Chronicles of a World Changer

Last Friday Ilmarë, Eärendil, my Dad, and I arrived back in Florida. We had been gone for a whole week on a mission trip to Mississippi. My younger sister, Yavanna, also went on the trip with us. I'll explain how she came back home later (this is a long story).
We went through World Changers with our church youth group. We were to check in Saturday the 12th at noon. However, Mississippi is about a 16 hour drive from Here where we live. So we decided to leave the night before (the 11th) and drive through the night. No problem. However, both Eärendil and Tulkas still had their little league all-star tournaments. And they both had games that Friday night. So, here was our plan: pack all your stuff before the game (I had been packed for several days already, no prob.), leave it all in the living room, we'll go to the games, then we'll come back from the games, empty out the back of Dad's car, pack Dad's car with all our stuff, kiss Mom and Tulkas goodbye, then try to catch up with the church bus.
So Mom and Ilmarë went to Eärendil's game while Yavanna, Dad, and I went to Tulkas's game (their District Championship!). Then the Lord opened up the floodgates of the heavens and so rained down upon the earth in such a way that every woman's child quickly dashed under the eaves of the concession stand. And it rained hard! It rained so hard that Eärendil's game was moved to a city nearby Tulkas's game where we were.
After the rain let up we prepared for the game. And what a game it was!! The stands were packed. Everyone had noise-makers, cowbells, wigs, team spirit necklaces (bling!), or pom poms. We were behind for just about the entire game. But being the home-team we had the last at bat. By the fourth inning we were down 6 to 14. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, cheering like mad people, trying to keep the team's spirit up. And we held them. By the sixth inning we only needed a few runs to tie the game. It was our at bat. Top of the batting order. We got some good base hits. But we now had two outs with "ducks on the pond" (players on base)! C^2 and some of the other boys were silently crying in the dugout, there was so much tension and stress and emotion! We can still make the tie, we can still make the tie! We can still win! Then our Catcher comes up to bat (one of our best home-run hitters). "A base hit, now," they were telling him. "Make it yours, now. Nobody better up there, Catcher!" Several pitches later he had two strikes. Both crowds were COMPLETELY SILENT and EVERYONE was standing. GRAND SLAM!!! We went insane! No way! We won the game 18 to 15! Everyone was jumping, hugging, and screaming, Yavanna and even my Dad!
The whole team rushed onto the field to congratulate the runners coming in. After Catcher came in he collapsed onto the grass in disbelief. He was dazed, he really didn't believe it! The rest of the team was crying. It was one of the best little league games that I have ever seen (and I have seen many!). Now they are District Champs!
But we couldn't stick around for long! We had a mission trip to go on! So we decided to swing by Eärendil's game since it was in the neighboring city. His game was already over by the time we got there. They lost. It had turned out to be a frustrating game. But I know that Eärendil played his heart out!
So together we set out for home! Eärendil took a quick shower while we loaded Dad's car (I squeezed in a little time to take a *backpacking shower). True to the plan we got everything into the car (we are master packers, might I say), kissed Mom and Tulkas goodbye, and hit the road. The bus with the rest of our World Changers group had left the church about an hour and a half ahead of us. So we had some major catching up to do! But there was plenty of time for that! Little did we know then, but this 16 hour trip would turn into a 19 hour battle against sleep, traffic, bathroom breaks. And a certain incident would occur that would change our outlook on life forever! Tune in next time to hear about our epic journey to our nation's All-America City.

*backpacking shower-
a quick and easy way to get cleaned and refreshed when time is crunched. In this process one
applies a wet washcloth, sometimes with soap, to the body and face.