have a friend whose fiancee is currently over there. Before he went his commanding officer told him to not listen to what the news was saying and let his family know not to listen because it simply is not accurate and would cause needless worry.)
Fact: Life in Iraq is easier today! The majority of Iraqi's would agree with that.
The media
Fact: troops are dying
Fact: we are being attacked
ok those are true. But who is attacking us? The same terrorist agency has been implicated in the attacks in IRaq as in the attacks of 9-11. In fact we know that at least one high level officer in the agency is in Iraq because he beheaded Nick Berg on tape. So the same people are killing us today who killed us on 9-11. But we are capturing more of their people and breaking up the organization more every day. I don't think we are losing the war.
Just wanted to share my thoughts that just because the news media, or a teacher, or even I say something does not make it true. We don't have all the information. So at some point we have to trust the judgement of our leaders who we elected to make good decisions to protect us.
PACERS WON!
Eight more games...that is all the pacers need to win this season...eight more...Of course they will win the championship while I am at camp and I won't be able to see it and experience the joy...That frustrates me but since training starts May 27 and camp goes through August I will be out of touch with the world and not be able to see the game... well I will just have to have someone record the awards ceremony and part of each game and keep the paper so I can experience it later... well have a great night
Iraq WMD's
To everyone out there who has been saying that Bush lied to us I would just like to point out the news of the day. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION FOUND IN IRAQ! For months I have listened to people saying they were not there because we had not found them. However, I was also listening to top iraq scientists saying they were there. Well the news media here and in England have attacked Bush and Blair for months saying they lied to us about what technology iraq had so we would support the war. Had any of these news media seen the intelegence reports? NO! But if we aren't willing to share our inteligence the news media claims we are lying. Well a little hint about inteligence... if the citizens of your country know what inteligence you have so do your enemies... hmmm how much would that inteligence help our cause? just a question... Well I hope that the news media will apoligize for their unfounded accusations against our president and Britain's prime ministe. Both of these positions deserve more respect than the news media have given them. However, I am almost positive they won't. In fact some orginazations have already said "they aren't weapons of mass destruction" oh get ready for this... to be WMD's they would have to be shot through the air and they have not been used in that way... I say whatever...they have the chemicals that the news media has been claiming were not in Iraq! Oh and just so you know what a top iraqi scientists has to say about these findings... "you will find more" The news media hates this! all of a sudden the invasion of Iraq has all the things that Bush said would be there and more. How can they fight it now? Well I can tell you this prison scandal is going to be their life blood... Oh but wait news on that too... Turns out Lawyers have adviced the Bush administration that the Geneva Convention does not cover terrorists... who are the prisoners in those photos??? you guessed it Men with suspected terrorists links... so guess what those men did not have the rights of enemey combatants. And I am not excusing the few soldiers involved actions (and might I point out neither are our leaders) what they did was horrendous but the men they did it to were men who had participated in activity that killed citizens of our and our allies countries. Many also had information about future activity that they were not willing to share. Were all the techniques that the media is talking about torture? um really none of it was but some was inappropriate...the pictures of sexual conduct are disgusting...but lets look at some others...making soldiers stand for hours. Some would say that is horrendous. um just a thought but that is a common punishment in grade schools across the world. I have a friend that grew up in South Korea and that is a common practice (only they have to put their nose in a dot on a blackboard that is just above their height level so they have to stand on tip toes)... um I don't think that is exactly inhumane. Keeping people off a regular schedule so they don't know what day or time it is is another technique. Although I would never want that treatment it is not exactly inhumane. In fact it is a common interogation practice...it has been practiced forever. That way the person begins to rely on their captors as their only source of stability and are far more open. Lets remember that our goal was to find information that would save lives!
Well just a few thoughts...oh and guess what? There are Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq...Bush and Blair actually knew something...I know shocker...they might be smarter than Tom Brokaw...or maybe even than gasp Ted Kennedy...or wait...there is no way they could be smarter than...John Kerry...no way we all know he is brilliant
have a great day!
