Reentry. Open House. Splash Report.

Reentry
We are in reentry now after tour. Its a week with teachings and other activities to finish off the year for the team members. Its nice being home, but its strange knowing that I will never see most of this team again. We have traveled a long road together and its sad to think its done.

Our banquet is on Friday and that really marks the end of it all. Its going to be a fun party, I might wear a tie.

Open House

We are having an open house on Sunday. I really hope this house gets interested buyers soon. I am stressing a bit about it because we won't be able to afford to keep it and not live in it. Please pray the selling goes smoothly.

Splash Report

Todays swim workout was the first time I really felt comfortable in the pool. I swam a little over a mile, woohoo!

I did a set of 1000m Freestyle. Then I did 600m Open Water Simulation freestyle (the tri is in a river, so not wall to push off every 25 meters). When I reach the end of the pool I don't touch the wall, I just turn around and start again. Its tough, but good for building the endurance without relying on the wall. Then I finished with a medley of swim strokes to cool down. It was a great workout. Cheers.

Chris

Tri Report.

I have been training for this thing for 4 weeks now. The first 2 weeks I over did it and my body suffered, so the 3rd week I worked pretty well and did a mini tri (half the distance of the one I will do) and that went well. However, this last week I was lame (Este Swartz would say "frozen cheese"), I swam and biked at the gym 1 day, then we went to a town with no gym and I only ran 2 times. Lame.

So now we are back home and I did another mini tri this morning. It was a little longer than the last one and I felt really strong throughout. Here's what I did (It took me 1:06:58 including transitions).


Mini
Swim 400m (1/4 mile)
Bike 13k (8 miles)
Run 3k (1.9 miles)

Real
Swim 600m
Bike 20k
Run 5k

So things are going well even considering my crappy week this last week. Got to get serious for the next month so I can do a good job on the 2nd. I think I'll make it. Cheers.

Chris

End of the Line.

Well, we are home from our last tour cycle of the year and probably ever. It was nice, we got to tour the Cape and meet a ton of great people. I believe a lot of great ministry was done and I also believe that many lives were changed, thats super cool.

I am having such mixed emotions concerning the end of our touring life. On one hand I know its what we should do and that we can have a great ministry impact not on the road. Plus, we can start setting down and starting our family and that is so exciting for me. But, on the other hand I love touring and performing. I love playing music and playing in a band several nights a week. Plus, it was great to get to speak for so many teenagers all around southern Africa this year.

We already made the decision, earlier this year, to not tour after this year, so this isn't a matter of moving to America, it's just that traveling and being on stage has been such a huge part of my life for the past several years that the idea of that part being gone is a little scary I guess. Its what I know. Its what I do.

I don't know much about office work and sick days and holiday time and all that stuff. I think I will adjust fine, its just different, new, foreign, more normal.

I really am super stoked about working at UCYC, it was a dream to be there a few years ago and now we will live there, thats cool. I just am a little emotional about settling down I think.

These emotions are purely selfish too, and I understand that. Ray is done on the road. It was a stretch to tour this year, but she enjoyed it, however, she is done for good. I know it will be good for her to have a more stable routine of life. To have a home that we actually live in will also be great for her.

So overall I know its great for both of us, just a little scary. Its been a great season in our lives and I look forward to a new season approaching. I'm done rambling. Cheers.

Chris

Give It A Tri.

For years I have wanted to do a triathlon and there are so many short ones now that it doesn't seem crazy to train and complete one.

So I have been holding a little secret from you guys. I am planning on doing a triathlon on Dec 2, its why I started swimming earlier this month. I didn't want to post about it because I wasn't sure if I had enough time to actually train and be able to do it. But, I think I will be fine by then.

Its in the Energade (its like Gatorade, except it tastes better) Trithlon Series. Here's the distances.

Swim: 600 meters (.37 mile)
Bike: 20 Kilometers (12.4 Miles)
Run: 5 Kilometers (3.1 Miles)

Its short, but I am still looking at that 600m open water swim with a little hesitation. However, there is an open water swim near my home the weekend before that I will probably do for practice.

I have been training for 3 weeks now, so today I wanted to see how I am doing. So I did a short practice tri at the gym and I completed it. I did half the race distances and felt fine after I finished. That was a huge relief, I now am for sure going to do the tri on Dec 2nd. WooHoo. Cheers.

Chris

For Real?

I went over to one of our students houses this morning and I was told that their host family has a pet chicken. I thought this was rediculous, however later I was in the kitchen getting some coffee and in the door from the garden comes a little chicken. Chirping like it was greeting me. It was awesome.

So I asked the mom if I could hold the chicken and she informed me that the chicken enjoys being held. She also said it also like laying in bed with people and pooping on her husband.

Then she stooped down, picked up the chicken (which they hadn't named yet so I [I actually think it was Ray] gave it the name Kentucky for KFC) I was a little nervous because the whole time I was expecting this nice, cute, sweet chicken to start pecking my eyes out and leaving me a bloody mess on the floor as it danced around my convulsing body in some sort of ritualistic act of domination over the human race. Whatever. But, it didn't, it stayed sweet. So here are a few pics of Kentucky and me.


This is right after they handed the chicken to me. Notice my look of uncertainty, its not fake. I wasn't trusting this evil chicken at this stage.




After getting used to the chicken I let it climb up to my shoulder and figured it was time for a pirate face with a chicken. During the taking of this picture it dawned on my that pirates always wear an eye patch as either a result of the bird perched near the injured eye or as a form of protection from the object of death perched near their eye.



And here is one last picture of us reenacting the fight scene from Traveling Mercies Revalatte where Ian and Noah get in a fight over Noah's insensitivity to Jill's grandmother dying. I think we pulled the emotion of the scene off beautifully. It you are interested in purchasing a script so you can possibly find several hundred dvd's hidden deep in the storage area at Northview Christian Church in Buford, GA.
Cheers.

We are 17.

Ray and I are hooked on One Tree Hill right now. We love watching TV series and a friend gave it to us to watch because he thought we would like it. Its fun high school drama. Embarrassing, but fun. Cheers.

Chris

Sport.

On tour we don't have shows on Mondays, but we have team events like prayer and sport.

Today for sport we had a race up a mountain road. It was a long, steep road and I hate to say, I didn't win. It was so much fun and it was beautiful. If you ever get a chance to come to the Cape in SA, do it. Sell a kidney and come visit this gorgeous place. I am sad that our time in SA wasn't spent here. I will post pics later. Cheers.

Chris

A Wedding, A Coach and A Cape.

A Wedding

Today is my buddy Chad's wedding. I am so sad I can't be there. I don't really enjoy going to weddings, but I would have loved to go to this one. It's fun when you know a bunch of people and it would be great to see so many old friends.

Congrats Chad and Rachel (not my Rachel [aka Ray Ray, Rach or Ray]), but another Rachel that I don't have a nickname for yet. Let me think of a good one and then I will go with that. I think Thomas would be a good nickname for her. Its firm yet gentle, like her husbands heart. Whatever. I just sad that I am in a little tiny town in central South Africa and not partying with the friends. Have fun everybody.

A Coach

I felt like I was needing a little extra push in my dreams of being a great swimmer, so I hired myself a coach. Her name is Sanri, she is a 1st year on our team and she's like a fish.

It's a great set up. She helps me swim better and I don't pay her anything, perfect.

She went to the pool with me the other day and she helped me with my stroke so I look more like a swimmer and not a splasher. She said that I was doing a lot better than she thought I would. I would hate to see what she expected.

