Are We Done Yet? [Summer Olympics Closing Ceremonies]

[Original post: July 28]


Eh, not quite. Apparently I've gotten myself into the Historian role. I have work to do...
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Last Thursday was the Closing Ceremonies for IMPACT’s Hawai‘i Youth Summer Olympics.

Registration was a breeze! Well, mainly because there were no cash collecting, the KUC youth helped with tagging everyone, and people trickled in after chowing down on some more ono food provided by Cousin Craig. I was able to hand duties over to Chenju who has been doing a good job!

I hung around just in case but took a few trips around for picture taking. I was trying to capture it all. Most people shied away from the camara, but I found several good sports, and they’re photogenic too!
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If anyone thought that the leaders were out of ideas for games, um, wrong, major kine wrong. They got the students to make a huge circle and to grab onto a rope that went around them. Three student volunteers were blindfolded and tried to tag people. It got wild and crazy and loud. The keyboard took a fall but it survived. Phew!

The students got into their church groups and shouted out their church names. Next came Choose Your Champion. More blindfolding, which the students seem to love. They had to find foam darts that were scattered on the ground and shoot another Champion with them. This game got real loud! The groups were trying to direct their Champion to target another group’s Champion, but one couldn’t hear a thing!

We finally let the kids see again. Well, sight is kind of necessary for Pictionary, or is it? Maybe there’s an idea for next year? Anyways, it was a relay Pictionary. Once the word was correctly guessed, the pen was passed on to the next drawer, and repeated until the group made it through the entire list.

We paused to pass out some of the awards from the previous nights. I’ll post some of the winners a little later. I tried to get pictures of everyone, but who knew there were so many shy people out there? They powerwalked up to the stage, grabbed their prize and promptly powerwalked back to sit down. Let’s see what I was able to get later, and find out if I can put names to the correct faces!

Then they brought out the Paper Gladiator to illustrate the next activity. Each group created a paper gladiator of their own. And on to the fighting ring…you just gotta see the pictures!

More prizes were passed out. After that, Uncle Wayne and the CCA crew blessed us with worship music.
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James got up to give a message that was geared towards the students, but he invited all the adults, everyone, to take it in because it applies to all of our lives. James talked about the Mission Field. As believers in Christ, we are called to “go and make disciples of all nations” [Matthew 28:19]. For some, that is a literal call to go to other nations and spread the gospel, but not all of us get the call to overseas missions. Most of us are called to the “Backyard” mission field, the one right where we are. One could break that down to the Schoolyard MF for the students, or the Workplace MF for adults. It could even be the Household MF. Wherever we are, that is the Mission Field. We are to be advancing the kingdom of God and not decreasing it, wherever we go.

James also provided a few steps to tending the field: Prayer, Care, and Share. Constantly pray for others, even asking others if they have a prayer request, no matter what their reaction might be. This will be the manner in which they will know that we care about them. Then perhaps in a moment of need, they might turn to us for support. When it is time, be prepared to share the gospel and what it has done for our lives.
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A few more songs for the crowd and then they broke into their groups again for announcements and prayer.

Winnahs!
Advanced Table Tennis results
Gold: Keke Liu
Silver: Alex Huang
Bronze: Meiyi Cheng

Beginner Table Tennis results
Gold: Jerry Betiru
Silver: Courtney Kobata
Bronze: Cherie Lafoga

Dodgeball results
Gold: Kapahulu Bible Church
Silver: Korean Christian Church

Halo 3 Medalist:
Gold: Andrew F (FCF)
Silver: Joseph K. (KUC)
Bronze: Chrisitan F. (KUC)

Wii Mario Cart
Gold: Kayla I. (FCF)
Silver: Tuan (FCF)
Bronze: Jeremy Irivin (Pali View)

Ultimate Octopus
Gold: FCF
Silver: Tie with KUC and KCC
Bronze: CLC

Mission Impossible IMPACT Edition
1st: Faith Christian Fellowship
2nd: Hawaii Baptist Academy
3rd: Kapahulu Bible Church
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Acknowledgements
[Please see the bottom of the other IMPACT entries for a list of the volunteers, and add any missing names by leaving a comment! Mahalo!]

Set up: James, Kendal, Lisa; Cherie, Junior, Ata, Kalani [KUC Youth]; The Kamimuras [CrossCurrent]

Sound/set up/clean up: Joel [KUC], Tad [CrossCurrent], CCA Worship Team

Registration: Chenju [CLC?]; Junior, Rachel, Cherie, Oko, Emina [KUC Youth]

Dinner: CCA

Games: Jared, Raphael [KUC]; Locky [HBA]; and youth leaders from all churches

Clean up [including during intermissions]: Everyone!
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Final Note
Because so much happened on the last night, the photo entries shall begin tomorrow…and the day after that as well! MAHALO to all who have been reading in! I shall be honing my skills, especially in the photography area, in hopes of another IMPACT season next year? :D I shall be putting my pictures on CD if anyone is interested.

And the biggest MAHALO to James, Kendal and Lisa for putting all of this together! It’s been great fun!