PCC Youth, 30 Hour Famine & Survivor.

April 20, 7:08 p.m.
Here I am at my 30 hour famine for World Vision that started at noon today and man am I having fun. First we had to make a “Stomp” performance. We had 30 minutes to make a 7 minute show. Team “Sonic,” my team, won. We won a Jones soda, a journal from Soccercity and a $5 Wendy’s Gift Card. The next challenge was to build a support structure over a ditch that could hold up a person on a tire. We spent 2 hours making this and lasted about 17 minutes before we dropped the poor girl into the muddy, wet ditch across the street from our church. We lost that challenge.

April 20, 10:36 p.m.
We just got back from karate and rock climbing. We went to a Blackbelt Fighting Studio near the Safeway in Cloverdale and were pushed to our physical (and mental) limits learning how to fight and defend ourselves. We had to promise not to use our super sweet skills outside of our houses or the studio. After a long, tiring lesson, we had to do a form of Simon Says. The last one left over at the end got a chance to break a board that had the durability of a male femur. The first person got it on the third try, the second got it the second try and I was third so I got it on the first time I made contact (after one miss of the board). I won a shirt and our team won that round. The next challenge was at Vertical Reality. On our way there, we invented our team cheer. Someone would say “Sonic and…” and everyone would yell “KNUCKLES!” and we would all pound it. When we got there, we were already drained from fighting and we each had to race up a wall. Our team won more races than the other team so we won that round. Afterwards, I climbed the first pillar on the wall facing away from the entrance. I was so proud of myself. On our way back, two members of our team, a girl and I, recalled the aspirin commercial where a woman in a hollow voice says “My wrists are on fire” and the person at the door does some fancy handwork and shows the Extra Strength Aspirin to her. So we decided this would be part of our cheer. We copied it and would say “My wrists are on fire” and the other person would say “You know what you need,” does some fancy handwork and says “Sonic and…” “KNUCKLES!” our team would reply. We now can go to bed or familiarize ourselves with a Bible verse. I’m choosing to go to bed.

April 21, 9:31 a.m.
We were woken up at 4 a.m. Yay. Our “breakfast” consisted of citrus juice. After that, we did a mini challenge where our teams were tied together by ropes by the ankles and wrists and bound together by Saran Wrap. The other team cheated by having their knots really loose and we lost. Then we went to White Rock Beach and had to memorize a Bible verse: 1 Corinthians 21:20-21, "20If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, 21but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.” We had to go in a predetermined order chosen by our team, run up the stairs across the street from the beach and verbalized the verse we just memorized. Our team won after some emotional pitfalls. This challenge was for immunity and the other team had to vote someone off. After that, at around 6 in the morning, each team had to go into the water at the beach and follow a long string that lead us to a rock. Under that rock, we had to dig. The water was about waist deep and we had to dig about 3 feet into the sand before we got to the bins we were supposed to get. This took us about 2 hours to find and get down to. My team had found a corner of the box and were about to dig it completely out but they told us to come back in. We were supposed to assemble a puzzle that was the verse we were supposed to memorize the previous night. Neither team won because neither team finished the challenge. Another girl and I won prizes for “Determination.” After that, the teams got mixed up. I was now part of team “Rush Hour.” The next challenge was an exhausting football obstacle course where we had to put on football equipment that was donated by the BC Lions, skip three times, tackle down a guy to retrieve a blue flag that we had to put completely into a bucket, catch a football from the rest of your team which you had to carry around for the rest of the course, run around cones, get hit by three people with couch cushions (one of them being my sister) whose only goal was to knock you down and run and kick the football back all while wearing this heavy professional football gear. A catch of the first pass meant –10 seconds off your team’s time and a catch of the kick meant –30 seconds off your team’s time. However, dropping the ball meant +10 seconds onto your team’s time. Our team won that round.

April 21, 2:05 p.m.
Off we went, back to the church. When we got there, we all had to pick tasks out of a hat. These tasks had to be executed at the Willowbrook Mall. My task was to get as many signatures as I could to “Outlaw Saturdays” (get them taken out of the calendar week). I was allowed to tell them I was doing this event but I needed to get signatures. I got 12 and the other girl that I was against got 18. Some other tasks people had to do was collect money for world vision, play bigger better best, try to get a job and try to get more prizes for the famine. Our team only got the most money and only by 12 cents. This was the first time I had been to tribal council. I was safe for this round. When we got back to the church, we merged. I had made it to the merge and I was very proud. So for the next challenge, we were pitted up against each other in Bible Trivia. When you got a question right, you got to splash someone with icy cold water but when you got splashed twice, you were out of the challenge. I lasted longer than I thought. I didn’t win. The “Spoiler” team, the outcasts from previous challenges, voted me out. Now, the remaining people have to read through a book of the Bible and present why they want it to be studied by our Youth Group. The others have to rate all the presentations except theirs in order of bets (1) to worst (4).

April 22, 2:56 (conclusion)
The outcasts had a plan as to who they wanted to go to the final two. So for the presentations, one of the girls we wanted in the final two won immunity. So we plucked off another player just as fast as he got on. It was all girls left after that. For the next challenge, the organizer of the event would tell them a story and they had to answer four questions about it by flicking switches one way for one answer and the other way for another answer. Then they had to go into the other room and try to open a box. If the alarm sounded, they got a question wrong but if it didn’t sound and the box opened, they got all the questions right. They would have to, then follow the instructions on the piece of paper in the box. This was a timed event and the fastest to finish would win. Only one girl got all the questions right and she won. It was one of the girls we wanted to take to the final two. The outcasts had to vote off another. They did and she joined them in voting. She did not agree with the idea we had for the final two. For the next challenge, the contestants had to take care of three children from the ages of 1-5 and then the kids would judge who they liked the best. Would the girls we wanted win the challenge or would our plans be destroyed? One of the two we wanted won and our plan would go through for the final two. The final challenge that would decide the winner was to write a newspaper article about the event that emphasized what we did, how much fun we had and why we did it. I got interviewed by only one of the girls. The results were in and we were waiting in anticipation for the results and for dinner that we would be able to eat at 6:00 p.m. I hadn’t felt hungry at all for the entire event since we were kept so busy. The winner was announced. Alena had written the best newspaper article. It will be published in a coming Cloverdale Reporter and I will be featured in it.

I appreciate everything Jeff, the organizer of the event and Kim, our youth pastor, duh, does to get this event going and keep our minds off of our hunger. This year was one of the best years for prizes even though we had a lower budget. Each participant got a ticket to a coming BC Lions game and so much more. I got $5 at Wendy’s, $10 at Ricky’s, a free (much needed) haircut at Magicuts, a bunch of hot chocolate, $20 at any Cineplex location, an Omni 10 water bottle, $10 off any meal purchase at The Old Spaghetti Factory, a free DeDutch Pannekoek, a pass to any Langley Recreation Center, a pass to Willowbrook Lanes, a free McDonald’s Cone, a free D.Q. treat, a free popcorn chicken combo from KFC, a bunch of picture frames and a ton of Jones Soda.