Signs of the Times, Issue No. 110 - 06/26/10

And now we'll pause for station identification and a word from our sponsors..."

Greetings to one and all. 'Tis I, Aaron. I'm back for the day from EFY and I suppose you'd like to know how I'm doing. Topics to be discussed today: The exploits of A-Town and the KBJAMBERS from EFY Provo 5 Yellow. On we go!

This last week, we stayed in the Riviera apartments at BYU. I was a little skeptical going into the week because I had heard a lot of complaints about staying in the Riv, but I tried to go in with a positive attitude. We had a very small session this week. We only had about 250 kids, as opposed to the usual 400-500. We only had 26 counselors this week, some of which were only in charge of five participants, in some cases. Since there are three to four EFY sessions on campus, we were secluded and spent the entire week by ourselves, while the two other sessions spent time up at the Wilkinson Center. This ended up being really nice, actually. Where two or three sessions are gathered in the name of EFY, power struggles are sure to ensue, so it was nice to get away from it for a while. Having a smaller session was nice. I was able to meet a lot more of the participants and I was also able to spend more time with the counselors since there weren't as many as there usually have been. The thing I love the most about being a building counselor is the opportunity to work closely with the counselors. Every week I form new friendships with these amazing counselors and I'm excited to get to know a new group in 24 hours.

Our session director was John P. McLay from Colorado Springs. He's a seminary teacher over there and is also a popular CES instructor. He's a great guy and an amazing dancer. We all really loved working with him this week and we kind of wish he would just stay with us for the rest of the summer.

The big story for this week was that I was in charge of the musical program - the most dreaded duty in all of BC-dom. It's not like I'm lacking a musical background or anything, but leading the musical program at EFY is a pretty daunting task. Basically, I had to convince a bunch of kids to give up their free time and lunch periods to come sing hymns with me. Not necessarily the most appealing offer for a 14-18-year-old kid with A.D.D., you know? We ended up having about 30 kids come sing with us, which seemed a little small, but it ended up being just about right. The great thing about these kids is that you don't get many trouble makers at the musical program. "Hey, I know - let's go mess up the musical program during every free time this week!" Not happening. These are all great kids. Musical kids. They learned extremely quickly and I was really impressed at their will to work. I had the opportunity to work with two extremely talented counselors for the program who both helped me out a TON and I really owe a lot of the credit to them. Preparing for the program was very stressful. Most of the music is basically piano music that somebody wants a choir to sing on top of, so it's hard to conduct and hard to follow. I spent a lot of the day on Tuesday, including what was supposed to be my morning off, listening to the music to make sure I knew how to conduct it. I had nightmares about this thing almost every night this week and I frequently woke up with the songs from the program stuck in my head. It was a little unpleasant. Working with the kids was great, though. It was the closest I will probably ever come to having my own group of kids this year. I really enjoyed spending time with them during the practices and getting ready for Thursday night. On Thursday, we performed for the rest of the youth before a fireside and the testimony meetings. I was pretty nervous as the meeting got started, but as soon as we had made it two or three minutes into the first song without messing anything up, my calms gradually subsided. It ended half an hour later and I only messed up twice, but I don't blame myself. I blame the CD. It's a long story and I'm sure you don't care. Being in charge of the musical program was a fantastic experience. It was stressful as all get-out, but it was definitely worth it in the end.

What amazing kids!

Last night we had a huge "Lockdown" party outside the Riv. Lockdown is what happens at EFY on Friday nights. Kids are crazy and they want to stay up and party and try to sneak out on Fridays, so the counselors all have to stay up until 12:30 or 1 in the morning to make sure it doesn't happen. Ten counselors and I were stationed in the middle of two buildings of kids late last night when, from out of one of the windows, we heard what seemed to be a pterodactyl screech. We tried to ignore it at first, hoping that the kid would go to bed. The noises continued for the next half hour or so, coming about every ten to fifteen minutes. Eventually, another counselor and I entered that room to tell the kids to go to bed. I approached the most obnoxious of the participants and told him that we really didn't want to hear any more pterodactyls. He said he didn't know what I was talking about, but then made another screeching noise right in front of me. I told him to go to bed and eventually headed back out to the lawn. At around 11:30, we heard the noise again, so the other counselor and I headed quickly to the apartment. Upon entering, we initially felt bad because we woke up two or three of the kids who had finally fallen asleep. We tracked down the perpetrator and chewed him out a little bit. He gave us the typical, "I don't know what you're talking about" garbage so typical of liars these days. That was the last disruption we had for the rest of the night, thankfully. Well, this morning as the counselors were packing up and leaving, a tall, red-headed participant informed his counselor that he was the pterodactyl from last night,  not the kid we thought it was. Looks like we had the wrong apartment. Oops.

"I don't want to have to come up here again."

The Shoutout of the Week goes to all the KBJAMBERS out there. KBJAMBERS is a code name for our BC team. It's also the name of our radio station. We get to carry around walkie talkie radios all the time in case of emergency, but we like to use them to broadcast a small radio show each morning at 7:30. Our show has it all - the menu, sports, weather, traffic, dating tips, safety tips, the police beat, fortune cookies, celebrity birthdays, the word of the day, important events that happened on this day in history, and even an occasional word from our sponsors. Our ratings have skyrocketed in the past week, leading to the emergence of "callers" from other teams. In fact, this morning Brother McLay even "called in," seeing if he could win Carrie Underwood tickets. Unfortunately, we had just run out of stock. It's a lot of fun to do and keeps us creative each morning. I should also take a second to thank my mom, who sends me important information each day and keeps our radio show loaded with good ideas. "This is Yellow - Channel 2."

That's about all I have time for this week, ladies and gentlemen. I need to get doing my laundry and practice the EFY orientation dance. I've tried to avoid that thing for as long as possible, but I guess I have to teach it on Monday... and I can't be acting a fool - my sister, Amy, will be a participant next week. Surely there are many good things to come.

Until next Time,

Move It! Sell It! And Leave the Door Open!

Aaron