 |
| SAT - Ohio 2010 |
November was such a busy month that I didn't get an opportunity (or didn't take time) to update this blog. But November started in a wonderful way with a trip to Canton, Ohio. I worked with an amazing team of leaders, parents and students on the Ohio State Republican Party Get Out the Vote project. We basically worked the final days of the campaign for Congressional Candidate Jim Renacci, Senatorial Candidate Rob Portman and Gubernatorial Candidate John Kasich.
"He's from North America, he lives in a house"It was an intense 7 days of driving, phone calls, curfews, door knocking, leading, laughter, and seeing God's hand at work. Our leadership team bonded quickly and by the 2nd day we were finishing each other's sentences. The late nights and early mornings made for some very interesting conversations and the hotel staff kept wondering about these poor people who sat in the lobby staring at their computer screens for hours on end. One night they even offered to make us a fresh pot of coffee since we'd been there since they got on duty.
"I slept through my alarm clock this morning....and I was sleeping on the FLOOR!"I was responsible for 7 students during the project. Being responsible meant I had to make sure they got fed, arrived at the various locations on time and that they stayed safe throughout the project. My team was a unique group of people -- in discussing team names, one idea considered was "Team Guy Who Almost Ran Bella Over With a Truck", (Don't ask me, apparently it is from Twilight?) - we later became "Team Original" which fit quite nicely.
"I had plans, to make plans"Each day brought new challenges, but our team met them head-on. In one day I had van troubles (with my rental van), a student from my team lost his wallet, another student was yelled at by a constituent and yet two other students took a wrong turn in the neighborhood and got lost for about 10 minutes. Most of the issues were minor, and while it was tempting to let it get us down, the students rallied their spirits and looked for the humor in our day. I remember driving down a street, laughing so hard I had to pull over to the side of the road. I broke down in tears at the end of that day, the weight of responsibility I felt for those students was more intense than I had expected. But I'm thankful for that day of trials -- that is the memory that all of us walked away cherishing.
"I almost ran over a squirrel, not like I haven't done that before, but...."In the end, our team won. The election results were in our favor, but that was only a small part of our victory. We walked away from the week with new friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.
"Your job, is just to be awesome!"
