Last Campmeeting Pictures

Here is the caboose (a metaphor from a bygone era) of the campmeeting pictures.
Just some odds and ends.

First is a candid shot of some of the teenagers at the camp playing some sort of game in the afternoon.
They occasionally made a good bit of noise while having a good time.



I sneaked a picture of one of the new friends I met while at campmeeting.
Her name is Vinita.(she is the one in the black jacket.)
She is a soft-spoken, pleasant lady.
(Don't get any ideas, we just had a few pleasant conversations together)
She attends the Community Church of God in Dunn Loring, Virginia.



During the campmeeting several older people were recognized for their long, faithful service in the work of God.
One couple among them was brother and sister Rexroth (sp?).
I remember seeing them at campmeetings through the years but did not know much about them until brother Tony read a summary of their accomplishments.



I sneaked a picture of brother Tony and brother Rodney White chatting before one of the services.
I was able to get better acquainted with brother Rodney when I visited brother and sister Bayless in Lawton, Oklahoma earlier this year.
Brother White was preaching a revival meeting there with them.
I have several pictures from that visit that I forgot to post here.
I will post them soon.



That is all the pictures I will post of the campmeeting (took more but many of them are alternate shots of the ones I have posted.)

Mo Campmeeting Pichers 5

Moving on to more pictures from campmeeting....

This little girl in the choir is the daughter or niece of the man holding her (I am not sure which).
She has some development problems.
She is not growing normally or as fast as most children her age.
Someone told me that she is three years old but looks about the size of a two-year-old, and she cannot/does not talk.
I am sure much prayer is being done on her behalf.




Here is another little muffin I saw at campmeeting.
She had come into morning prayer meeting with her mother and was sitting quietly in the back of the room while we waited to begin the prayers.



Here is another shot of the choir.



This is brother Creyts, from Dunn Loring, Virginia, near the Washington D.C. area.
He is very gifted, musically.
He played the vibraphone a few times before or during services.
The sound of the unusual instrument gave the services a surreal atmosphere.
The singer here is named Amaria.



Brother Creyts also played the drums during a couple of services.
At the piano is Ann Webb who is gifted in her own right.
She can play piano well and sing.
I can play the piano and sing, too, but it does not sound like when she does it.



Still more pictures to come.
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Mo Campmeeting Pichas 4

Ok, enough of Miranda.
Here are the last of the talent show pictures from campmeeting.

The "judges" in the talent show usually dress up in some funny outfits and this year was no exception.
What look like Jewish tourists in Miami are actually brother and sister Bartlette.



This was a quartet (duh) that sang in the talent show.
Some of you may recognize at least some of these people.
I am only familiar with their faces.



Sister Evelyn Romine dressed up as Susan Boyle and evidently memorized nearly the entire youtube video - including the song "I dreamed a dream".
She did very well.



Sherm and his daughter(?) dressed up and did a "newscast" of ancient news that was quite funny.



And a young man (whom I later saw looks NOTHING like Elvis) did a pretty good imitation of a young Elvis Presley.
I was impressed and a little surprised.
It was amusing how the crowd responded (loudly, with screams from some of the women) to his performance, they, supposedly being such quiet, "isolated" people, many of whom had/have no televisions.
He won one of the awards.



Lest you get the wrong idea, there was plenty of serious, eternity-oriented activity at campmeeting.
I did not take a lot of pictures of the ministers while they were preaching, so there is less visual information about the most important aspects of the meeting.
More to come....
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Mo Pichers 3

Onward we go with more campmeeting pictures.
I am purposefully concentrating on the "social" aspect of the event, rather than the spiritual, at this point.
There were many "good" messages that enlightened, challenged and encouraged we in the pews during the meeting.
I may elaborate on some the the high points of those presentations later.

Below are a few more pictures of Miranda Wells.
Thursday evening each year after the main service there is a talent show at the campmeeting.
It is generally a time of fun and craziness.
This year, in one of the "acts" in the talent show, Miranda told a story about a young person with a very strong sweet tooth.
As I said before, Miranda is a natural performer, and she proved that again with her part-planned, part-ad libbed presentation.

