Conclusion

So, I know this is an extra post, but I still thought I would go ahead and post it.

I cannot believe this is already the last day of October! The Write 31 Days Challenge has came to an end. When I first decided to do it, I had no clue if I was going to be able to succeed. Between school, work, puppets, and church activities I don't have a whole lot of free time. Therefore, finding time to write on some days was extremely difficult. However, I managed to write at least something every day for this past month.

To those of you that have been reading and following along through the entire series, thank you! And to those who just find this blog and happen to be reading this, thank you as well! Basically, thank you to anyone who reads this post as well as any of my posts!

 

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Halloween Trunk or Treat

Halloween is one of those holidays that some Christians have nothing to do with. However, we do something on Halloween that shares the Love of Christ with those present. We do a Trunk or Treat with Heaven's Handful at their church. A lot of kids come through.
The children go through registration and are then brought into the sanctuary where they get to watch us perform at least 2 songs. All of the songs we perform are Christian. Actually, with our Halloween show we do something special. Every song we perform is done in Blacklight. As I said in previous posts, a lot of people really like blacklight songs. This is actually the only time that we do the entire show in blacklight, though. We also do some songs with other special lights such as lasers for Halloween. Some years, we also have a rapper that does a song after we do 2. 
After seeing the puppets, the kids are taken outside where they are able to go around to the different cars and get candy. So, instead of only giving them candy and sending them on their way, they get to hear the Gospel as well.  

Matthew 5:16 ESV 

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.(http://www.openbible.info/topics/witnessing_to_others)

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Nursing Homes and Making Smiles

Whenever people hear the word puppets, they typically think about it being for little kids. However, we probably have as many as if not more adult fans. We even have quite a few elderly fans, such as from nursing homes. 

Performing at nursing homes is a big part of our ministry. It is something we wouldn't give up. Some of the nursing home residents don't really get people coming to see them. Therefore, it is always nice that we are able to come and interact with them. After the show, we typically take a puppet out and interact one-on-one with the residents. This is fun because the residents really like getting to touch and talk to the puppets. We get to have some pretty interesting conversations with some residents. They are typically super sweet and appreciative. 

At one nursing home we went to, we got talking with one of the workers afterwards. She started to tell us about this one resident who was fairly new there. I don't remember if she had only been there a couple weeks or if it was a couple of months. Anyways, during the time that she had been there, she had not smiled once. The worker then told us that the resident was smiling all through our show. It is things like that which remind us the importance of our ministry. 

Matthew 6:21 ESV

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/taking_care_of_the_elderly)

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Fan Favorites

Over my years of doing puppetry, I have gotten to hear reactions to a lot of the things that we have done. I thought I would share just a couple of "fan favorites" with you guys. 

The first of which is something that I talked about a couple of days ago -- blacklight. This is one of those things that people seem to request pretty often. Blacklight is something that is used not only in puppetry, but also in other creative ministries such as hand miming. It is actually used sometimes for Halloween. Blacklight also allows for some interesting puppet choices (see video below). Along with some of our blacklight songs we incorporate other special lighting such as lasers and spinning light balls (I don't know the technical name). 

Another thing that many people seem to enjoy is audience participation songs. These are songs that get the audience up and moving. I am an early childhood education major, so I know that kids (and even adults sometimes) enjoy getting up and moving. Sometimes, that is even something that they need if they have been sitting for too long. The video below shows one of our audience participation songs called The Moving Song. 

 

There is one song that we started doing toward the beginning of our ministry. That song is called Go Jonah. To this day, we still typically perform this song whenever we go to new places. This is because it is a song that we in a way act out. Plus, it is a parody that some people recognize. We did this song on one of our mission trips and the audience was laughing basically from the beginning of the song until the end. The video of this is below.

 

One other thing that many people seem to enjoy is when we perform along with a band such as Anointed Hearts. This shows different ministries working together and makes for a different experience with puppetry. See the video below to see one of our times performing with Anointed Hearts. 