With her help today I had my best workout yet. I swam 600 meters nonstop and then swam another 400 meters after that. 1000 meters in my second week swimming. Not bad.

A Cape

We are off to Cape Town in the morning, its a long drive, but it is honestly one of the most beautiful places I have seen, so its totally worth it. I am stoked to perform down there. Its a great perk of traveling ministry, we get to see some great places. Cheers.

Chris

Oh Hi Oh.

My buddy Chad (who through the years has had various nick names including; Brown, CB, BC, Bean Town, Town, Beazy, Beanzoid, Zoid [note that he is neither from nor in my memory ever been to Boston]) is getting married to a wonderful woman named Rachel this coming Friday. They will be wed in Ohio somewhere and I am bummed that I can't make the wedding.

I did get a little fright the other day though when I read on Fox News this headline,

Ohio Couple Marries in Wal-Mart

The reason it scared me a little was I thought that I missed Chad's wedding day and he scrapped the nice church wedding for a wedding in his local Wal-Mart.

Don't worry, it turns out it wasn't him so I am happy to say that I still have friends with a little class. Not to say that people getting married in Wal-Mart don't have class (I would hate to get sued for saying that). Because I think that more people should get married at Wal-Mart. I mean how many times have you gotten dressed up and realized that you only have one dress sock. You could pick up a fresh pair of socks on the way to the ceremony. Plus, I can never think of a proper wedding gift. So you could go see what the others bought and then go shopping on the way to the reception. You could swing through Electronics and get a camcorder or Sporting Goods and get a new tackle box or Home Furnishings and get a nice futon chair printed slip cover.

I am loving this idea, then you could get some beers (PBR) to take to the reception if you don't like the punch. The more I think of it I think there should be a law past that nobody can marry outside a Wal-Mart. Life would be so much easier then.

Congrats Chad and good thing you are getting married before I get this Wal-Mart wedding law past. Cheers.

Chris

Good Week. More Splash. 3 More Left.

Good Week

Our "week" of tour that just ended turned out to be a fantastic week. Its started a little sketchy for several reasons.

1. We were in a township area so the crowd was going to be different and the logistics were going to be a little different than a normal week.

2. We only started on Tuesday. This however kind of rocked because we got a couple of extra days tacked on to our holiday.

3 We didn't have host families. We stayed at a small pre-primary school. The guys stayed in a big room and the girls stayed in a big classroom. This was actually fun. Ray and I only slept there 2 nights because we had a meeting this morning, so it was fun bunking up with the guys.

So these variables made that week different. Plus that fact that there was no stage, we had to use bare minimum lighting and it hailed Wednesday night and ice came through the tin roof where the guys were sleeping. For real.

But at the end the week was great. We performed 3 shows and there was a lot of great ministry done with the students. I was so excited to see how a week that could have been a disaster turned into a great week that the team will remember. Cool.

More Splash

I hit the pool again today, since we are back home. Its such a great workout. I swam just over 1/2 mile in my workout and didn't feel as bad as I did the first day. However, when I got out of the pool and hit the shower and did start to feel light headed and woozy, but I think thats just part of it. The shakes finally went away and hour or so later so it all good.

3 More Left

Ray and I have 3 more weeks of tour left, I can't believe it. The road and performing has been such a big part of my life since college that I am having a hard time grasping that fact that there are only 3 more weeks. Cheers.

Chris

Splash Splash.

I have always wanted to swim. Its such a great way of getting fit, so today I hit the pool for the first time in years. I think I would have drowned it hadn't been 5 feet deep everywhere. But, for my first time it was good. A couple of observations though.

1. I bought a swim cap this morning because its the rule at the gym that you have to wear one. I got a red one, but in the lights at the gym it looks pink, how lame.

2. I don't know how to swim properly. It felt fine, but I sure to the people on the treadmills it looked like I was splashing around like a trout on a fly line.

3. I definitely don't look like Michael Phelps in my swimming shorts. Where he is toned and hard, I am more...lets say....lumpy and soft.

I just imagined the guys working at the gym saying, "Hey, should we go save that fat drowning man in the pink cap?" Cheers.

Chris

PS
I wont be blogging for a few days because I won't have my laptop with me. I will miss you.

Home. Tour. Mud.

Home

We had a real estate agent come today to start the home selling process. It was exciting and strange at the same time. This if our first home and its strange to get rid of it, oh well. He liked the place and we are meeting Saturday to finalize the selling price and get the listing up and going. Hopefully someone will come and look at the house and love it so much they will give us 10 times the asking price just because they are so impressed with our choice of wall paint and the artist way we decorated our garden with mud rather than the typical flowers and grass.

Tour

We leave tomorrow for our last tour cycle. We are touring in a township this first week which is exciting. We are trying to branch our ministry out to different parts of South Africa and the black community is an area we are trying to reach. Its going to be a different week in regard to schedule, but I am super excited about the direction our ministry is going and that we can be a part of it.

Mud

Its been so nice having rain the past several days. Makes for nice evenings; watching a dvd curled up on the couch eating grilled cheese and tomato soup as the rain falls on the tin roof over our back porch, nice. However, as stated above, it also sucks because our back yard consists of a little grass and a lot of mud. And the dogs love nothing more than running around in the mud and tracking in on the new mopped floor.

One funny mud story.

The other day I was in the back yard after a rain and I heard a strange sloshing noise next door, like a dragon was drinking out of a pool or something. So knowing there are no dragons in this part of the world and that our neighbor doesn't have a pool I peeked over the wall to investigate.

The 2 German Shepherds next door had dug a hole and where going crazy playing in the mud pit. It was awesome. They were filthy. I wanted to hear our neighbor's reaction when they got home and saw the mud covered dogs, but I didn't. I was probably curled on the couch watching a DVD and eating grilled cheese with tomato soup. Cheers.

Chris

Run Away.

My friend/boss, Flaps, has posted a great post about run aways. We are looking at this subject for a new show that will be taken to America with our team there. You can read it here.

P.S.
A slang term for chickens feet here are runaways. You will see people grilling them on the side of the road and for R2 or R3 you can have a runaway. Warren and I had them in Soweto, Mmmmmm nice. Cheers.

Chris

Spring Cleaning.

Ray and I have been doing some spring cleaning this week and the house is lookin' sweet. We cleaned under furniture, the shower is spotless, the bedroom got rearranged and we even cleaned the security bars on the windows.

I was thinking about spring cleaning and how we are cleaning our home after a long dusty winter and I thought I will start a little spring cleaning in other areas of my life.

Body

I am lazy sometimes. I like working out and feeling pumped, but I just can't stick with it. So for my spring cleaning of my body I am going to start eating nice and healthy. Cut out the crap and clean up my diet a bit.

I have begun eating and enjoying salads and veggies. They are actually good. (I apologize to anyone I made fun of for ordering a salad at a restaurant, that wasn't nice of me.) I went so far as to yesterday make a veggie pasta for lunch. I am trying to add vegetables to my meals whether a salad or a vegetable medley as they call it at most chain restaurants. Its good for me and my sex appeal.

I am also starting to run again. Slowly. I was running, lets call it jogging, a few years ago and I loved it. However I hurt my knee on a frozen lake in Minnesota and just never got back in to it after I healed. So now, I'm back.....slowly and no Flaps I don't want to run Comrades with you, you sick man.

Spirit

I have been so slack in my Bible reading lately. I think about and pray to God fairly often. I ponder our place in this world, my calling, how I can love more, but I have not been studying the Bible like I would want to.

