info @ the P.Pole 03.12.07-03.13.07

5 things that happened at TC '07:

• a captain from another team recognized Canti on my t-shirt and asked me whether it was really him (I nodded offhandedly but I moaned a deep and satisfied moan of "Oh yes, yes that is Canti!" on the inside)
• my entire team (totally the best team a captain could hope for) performed Brian's peanut-butter jelly time dance (with maracas and thrusting!) with Raf (the greatest co-captain ever) and I
  
• Steven Hawkins' (not Stephen Hawkings, by the way) speaking was completely amazing to listen to; hearing his life story, you'd expect him to be either dead (he mentioned suicide and insane abuse), bitter, insane, or an atheist but the man's great at what he's been assigned
  
• Michelle (a fellow Emu-mate who happened to be Vietnamese) and I won the TC Talent Search (talent show/contest) by doing an improvised rap (her) and dancing the Emu dance (me), scoring a duct tape wallet and a Whoopee cushion (signed by the AV team and REC team respectively)
  
• all of team Emmanuel got to perform our cheer on stage after having came in third overall and second for spirit (doing the peanut-butter hump to all 600+ people in the audience felt satisfying... almost gratifying)

So this TC turned out to be many many times what I'd expected. Sure, I'd hoped to get some recognition for our team since, well, it leaves the team with a particularly good feeling, to know that we accomplished something together, but I didn't really expect to get as far as this. Personally, I wasn't hell-bent on owning. I even prepared an entire "Alright, it's okay if we don't win tonight, as long as we have fun" speech that we never had the balls to use. Raphael and I had joked around about dominating and blowing away the competition but most of that was just to get ourselves pumped. I sure was surprised when they called us out for third place overall. Seeing our entire team light up (screaming oh so passionately) made it all worth it. I doubt any of them will ever read this, but man do I love the Emus. Greatest. Team. Ever.
It was a privilege and an honour to lead such a wonderful group of energetic, amiable, and unique youths. And with such an awesome pair of coaches! Firstly, Caleb's been to every single TC since his first in '96 (he's 24 y.o. at the moment, yeah, old), so he knows his stuff. The man's done it all, attending, captaining, worship team, coaching, etc... He was wholly dependable and Raf and I would often go to him whenever we weren't sure of what to do. Caleb served as our veteran who knew exactly what to say to our team and when to say it. Joyce, a complete n00by at all things TC (this was her first time!), was equally encouraging to work with. What she lacked in experience she more than made up for in cheer and energy. I found that personally, joking around with her about whatever (usually making fun of Caleb) served as my refresher at TC. She was that little bit of crack in my routine that got the good times rolling and the juices flowing. All in all, our coaches were amazing, giving us the guidance as well as the energy that we needed.
And finally, we come to my co-cap, Raphael. Now, I've known Raf since we were but unicellular organisms (that might be stretching it, but you get the point), we know one another. We communicate and just feed off of one another's spirits. It's actually quite beautiful what we got going. I love him (not the BBM way) and I can totally feel his love. The guy is mellow and honest. What I love about Raf is his incurable sense of ease about him. He rarely (if ever) gets agitated and never ever does he lose his cool. It was great to work with him since he was always so agreeable. What happened to me last year was that I would be the main one leading team volleys of cheering (Hannah's a quiet girl, and I don't blame her!). This year, Raf and I shared that task, which explains why my voice isn't completely mauled by the end of TC like it was last year (another factor would be the fact that my team was loud yet smart--cheering only when REC leaders were around >_O). Raf was always looking out for the team. It was wonderful captaining with such a solid brother.
So with all this mushy gushy stuff coming out of me at the moment, what I'm trying to say is that what we achieved as a team is all good and whatnot, and we should be happy for being blessed with "success", but the real blessing of success is found in the countless souls who came to know/recommit themselves to Christ at TC this year. After all, who cares about all the competition or points or winning, if God is nowhere to be found? You can have all these, but without love, it's meaningless (see Bible)! Oh, but was God ever here! On the first night alone, there were 54 people who made decisions to either accept Jesus into their lives or recommit themselves to a life worthy of our calling. Though this has nothing to do with quantity and everything to do with quality, it's still important to realize when God moves powerfully.
Teens Conference was a fun time this year 'round and captaining was a total blast. There are TC haters out there who call it nothing but a sugar-coated fun-fest and not anything with real, spiritual content, and to a certain extent, they're... half right. It IS full of energy and hyperactive teens. But a lot of people actually come to know Christ through TC and so with that in mind, what's a little fun along the way if we are serving God's will?
With sleep growing in my eyes and for lack of anything more to say, I bid all thee farewell and fortune in all your ventures (until the next post anyway). God with us indeed.

Listen up, we're loud and clear!
[We'll] Show you all that God is here!
E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el!**
Ev'rybody clap and shout!
[We'll] Show you what we're all about!
E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el!
Comin' down from heav'n above,
To show us how to live in love!
E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el!
We are here to show you all,
That our God's Emmanuel!
E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el!

Cause... it's...
Peanut-butter, jelly time!
Peanut-butter, jelly time! (x2)
Peanut-butter jelly, peanut-butter jelly,
Peanut-butter jelly with a baseball bat! (x2)
Emu. [strike a sexy emu pose]
-Team Emmanuel of TC '07, The Emu Chant

**We actually had this refrain line down as "E-mu! E-mu! E-mu! E-mu!" before but we changed it to really push our team's whole/actual name. You've also got to note the awesome pumping action done while reciting these lines.... Maybe I'll show you sometime.

EDIT: Added links to photos of the entire team and Caleb + Joyce.

EDIT2: Here's a link to Team Emmanuel's Facebook page (yes, I finally got a Facebook and only for my beloved team).