29 July 2014

Happy Tuesday!

I opened my eyes this morning expecting the drapes to be struggling to hold back the bright morning sun. Instead, I opened my eyes this morning and found a gray sky filled with clouds and fog. The moisture-laden early morning turned into a blue sky late morning as I sat on the observation deck at the Jordan Pond house talking with Amy about the recruiter position and winter placements for ACMNP. She is the recruitment and placement coordinator for A Christian Ministry in the National Parks so her answers to my questions were the best I was going to get. I’m planning on applying to both job openings but would take the recruiter position over a placement on the Death Valley, US Virgin Islands, or Big Bend ministry teams. The applications are due on Friday and the national staff will extend offers at the end of August.

I feel the Holy Spirit’s push to apply; however, I know sensing a call doesn't mean that my expectations will be met. Rather, it means that for whatever reason, God wants me to pursue this opportunity. What fruitful outcomes result from the application and possible process are up to God. For instance, even just talking with Amy this morning and hearing her stories, thoughts, and advice yielded some good stuff for keeping my ministry this summer in Acadia in perspective.

The big highlight post-Amy conversation was parking lot duty today. The lot became quite crowded between noon and 2:00. In fact, I’d say it was in the top five busiest days. It was a handful. On the one hand, I had a few people provided exceptionally useless feedback. On the other hand a gentleman gave me a $5 tip. I asked my manager and she told me I get to keep it. Woo who!

Edie and I closed up shop right at 6:00 and then hightailed it down to the dock at Bar Harbor. There I met up with the rest of the team and Amy for a sunset cruise on the Margret Todd—a four-masted schooner which embarks on cruises out on Frenchman Bay. Luke and I helped raise the front sail. The five of us had a jolly old time enjoying the sunset and listening to the guitarist on board play all-time favorites like “Margaritaville” and “Can't Help Falling in Love with You.” All of us put on our dancing shoes. None of the other passengers joined in on the jovial jiving, so we subdued our boogieing after making a few videos.

After the boat ride Sabrina led us back to her apartment to eat leftover ice cream from the shop she works at. I had a cone of cinnamon peach. It tasted like Christmas in Georgia.

Camera is still broken...mainly because I haven't tried to fix it. Still no picture of the day. Sorry.

28 July 2014

Happy Monday!

Today was foggy and rainy.

It rained a lot today.

It was foggy all day.

Because of the bad weather, we only went on a waiting list between 1:30 and 2:00. Despite the lousy weather, I spend an hour out in the parking lot. It wasn't a truly busy day out there, but some of the guests thought it was. I had one driver try to explain that since he couldn't find a place to park right away, I should let him park on the grass. I admitted that I can't give him a ticket if he does, but the park rangers just might. He thought about it for a while, weighing the option of a convenient parking spot with a hefty fine. Once I realized he was seriously considering the latter as evidenced by his momentary pause and thoughtful stare into space, I told him to move along. I then stood in the grassy parking spot until he passed by.

After work I had a wonderful dinner with the team, Amy, and two our ministry support committee members: the park superintendent and his wife. We ate a wonderful meal and had plesant conversations. If not for Ally and my employee discount, the bill would've been $240! For how great the meal, company, and evening was, I have to admit it was worth that much.

Still no picture of the day. The camera didn't magically fix itself so now I have to go to plan B: actively figuring out what is wrong with it.

27 July 2014

Happy Sunday!

This morning almost began on Saturday. Okay, it wasn't that early, but 4:45 is a tough time to wake up. My flight left Kansas City at 6:25. I sat in the exit row as the plane sped to Detroit. We landed in Detroit 20 minutes early which gave me plenty of time to make it across the terminal to gate A61. My next flight also made it in early as it landed in Bangor.

While I waited for my team to drive up after the morning worship services and pick me up, I chatted with Abby, a friend from college. It was nice to hear a familiar voice that has no trace of an eastern accent. When they did arrive, my team greeted me with a big group hug an a sign written in lemon-scented highlighter with "Welcome Back Mr. Woods" on it. They make a great welcoming committee.

We had a fifth person with the team today, Amy. She is on the national staff for ACMNP. Each summer, someone from the national office makes it to each of the 20+ ministry team locations to check on the ACMNPers. We were lucky enough to get Amy. Although, I hear everyone from the national staff team makes a great short-term addition to the park team.

During the afternoon, the five of us tore up Bangor. We hit up Sam's Club to buy industrial-sized boxes of Goldfish. While there, we watched a live infomercial on a food slicer. For being such a good audience, the nice man gave us each a peeler. Next, we went to the thrift shop to buy a bunch of ugly, uh, I mean stylish, clothes. I picked up a nice blazer and a fall flannel for $8. On the drive back to Bar Harbor, Amy and I had a competition to see who could fit the most Goldfish in our mouths at one time. We called it "Chubby Fishy." At 52 we decided neither one of us would gain much if we won besides pain and a even saltier mouth. We called it a tie. Later on, Luke beat us by stuffing 60. Ally matched that. Sabrina never did have a big desire to stuff salty snacks into her mouth. She called it quits at 20. To wash down the Goldfish, we went to a local lobster pound to get lobster rolls. Lobster rolls are a much more authentic seafood item than Goldfish.