Colossians 3:17 ESV 

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/entertainment)

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"I Have Been Blessed"

We did an odd thing tonight and actually did a midweek performance. I say it like that because considering my parents work and I work and go to school, we typically don't do shows on school/work nights. However, since my parents are off this week, we went ahead and scheduled this show. I am glad that we did. 
Over the summer, Anointed Hearts had performed at this church. They did one of their songs, I Have Been Blessed, and they really seemed to enjoy it. We felt that God wanted us to do that song there. It was a miracle it actually got done due to a few different things such as sickness and the song length in general (it is over 5 minutes if I remember correct and that is a long time to hold your arms up). However, we decided that if God wanted us to do it, then we were going to do it. 
Whenever the song started, there were people in the audience who started singing along with it. I actually looked over at my mom and was like, "Well, I guess some of the people here have been listening to their CDs," and then smiled. It is always nice to hear people sing because when we are behind the stage, we can't really know if the audience likes it or not if we can't actually hear a response from the audience.
After the show, my parents got talking with the pastor of the church. He told them that I Have Been Blessed is actually the church's favorite song by Anointed Hearts. Actually, he told them that just recently he had actually done a message about being blessed. After the message, they actually played that song.

If you listen to the introduction to the song on the video on this post, Steve talks about his daughter's trips to Honduras. He tells about how the people there will make a living off of finding cans and other things to recycle by digging through the trash at the dump. However, even though they have to dig through trash to live, they still say that they are blessed because they have Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Now, take a look at your own life. Do you feel blessed even in times when you are struggling? If not, remember that God is there with and for you. He won't give you more than you can handle. 

 Note to Readers:

Currently the version of the video is not very good quality. It is actually a camera recording of the TV because we haven't gotten the chance to actually download the recording to the computer. However, I am hoping to get a better version up soon. However, I wanted to still include this version at least for now. You may need to turn the volume up to hear it well. Sorry about the quality! 

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Blacklight

Blacklight is something that many people who see puppetry seem to really enjoy. Actually, at the seminars that we compete at, it is quite common that a majority of the songs in the song competition are done in blacklight. 
I guess I should explain something such as what blacklight even is. Blacklight is when we use a special light known as a blacklight, though it is really a purple light, to shine on the puppets. When the lights are off and the blacklights are shining on the puppets and props, they appear to glow. In some cases, the puppeteer has to be above the stage, but we still don't want to be seen. In those cases, the puppeteers wear all black so that they aren't seen. See the video below for an example. 

From Tennessee Mission Trip

Matthew 4:16

16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (http://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-light/)

As a Christian, we want the light of Christ to shine through us -- we want others to see Him in what we say and do. Like blacklights do for our puppets, shine Jesus' light bright in your life so that others will see that light and begin shining themselves.  

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Hispanic Festivals

Each year, we perform at one or two different Hispanic festivals in Missouri. This is fun because no one of the team, Adventureland or Heaven's Handful, fluently knows Spanish. We may be able to come up with a couple of words, but we definitely couldn't carry on a conversation in Spanish. However, thankfully, our puppets are still able to perform in Spanish, as well as any other language we may one day need. This is due to the fact that we use prerecorded music. I suppose the prerecorded music thing is good for multiple reasons. One is the language barrier and the other is that the songs are sung nicely as opposed to our lovely singing voices. 

The Hispanic festivals are fun to perform at because it is something different than we are used to. We are outside (which at times can be a disaster if there is any wind at all or if it is raining) and are in the children's pavilion/area. The Hispanic festivals themselves are not actually Christian events, however, we are thankful and blessed to be able to perform Christian songs and share the Love of God with the people there. 

Galatians 3:28 ESV 

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/culture)

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Children's Ministry Day

Each year, we help out with an event know as Children's Ministry Day through IBSA.  This is a day when different churches bring groups of children to do different ministry projects around Illinois. Some groups help clean up parks, some help make blankets, and we take a group to do puppets with us at different nursing homes. 

We spend a short amount of time in the morning doing a brief training with the kids and then we head out to the nursing homes where they get to perform. The residents really seem to like this because they get to see kids going out and sharing something that they believe in and are passionate about. Even if they are not experienced at puppetry, the residents still enjoy watching and really get into it. Actually, we have returned to a couple of the nursing homes as Adventureland following Children's Ministry Day and we have had residents ask where all of the kids were at. 

Matthew 18:1-3 ESV 

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/children_being_a_blessing)

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Honduras Training

Each year we get to train a group of college students to do puppetry. This is not just for fun. The group we are training is actually preparing to go to Honduras on a mission trip. 
The students we are training do not get a whole lot of training, but we show them the basics as well as some of the more different or elaborate things that can be done with puppetry. We show them the basics, but we don't stop there. We give them opportunities to actually put a puppet on and practice the things we showed them. They also have the chance to ask any questions that they may have about puppetry. 
As I previously said, we do show them some songs that are a bit more in-depth than the songs they will be doing while in Honduras. This allows them to see what is possible with puppetry and it may possibly inspire them to stick with puppetry even after returning home from their trip. 