Obviously if I want to know more about God, his character, his will, his design for the world, then I would have to read this source that has been given to us. I realize this all sounds elementary and childish, so why do I struggle with this? I suppose it boils down to laziness or a feeling that I know the bible because of my BA from JBC. I don't know. But, part of my spring cleaning is going to focus on really getting into the Bible and enjoying the history, poetry, wisdom and character of God.

I wish you a wonderful spring (southern hemisphere) and fall (norther hemisphere) and would encourage you to find areas that need 'cleaning' and go for it. Dust off and start fresh. Cheers.

Chris

Rain. Team Placement. Guinness.

Rain

It has been looking like it might rain for a few days, but it just hasn't. Then last night it finally rained. FYI,it hasn't rained in months and months. I am so excited because now my backyard might have grass again.

Team Placement

Rachel is on the Audition Committee this year and has seen a ton of auditions for next years team. We started the other day with placing the teams and they are working on it again today. Its a ton of work trying to get the teams equal with talent and other reasons. I also love seeing people who came last year or this year and have proven themselves and are put in leadership positions. It's great to see these members grow.

Guinness

Guinness, our first born, loves Damar, but I think she misses being the only dog. The other day I took Damar to get fixed and that night Guinness ruled the house. So now she does something funny. In the morning when we go feed the dogs, Guinness, who loves food, lets Damar go eat and then tries to get alone time with us. This morning Ray went out to feed them and then here comes Guinness back in the room for a little personal time with "her people". Its clever. Rachel says she prioritizes. Cheers.

Chris

Eye See, Eye See.

Ray and I are home and kind of off this week. We are taking care of some things that have needed to get taken care of.
1. Killing the ants. I think the problem is worse than we thought.
2. Hanging the nice glass shelf in the bathroom. Which I did yesterday and broke a drill bit off in the tile. Ugh. Looks nice.
3. Take Damar to get fixed.
4. Pick up fixed Damar.
5. Get my new glasses. WooHoo!

So today I went and got my eye exam and in 5 or so business days I will have my new glasses. For you who didn't know, Guinness broke my glasses in a wrestling match at the beginning of the year. So I was wearing my spare pair that I got in 2000, then they broke, they just broke one day in the middle, like Harry Potter's in the first book. However, I don't think repairo was going to work. So I have been wearing contacts everyday since, which I don't like.

A few weeks ago we realized that there is a "savings plan" on our health insurance and we have enough "saved" where I could go get glasses and it costs nothing out of pocket, cool huh? So I get super cool new glasses. I am so stoked because I hate having to wear contacts. It's nice to have, but I miss glasses. I will post a sexy picture when I get my new glasses, in about 5 or so working days. Cheers.

Chris

Damar At The Vet.

Took Damar to the vet today to get fixed. Guinness freaked out when she (Damar) got to go on a car ride and she didn't. However, I do think G will enjoy have us all to herself tonight. She loves attention.

I will fetch Damar sometime tomorrow. Hope all goes well. Cheers.

Chris

Dogs.

Guinness hugging Marisa

We love our dogs. They are a part of our household. We Got Guinness, the black one, when we first got here, she has been with us this whole time in SA. Damar, obviously the other one, we purchased earlier this year as a friend for Guinness.

The issue we are facing now is what to do with them when we move to AZ. We want to ship them over so badly. We don't think that we can find a great home for them here. They are extremely spoiled with love and they aren't the same when we are on tour, they really love us. I always thought dogs were dumb, but I see the emotion these dogs have, its silly sometimes actually.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
The only reason we wouldn't take them with us is money. It's about $4000 to fly them to America. Thats a fortune for us. If we were rich it wouldn't be an issue, however we are not.

On the other hand, we don't want to leave them because they are super attached to us. Plus people hear don't really take care of their dogs well. They don't let them sleep inside and many people only feed them table scraps. I just would feel that leaving them with bad owners would be not living up to my responsibility as a dog owner. Rach thinks they would die from grief, maybe its true.

What to do? What to do?

We need advice. Whats your thoughts on this matter. Its a lot of money, but they are a part of our family. Please let me know what you think. I need help. Cheers.

Chris



Ray on the couch with Damar.

Rich Mullins. 10 Years.

I was 17 years old and I went to visit Florida Christian College on a recruitment weekend. During that weekend Rich Mullins performed a concert as part of the festivities. I remember vividly thinking this was going to be so lame because my youth minister, Allen Gonzalez, like his music. And of course whatever your youth minister likes is lame.

So we gathered at the venue and Rich Mullins came out to play. He was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and was barefoot. I liked that. Then for the rest of the night I was captivated by music I have never heard, stories told in a way I have never heard a story told before. He was funny, deep, serioushttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif, entertaining and inspiring. From that moment on I was intrigued by Rich Mullins. His story is almost mythic in its Christ-likeness. Of course his fans don't know everything. We don't know how grumpy he was late at night or how bossy perhaps he was in rehearsals and sound checks. However we have a wonderful collection of songs and the testimony of his friends and family so I think in my mind I will keep him on his little pedestal, he looks nice there.

2 years later I was a sophomore at FCC and wasn't feeling well and stayed an extra day on campus before driving to Tallahassee for Christmas break. That night I was bored and my friend Nate Bush (side note- Nate helped me blossom into the coffee drinker I am today) let me borrow his new Rich Mullins CD called The Jesus Record. It's a 2 CD set where one side is a bunch a demos that Rich recorded before he died and the other CD was a nice recording made by his band, the Ragamuffin Band.

I never listened to the Ragamuffin Band disc, but played the Demo disc over and over. That night a couple of things happened.

1.I fell in love with this guys music. I laid on the floor and wept at the lyrics that were being sung on this disc. Its a whole album about Jesus and its beautiful.

2.I fell in love with the acoustic guitar. The way he played was so nice and different than the punk rock or ska I was listening to the time. I loved it. I still say it was that night that inspired me to become a better guitar player.

Well, RIch died September of 1997, my freshman year at FCC. And his music has shaped me in a way that few things ever have. If you have never listened to his music I highly suggest you find some. Some of the 80's stuff is funny for me, but the lyrics will touch your heart. if you can get your hands on the Jesus Record and play through the demo disc a few times I know you will see what I am talking about. I wish I could thank him for inspiring me so much. Cheers.

Chris

Project Night, Big Event, John Cougar Mellencamp.

Projects

Tonight we finished with the assignment projects that we started on Monday night. Tonights performances were brilliant. I was so proud of everyone that performed, they put so much effort and thought into the night, it was great. I am a happy pappa.

Big Event

Last night we had our Big Event fund raiser and we didn't raise but a fraction of what we were hoping to raise. The event was great, but the outcome was ok. However, you never know what seed may have been planted in the hearts of some peophttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifle. God always provides the need and I know he will continue to provide for this ministry the way he has for over a dozen years.


John Cougar Mellencamp

I don't know why, but I have hit single "Hurts So Good" stuck in my head all night. It's so catchy I can't let it go. Go ahead, take a second and sing the chorus. Feel free to dance around too. I did. While making toast tonight after we got home from work. There I am barefoot, toasting bread, dancing like an idiot singing a classic of American music.
"Sometimes love don't feel like it should." How true......how true? Cheers.

Chris

Big Event.

