It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity. - Seneca

As some of you might have noticed, I was not around much the last couple of days. I have been off doing various and sundry things since Friday morning. At about 9:00 AM on Friday I went with my mom and some kids from her class on a field trip to the big Powell's downtown. I had a lot of fun hanging out with some of the cute little kids in that class. Hali has to be the coolest 6th grader ever, she's such a sweetheart and reminds me a lot of myself. I was really excited to get to hang out with her while we were on the field trip.

Right after we got back from Powell's I went straight to the Subway in Troutdale to meet up with the Youth Light crew for the 30 Hour Famine. After eating lunch and running a few quick errands with Kristi, we divided into groups and went on a video scavenger hunt. It was great fun. I think the highlight was when we got Mr. Olczak and Diana in the front office to sing part of the National Anthem together. Or maybe when Mr. Brooks sang "I'm a Little Teapot" and was horrible at it....In any case, the scavenger hunt was a blast.

Following that excitement we headed over to Advent Lutheran Church and got settled. Kristi did her bible study after that, and then the insanity began. We played some rather harmless games like "Shuffle Your Buns" and then, moved on to one of the wierdest games I have ever played in my life. The game is called "Honey, if you love me, gimme a smile". The object of the game is to pick someone and get them to smile while they are desperately trying to say "Honey, I love you, but I just can't smile" without cracking. There were various methods employed to get people to smile, most of them involved hitting on your victim of choice. (And to answer the question I know is on all of your lips, yes, Peter did get hit on by various lovely girls.) We played the game for several hours until people started getting tired of it. We all had a blast. After that game we had another Bible study and a great prayer session that lasted almost an hour. We then played the ever-popular "Silent Football" and, when everyone was starting to nod off, went to bed at about 2:30 AM.

The next morning we woke up at about 9:30 and, after another lovely Bible study, made 99 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hopped on the MAX, and distributed them downtown. Then (after a quick Slurpee run) we returned to the church, played some more games, had another Bible study, and finally broke our 30 hour fast by taking communion at 8:00 PM. We then gorged on four pizzas from Papa John's and consumed them all in about fifteen minutes.

After I returned home (to an empty house) I played some Zelda: Ocarina of Time, ate again, watched the movie Overboard, took a shower and finally went to bed. I think I was asleep in about five minutes.

This weekend was so cool, I had fun, made some friends, and was really spiritually refreshing. I hope this feeling of contentment I have now will last for a while, I don't want to let it go.