Share the talents that God gave you. If someone is interested in learning how to do something that you know how to do, teach them. They may be able to go places and share the Love of God places that you may not be able to go.  

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Tennessee

We have performed at a few different churches in Tennessee and have went there the last couple years. 

Whenever we go to Tennessee, we have a church that allows us to stay there. This is nice because it saves us the money of having to pay for a hotel for the time that we are there. We typically take air mattresses and it works out nicely. So, if anyone from that church happens to read this, thanks for letting us stay there! 

The first year or two of going to Tennessee Andrew went with us. We then took a Heaven's Handful puppeteer named Ceyona with us when Andrew was unable to go. This past year, we did something different and Heaven's Handful actually went there with us. This was the first bigger mission trip type thing that we did with them. 

Ephesians 4:11-13 ESV 

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (http://www.openbible.info/topics/ministry)

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Branson

For years we would go to Branson, Missouri simply for a vacation. However, as of lately, we have expanded our ministry into Branson as well. 

In Branson, we perform at a few of the different nursing homes. Like in many of the nursing homes we perform at, the residents seem to enjoy our being there. We typically get pretty good feedback from the residents. We even get to have some fun and interesting conversations with some of the workers. We have even been told while at one of the nursing homes that the doors will always be open for us there. 

Maybe we will one day be able to get into churches or other locations in Branson. But until then, I am glad that we are able to show God's Love to the few different nursing homes we have performed in there. 

Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."  (http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Witnessing,-Approaches-To)

 

Note to Readers:

I really appreciate anyone out there who is even still reading my posts. When I chose this topic, I thought that it would work out well because puppetry is such a big part of my life. However, as I am trying to write all of these blog posts, I realized that trying to stretch this over 31 days may not have been the best idea. So many of my daily topics are sounding redundant and not needed. Let alone, some of them have been ridiculously short just because I don't know what to say that isn't going to sound just like the post I posted previously. However, I am really not sure what else to write about that still fits my theme. So, thank you to anyone who has stuck this out with me. 

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Song Intros

We do more than just stick a puppet up in the air and perform songs. We also do something we know as song intros.

While we are typically performing strictly Christian songs, we still do our best to give them Christian concepts or ideas to think about along with the song. This potentially allows them to get more out of the performance. Maybe there is something that someone needs to hear, but they may not pick it up from the song. The song intro maybe able to get their attention enough that they do hear what needs to be heard.

Think about the things you say. Are they things that God would be happy that you are saying? Will others see God through your words? If you answered no to either of those questions, you may want to think about what you are saying.

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Reminder

So, life has not slowed down for me at all today. Because of that, my planned post is again going on hold. Therefore, I just want to give you all a small reminder. That is to use the talents that you have to glorify God. Do those things for Him and allow others to see Him through the things you do.

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Kentucky

Let's try and get back on track with where I wanted this series to go. Life has still been crazy, but I was at least a semi-okay post for today. So, let's see where this goes. 

Our Kentucky trips are pretty great. We get to fellowship with Anointed Hearts quite a bit.We also get to see other family that lives in the area. So, there is many opportunities for us to get to see and fellowship with people that we don't get to see very often. 

Anointed Hearts sometimes get to perform with us while we are there. Some of the group have even went with us to some of the nursing home performances there and watched the shows. Those occasions were always nice because we got to share another part of our ministry with them that they typically did not get to see. 

When we go to Kentucky, we go to a couple different nursing homes each year. The workers are super sweet and caring. The residents all seem to really enjoy the show we bring to them. We also get to perform at a number of different churches. Like at the nursing homes, the people at the churches are super nice and they also seem to enjoy our shows. Well, in my opinion they seem to enjoy it. I guess I don't actually know for sure. 

Mark 16:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

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Practice

Okay, so this was not a planned post and it is going to be beyond short. Life has seriously caught up with me and I have way too much to do. However, I did want to post something.

Puppeteering requires a lot of practice. We have to make sure that we can do a song correctly before we try and perform it. We want to do our best so that people are more likely to see God through the performance.
This is kind of like life. We have to practice different things we want our life to be about in order to do those things justice.