We have a special show tonight in Pretoria at the Performer Theater. It was our annual Big Event which is a time to raise money for the ministry. More specifically, to raise scholarship money for previously disadvantage students. We as a ministry embrace cultural diversity and really want to raise the number of black, colored and Indian students on our team. One of the way we can do this is looking for people that can sponsor students. To spend a year with 13thFLOOR costs R37,000 (around $5,200), thats a lot of money and for some people in SA thats an almost impossible amount. We had a nice dinner, an opening concert by Christelle Combrink,an ex 13thFLOOR member and a performance of Gijima. The night went really well and we are hoping and praying that from tonights event we get several sponsorships for students next year. Cheers.

Chris

Last Night.

Last night was the first night for assignments and it was good. Only 1 blue team member went and she did a wonderful job. Her name is Sonja and her assignment was to do a monologue based on one of the martyr stories in Jesus Freaks.

Her monologue stared with an abstract dance depicting her being chained and eventually killed, then she did a beautiful monologue about faith in spite of her circumstance.

I was very proud of her, this year is Sonja's first year working in the arts and she is blossoming as a wonderful actress with tons of potential. She plays one of the lead roles in Gijima, our Thursday night show, and she nails the part week in and week out. I am so excited to see where she is in a couple of years. Cheers.

Chris

Pumped for Tonight.

We have a 2 fold ministry here at 13thFLOOR.

1. We do evangelism though the arts. We perform to audiences around the world showing snapshots of life and then telling them how God fits in this life and that he loves them and and and. Thats short run on sentence version.

2. We develop our team members. We offer curriculum for them in training, we offer counseling and therapy, we develop their leadership skills and teach them responsibility and and and.

Well part of that development is the big assignment they have to do during the year. They are given an assignment consisting of a written portion (like a 10-15 page term paper) and a practical. The practical can be making something arty or making a video or performing a song I made them write or doing or dance or a skit or or or.

I am pumped because tonight we start with the practical part of the assignments. Our teams have work really hard on these and I look forward to seeing all that hard work on stage. The team is setting up the venue with lights and everything now and we will go watch them tonight. Its gonna rock. Cheers.

Chris

Good Times.

I wrote about my friend Piet the other day who played at our Collision music fest thing. Today I was looking at some pics on the computer and found this one of us playing in Brussels. I love this picture. I might be one of my favorite pictures of all time. I like it better than an Ansel Adams picture of the Grand Canyon or one those lame motivational pictures with the crew team rowing on a lake or a river or whatever.

So, this made me think I want to post a couple other of my favorite pictures just for fun. Fun for me, it its fun for you great, if not, I apologize.



I love this pic because it was New Years 2004 in Time Square NYC. I love it because Ray looks super cute and I look somewhere between really, really excited or crazy and out of my mind with uncontrollable rage.




Here is one more pic I like. This is a different trip to NYC we are in Central Park looking rugged and handsome. A couple of facts about this picture.

1. Tim, who turned 31 yesterday, didn't bring a good hat and his ears were freezing all day.

2. Me, the writer of this blog, thought that winter in NYC was a good time to shave my beard. My face was so cold.

3. Chad, is getting married next month. Well, he was last time I talked to him. I hate when you haven't seen somebody for a while and then you mention their girlfriend and then they have to go into the sad story of why she left him or whatever. Beans, I hope your wedding is still on. I am heartbroken I can't be there. Ray Ray is too.


So there are some pics I like. There are more, but if you want to see those you have to come over to my house and bring me something, then I will show them to you. Cheers.

Chris

Happy Birthday Tim.

My buddy Tim Bomgardner turned 31 today. Tim is a good friend of mine who is married to Ray's best friend/my arch nemesis Suzanne Renee.

Tim is by far one of the smartest people I know. If you need to know anything get in touch with this guy and he can help you. From church history to home plumbing he's gotcha covered.

One time Traveling Mercies were driving together in my car returning from a trip to Nashville, when all of a sudden this crazy noise came from my engine. We pull into a gas station and first person I can is Tim Bomgardner. He asked for the details of the noise, what pitch, what rpm's makes the sound worse or better. Then he correctly diagnosed the problem from a thousand miles away. Thanks for that Tim, I owe you a beer.

So Happy Birthday Tim. Hope it goes well. For a uber mushy "happy birthday Time" go check out Suzanne Renee's Blog. Cheers.

Chris

Collision '07

13thFLOOR had the vision for starting a christian music festival in South Africa earlier this year. The idea is to have a multi-day festival with performances, speakers, worship etc...

Last night was our introduction into the world of putting on a music festival. It was more of a concert event, but it was great. There were 2 stages and the venue was cool, I think it went off well. It was also fun because I got to see some old friends. My buddy Piet De Wet (and Walton [from last years band]), the guy I performed in the streets of Brussels with, played on the small stage between acts, he just got this new guitar, its so cool.

Then a buddy that I tour in the States, Bouwer, performed with his band Straatligkinders. They were awesome. I like a band that performs, not just stands and plays their guitars and these guys were all over the place. Check them out, the are Afrikaans, but the music is good enough to listen to even if you don't know what they are saying. Pies said the lyrics are good, I trust his judgment.

There was a new band called Green Door. They have only been together a month or so. They were rad. They have kind of a Cold Play/U2 sound. I look forward to hearing more from them.

There were some other people and 13thFLOOR did a couple of dances (I used to think dancing was so lame, but now I really enjoy it, from ballet to contemporary to hip hop. So either dancing is actually cool or I am just actually lame).

The night was good, live music, live crowd, can't go wrong. Cheers.

Chris

Trash In My Garage.

The trash pickup people (what I call them) are on strike. I think that is fine, they are standing up for themselves and trying to secure a better life for themselves and their families. However, this at the same time is not very convenient for me because now my garage smells like garbage. I have several bags of garbage sitting in my garage festering in hopes that the pickup people and whoever they they work for get to some resolution quickly. I heard from a reliable source last night that we can take our own garbage to the dump, but now I have enough to fill my car because its been weeks. So I think I will wait till Tuesday (pick up day) and see if they are back, if not then I have to get rid of this somehow. I honestly hope I don't have to put all my nasty trash in my Corolla and haul it to the dump, it may ruin my car. Cheers.

Chris

Big News.

No. She's not pregnant.

A few months ago our friend/boss, Flaps, was talking to us about how we live year to year and need to start planning more long term, like not touring and kids etc... So Ray and I were thinking about this and started thinking do we want to stay long term in SA? Do we want to have our kids here? Do we want to be middle aged here? So we started thinking and praying and trying to figure out what to do.

We love 13thFLOOR, we love what the ministry stands for and how on the edge they are. We love the care for the team members and the whole system in general, so it would be something big that would have us think of leaving. However, there is one ministry that Rachel and I wanted to be a part of before we moved here called UCYC. Its a camp in Prescott, AZ that hired Traveling Mercies a few years ago for a summer. While we were there Ray and I (she wasn't Ray Ray yet, so I should have said Rachel or Butters, which was her nickname at the time. Thats another story) were saying how we would love to work with this ministry. How its a great environment to raise kids and how the leadership was solid and I could grow a lot working under such leadership. It was just a dream that we had.

So back to flaps. We had a meeting with him when we got back from America and he gave us till Friday to make a choice to stay with 13F or to go somewhere else. (That makes him sound like a jerk, he only did that because if we were to leave they need to start planning on who would take our positions.) I had emailed UCYC to see of there were any openings on staff. And on the Thursday night (our meeting with Flaps was on Friday). UCYC emailed back and said they wanted us to come work there.

After getting the email we spoke more with them in AZ about what I would do and what working there would be like and it all looked good. So Ray and I decided to take the offer and move to Prescott, AZ to work with UCYC .

