International Easter Rally: Part 7 - Near Death Experiences, Olympics and Discos

The first Monday morning at Easter Rally, we all gathered for breakfast and sang grace. We sang a grace at each meal and had a good deal of fun teaching each other different songs and lyrics. Johnny Appleseed and Hallelu were the only two graces that were common to everyone.

Each morning after breakfast, the teens led a matins, which is a short worship service in the chapel. It turned out that we had 3 mornings and three groups, US, Canada and the UK, so a different group led each matins. Monday morning, the teens from the US led chapel. They played music, led the group in scripture readings, and taught everyone some favorite hymns, like "Sunshine in My Soul" and "Building, Daily Building" as many hymns in the UK are quite different. They also sang "Jesus is Walking on the Lake"!

Rev. Jack Dunion led fabulous sessions exploring different jobs and how we all contribute an individual use to one system in harmony with what others contribute. Jack also showed a short video clip about individuals who experienced near death experiences to illustrate how wonderful the next life is. For the workshop accompanying Jack's session, Pam Kesselring came up with a wonderful activity. The teens were given the freedom to gravitate into various groups based on common interests (music, art, writing, sports, etc.). The teen breakout groups created something artistic or active, then came back and shared their creation with the larger group. We all got to see how we move towards others similar to ourselves and how we surround ourselves with people and circumstances according to our particular choices.

The afternoon involved fun activities that Steve, Jenny and Andy Leather organized including a partner orienteering race and a silly team Olympic games competition with wheelbarrow races (with real wheelbarrows!), an obstacle course, balloon toss, and other shenanigans.

In the evening, the teens had a disco. The Purley sound system is amazing and we all got up for YMCA! Monday evening closed with a calming candle lite mediation.