If I get a chance I will come back and edit this post later. I really just wanted to make sure I was able to post something today. 

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West Virginia

Note to Readers:

I am going to be up front and honest with this right now. It is getting late and I am super tired. However, I do not want to just not post. So, I am going to write up my post, post it, and if later I think of something else to add, I will edit this post. Just thought would let you guys know in case you ever came back later and something had changed. Because at the moment, this post is looking to be pretty short.

Whenever Anointed Hearts moved to Kentucky, we branched out our ministry further. We made it all the way to West Virginia even. 

One of our trips to West Virginia is one of the most memorable things that has happened for our ministry. My great grandma had passed away shortly before our trip. Her funeral was scheduled for the weekend that we were supposed to be in West Virginia. We let my dad decide whether or not he wanted to miss the funeral and go to West Virginia or if he wanted to stay for the funeral and miss the West Virginia portion of our trip. My dad said that his grandma would want us to go to West Virginia, so we actually missed her funeral. Anyways, the show that Sunday was absolutely amazing. We basically had three different alter calls throughout the show and three different people came to know the Lord. It is just crazy to think of what could have happened for the people that the show affected if we had chosen to instead stay for the funeral and cancel the show. 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.1 Chronicles 16:34  NIV (http://dailyverses.net/worship)

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Ohio

Whenever we first got into contact with the Southern Gospel group, Anointed Hearts, they were living in Ohio at the time. Therefore, we got to travel to Ohio to perform. 

Obviously, this was before we actually started performing WITH Anointed Hearts. Therefore, they were just audience members for our show there. We went all out for that show and even made programs for the audience so that they would know the outline and flow of the show. However, there was one part of the show where we had to be secretive on the program for. We had planned out performing one of Anointed Hearts songs, Answer is Yes. That being said, we did not tell them ahead of time that we were going to do it. So, the show starts and we are performing whatever songs came first in the lineup. We then get to that song. The music starts, and we hear a definite reaction from the band. Actually, Alison ran to behind the stage and was like, "I am going to get you guys when we get home!" We had been staying with them, just for a little clarification there. Anyways, they didn't "get us" that bad afterwards. It will always be one of those things that we will be able to remember. Thankfully, our working together did go further than this (click here to read my post about working with Anointed Hearts if you haven't already read it). 

Since we were staying with Anointed Hearts, we got to have a lot of time fellowshipping with them. We were able to talk about things we enjoyed, and just learn about each other. Since this was the first time I really got to meet them, we really did have quite a bit to get to know about each other. In my opinion, we all hit it off pretty good. I mean, we still work together and talk with each other, so that has to be a good sign, right? We have been able to talk both in the good and the bad times. I am just so thankful that God was able to bring our ministries together. 

(Note to Readers: So, I know this sounds sort of like it is just a continuation of my Anointed Hearts post. In a way it is. However, that is partially because while this was after the Lynch and Tahlequah shows, this was still quite a few years ago and I don't remember everything that happened. Either way, I hope you guys still enjoyed getting to know about the little bit I was able to remember.)

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/family_love_)

As Christians, we should enjoy fellowshipping with other believers. If we fellowship with others who love God and who work for Him, those relationships can be used in advancing the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. So, find other Christians to spend time with and get to know. 

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Start Seeking the Light of God in Our Darkest Hours

I know I am in the middle of the 31 day challenge where I have been writing about puppet ministry. However, some things have happened in my life lately that has shaken my world for a lack of better terminology. So, I thought I would go ahead and write a little something up. Maybe what I am going through (though I am going to be vague on the specifics) will be able to help someone else who may be having a tough time.

In life, you typically have some idea of what you want to do and where you want to go. You have an idea of what career you want to pursue, and you have at least thought about what will be required of you to get into that desired career. Or maybe you want to have a family one day. You may want to travel the world, even. However, what happens when the lighthouse that is your desired goal starts to dim? Your reaching that goal begins to seem near to impossible. 
This is where I am at right now. I have had an idea of where I wanted my life to go. However, over the past few months, things have been happening that have made me start to wonder if I will even be able to succeed in my goal. The lighthouse is dimming, and seeing my destination is much more difficult. I can keep trying to get to that destination, but when storms are brewing, is going into the stormy and dark path really the best option? 

