We normally get to tell the church about Sr Adventure, but this last week it did not work out, so I want to tell you about our “Out of this world adventure.”
We picked up your kids at 5:30 am on Saturday morning in the church bus. The bus windows had been blacked out. They got in through the back door and then rode in the darkness as we went house by house. Eventually the bus stopped and backed up to the back door of the ROC. We arrived while it was still dark. We stepped into the gym. The lights were off, the black curtains were down and the only light was a set of UV lights.
The huge screen was hanging at a 45 degree angle to the floor. The seats to our space ship (thanks for the anti-gravity chairs) were aligned in front of the screen. The screen was projecting the live image from the International Space Station as it circles the earth. We invited them to go to the moon with us. We entered a time warp where every 10 minutes was one hour. We would land on the moon in the late afternoon. We asked if they wanted to go and if so, to put on the new NASA costumes be bought, made for them. To get ready, we trained.
We built NASA planes, we did NASA quiz sheets, we watched NASA training films. We watched the Apollo 11 documentary, a documentary about the moon lander. We built model rockets. We calculated a path on the moon. We watched Apollo 13. We launched rockets. We ate astronaut ice cream. We ate TV dinners with little compartments under plastic. We had space snacks and drinks. We laughed. We talked. We had a great time. We made it to the moon and then slept in our anti-gravity chairs most of the way home. We splashed down in time to make it to the Worship Center and the 10:45 am service.
It was an unusual year, but a good one. You can do a lot with a little imagination and a willing spirit. Thanks to all who made it happen.