Nick Berg
Ok so all this furror aroud Nick Berg's (the American civillian in Iraq) death is really getting to me. Everyone is blaming the abuse in the prisons for his death because that is what the people who killed him gave as their reason. Lets remmeber he was killed by terrorists. The terrorists are part of a larger terrorist organization led by Bin Laden. Now lets think back to the history of that organization. And we will just stay with recent history. Lets start with September 11, 2001. Does anyone remember what happened that day? Oh yes! Some planes flew into some buildings here in the United States and killed
3000 American civilians! Who did that? THE SAME TERRORIST ORGANIZATION! And if that was not enough we saw them celebrating the attack and thanking their god for it! What reason did they give for that attack? The only one that I can even think of is jihad...their holy war. If you look at this organizations history you will find out that one of their goals is to kill ALL Americans.
Lets come forward to 2004. In April or May of this year (I don't remember exactly when but it was recent) this organization announced that it would give gold to ANYONE who killed an American (and we think from the context that the person meant in American in Iraq). So we know that this organization wants to kill the Americans in Iraq. Then the prison scandle breaks and the world is mad at us (if you haven't read my opinion on that you can read it in one of the posts below). Now these terrorists have a perfect opportunity to kill someone and say that it was in retaliation of the abuse. Could they have done it to express their anger over the abuse? Of course that could be their reason for this particular
MURDER. However if we look at history and the organization they work for I think we can realize that they will kill Americans no matter what. I don't think we should be so surprised over his death. Should we be saddened? YES! But surprised? This organization has already told us its goals! It is to see every American in Iraq
DEAD. Lets keep the facts in mind as we view news coming out of Iraq! Also let us remember that while our news media is focused on the prison scandle thousands of our fellow citizens are over there helping the Iraq citizens! And many of these soldiers are working on building schools and recreational places. They are helping with water supply problems so that communities can have running water. We don't see these stories brodcast by the news media very often but if you talk to people who have been over there or people with loved ones over there these things are happening! I don't know all the news medias motivations for the way they report news but part of it could be political. This is an election year and many in the media make no secret of the fact they would like Bush out. Lets not let their biased reporting change the way we think of the war.
substitute teaching...
Well this morning I was woken up by the phone ringing...I looked at the clock and it was 5:40...right away I thought "I guess I will be subbing today. Sure enough mom came up and knocked on my door and told me I woiuld be teaching 5th grade science... Well I went to the school and the lesson of the day was watching a Magic School Bus movie and doing a worksheet..So I watched the magic school bus where the students get baked into a cake
5
times today Lets just say it got boring... but I really enjoyed the day... For the most part the students behaved well...I had the fifth grade class I subbed for the other day ... and lets just say that class needs help but oh well...
If anyone has any wonderful ideas of things to do in the DC area next week let me know (not like visiting the monuments and museums and stuff though)... We talked about painting the white house orange but then we decided we would just study the White House so we are better prepared to plan how to do it...
Question: If a turtle loses its shell is it naked or homeless???
Have a great day!
life
Well just finished watching a disappointing pacers game... Hopefully they will come out and play on Saturday (unfortunately I won't be able to watch because I am going to be at a wedding but thats life :() Oh and about that fight in the fourth quarter...putting our guy in a choke hold is NOT acceptable and if Artest could get suspended for taking a couple steps onto the floor during the altercation in the last series that guy should get suspended...
Well the past couple days I have been working on my England scrapbook. I am almost done with the London pictures so now it is on to Oxford and the rest of England! It has been a lot of fun to look at all the pictures of England and remember the fun of spring break...
Oh let me tell you one of our favorite stories of London....Okay now remember English people don't really like Americans because we are...loud...happy...care free... Londoners are VERY serious...Don't think about smiling or talking to a person you don't know. Oh and when you are riding the underground DON'T talk to anyone you are with... and DON'T make eye contact with anyone ... Stare at your feet. Well we had been in London for a couple days so we had figured all that out so we were riding the underground.... the group in the car I was in was sitting in the back of our car and the only person outside of our group was a little old lady... She was sitting there all prim and propper. Well I could tell she was getting irritated but I didn't really know why because we were following all the "rules" Well a couple stops later the lady stands up and says something to the girl sitting next to her (someone from my group) and exits the car VERY primly... Well I did not hear what she said but the girls across from me were just sitting there very stunned... a few seconds later the girl said "did you hear what she said" well we hadn't so she went on to repeat it... this proper old lady had just said "like most Americans you are grossly over weight" We were all shocked... I guess the lady felt the girl was taking up her seat room I don't know... well the rest of the trip we referred to ourselves as the grossly over weight Americans... Good Times!