This is where I need to be a little better myself. I will admit to this upfront. Times are tough, so I sort of sink back into the background and just try to ride the storm out without really doing anything to help the situation. That being said, there isn't a whole lot in my current situation that I can do that I haven't done or am not in the process of getting done. However, I do need to look for the light a little closer. I may need to keep looking in the same direction, or I may need to veer off course and make a new goal for myself. While I really do not want to have to veer off where I want to end up at, it is more important to think about where God wants me at. I need to pray and really ask God what He wants me to do. I can't do this on my own, and I shouldn't even try to.
 Without the lighthouse, a ship would get lost at sea. The same goes for our lives and God. If we aren't following the "Light" of where God wants us to go, we are going to get lost in the sea of life and we will not know what to do, when to do it, or where to go with our lives. We have to trust that God will lead us in the direction that He has planned for us. 

While I currently do not know where my life is going to end up, I need to really focus on God's plan for my life. Just because I had a plan, that does not mean that God had the same plan for me. Now maybe I am still meant to get to the destination I have been heading to. I really do not know. I need to look a bit harder for His light. So, if you are having a hard time figuring out your life, start looking for God's Light and what He wants you to do. 

Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (http://biblehub.com/niv/psalms/119-105.htm)
I know I have used this verse a few times so far over my past posts. However, I think it fits here as well. Let God guide you. Without His guiding light, the journey to your life's destination is difficult, if not impossible. However, if you follow His guidance and His Word, then you will eventually get to where your life is meant to be. 
    

Lynch, Kentucky and Tahlequah, Oklahoma

Note to Readers:

The Lynch, Kentucky and Tahlequah, Oklahoma mission trips were quite awhile ago, so I really do not remember that much about them. Therefore, there is a good chance that this will be pretty vague. However, it is something we did as a ministry, so I thought I would still share the few details about the trips that I can with you guys. So, thank you for reading!

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So, I talked yesterday about traveling to our shows. Both times that we went to Lynch and the time that we went to Tahlequah, the journey there and/or home was interesting. For those trips, we were using our trailer to transport our puppet supplies. That sounds like it would be a good thing considering we now just use our minivan. However, that trailer must have had something against us because the tire would constantly blow. I don't just mean we would end up with a flat. We would literally end up with the tire(s) blown. 

My grandma was actually the one who planned these trips. They were church-wide mission trips, so it was more than just our puppet ministry going. Some people did backyard Bible clubs with local kids, some people did work on people's houses, some people handed out clothes, some people did prayer walking, we did puppets, and there were other things that people did as well. Actually, we sometimes even did puppets at the backyard Bible clubs. We typically would get to do at least one museum or other activity on one of the days we were there since we were someplace that was new and different for us. 

Some of the places that we actually did puppets at include an orphanage, the backyard Bible clubs I mentioned before, at a grocery store, at a food pantry, at the clothing handout venue, and I am sure there may have been other places, but as I said earlier, this was quite awhile ago and I honestly do not remember everything. Anyways, it was nice getting to perform at these different places. They were places where you could tell that the people really enjoyed getting to see or do something different than they were used to. 

Actually, on a couple occasions throughout these trips, we even got to do some clowning. We didn't do that a whole lot, but we did some. While getting dressed up and clowning around is fun, I am glad we mainly do puppets -- just saying. 

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Romans 12:13 (NIV)

¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2012:13)

Whenever you see someone in need, whether it be local or on a mission trip, help them. Show them God's Mercy and Love. You may be the only way that some people could see God. So, show them that you care about them and that God does as well. 

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Traveling to the Shows

Once the shows are planned, it is time for actually getting to our shows. There are a few different things to consider here. 

The first thing is how to actually get all of our materials into the vehicle. We have to get a stage, all of our puppets, all of the props, any lights we are using (blacklight or others), stage curtains, whatever we are using for sound, any luggage we may need if it is an overnight trip, as well as any other things we may need for a particular show. Sometimes, fitting all of that into our minivan can be challenging (however, it is easier to fit it all their than when we tried to fit everything into a car!). While we have all tried to help some, my mom is the main one involved in packing. Actually, she has a certain way of packing everything, so if we put something in differently, she typically unpacks it to put it in how she knows it fits. Nursing home shows are typically easier to pack for simply because there is less that goes into them. Obviously, the picture below is not for a nursing home show.