More pictures of the talent show and campmeeting to come....

Mo Campmeeting Pichas 1

As promised, here are some more pictures I took during campmeeting.
As some of you know, I tend to be a landscape photographer rather than a people photographer.
This prolly has its roots in by-gone days of being shown long series of pictures of, here's Elmer and Alice (standing like sticks) at the Washington monument, here's Elmer and Alice (standing like sticks) at the Lincoln memorial, here's Elmer and Alice (standing like sticks) at the Grand Cooley dam, here's Elmer and Alice (standing like sticks) at mile marker 215 in Nebraska, etc. you get the picture of old pictures.

But this year, I took a lot of pictures (about 150) of people, most of them candid (meaning the people did not know I was taking a picture of them.




Above is a shot of the choir.
Brother Sherm Romine has been the song leader/choir director since I have been attending Newark campmeetings beginning in 1967.
He has a gift in this area.
I kiddingly told someone he could make a rock sing.



Here is a pic of Rebecca Whitehead and an unknown little person, taken just before evening service.




Here are some other people waiting for the evening service to begin.
The youngest one was the main object of my lens but I realized that I had captured three generations of folks.



Here is one of several pictures I took of Miranda Wells this year.
I was trying to sneak a shot of her, as I know she would assume some "pose" for me if she caught me taking a picture.
I failed.
She spotted me and, as expected, made a face for me.
She is a delightful young lady with a very outgoing personality.
She is a natural performer, according to the local folks who know her.




And here are the old war buddies, standing like sticks for their 43rd year anniversary.
From left to right is, brother Danny Bartlette, Tony Bartlette, Walt Williams, mee.
We met in 1967 in Teagu, Korea.
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I Bees Bak

Actually, I arrived home on Monday about 2:15 PM.
I had safe (uneventful) travel up to Newark and back.
The services were inspiring and challenging.
I got to meet and fellowship with some new (to mee) people this year, in addition to visiting with many "old" friends.
Some of the "old" friends were the three friends from the military in 1967.
If I did my math right, that would make this our 43rd anniversary.

Campmeeting week was intended to be my rest week from my new all-weight lifting program.
I rested more than I was planning.
I only walked three times the whole week. (the plan was to walk every day...)
So I was WELL rested when I returned home, and was *ready* to get back into the exercise groove on Tuesday.
I am still sore from that session. :)

For the next few days I will be posting pictures from the meeting here.
Here are the first of them.



This is a less than complementary picture of Tony and Danny's mom, who just turned 93.



I was often amused by the little people who populated the campmeeting this year, so I took several pictures of some of them.
I just think they are cute.
In the back is bro. Bartlette pontificating about something with some friends.



This is Walt Williams singing in one of the services.
He was my bunk-mate for most of the time I was stationed in Korea in 1967.



During one of the morning services, some of the little people sang a couple of songs.

Excitement Mounts...

... as the time of departure for campmeeting approaches.
Just three more days and then I motor up the Newark, Ohio for the annual celebration.
It will be good to see all the "northern" saints again.
And perhaps another reunion with my old army buddies.

It is hard to believe that it has been 43 years since we first met in an army barracks in Taegu, Korea.
Remind me to tell you that story sometime.

On the local front, I am working through a new 4-day-per-week workout plan.
It is based on a book I bought online a few weeks ago that recommended one work each body area twice each week instead of the common frequency of once per week.
I am trying this method.
It is tough.
But according to my workout log numbers, I am getting stronger.
Today will be the second session for my back and chest.
Woo hoo.

But my body/system is still adjusting to the no-running-just-weight-lifting plan, methinks.
I often wake up in the morning feeling "tired".
As tiring as running seems to be, it is easier on me than a max-out iron lifting session, it seems.
At least, it is easier to recover from.

But I can see subtle differences in my bodyfat and muscle shapes.
Nothing to call the magazines about, mind you.
And I feel different.
Generally stronger, I would call it.
So, you might ask, how does one feel tired upon waking up and stronger at the same time?
Good question.
And I am not sure how to answer that.

In God we trust.
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Lest You Worry....

