Community Appreciation Day, additional pictures

Opening Devotion via Bullhorn

You read about our Community Appreciation Day at the Seminary in PNG (If not, read it here in our newsletter). You watched the action on our YouTube Channel (if not, see it on our channel OMPNG). But you came here to see more pictures, right? Well then, allow me to dazzle you with the brilliance that is...

ADDITIONAL COMMUNITY APPRECIATION DAY PICTURES POST!!!!! (with commentary to make it funny/not boring/so entertaining in fact, that you will share this post/we could really use more exposure and only you can help!!/no really, please share this :))

Nice lines. I wonder how they were made???

The day began by preparing the field. There were going to be a number of different events; the main ones were a variety of races and numerous volleyball games. Both required lines on the grass. I was curious to see how they were going to mark them. I thought about powdered chalk, but they don't have that here. And any kind of paper marking would soon be moved or destroyed. When I came down to the field here is what I saw:

Oil. Interesting choice.

In a way, I suppose, pouring oil on the ground is just a way of putting it back where it came from. Sort of like recycling. And the grass will grow back, I'm sure. But now we had lines and we were ready to begin. But not until we had volleyball nets put up. And here is how they did that:

Let me give you a hand. Or a foot.

With a little teamwork the nets went up. But there was still one more important thing left to do. Fill water balloons.

Team water balloon doing the hard work

I didn't count how many balloons we filled. Maybe fifty. Maybe eighty. A hundred? Sure, there could have been that many. When my fingers got tired of tying we had five large market bags full of pastel-and-primary-colored jiggly fun!! Now we just needed people.

And the people came. Slowly at first, then more and more. By the time we had run some races the field began to fill.

Nice weather. Not too hot, and the rain held off (mostly) all day

We had the competitors split into teams by clan, with the people living at or around the Seminary on its own team. So the four groups would submit a participant for each race. We had male and female races of a wide variety: 100 meter, 200 meter, sack races, 3-legged races, and wheelbarrow races. Meanwhile there were volleyball games being played at the two courts.

When the races were done, I overheard the head judge say that because we didn't have the water balloons ready they were about to begin the tug-o-war. I stepped up and declared that the balloons were, in fact, ready and we should commence tossing them. There was just one concern: No one had ever done or seen a water-balloon toss before!

And so it was that I demonstrated before the entire crowd how to perform the event. Holding a  balloon aloft I explained that it was filled, not with air, but with liquid water. I told them that if their balloon broke then that competitor team was eliminated from the competition. I had one of the judges as my partner. I had him stand directly in front of me and on the count of "three" I handed him the balloon.

No one was impressed. I had the judge take one step backwards and on the count of three he gently tossed the balloon back. Again, no big deal. I told them you had to toss it gently and catch it gently or else it would break. The judge took another step back.

Throw. Catch. Step. Repeat.

On the count of three I easily threw the balloon and the judge easily caught it. Then he took another step back. He tossed it, I caught it. Nothing broke. He took another step back. I lowered the balloon between my legs, lifted it lightly and it lobbed nicely at the judge who caught it again with no breakage. He stepped back, threw it and I caught it. He stepped back again.

By now I was beginning to think that maybe I had not filled the balloons enough. I had expected the thing to break on the third or fourth throw. Now my partner and I were many steps apart and the balloon was holding up nicely. The whole point of the demonstration was so that they could see what happened when the thing broke. But is wasn't breaking. Was the rubber too strong?

We were so far apart I had to pull the balloon to my hip and with both hands hurl the orb skyward. It sailed in a rainbow arc and descended into the waiting hands of my judge partner...and did not break. I knew what this meant...the next throw would leave me wet. He stepped back and threw, this time with increased force. I watched, hands extended, and awaited my bath.

I caught the balloon, unbroken. By now, the crowd was gasping at each throw. They were totally transfixed on two men who were throwing a water filled rubber ball at each other. There are times in your life when you reflect on the moment and wonder what in the world is going on and why no one else thinks it's strange. I had no time, however, for reflection. The judge stepped back and I prepared to throw.

He was really far away now. The previous time I had thrown as hard as I could to get him the balloon. This time I would have to summon super-human balloon throwing strength to succeed. I pulled back toward my hip, gave a slight twist to gain additional force, and spun forward to release.

The balloon broke in my hand as I threw...

But it had already begun to ascend, and so a gigantic shower of droplets sprayed the crowd gathered around the judge, and they all began shouting, elated, happy, water-covered shouts.

You do realize someone is going to get wet?

Now it was their turn and they were super-excited. We began with four teams of partners. After a few rounds we had finished with the scoring portion of the event and were ready to move on to other competitions. But there were still dozens of kids who had not yet thrown and you could see them all big-eyed with anticipation.

I told the head judge to have everyone line up and we handed out all the rest of the balloons. We had a lot left over so everyone who wanted one got one. Look at the pictures. Better yet, watch the video. There were so many happy kids laughing and throwing and getting soaked and loving it.

The rest of the day went great. The other 'big' event was the log cutting competition. Once again we had two rounds of four competitors. Each had the same kind of new axe. Wood chips were flying and the crowd was roaring.

No safety glasses? No shoes? No problem!

About the most bizarre thing I witnessed (which is saying a lot) was the event called Hot Tea Race where participants attempt to drink an entire mug of freshly-boiled tea as fast as possible. They put sugar in it, but I don't think that helps with throat burns? There is a rule that if you spill any tea you are 'out' which prevents you from spitting out the burning, hot liquid. So you are incentivized to keep it in your mouth and let it 'cool' before swallowing. Sounds great, huh?

If you are drinking hot tea, maybe take off the hoodie?

At the end of the day we gave out prizes. Speaking of prizes, we had bought a small mountain of individually-wrapped chewy candies to give out to the top three winners in each race. I had my kids fill up little bags to make them easier to give away. Here they are opening the bags, mixing them in a giant bowl and bagging them up:

I have awesome helpers!

I counted up all the points that were scored at each event and announced the top teams. Prizes were cans of soda, bags of chips, and little packs of cookies. I worried about not having enough, but everyone shared what they were given so there was plenty for everyone.

Soda and Twisties, which are exactly like Cheetos

I don't know how we are going to top this event next year, but that isn't the point. As I said in my opening devotion, "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Whether we work, worship, or play we give thanks to God for sending his son, Jesus Christ, in the flesh to suffer and die in our place that we might become children of God and live with him in heaven forever.

This event was meant to show appreciation to the community for being supportive of the work done at the Seminary, and it did that. But it was also meant to give glory to God in the way we conduct ourselves as we play and enjoy each other's fellowship. And it did that too.

God bless you all, and thank you for your continued prayers and financial support that allows us to be here serving the people in Papua New Guinea.  ~Michael

p.s. Our friends, the Boyd family (who are involved in Bible translation), were giving out free downloads of an Audio Bible and the 'Jesus' movie in the local language. What a cool thing to do!

p.p.s. To support us financially, please go to our giving page at www.lcms.org/givenow/ritzman