After everything is packed, we get to get on the road. While traveling, we sometimes listen to the show(s) that we will be performing. This gives us extra time to hear the music and to practice. Well, practice as well as we can while in the van. Practicing is fun in a vehicle though. It is fun to see if you get looks from other vehicles if you are practicing lip sync where they can see. With props, all you can really do is lift your hand up. So, it isn't the same as practicing with the props, but it is better than nothing. Whenever we aren't listening to music to practice, we are typically listening to either Christian music or Adventures in Odyssey. 
Some people, when traveling, make stops every couple of hours. We, on the other hand, are not very frequent stoppers. If someone needs to make a stop, they need to mention it to the driver, and we will stop. But if no one mentions anything, we typically keep on driving. 

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Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

⁹ In their hearts humans plan their course,
    but the Lord establishes their steps.

Whether you are traveling or you are just going through life, the above verse is important to remember. You may plan how you want things to go, but it is God who really decides where He wants you to go. If the Lord doesn't want you to do something, then He more than likely won't make it easy, if even possible, for you to do. 

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Choosing Songs

Note to Readers:

I am going to apologize ahead of time for the fact that this post is going to be ridiculously short. Today has been a long day in the fact that I have had a headache since I woke up this morning and I am really just ready for bed. However, I really do not want to miss a day, so I at least wanted to write something. So, here is my something. 

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In a puppet ministry, choosing which songs to perform is important. You want the song to be something that the audience will be able to get in to. For that reason, the biggest rule in choosing songs is to know your audience. 

If you are performing in a setting where the majority of your audience is going to be young children, then more of your songs should be kid focused. If you are performing where the majority of your audience is on the older side of the spectrum, slower songs such as Southern Gospel or hymns are typically better. However, a lot of time, the audience is mixed. Therefore, when selecting songs, the show will typically be made up of a variety of different styles of music. 

Also when choosing songs, it is important to look at the number of people the song would require to perform it. You have to look at how many singers there are as well as all the props you would want to do in order to see if you even could do it. 

Since this post is about choosing songs, I want you to think about the music that you listen to. Is it music that would please God for you to be listening to? If not, maybe you should think a bit more about what you are listening to. I mean, that saying "garbage in, garbage out" does kind of apply here. If the music you are listening to is full of cussing and topics such as sex, drinking, and drugs, what are people going to see in your life? 

Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3%3A16&version=NIV)

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Dressing the Puppets

Once songs are chosen and parts are lined up, we sometimes get to do a bit of dressing up the puppets. Sure, our puppets typically just stay in what they are wearing, but we do occasionally change their clothes.One occasion in which we look at the clothing our puppets are wearing is when we perform with Anointed Hearts. We typically try and dress all 5 puppets in color coordinated outfits. We then let Anointed Heart's know what their prospective puppet is wearing so that they can try and find a similar outfit to wear. Obviously the outfits won't match perfectly, but it is still nice when they are at least similar in color. Even when the outfits don't match, it is still fun for the puppets' outfits to match. 
Certain song styles may also influence the costuming of the puppets. This is one area where we sometimes actually change the puppets' clothes and other times we say to just go with it.. Anyways, take a Christmas song or show for example. We try and dress a lot of the puppets in red and green. For a song that is from the 50's or 60's, we may try and find an outfit that  would match that decade. This allows the overall look of the song to seem more realistic. 

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Being a Christian should not be a costume that you wear. Being a Christian should be who you are. If you attend church on the holidays but no other times, you are most likely wearing a costume of being a Christian. Actually being a Christian should mean that you want to learn more about Christ and that you want to go to church to learn about Him and to be around other Christians. You should want to know what God wants from you in following Him. If you are living in sin, you very well could be wearing a costume of being a Christian. Sure, Christians do suffer temptations, but they know that it is wrong and they fight those temptations instead of living in those temptations and sin. 

You want to make sure that you really are a Christian and are not living a lie. When you die, you don't want God to tell you, "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:23 http://biblehub.com/matthew/7-23.htm). You want Him to welcome you into Heaven. So, make sure you are living for Him and not just for a title. 