We are stoked and sad. We didn't expect to leave SA So soon, but Its a great opportunity and we feel we have to take it. I believe that God is doing some big stuff with UCYC and I am excited about being part of the team. I will be working with the programing team planning and executing the summer jr high and sr high camps. Along with that everyone kind of helps in all areas of the ministry so I will get a chance to have my hand in other aspects too.

Its going to be weird not touring and going to work in the morning and not getting home at 11 at night, but it will be good. Rachel is super excited about not being on the road, but is sad about the prospect of not performing. We will miss South Africa dearly, but we believe we will find a wonderful home in the beautiful mountains of Prescott, AZ

So for now we are figuring out what needs to be done to move back to the states. We will be starting over, again, but it has always worked out before so I know it will again. Cheers.

Chris

Times are a Changin'.

I made a new header for my blog today. It pictures 3 of my favorite things

1. Damar. My happy 10 month old puppy.
2. My Coffee Pot. I have a hard time respecting people who drink bad coffee.
3. The English language. Wonderful language.

So, while I was uploading my new header I took a wrong turn into the land of HTML. I was thinking I would fool around a little with the HTML code and see what happens. So I was figuring some things out, being careful not so save of course, when something happened. Its save automatically and I lost my blog. So, for a while I had this crappy Chris-Custom-HTML blog. It was horrible, it was all black and no pictures, I don't know what I did. I was shocked, not mad just stunned because that meant I had to start from scratch. So that has been most of my day, fixing my blog. By the way if you were wondering my header 698 pixels wide. I know that because I spent about 30 minutes doing trial and error to get it to fit. Oh, well. I think I will go eat some more cookies. Cheers.

Chris

Cookies, Emails and Ants.

Cookies

Ray made some homemade chocolate chip cookies last night, they were awesome. I have been trying not to eat sweets lately, but these were too go. They were so good we both just had cookies for breakfast. Mmmmmm cookies for breakfast.

Emails

I was checking email this morning and I noticed I had over 600 emails in my inbox. Not new messages, just months and months of emails that I never deleted or archived. So now I am just archiving everything. Its taking forever.

Ants

Rachel and I are at home for the next few weeks, then we head out on our last 4 week tour cycle. Since we have been home I noticed we have ants in our home. Theres like a billion ants building up an army around my from walk way preparing to for attack. I hope they don't attack, that wouldn't be nice. So tonight I fight back. Ray is getting ant killer on her way home from work and I am going to go Jack Bauer on those little nasties. I may even throw in some cheesy one liners so the neighbors with think I am super tough. Cheers.

Chris

Anniversary.

Rachel and I were driving to the doctor's office yesterday, Rachel has a cold, and she asked what date we arrived in South Africa in 2005. Then we realized we had missed our 2 year anniversary of being here. We got here on September 8th with a couple of bags and a couple of guitars. Its crazy to think that we have only been here for 2 years because so much has happened, we have seen and learned so much. We started from scratch, again, and have made a nice little life for us here.

Over the past couple of years I have learned so much about myself. I have learned a ton about leadership and working with people. One of the biggest reasons I wanted to move here was to work with Flaps Van der Merwe, our CEO. He is such an amazing leader and he has taught me so much, he is a great mentor. Flaps can teach you a hundred life lessons in a 5 minute conversation. He is a great man.

So, 2 years down. Cheers.

Chris

I Want One.

Heres the deal. Men love toys. I started out as a little boy that wanted the new Snake Mountain because it had a walky talky thing that you could talk through, that was cool then. Then I wanted a bike with gears, like a 10 speed. Then I wanted a Oakleys so I would look like Jose Canseco in the outfield. Then I wanted a Sega because the Nintendo is too crappy for my great gaming desire. Then I wanted Reebok Pumps because the guy on the commercial bungee jumped that the shoes kept him on the bungee. Then I wanted a Frank Thomas White Sox jersey. Then I wanted a car. Then I wanted a car that didn't catch fire (I miss the Ford Fairmont, that was a sweet ride). Now I am just a big kid and I have a child like want. I want a freaking Toyota FJ Cruiser. I would look so cool in that, with a mountain bike on the roof rack and my great danes chillin in the back and my wife giving me a back massage while I drive. Oh man.

I know why it appeals to my child side. Because it looks like a Tonka truck. It doesn't look real, its a big toy for big boys.

So I was doing a little research today on this beautiful machine and I noticed something that made me laugh out loud. There is a screen thing in the middle of the dash, I don't know what it does, but its there and its cool. So I also guess there is a dvd player hooked up to this screen and in the advert there is a scene from a movie where one person has a knife to the other persons throat. This is funny to me because why would you take the picture of that scene and post it on cars.com? I thought is was funny, but I must say that made the truck cooler to me because it's that much tougher, you never see mini van adverts with a murder scene on the dvd player. Cool Truck.

so If you have been thinking of what you get me for my last birthday, I will take a silver, 4x4, 4 door one. Cheers.

Chris

We Thought You Was A Toad.

Is that General David Petraeus or Delmar from O Brother Where Art Thou.

9/11.

I am horrible at remembering birthdays, but growing up I always remembered 2; my Nanny (October 31 because of Halloween) and my aunt Pat (September 11 because of 911). Now September 11 has a whole new meaning because of the terrorist attacks in 2001. I can't believe it was that long ago. I am sure that our generation will forever be able to say, "I remember where I was when I heard about it".

I was in the bank. On my way to work at Campus Crusade in Atlanta. What a day. I can remember everything so clearly. I suppose its the way people felt when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened.

I hope your September 11th goes well. Cheers.

Chris

Rugby World Cup.

The Rugby World Cup starts today and I am totally stoked because America qualified. I have to be honest I didn't even know that we had a team, but we do and we are in the same pool as South Africa. I don't think they have a chance of winning, but I am glad the the US is a part of this international tournament. I also hope that this brings more fans in America to the awesome sport that is Rugby. If you get a chance to watch some matches you should, its a lot of fun. Cheers.

Chris

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Finished.

I finished Harry Potter 7 today. I am happy. This ends a saga that started for me in Illinois in 2001. I am still happy.

Chris

I'm Grobin Crazy.

Last night my neighbor was playing Josh Grobin's "You Lift Me Up" over and over and over and what made it worse was he was screaming a lot with it. I mean, I love a little Josh Grobin as much as the next guy, but flat vocals next door don't do him justice.

We are off on our last tour week for this cycle. We are going to Bela-Bela this week, which is supposed to be nice, I look forward to it. The tour is going well and many students have come forward to give their lives the God or to speak with our team members about stuff that is going on in their lives. So I am excited. Cheers.

Chris

New CD.

When Traveling Mercies first began touring with CIY Believe several years ago we got to meet a folk singing group from eastern Tennessee called Alathea. They have a new CD out now, you should check them out. Cheers.

Chris

It May Be a Problem.

I love a good cup of coffee. Its so important to me that I am heartbroken that 90% (fake statistic) of South Africans prefer instant coffee to freshly ground filter coffee. I work with a girl who went to America last year and would rather have a cup of instant coffee to a fresh cup of Starbucks.

So this morning I was had a coffee jones like you wouldn't believe. I was running a hot bath, was going to read some of my Harry Potter 7 and I needed some coffee to take with me. However, my power converter is broken and my Starbucks coffee grinder (that I named Jack Bauer) is on American 110 power while we run 220 here. So I went old school, I whipped out the old mortar and pestle and ground my beans by hand. It was tough to get it just right for my french press. But it turned out great. And the new HP book is awesome, I am not finished so please do not email me with an important detail in the subject line, I might completely freak out. Cheers.

Chris

Hopeless.

