Scavenger hunts rock

I have just finished week three of my new job. And praise the Lord, I am loving it. It was a very tough transition for me, but now I feel I am getting the hang of it. I have met almost all the college students (about 30-40) and they are all special in their own unique way. I enjoy spending time with them and getting to know them. We're starting to develop friendships, which is rad.

One of the big things my boss and I are trying to do this fall is build community. We want to have fun in the group and build those relationships. That way, in January when we start small groups and deeper teaching, the students will feel more comfortable listening, sharing, opening up, etc. One of our big community builders was last night: the O-so-fun-Digital-Camera-Scavenger-Hunt.

I did a Scavenger Hunt this past summer with the program staff which was a BLAST! Why are they so fun?! Maybe there's just something about driving around town, making fools of yourselves, and taking pictures that brings forth sheer joy and excitement.

We had four teams last night and I was with a team of all chicks. "We're gonna WIN!!!!" I kept screaming as we would haul up and down Pacific Avenue. I just KNEW we were...I don't know how. I just had this feeling. We all started screaming it as we ran and people sitting at coffeeshops would start screaming it, too. "You're gonna WIN!!!!"

In Anytown USA cities, people would look at us as if we were crazy and/or on drugs watching us do the stuff we did. But not here. We sang "Ring Around the Rosie" in front of a movie theater, while holding hands and circling with a dramatic "FALL DOWN!" and people clapped for us. We ran into a market and screamed at the top of our lungs, "Auntie Em! Auntie Em! There's no place like home!" and as we booked it out of there, the store employees were like, "Right on, sisters..."

We found a busy sidewalk and all sprawled along it, blocking it completely for one whole minute, pretending to be asleep. Rather than be mad at us, passer-byers patiently waited, smiled, and a couple even offered to take our picture for us. We ran through Jack-in-the-Box, making crazy animal noises and laughing hysterically and a homeless couple outside shouted, "I hope you win!" as we all threw ourselves back in the car. We found a restaurant and sat down with a family, acting as though we were part of their family for a full two minutes. After their intial shock of us, they totally got into it and pretended we really WERE their daughters and took a picture with us. (The pictures above are: 1) college student Jessica pumping a stranger's gas and 2) us screaming at the "mummy" we had just made in the ladies' restroom)

I could go on and on about all the fun stories we had last night. Our final task was all 5 of us ran into the ocean and got completely soaked for 1000 points apiece. And because of that grand finale...we indeed did WIN. But even cooler than that, was that through all those amazingly embarrassing things we did...I totally bonded with the other 4 college students in my car. We ended the night hugging each other and acting like we've been BFF's forever. A couple girls were new and had so much fun, they are going to start coming to our college group on Wed. nights.

Is this really my job??