We have 3 types of days. A non travel day, travel day, or show day. Let me describe them for you.
1. Non-travel day: a non travel day is basically a dream come true...considering we don't get very many of them. This usually consists of some adventuring in the city that we are in. Which basically means sight-seeing, finding the local coffee shops, and urban spooning it for cool restaurants and good food. If we are in super small towns, we will enjoy our hotel room and stay there all day, watch movies, relax, and most importantly, sleep.
2. Travel day: a travel day means we travel. derrrrr. What this day looks like to an outsider is spending hours on end in our lovely "tour bus", which is a modified shuttle bus. It's not luxury, but it gets the job done...and we are thankful for it! Our green machine has become our "home." Our hours on the bus are usually spent by some Bible reading, movie watching, facebook stalking, and catching up on our sleep. Also, the nondrivers have to rotate riding in our truck. Our truck is what carries all of our equipment. The truck requires a CDL license so only a few can actually drive. My time in the truck is usually spent having a 1 on 1 conversation with the driver which can last between 5 minutes or 5 hours. After talking, out comes the ipod. It's cool to ride with different drivers to see what their taste in music is like.
3. SHOW DAY: A show day is our work day. A typical show day means we get to the venue around noon and have lunch. After lunch, we unload our truck. Unloading takes about 15-30 minutes depending on how many volunteer hands we have to help us. When we get all of our equipment in, we start setting up. Setting up looks like this. The girls start to set up our HUGE screens. There are 2 of them. Since we are a multimedia ministry, videos are a main part of our show. The screens are to show our videos and live footage of the speakers on stage. When we are done setting up the screens, we have to set up pipe and drape. pipe and drape is exactly what it says. we set up pipes and put drapes on them. They help hide our backstage area depending how big the stage is. Once this is done, the girls are released to do our specific jobs. My job is setting up registration. We have 4 signs to set up for registration. At the door tickets, preregistered tickets, and 2 ring purchase signs. After the signs are set up, I start on ring sizing. Ring sizing tables have 3 signs, 4 ring sizers, 2 sticker rolls, pens, and a ring display. It is usually one table for every 100 people. After that, I put the photography signs up and check signs on for ring purchase. Ring purchase tables have 2 cash boxes on them. in the cash boxes are 50 blue wristbands and a ring purchase paper. The registration tables have parent cards and 50 green wristbands in each cash box along with a registration paper. After all of that stuff is set up, we go back into the main auditorium and start taping wires. The girls tape down all the wires and put carpets where needed so people don't trip and fall. By this time, it is usually time to pray. We gather as a team to take prayer requests, talk about how our day has been, and to pray for the show and the students that will be attending. After we pray, we finish up any last minute details. I put up stanchions to block off the genies, which is what holds up our truss with all of our lighting. This way, students will not get hurt or break any equipment. After this, it's time to train volunteers. We all train our certain areas. I help in training ring purchase. Basically, we train all the volunteers in what their jobs will be for that night. Once we are done training, it is dinner time. After we eat, we usually get ready for the show. This means changing into our show shoes, Silver Ring Thing tshirts, and put some makeup on if there is any time. By this time, the students are starting to arrive. Before doors open, Ronnie and I help Mary Scott when needed and help sell merchandise. Once we hear Party in the USA or Cotton Eyed Joe, we close down our merch table. The show is about to start. At this time, I go inside and see the kids dancing and so excited. During the show, I do all of the photography. After kyle does his talk, I hand off the camera and I help again in Registration. After, I head backstage to either be the bride or act in one of the skits. When I'm done, I go back in and take more pictures. During Paco's talk, I upload the pictures and put the watermark on them. I head backstage to pass out commitment cards when the show is over. Commitments are why we do what we do. The students that come forward and get a commitment card are the students that prayed and accepted Jesus Christ into their life that night. THAT is what we are here for. God is the reason for all of it. When we get frustrated and exhausted and are running on red bull, it is with God's strength and love and mercy and compassion. He is the reason. After the show, I head inside to tear down the screens and pray there are volunteers to help us. When we tear down, we take down the screens and pack them away in their cases. After the screens are put away, I am responsible for Eugene. Eugene is my boyfriend [not really]. Eugene is our really ugly wooden beat up case that has no lid and is basically our junk drawer. Inside Eugene goes 3 boxes of drapes, 6 pipe and drape poles, 4 pipe and drape bases, 4 forks for our genies, 5 toolbags, 11 sandbags, 2 gray bins, chainsaw, sledgehammer, curtain rods, costume bag, and any other random stuff that has no place. After that is done, I help Leslie move our lovely 6 foot letters that spell out IMAGE. We load up the truck. Every night we try to beat our record. The fastest we have done with tearing down and packing up is 1 hour and 9 minutes. After the truck is closed up, we gather our stuff and head to our hotels or host homes. Host homes are when families open up their house to let us stay with them. I have met some AMAZING people while staying with them. It's really cool to see how others live and their lifestyles and personalities.
Like I said before, we do it all for Jesus Christ. our 10 hour work days of manual labor and mentally draining jobs, it is all for God. THIS is my life on the road.