Our Sunday night show deals with a kid whose parents got divorced and he just feels like his life sucks. The point of the show is that there are things in life that we just can't "fix" and thats reality. I think the church has put on the smiley, Joel Osteen face for a long time and can't own up to the fact that life hurts sometimes.

So tonight I was doing the speaking after the show and asked the students to raise their hand if they were feeling hopeless so that I could just pray for them.
About 18 kids raised their hands. I feel so bad that there were 18 teenagers in a group of maybe 200 that are feeling hopeless about life. I don't know if its family stuff, school stuff, relationship stuff, I don't know. It's heartbreaking. The scary thing is I don't know what to do about it. I used to, when I was younger and knew everything, but now I step back sometimes and just feel so helpless in the face of so much pain in the the world. If you have any ideas let me know. Cheers.

Chris

The Beach, The Road, The End.

When I was a kid my family would go to the beach almost every weekend. I loved it. We made sandwiches, ate cookies and drank Fresca, it was awesome. I always hated when my aunt Pat would put sunscreen on me because if felt like sandpaper on my skin, you know what I mean. And I would pull away the whole time saying, "you're finished, you're done, come on hurry". I thought of this memory on my off morning last week in Richard's Bay. We went and enjoyed the beach and the waves in the ocean, it was so nice. It's always great to tour in a new place and get to discover something special about that town. Whether it be the beach or a little restaurant or gritty local market, its nice to see something that belongs to that town.

This will be our last year on the road. I love touring to different places and performing or speaking its what I do. However, we have made the decision that the road will end in November. My first taste of touring was to summer camps in 1998 with Florida Christian College. The traveling, loading the trailer, meeting new people, eating in gas stations it was addictive and I am sad to think this may be the end. I know I will have chances to travel, I won't sit at home everyday for the rest of my life, but it will be different. Like it will be something I do rather that something I live, if that makes since.

If you never travel, go somewhere. Get to know some locals and have them show you the local place that you can only find in that town. Its great. Makes the world feel smaller. Cheers.


Chris

Jana's Pics.

Jana, Rachel's mum, was here visiting us and went on tour with us to Namibia. Here is a link to here photos she took on tour with the Blue team, enjoy. http://Saudimumma.sendphotos.com/?J21Q6S

Chris

Richard's Bay.

We are in Richard's Bay and I have been looking forward to this trip for a while, I love being by the sea. I am getting to stay with my friend Lenny that I met while touring with Believe for Traveling Mercies. He had a video he made of us while we were on tour and traveling between shows. Its funny that a guy in South Africa has a video of my acting silly in Seattle. Thats fun.

Well today we had our sport afternoon at the beach. However when we got to the beach there was an announcement to tell everyone that there was no swimming today because there was a crocodile in the water. So we waited for the croc to leave, but he wouldn't. It was crazy seeing this big crocodile in the shallow surf of the ocean. I really hope he leaves tonight, because my friend Lenny is a great bodyboarder and he wants to show me how its done.

We are excited about the shows this week too. Please pray for us because the stage and whole setup is kind of funny for performing. It should be find though. Cheers.

Chris

Thump Tump....Thump Thump.

Rachel and I went to the mall to day to go to a movie and I came around the corner and in the window of the record store I saw a glorious red poster showing Smashing Pumpkins new album. I smiled and my heart rejoiced a bit in my chest to think that the gangs back together. I hope I can find someone here who has it so I can give it a listen. The world always spins a little smoother when Billy Corgan is singing. Cheers.

Chris

A Great Day.

Rachel and I are on holiday this week before heading to Richards Bay on Sunday and today was a wonderful day. Enjoyed a quite morning reading Harry Potter 7, then we went on a long walk with the dogs and we were talking about how we don't have a grill and then I found a bit of wire mesh on the ground and figured I could make a grill out of it. So I came home, dug a little whole in the ground where we tried to make a garden (which Guinness ate, including the palm tree) and folded the mesh to a platform. Well, it worked great, cost me nothing and we ate a great supper of lamb chops. Thats a great day. Cheers.

Chris

What Men Do For Love.

A few years ago I was convicted by a certain tv program to take better care of myself for my wife, she deserved better. So I started running and washing my face with special stuff and whatever. Now I am still trying to be the best I can for my lovely wife so while I was at the gym today (which I caught the 5 o'clock rush, I will never go then ever again, it was so horribly crowded), I thought of how I may up my sex appeal to my wife. So I thought I should give tanning a try.

So I sign up for the "Tan Can". Its a stand up tanning bed. So I finished my workout, purchased a protein shake and hit the can (Tan Can that is). So I stripped to my Fruit of the Looms, put on the funny little eye cover things, turned on the big machine, grabbed my protein shake and entered for my 10 minute session.

Well, 10 minutes later I exited, got dressed, drove home, washed the dogs, took a shower, checked some emails, ate dinner, took the dogs out, locked up the house and now I am SO SUNBURNED I THINK I MIGHT DIE. Its bad, really bad. I went from skim milk white to Folgers red in one 10 minute session. I hope all my skin doesn't melt off my body.

The things men do for love. Your welcome Rach, would you please rub some lotion on my back please? Thanks. Cheers.

Chris

Update on James.

While we were in Walvis Bay, Namibia we went riding on the desert dunes on quad bikes. It was awesome. We went up on huge sand dunes and saw some beautiful overlooks of the desert and the sea, it was a great time.

Well, while we were having a great time one of our team members, James Nteso, lost the trail of the person riding in front of him and went off the edge of a big dune. The dunes can be gradual on one side and then be straight down on the other, thats why we had a guide who knew the desert very well. So James went off the steep side with about a meter drop, then a long tumble to the base of the dune. Luckily he only broke his leg (a nasty brake I must say), but he could have been killed. He was rushed out of the desert in a 4x4 to the hospital (same one that Angelina Jolie had her baby), where the leg was stabilized, then driven back to SA for surgery.

We went to visit him at home yesterday and he is doing well. His whole right leg is in a cast, from foot to upper thigh. He will not be joining us for the next tour cycle, but perhaps the last tour to the Cape. We'll see.

Please pray that his leg heals well. Cheers.

Chris

Last Day.

This tour has been crazy to say the least. I will inform you later when we we get home and I have a chance to process what happened. We lost a ton of team members to different things; sickness, injury, father's wedding, sisters wedding and, and, and. We became a team of understudies. Even the band was used during the shows for different parts, even I had to dance last night.

This is our last day in Namibia, we head back tomorrow at 3AM. It will be sad, if you ever get a chance to visit Namibia do it. Its beautiful and the poeple are great. Cheers.

Chris

No Blogging.

Hey Folks,

Sorry to not be in touch lately, we are in Namibia and haven't had a chance to get online. I will write about the tour when we get home. Cheers.

Chris

Update.

Gala Shows

We are in the midst of our Gala Show week at the Little Theater in downtown Pretoria. Our team performed Gijima tonight and tomorrow we are performing the same show with a cast made up of different members from each team. Our band will be performing the music. It's fun doing the shows in a nice theater, on tour we perform in school halls which are not always nice. The red team will be performing 2 different shows before heading back on the road Sunday morning.

Namibia

We will be heading off to Namibia early Saturday morning, like 2am. It's a long trip through Botswana, but I am excited. We are going to have a bit of a difficult tour due to the fact that we are missing several team members. 2 of our Management Committee members will be missing, one tech guy (which leaves our poor tech team at 2 people), and another girl will all be missing. Please pray that all the missing people doesn't bring the team's spirit down and that we can manage well without the normal personnel.