Honestly if you go to England...go to London and see the sights but eventually LEAVE London and see some of the rest of the country... the people outside of London are much more friendly...also you kinda get the true feel of England...the little bread shops... slower life...people who want to help...They are not as busy...they seem to care about others and are not completely against Americans
Two weeks from tomorrow until camp starts!!! I can't wait!
litle known fact: English palace guards do NOT wear red most of the time...they really are in navy blue except for formal occasions such as a coronation... the things movies get us to believe...
Sorry this is all about England...
oh lets post something about current affairs...Why shoiuld ALL the pictures about what some US soldiers did in Iraq be released but the media can't even show what happened to a US captive beheaded by the terrorists? Does that seem like a double standard to anyone else
also what those soldiers did says NOTHING about who I am...All it says is there is evil in the world EVEN in the US...However we confront and deal with that evil! We do not like Saddam ignore, encourage, and order these things. No! we punish the wrongdoers. I am getting sick of this being compared to Saddam's torture chambers...Does anyone remmeber the kind of torture he metted out??? Well lets see...MASS GRAVES!!! He used chemical burns...oh and RAPE ROOMS!!! There are reports of his torture chambers pulling body parts off one by one...That man killed people! What those soldiers did was wrong! However, it is in NO way comparable to what Saddam did! Also our government is not comparable because they have been dealing with it...even before the story broke! Books of investigative material have already been compiled! Lets not let the news media use this as a political tatic in an election year...let us aknowledge the wrong but stand up and let others know we do not believe that we are like Saddam!
Oh and to all of you (rebekah) who wanted me to update...I will update when I have something to write...and during camp this summer I may not update for weeks on end...and when school starts in the fall who knows...but this is NOT my priority
night everyone
Substitute teaching
Wow... what a day... This morning mom woke me up a little after 6:30 because Mr. Hanson had just called and he needed a substitute teacher at 7:30 this morning. well the school is a little over a half an hour away so I had NO TIME. Well I got ready and left and headed out to Triton... In the morning I taught fifth grade. The current way students have decided to torture substitutes is to pretend to have a cold... So my first class used almost a whole box of kleenexes blowing their nose...ok it wasn't that bad but I didn't really know what to do because blowing their nose is a legit body function but enough is enough...Well as the day went on and EVERY class did the same thing I began to wonder if they talked in the halls about how they were going to torture a sub... They were so consistent. If I had stayed much longer I could have predicted what the next misbehavior was going to be. Well in the afternoon I taught eighth grade English. The teacher had left me a note indicating that I would probably have to send someone down to the office to make an example so the other students would behave....so I was a little scared. But really the student's were pretty good. They tried to get away with stuff at the beginning and I told them no so within the first 5-10 minutes they were all hard at work...Wow...well I am going back on Wednesday to spend a half day at the HS and a half day at the middle school...
Pacers
Well Pacers won their game! They need to work on their free throw shooting but other than that it was a good game...hopefully the guys who fell hard tonight will be better by Wednesday :-) All of you need to remember mom's day tomorrow!
Mother's Day
Well Mare and I just got back from buying mom a mother's day gift... Oh it is so difficult...she is one of those people that no one ever knows what to get. Well we ended up getting a couple books and a flower and some chocolate...real creative I know...
Title of the blog
This will have my thoughts on any subject under the sun that I happen to think is important...Good books...good blogs... what is wrong with the world...what is wrong with our culture...and just issues in my life. Could it be one of those boring blogs???? Perhaps... But I hope you will have fun and enjoy it!
Address of my blog
Perhaps you are thinking "iwanttobeamoon" is a stupid address for a blog. But let me explain the title. What does a moon do? Well of course we all know it reflects the sun. What are we as Christians supposed to do? REFLECT THE SON! So i want to be a moon!
Well here I am on my own blog! Yes Mare I did it!