I am still alive.
I have been busy working out and playing around the house.
The weather has been delicious and invites me to come out and play in the yard.

My workout schedule has increased from three sessions per week to four.
Last week was my first full week of four workouts.
I can tell that this level of effort is taxing my system.
I generally feel a bit tired each day.
Part of this is normal and will diminish as my body gets used to the increased effort requirements.

The game, here, is to figure out what level of stress my system can handle on a long term basis and match my workout volume to that amount.
I plan to stay at four per week this week and next, then it will be off to campmeeting for a week.
I will use this as my "rest" week.
I plan to walk each morning while at campmeeting, but nothing more.
No running this year. :(

It is mildly depressing for me to realize that, as of June 22, the duration of daylight each day is getting less and less.
Too soon, the temperatures will begin to drop and the dark days of winter will envelope us again.
As you can see, it is easy for me to get ahead of myself.

I used to have to attend a business meeting in Phoenix, Arizona once a month as a representative of my company.
I quickly found that I loved the area and the climate, and looked forward to going there each month.
After about a year, the project that required my presence was transferred to another division of my company in another location.
I remember my last visit to Phoenix mainly because I was so depressed from knowing it was my last visit, that I could hardly enjoy my time there.
I laughed at myself at the time, thinking how silly I was.
My depression was entirely self-induced.
There was no reason to feel badly other than my anticipation of the secession of monthly visits.
Silly me.
Thus, I sit in the lovely, warm July weather dreading the cold winds and dark days of December.

IN OTHER NEWS...

Your right-thinking House of Representatives has passed a wonderful new "energy" bill that will regulate almost every phase of your life.
They are doing this to protect our fragile planet from our evil industries.

It will dictate how much you pay for gasoline for your car.
It will dictate what TYPE of gasoline you may use in your car.
It will dictate what kind of car you may drive. (remember: they already own two of the three domestic car companies)
It will dictate how much gas mileage your car must achieve. (if your current car does not get good enough gas mileage, you will have to pay an additional tax.)
It will dictate how fast you may drive.
It will dictate how long you may drive. (if your government-approved electric car can only go 50 miles at a time, and you are on a 200 mile trip to visit aunt Edna, you will have to stop at a government-approved charging station to re-charge.)
It will dictate what color car you may drive. (really! Black cars absorb more of the sun's heat which makes them harder to keep cool, which makes your air conditioner run longer, which uses more gasoline. The brilliant do-gooders in California are already considering legislation to BAN black cars.)
It will dictate how much water you may use at home. (use more than the government-authorized amount and you will pay an extra tax)
It will dictate how much electricity you may use. (use more than the government-authorized amount and you will pay an extra tax)
It will dictate WHEN you may use water or electricity in your home.
It will dictate what type of windows are in your home (they will have to be "approved" energy-efficient type.)
It will dictate what level of insulation your house has.
It will dictate the amount of energy your home appliances use.

You will not be able to sell your house unless it has been inspected for energy "efficiency" and approved by a government inspector.
If you do not "pass" the inspection, you will not be able to sell your house until you make the "required" improvements.
Regardless of the cost.

It will require additional taxes on every manufacturing, retail and utility company based on how much energy they use to make/sell their products, and how much insulation they have in their buildings.
These businesses will have to pass these increased costs on to their customers - yoo n mee.
The cost of everything will go up.
Everything.

Since the Environmental Protection Agency has now proclaimed carbon dioxide a polluting "greenhouse gas", it will soon begin to produce regulations to "control" its production to counteract "global warming".

Which leads me to some questions...
Since I and everyone else on the planet exhale carbon dioxide, will we be taxed for breathing?
Since the fizz in soft drinks is produced by injecting carbon dioxide gas into them, will there be a new tax added to the price of Coke and Pepsi and other soft drinks?
Since methane gas was also identified as a cause of "global warming", and a tax on cows was proposed, to compensate for the production of methane gas from their farts in the pasture, will I be taxed also, since I sometimes fart, too?

To execute God's judgment on this nation, the Chaldeans have invaded and are taking over everything.
Enjoy your freedoms and property while you can.
You will not have them much longer.

In God we trust.
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