Wilmien

Wilmien has been my Admin girl this year on team. She is amazing at her job and always keeps me at the right place at the right time with all the paper work that I would not be able to keep up with. Well, she will be leaving our team for the rest of the year to move to Europe and help with the new office there. Its so sad to have her leave us, but I know looking at the big picture its a great move for the ministry. Pauli will be taking her spot as Admin girl. I know she will also do a wonderful job. I am just amazed that there are people that actually enjoy admin work, but I am so glad there are.

New MC

We have a new Management Committee member, Phindile Ralarala. She is a wonderful 3rd year who is only 19 and has so much wisdom and potential. She will be a great addition to the MC for the rest of the year. Congrats Phindi.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
To learn more about any of our team members go here.

Cheers.

Chris

So Much Fun.

Tonight marked the end of our holiday so we went out to see a movie. We saw Die Hard 4.0 and it was full of ridiculous action, unrealistic stunts, cheesy one liners and it was FREAKING GREAT. I had such a great time watching this movie. Oh, I was so happy. If you have seen it and thought it was lame, then shame on you. I think there was like 7 or 8 minutes where there wasn't bullets flying around, a chase or something being blown up. Get your mind right (at about 14 years old) and enjoy. Back to work tomorrow. Cheers.

Chris

Upcoming Tour Dates.

Here are our upcoming tour dates. We are heading to Namibia for a few weeks, then back to SA to finish out the cycle before our next team weeks. I believe its going to be a good tour.
July 18-21 PRETORIA UNISA LITTLE THEATER
July 22-29 OTJIWARONGO, NAMIBIA TBA
July 29-Aug 5 WALVISBAAI, NAMIBIA GEMEENSKAPSKERK
AUG 5-12 WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA EROS GEMEENTE
AUG 13-18 OFF
AUG 19-26 RICHARDS BAY, SA COMMUNITY CHURCH
AUG 26-SEP 2 PRETORIA, SA ECHO YOUTH DEVELOPOMENT
SEP 2-SEP 9 WARM BATH, SA NG MOEDERGEMEENTE

Gonna be an awesome couple of months. Cheers.

Chris

Leadership Retreat.

We are on the annual Leadership Retreat this weekend. Its where leaders from the hub spend the weekend with leadership on the touring teams. Kind of a chance to get to hang out without dealing with work. We are at a camp facility almost an hour from Pretoria. Its been nice. We have just hung out, played Texas Hold'em till early in the morning, watched rugby and watched the entire first season of Lost projected on the wall. Its been nice.

Rachel and I have to leave early tomorrow to get back to Pretoria because I am speaking at Re:Verb in the morning with my friend Warren (the other team's tour leader).

Thats all from here. Cheers.

Chris

Happy Birthday Jana.

Rachel's mom is in town and tomorrow is her birthday!!! However, we are going out of town tomorrow so we are going to celebrate her birthday today. It started with breakfast in bed, Second we are going to see Harry Potter and then end the day with supper at one of our favorite seafood places called Ocean Basket. Happy Birthday Jana.
Cheers.

Chris

Real Dogs.

Rachel and I are on holiday this week. I have had a lot of work to do so tomorrow is really my only day off, but whatever. So I wanted a project to do around the house on my holiday. It could have been hanging curtains (which we started last week and never completed) or a bit of gardening or painting the office, but none of these seemed that great to me so I chose to work on the dogs walking on a leash. Sounds easy huh, well its not. Especially when you have a hundred pound beast trying to rip your arm out of socket to get to the Yorkshire Terrier that it wants to devour.

Something that has helped are the special dog collars that we purchased in America. They have spike type things on the inside that pinch if the dog pulls. Its sounds mean, but its better than them suffocating themselves on the choke collar as they pull in hopes of eating the guy riding the. Well, the collars work. Guinness and Damar have been out on several walks this week and I am so proud. Damar is doing better than Guinness though, we actually went for a jog today.

So now I am one step closer to having real dogs. Its so nice. Cheers.

Chris

Back From Township.

We are back from the Soutpan, a township about a hour away from PTA. We, the blue team, spent and week hanging out with people in the village. We had games for kids and showed a series of movies at night and spoke to teenagers about their lives and about how God is there no matter where you live.

I haven't posted since returning because I am still processing my own thoughts on the week. It was good, but I think that the exposure for the team of daily life in a township was the most rewarding. I hope that our team members learned a little more about their country and can share their knowledge with people who are ignorant of how many black people live in SA.

We were met with great hospitality from the people in the town. Some team members were blessed with meals with families and a good chance to hear others stories and learn about a new culture.

I was pleased with how the week went. It was physically difficult because it was cold and we slept in tents. It even rained, which is rare for the winter. We weren't eating well, we were given R7 ($.99) a day to eat on. We had no bathing facilities. However through all this the team was tough and I was proud of them.

Cheers.

Chris

Outreach.

We are going on our week of outreach starting tomorrow afternoon. There are a couple of reasons we are doing this particular outreach this year. 1
1.For the community- We will be hanging out with the kids and teens in the township, We will play a series of hour long movies in the evening and speaking on social issues here in SA and we will perform a stripped down version on our show Gajima on Friday night.

2.For the team- This week is a chance of our students to live among some less fortunate people that live in the same country as them. We will be camping at a church in the township which will be uncomfortable because its winter and will be really cold each night, but thats what it feels like for many people who live in small tin shacks. We will be walking everywhere, many people in this country don't have cars or money for buses so they walk very far everyday for food or water. And we will be given R7 ($.99)a day to eat on, which is average for where we will be staying.

We will also get to go help with an AIDs hospice that visits sick and dying people in their homes each day.

Please pray for the team for safety and that minds and hearts are opened for people who are not as blessed as many of us. Please pray for the community that lives can be impacted and changed by something that happens this week. Cheers.

Chris

Re:Verb

Once a month our "church" meets at my boss' house for a night of cheese, wine and hanging out. We are a small group of people, but its nice. Tonight a couple in our group blessed us all with a ton of sushi. It was great. Being on tour we don't get to go to Re:Verb often, but it was really nice having some sushi with friends and the Flaps gave a message. You can download it at www.reverberate.co.za
Cheers.

Chris

Gettin' Pumped

When I moved to SA I started working out. While traveling with Traveling Mercies I got sickly large. I didn't notice, but it was time to get fit. Well, this year started crazy. We just got back from Europe, I was music producer and tour leader, I was exhausted. So I didn't get back in the Gym.

So this training I lost any muscle gained last year and put back on some weight I had lost. Then we come to America for 3 weeks and lived in up on fast food and sugary drinks and it was wonderful. It was so wonderful I put on extra weight, like 7 pounds of good old processed americana.

Now, its back to the gym. Hittin' it hard, early, when its dark and cold. Its been nice feeling active. I think I have already dropped my holiday from my belly, now its time to work on the rest of 2007 that has been hanging on for dear life. Hopefully if I work really hard I can look like one of the characters on American Gladiators, like Laser or Nitro. Dream a little dream. Cheers.

Chris

PS
I always dreamed of being on American Gladiators and after I won every competition by kicking the guy off the climbing wall or getting all my balls in the little containers that wobbled buy never fell down or the joust, I would show how gladiator-like I really was by kicking butt in the shooter game where the gladiator, maybe Turbo, would shoot tennis balls at me, but always missed because I rolled just at the right time, then I would shoot the bull's eye with my dart from the cross bow or bazooka (or sometimes for extra drama I didn't hit the target until the last station, the tennis ball grenades). It was so cool when I won....in my dream.