The rain moved in during the drive back to Acadia. The rain stopped but the fog stayed as we reached the top of Cadillac Mountain to prepare for the sunset worship service. Unsurprisingly, no one showed up to a sunset service on a 100 foot visibility evening. Instead, the five of us broke out the worship books and sometimes raucous and sometimes melodious rounds of worship songs. We wrapped up the evening in a tight-knit circle as we praised, prayed, petitioned. The drive down the mountain was terribly frightening in the pea-soup fog, but we made it...obviously.

After our team meeting, I opened my closet in the dorm room to find three of my pre-made bags of nut and granola snacks with holes chewed through them. I am quite sure it is from a mouse. How can I tell? There is the distinctive smell of a dead mouse nearby. My theory: Mr. Mouse thought he was being real smart by gathering food from plastic bags. As it turns out, he made a tactical error and ate way too much plastic for his little body to handle. Poor thing.

No picture of the day for a while. My camera isn't working for some reason so I have to figure out what's going on with it.

23 July 2014

Happy Wednesday!

This morning I arrived at work to see two park rangers and another gentleman in the restaurant lobby. I overheard one of the park rangers promising to find a phone for the man. I offered to let him use one of the phones in the information booth. He talked while I prepared the booth for the 9am grand opening. It turns out he's a producer for Good Morning, America and was making arrangements for a filming session later in the day. (I don't want to spoil it for any of you GMA fans by saying what the filming was for) Later on, I found out tomorrow morning GMA will be live from the boat launch at Jordan Pond. The launch is a few hundred yards from the Jordan Pond House. Make sure to watch tomorrow morning to see glimpses of Acadia and some of my coworkers and dormies in the background audience.

Work was pretty busy today. Nothing too noteworthy except my replacement for the next few days came in for an hour of training and orientation. I hope she does well over the next few days.

I'll be traveling to Missouri for Grandpa's funeral services this weekend. That being said, my next blog post won't be until Sunday or possibly Monday. I won't be taking my computer with me so I can focus on spending time with the family. I'll talk to you all in a few days.

Today's picture of the day is the most creative parking I've seen yet at the Jordan Pond House. For the record, both vehicles are parked illegally.

22 July 2014

Happy Tuesday!

Laundry: success! I woke up 2.5 hours before work and finished, completely finished, laundering my clothes with 10 minutes to spare. After nearly 2 months I have finally outsmarted the Whirlpools.

The line that formed leading up to the restaurant doors opening at 11:30 had Jami, Sarah, and I mentally preparing ourselves for a busy day. Our hypothesis proved to be false. The waitlist stayed below 35 minutes and the parking lot was comfortably busy. Still waiting for the true crowds to arrive.

For dinner tonight we had two special treats: falafel and fresh-caught lobster. Both were pretty good. Although, together they were an odd combination.

I let my dinner settle before heading out on a run. I started around 8:45, which is pretty dark around here. As I began my run, I noticed the sea fog starting to roll in. The threat of fog mixed with the darkening sky combined to make me a little scared. The adrenaline paid off, though. I broke my record on that route.

Today's picture of the day is my work-time snacks for the next two weeks. At Wal-Mart on Sunday I bought flax seed, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, granola, and almonds. I probably still have enough ingredients to make another 15 snack bags.

21 July 2014

Happy Monday!

Today was sort of a bummer. I found out that Grandpa Woods passed away this afternoon. He had been in poor health for the past year, and a few days ago he had a stroke. Even though we knew his death was imminent, it still brings with it a profound sense of loss.

After I heard the news from Mom, I headed out for a walk/run to get down to the beach. I needed some away from the dorm. It was a good evening of beautiful views and reflecting on the beautiful life of Grandpa.

20 July 2014

Happy Sunday!

With Luke out of the state for a wedding this weekend, driving duty fell on me. I convinced Carrie to let us borrow her car for the day. She graciously agreed and rode her bike to get to church instead of driving. Bless her heart. Ally and I picked up Sabrina a few minutes after 7:00 and then we headed south to Blackwoods.

Both services were relatively small: 7 attendees at Blackwoods and 2 at Seawall. As usual, we worshiped with some great folks at Seawall. Our congregation consisted of a Methodist pastor from Tenessee and his 8-year-old daughter who kept Sabrina and I busy by making us play pine-cone baseball with her. I guess the final score was 3,000 to 8. I lost.

After the Seawall service, the five of us headed over to The Common Good for some oatmeal and popovers. While there, the minister realized he forgot something in his car. When he returned he produced a Ziploc bag full of wooden cross necklaces. He proceeded to hand them out to Ally, Sabrina, and me. Soon, word got out and people from all over the dining room were coming over and asking for a cross. His church has handed out over 100,000 crosses already. Today they handed out another 20. It was pretty cool to see how receptive people are to the symbol.

We decided to have a low-key afternoon. At the Redbox in Hannaford’s, we picked the movie 12 Years a Slave to watch. As it turns out, I’m the only one who made it through without closing my eyes and snoozing. The movie was fantastic. Incredibly moving. By far, it was a much better use of time than watching The Conjuring last night.

Light attendance at the Cadillac service as well. One of our attendees was an ACMNP alumnus from a stint at Yellowstone years ago. He said we were doing alright keeping up the tradition. 

Today's picture of the day is the sunset. On the drive up we were skeptical we'd even see the sun, and the weather would be a repeat of last week's windy gale. All things worked together for our good as you can see in this picture.