California and Kansas City.

Hello friends,
I am writing to you from the catering room also known as the team room in Kansas City. As you can probably guess I am doing camera this weekend for the Acquire the Fire event. We are expecting around 3500 people. I don’t have lots of time on my hands these days with my travels so I am learning how to balance time. For example: sleep and read on the bus. If you are leaving at 3pm, like I did and only had four hours of sleep the night before then you will understand that I fell asleep almost right away. I woke up for our stops but other than that I laid out in the very back of the bus in my warm and comfy sleeping bag and listened to music and slept. It was wonderful. I love traveling to these ATF events. I love getting to know people. I love sleeping. I love seeing God work in the lives of the teenagers and parents that come every weekend. I love doing camera. I love gaining experience. I love doing what I love. But since I am currently writing this part of the blog on Thursday and the event has not even begun I will finish it after the event and I will tell you about the last ten days in California for now.

I was very glad to hear of our delayed departure on Sunday, the 7th. We were supposed to leave at 6pm, but we ended up leaving at 1am. I was glad because I got to see the Super Bowl. I was also glad that the Saints won. So, the bus ride mostly consisted of me sleeping a lot, talking a bit, and reading a little. On Monday night, or perhaps it was Tuesday at like 2am we arrived in Los Angeles. We stayed at a catholic high school. On Tuesday we had a professional encounter with Drew Thomas, who is a DP, and he taught us all about the camera. We were located in the Sheraton Hotel in Santa Monica. Sounds lovely doesn’t it? The only downfall was that we were inside the entire day. BUT it wasn’t so bad because I don’t mind the camera so much you see, it was a good day. On Wednesday we were in the same place with Mark Stepp who is an editor. He definitely taught us a lot, and not just about editing. He had just come back from working at the Super Bowl. It was Wednesday night that I got to experience In-N-Out for the first time. I had some very high expectations and they did not disappoint. One of the best burgers I have ever had. The fries weren’t that great but it wasn’t a huge deal. Now Thursday was the day that I was really looking forward to. We were going to take a tour of Warner Bros. Studios. Two of my very TV shows, Chuck and The Mentalist are filmed there. I wanted more than anything to be able to visit the sets of those shows. In the morning we drove through Hollywood and Burbank and drove past some of the other studios. Walt Disney, Paramount, etc. And in the afternoon we had our tour. It was pretty incredible. To see all these places where history had been made. Gilmore Girls. Growing Pains. Cold Case. ER. Chuck. The Mentalist. Alice in Wonderland. The Dark Knight. Ocean’s 11. Jurassic Park. I could go on. We went on the set of True Blood a show I honestly don’t care much about. We went through the jungle where Jurassic Park was made. Drove throughout the entire place and our tour guide showed us a bunch of different locations. I did not get to go on the set of Chuck, but I did get to see a bunch of locations that scenes had been shot. BUT the ultimate moment of that day was being able to go onto the set of The Mentalist. To stand on the very ground that Patrick Jane (which is the character) has been on. To see the couch he sits on. His office. The interrogation room. Yes, the moment was magical indeed. I bought a t-shirt to remember it by. That night we left for Morro Bay for a few days. I was pretty excited because it would be my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean. We stayed in a Motel 6 and it was amazing. Thursday was our day off and I decided to spend the morning in the room while almost everyone went out to town. I was planning on going later that afternoon. And so I slept and read and watched some TV. And I went on the bus in the afternoon and had a great conversation with our bus driver and then I wandered Morro Bay by myself and I absolutely loved it. I bought the most amazing ice cream. Some food. Some postcards. It was well. And I walked to the rock (google it). And to the beach. And towards the tide. And I stopped when I reached the water and I put my hand to the water and brought it to my lips just so I could taste the salt. It was a wonderful experience. That night we were having pizza and I walked into a bar first and then I realized there was no pizza. Pizza was next door. The next day we were at the beach again having team time. We sat on the rocks and watched the waves crash mightily against some other rocks. The next morning we left dark and early for church, which was around LA. It was amazing. It was in a beautiful spot. The guy spoke about love. It was Valentine’s Day after all, but I learned some valuable lessons that morning. That afternoon we went to the mall. I stayed on the bus for a while and then I went to Border’s and spent a few hours there. I ended up buying two books. Social Intelligence and Snow Treasure (one of my favorite books as a kid). Then I wandered the mall by myself. I love doing that. Observing people. Taking my time. Simply existing. Being. That night we ate at a place called Roscoe’s. Wow. Right off of Sunset Boulevard. Known for their chicken and waffles. Yes, together. And it was amazing! We stayed at a church nearby and the next day we had our last professional encounter with Jeff Holder who talked to us about writing. If you watched cartoons on a Saturday morning as a child, your best bet that he wrote it. It was on that day I got told I would be going to Kansas City on Wednesday. We left that night for good ol’ Texas. Is it a coincidence that it snowed up to 8 inches on campus while I was gone? It only last a day or two but California had the most perfect weather. It just won me right over. On the bus I watched a movie called Shawshank Redemption. It had a good storyline, strong characters. I enjoyed it for the most part. It was very well done. I told myself I wouldn’t sleep as much because I could just sleep on the way to Kansas City and so I had some good conversations. Wrote a bit. And well, slept. We got to campus at 2am, stayed at CCM for an hour. Did laundry till 5:30am. Slept till 10am. Went to CCM, prepped the camera stuff. Had a meeting. Ate food. Packed. Went back to CCM to get my stuff and left! Very exciting right? I’m glad I got to be on campus for a few hours. Felt real good. I love what I do. As I mentioned earlier. I don’t have a lot of time to connect with interns from the HA, so being able to go on the bus and get to know them is always enjoyable.

THE EVENT:

Alright, let me try and keep this interesting. I had a plan this weekend. I do interviews/shoot b-roll and whatnot for anything Teen Mania might need it for whether that be promos and the highlights we make every week. The highlights have a theme woven throughout it and this week I really wanted UNITY through Christ to be portrayed. Every time I go out on the road I just love the atmosphere. It feels like family. And not just with the ministry team, but also just being with a bunch of people who share the same beliefs as you. One of my favorite parts of the weekend is the team meeting we have right after load out. It’s the time where everyone is so tired we can’t think straight. We are told in what areas we need to improve. We have the best moments though. We laugh so hard it hurts to breathe. We share stories of how God touched someone’s life and how he even used us at times to do so. It’s in those moments I am reminded of how blessed I am. I have written it before and I want to say it again, doing camera at these events is not just a job to me, not just so I can gain more experience. I want to be there for people, to be able to bring hope, and be able to speak into their lives. And even being able to encourage and pray with one girl makes everything worth it. I learned a lot this weekend. I have been stretched. I have grown. I am counting my blessings.

Kansas City was probably been the nicest city I’ve been to so far. People were going around giving each other high fives and hugs. I got my fair share. Watch the hugging lady in the highlights to understand. I even got asked for an autograph.

Thank you Kansas City.

-The camera girl/the camera lady/ccm girl/interview girl

P.S. The stuff I do every weekend gets made into a highlights video that is posted online. Here are the highlights from Kansas City. My favorite so far.