Mmmmmm.

Rachel and I are in the process of trying to plan for the future. The road must end someday I suppose. We love working with 13thFLOOR and don't plan on leaving, but I was just looking at some other ministry possibilities today.

Well, I really like the west coast and was checking on some ministries in California when I got a craving for fish taco. Obviously there are no great little fish taco stands here so I decided to make up my own recipe.

I made homemade wholewheat tortillas, wild rice, and a fish/veggie mix. They turned out great. I don't really experiment with cooking too often so I was pleased.

If you want the recipe feel free to email me and I'll try to remember. Cheers.

Chris

Bath Day.

It was bath day in the Holohan home today. We gave the dogs their baths and that is always a mission. Guinness isn't too bad, but Damar gives us a little trouble. We get them in the bath tub and use the hand sprayer to get them rinsed. Then I keep spraying them with warm water as Rach scrubs with soap(side note:we are both in our beach attire). Then I give them a steady stream of treats to persuade them to stay in the bath and not run around the house. Guinness goes first, then Damar. Its a taxing job, but well worth the effort to have nice clean dogs. Cheers.

Chris

Team Week.

During the tour year we come back to the campus in Pretoria for Team Weeks. Well, this team week we had a time called "Conversations". Its where every member of the team spends 10 minutes speaking with every other person on team, all 40. Its a time for people to get things off there chest and say good things and things that bothers them about the other person. It is such a great time for the teams. I really appreciate the openness that is encouraged from the ministry. It's hard at times, but over all helps to build the team stronger. Cheers.

Chris

Old Friends.

Ray and I spent last night with the Kitts. They are old friends of ours and it was great seeing them. The McGuires also came over and it was just a blast hanging out with all our peeps that we haven't seen in a while. We had Wendy's famous pesto pasta with cookies and milk for desert. Fantastic. The night was ended with a little reality tv. Sometimes I really miss the suburbs. Cheers.

Chris

All Patched Up.

Ray and I got our fillings today. She went first and when she came out she couldn't speak clearly. It was so funny. Then It was my turn and I didn't think it was so funny. It's nice to have the teeth fixed. Cheers.

Chris

Date.

Ray and I went on a date today, it was fun. We went and saw a movie, ate Reese's Pieces, played Ms. PacMan, ate Cold Stone ice cream, walked around the mall. FUN.

While we were playing Ms PacMan there was a couple down from us playing another video game. They were around 30, I would guess, and while the woman and man were shooting plastic pistols at the monsters that were taking over the world she was holding a baby in her arms. I thought it made a beautiful picture. A smiling young women defending the life of her defenseless daughter from the radioactive creatures. I wish I had a canvas and some oil paints. Cuz I would have Bob Rossed dat shiz fo' show.

We are going to my moms for dinner tonight. Ray and I are fixing our world famous fried ravioli. We learned the recipe from some crazy NASCAR loving, red neck Italians living up in the mountains of Arizona. Thanks Kris. I am looking forward to it. We can't purchase the proper wrapping in SA, so its my first real batch in a while. I love them so much it makes me ache.

Tomorrow we are going back to the dentist for our fillings, we each get one. I am not looking to forward to that, however it will be nice to not carry the decayed part of my tooth around with me. Just another filling to go with the rest, I swear I brush my teeth, I swear.

Cheers.

Chris

Going Well.

Our visit in America is going well. We are trying to relax where we can and running around to see people at lunch and in the evenings. We are hoping to go visit my dad in Illinois this weekend and then see people in ATL and Savannah before flying home for work.

I hate that this trip is so short. There are things I want to do and people I want to see that just can't happen. Well maybe in 2 more years I can see those people. Cheers.

Chris

Big Sunday.

Now we can begin our holiday. From landing here on last Thursday our lives have been full of hectic wedding stuff. The wedding was Saturday, it was beautiful, congrats guys.

Yesterday I got to preach at Capital City Christian Church (CCCC), my home church. It went well. The more I get to communicate the things of God from stage the more I enjoy it. I had to wear a tie, which I have not done in a normal life situation since December 2004. I had to go purchase clothes for church so I would look "nice".

Then after church we went and ate lunch with some of our friends, Tim and Suzy Bomgardner, that were in town from NYC. After lunch we went and played blaster boats (pic above). It was a blast (pun intended, sorry Zoid). They shoot this little stream of water at your "enemy". It looks fun and nice, however I got freaking soaked. I hate being wet and I was drenched. So we played with our friends and then they went back to NY. Cheers Friends.

Then finally, last night we spoke with the missions team and a few other folks about what we are doing in our ministry. It was cool discussing what we do with people from our church.

Now we rest. We have dentist appointments today. Then more rest. Cheers.

Chris

In Tallahassee.

I made it. I was awake for 44 hours before my first night sleep. The wedding is today and it will be nice I think. It was raining this morning, but seems to be done for a while so hopefully it will be nice for the outdoor wedding today. Cheers.

Chris

I Think I Will Miss My Chair.

I left the team last night after our Homecoming show. The show and ministry went well and I think that the team will have a good impact in Middleburg this week. It was sad leaving them, I really like this team and look forward to the rest of our tour year together. Brandon, an American guy that works in the office, is going to take my place and do the ministry tonight and Thursday. I know he will do a great job.

I woke this morning, washed clothes, hung out the clothes and I am just waiting for them to dry so I can pack. Rone (roo-nay [roll that "R" ladies]), our dog/house watcher, is going to take me to the airport really early so I can be first in line and get the exit row seat. The exit row is my holy grail, I will fight dragons, climb mountains and sword fight business men for the exit row. Then I plan on sitting in the airport for 4 or 5 hours watching movies on my computer waiting for my flight. Not Bad.

So I am sitting in my wonderful chair in the bedroom blogging, drinking a cup of coffee waiting to leave. Its pretty lekker. Cheers.

Chris

Sad Chris.

Ray and I came home last night after the Rock Show last night. We were in Jo'burg, so it was only like a 45 min drive. Right now I am sitting in the chair typing and Ray is packing for her trip to the states. We will leave in about at hour for the trip to the airport. I am going to be sad and lonely for a few days, but I'm tough so no big deal. She lands in Tallahassee on Sunday morning. I will get there on Thursday of next week. I don't look forward to traveling alone, but it will be ok. We are flying Delta which is supposed to be the worst international airline in history. Drinks aren't free and the movies still play on a screen in the middle of the plane. Just makes the trip boring. I look forward to some summer temps and Chick-Fil-A. Cheers.

Chris

The Family.

Here's a current Family picture, the girls are getting big, they grow up so fast. Cheers.

Chris

Sport Afternoon.

On Monday's we have our Sport Afternoon on tour with the team. I like it to be some sort of team competition where some of the team members get too competitive and start fighting with other team members. We are christians and the sad thing is most people think christians are supposed to always be "nice", well sport afternoon is the place where we are allowed to be "normal". I like "normal".

This week we did an individual sport, Archery. We practiced in our contact person for the week's back yard for a while and then the competition began. We had several rounds to get down to the finals which was between myself and my lead guitar player (all band final, take that all you dancing nancies). Marnus ended up beating me, but I tried hard if that counts.

Then today me and my coordinator (my right hand man) when over to the guys house just to shoot some targets and talk about team members and stuff that drives us crazy and our host got out the compound bow and I got to shoot the cool stuff. It felt less Lord of the Rings and more Rambo, so thats cool.

The weeks going well, I am feeling really tired though. My brain needs a rest. Cheers.

Chris