Category: tapestry

here’s the wonderful group from tapestry that rakes yards sunday. we did 3 yards as the rain grew more and more intense. it was a good day.

here’s the email kaylin received with the final information on the united way “make a difference” day. see you at SPASH saturday.

this weekend is going to be amazing. we have over 748 (75 teams) volunteers signed up. we have over 145 + yards signed up throughout portage county. please read below for some information to help you prepare for this weekend’s event. you should have also received a packet from us with instructions and a roster to complete. we have created links to at the bottom of this message to view the documents included in your mailed packet. *any team registering after october would not have received a mailed packet.

1. this event will take place rain or shine.
2. we would like you come to spash no earlier than 8am and by 9am to get your assignments (unless other arrangements have been made).
3. there will be a pancake breakfast served at this time for volunteers by the emerging leaders of portage county.
4. please come with a team roster filled out (legibly) to expedite the process.
5. we have ordered enough shirts for 650 volunteers, we hope to provide everyone a shirt that would want one and would also ask that your team wear these shirts the day of, take photos and email any photos of your volunteers in action.
6. please as a team leader help us out by coming prepared and only sending one representative to the check in process. if your entire team comes to the check in table with you it will make it very difficult for others to check in.
7. please bring a rake or rakes if you have them. we will have the ability to lend out approximately 150 rakes. consider picking a rake at one of the area stores if you don’t have one so we can do our best to lend rakes to those who are unable to secure them. not every team member will be able to check out a rake. if you are uwsp student you cannot get rakes from uwsp buildings and grounds.
8. gloves, tarps, blowers any item that you feel would help you with your assignments, consider bringing along.

this activity is scheduled until 1 p.m. however given the number of registered teams in relation to the number of yards, volunteer teams will likely finish long before this time. we encourage all teams to see how they may additionally assist the resident. we encourage everyone to slow down while helping these residents, your support often times assist them to remain independent living in their home. our staff do the best we can to match yards to the appropriate team. we continue to find this a challenge, however we work very hard to make matches to the appropriate team in accordance with the information you provided during registration. when you get your assignments, look them over before leaving spash and decide if you think this is too much.

see you at 8am this saturday.

it is going to be awesome working with you guys.

last night tapestry had another baptism gathering at iverson park. i love the way we baptize. it’s public (in the middle of the biggest park in the point area) and its a celebration. we always spend a ton of time together and eating as a part of our baptism gathering. it’s what we do and it is a lot of fun.

but last night was a little different. still good and awesome but VERY COLD.

we are in the between time in wisconsin right now. it’s not super cold but it is definitely not warm. however, the plover river in october is not in between anything. it is VERY COLD! i knew it was going to be bad but i was not ready for it to be so cold that my legs were burning. there were three of us in the water (crystal, joe, and i). joe and i were very shaken by how cold it was (joe even compared it to combat training in the marines). crystal didn’t think it was that bad. i think she is part eskimo – it’s the only way i can explain how she wasn’t taken back by the water’s temp.

next baptism gathering we do before april will involve a hot tub because i’m not going into the plover river again without waders until april at the earliest.

it was still a very wonderful ngith.

 

here’s the webinar that i participated in earlier today that i posted about earlier today. CHRISTmas is coming!

i just finished participating in a webinar on advent conspiracy and i am even more excited than last year about tapestry being a part of it. the above photo is from trade as one and is a possible gift idea for people you love that fits in with the idea of advent conspiracy. i just ordered 65 for tapestry so you will hear more about this. woohoo!

if you have been at tapestry at anytime over the past few weeks you know that i have been talking to the administration of washington school concerning reading to at-risk kids. i heard back from the reading specialist today and it is a go. looks like we will be able to do this in the morning before school (8:40-9:00 a.m.) or after school (3:35-4:00 p.m.) depending upon what works best for you. i know many of you have already signed up saying you are interested but i need to be able to get your names to the school for the necessary background checks. if you would like to have your name added to the list let me know.

this will be so cool guys and girls. we will get to read with kids!

thanks to adam holte i am now trying mailchimp for the email i send out each month to those who have been praying for tapestry. it’s free for up to 1,000 subscriptions and 6,000 email sends. this will last a couple of years for us and it makes it easy for people to subscribe/unsubscribe. in fact if you would like to subscribe to the email just click this link – subscribe to the tapestry prayer email. it really seems to be a great thing.

here’s the email that was sent out today for the october requests.

i know this will be a surprise to some of you but every now and then i can talk a little too much. this is especially true when i am excited about something. it appears that my extended talking has reared its ugly head during the announcements at the beginning of tapestry each week. you see the problem is that i want our guests to understand the things that make tapestry special and therefore i explain the little things that go on within tapestry. for example:

• i explain that we want people to talk during the message. it’s not considered an interruption to bring something up. instead it is consider another way that GOD speaks to us.
• i explain that if you need a bible please take one of the ones on the chairs as a gift.
• i explain that it is fine to get up and grab more food or coffee during the evening.

these things can take a while but i just want to make sure that new guests understand what is going on and feel welcome with us. the problem is that we have been having new guests every week and explaining all this can take awhile. i get excited about it but everyone else thinks “come on! we’ve heard this 50 times before.”

this week was really bad. we didn’t start the music until around 6:30 p.m. when we supposedly start around 6 p.m. (i say supposed because we always talk till around 6:10 pm). it was so bad that pam mentioned something to me about putting some of this stuff into writing for people just to be able to read. it appears that others were thinking the same thing as pam because a couple of people mentioned it to her – sounds like a mutiny to me 😉

well i think it is a great idea. we typically just have a half sheet of paper as a bulletin with the scripture for the night on the front and announcements on the back. i’m thinking about going to a full sheet of paper folded in half. i figure i will put a different quote concerning worship and faith on the front each week, while placing the stuff i would normally tell our guests on the back. this leaves the middle for scripture and announcements. here’s what it would basically look like.

thoughts?

help me out here people. we need to shut me up while also making sure that our guests know generally what is going on. let’s face it people, we tend to do things a little differently, so our guests need a little info.

SIDE NOTE – if someone wanted to start producing and printing these each week i would gladly pass this off.

our friend trey turner will be preaching tomorrow night during tapestry’s worship gathering at washington elementary school (6-7:15 pm). trey is a great guy with a huge heart for seeing people come to know JESUS and worship HIM in real ways rather than just being religious. trey has been with tapestry several times before and i love being around him.

i haven’t posted anything yet concerning tapestry’s trip to work with the baltodanos in diriamba, nicaragua. as usual there are many positive things i could write about. the baltodanos are truly working with GOD to do some incredible things. it is an honor to get to be a part of what GOD is doing there.

while there were many amazing things from the week that i would love to talk about the above two photos represent one the most amazing things every. many of you guys know about tapestry being able to hook the people of kilumbo up with water in 2008. the photo on the left was from the water they were drinking before they were connected with clean water. while listening to some of the parents of kilumbo talk about their dreams for their kids pam learned that one of the dreams they had was for clean water that would not cause diarrhea. kids were getting sick all the time from the filthy water.kids were getting sick all the time from the filthy water. this was a problem we could quickly help with.

now that they have clean water they kids have found a new use for the old dirty make-shift cistern. the kids in the neighborhood of kilumbo have converted the cistern into a swimming hole. the photo on the right is one of the kids showing off for us by jumping from a tree into the water. it was an amazing moment to see these kids turn something that had been a symptom of their poverty into a joyous celebration of overcoming the filthy water they had previously had. it still gives me chills to think about it.