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Planning the Shows

In a puppet ministry, there is a lot of planning involved. For example, we do between 60 and 75 shows in a typical year. So, there is a lot of planning just when it comes to the schedule. We have to make sure that we do not schedule multiple shows at the same time on the same day. We also have to make sure that shows are not scheduled when there are other things going on whether it be school, work, or social events. Whenever a show is scheduled, the entire team is given the date and time so that they can find out if they are available. They then let my parents know so that the show can be planned. 
Once it is known who all is going to make each show, we have to look at what type of show it is. Basically, where the show is, and what type of music is best for the location. Once songs are chosen, parts have to be assigned for each song. Each song is broke down into how many singers/puppets there are and props. A puppeteer's name is then typed up next to each individual part. For the puppet parts, a puppet's name is also listed next to the part. 
After songs and parts have been chosen, we have to practice. And I mean practice. With most songs, especially ones with a lot of props, we have to go through the songs multiple times. We make mistakes, but we keep on practicing until we know our parts. Not to say we will never mess up our parts, but we want to make sure we know our parts well still. 
Whenever we have practiced enough, and the show date arrives, it is show time! We have to rely that we planned adequately for the show so that it will go smoothly. If it doesn't, we know that we just need to plan and prepare better for the next time. And if it does go smoothly, we can still think of ways to plan and prepare even better yet. 

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Proverbs 16:3

   Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
    and he will establish your plans. (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+16%3A3&version=NIV)

In life, you have to plan out the things that you do. If you don't think ahead and consider the consequences of your actions, things could go majorly wrong. You want the things in your life to be for God. Therefore, you should plan out your actions in a way that would be pleasing to God. If you strive to do everything for Christ, He will lead and guide you. He will help you in the plans for your life.  

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Building Relationships

Puppeteering is more than just sticking your hand up a puppet, sticking the puppet above the stage, and lip syncing to a song. Puppeteering is also something that you do as a team. You have to be able to work with the other people on your team in order to make the songs you perform look the way you want them to. While a puppet ministry isn't strictly about the entertainment factor, it is still nice if the songs look put together well because the more an audience gets into a song, the more likely they will hear the message that the song is portraying. Anyways, if you can't work with the other members of the team, what kind of a team is it really? If you do teamwork right, you can get to know some great people and you can build relationships with them. 

 1 Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of you should be of one mind.  Sympathize with each other.  Love each other as brothers and sisters.  Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.” (http://christianbiblelife.com/verses/13-bible-verses-to-restore-and-strengthen-relationships)
When you are working with a team, you should all have the same goal in mind. For a ministry, a reasonable and expected goal would be to share God's Love and Word with the world. However, if someone in the group has a different goal in mind, it will effect the success of that ultimate goal, especially if the other person's goal works against sharing God's Love and Word with the world. I Peter 3:8 also says to sympathize with each other and to love each other as brothers and sisters. In order to really succeed as a team, the members need to be able to care for and respect each other. You don't want to seclude anyone because if they do not feel like they are part of the team, then they may not put in all of their effort in order to help the team succeed. The last things this particular verse says to do is to be tenderhearted and to keep a humble attitude. This goes along with caring for and respecting the members of the team. If a team is going to be a team, everyone needs to see everyone's strengths. If everyone thinks they are better than everyone else, there is sure to be some issues in the area of working as a team. 

Within a team, while working with different people, you are able to build meaningful relationships. You get to really know people. Yes, you get to know the other members as puppeteers (or whatever kind of team member it would be in your case), but you also get to know them as people. So, I am going to tell you about just one of the people I have gotten to build a relationship with through puppets (with a couple other people mentioned as well). There were other people I got to meet and know as well, but I don't want to make this just a list of people (which is why this post got put off to begin with). I just want to make sure to tell about one person just because he really does show how great puppeteering can be for building relationships .  Plus, this is what I had eluded to in a previous post so I did kind of need to include it.

 Andrew is my honorary big brother. We got along well and it sort of just clicked. Anyways, I met him when my parents and I started working with Heaven's Handful. His family had been involved with puppets for years, and he had officially started puppeteering when he was in the 7th grade. As he got better and as time we on, he moved into leadership of the team. 
After we worked with Heaven's Handful for awhile, Andrew even started doing most of Adventureland's shows with us. So, with how often we did shows, we saw quite a bit of Andrew. Especially since he came to our practices and shows, and we went to Heaven's Handful's practices and shows. However, since his parents, Steve and Kerry, were also involved with Heaven's Handful, we also got to meet and know them. So, we get together from time to time for things even outside of puppet events. It is just nice to know that God let my family and I meet Andrew and his family through working together with puppetry. 

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