Boji Smokin Damacy!

Well, I make it no secret that my favorite ministry team to work with is the crew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. But by far, my favorite audience to speak to is located at the Presbyterian Camp on Okiboji Lake during the MAD (Music and Drama) camp week.

It's not a great performance area. (A tiny little chapel that's usually about four or five degrees warmer than the outside.) It's not a huge crowd. (Last year there were about 60 some students, this year there were about 40.) It's not a lot of money. (They pass the hat at the end of every performance.) But it is the warmest, most generous crowd I've ever worked with.

I've been very blessed to get to travel and speak to all sorts of folks. I've spoken and performed for 1500 people in Traverse City, Michigan - a 1000+ in Sioux Falls - another 1000+ in Ames, IA - but to me, no crowd makes me feel more welcome than the group at MAD Camp. I still think that the hour of stand-up that I performed for them last summer, is one of my favorite shows of all time.

So when Valerie King called me up again a few months ago and asked if I'd come do another show, I eagerly agreed. The only problem was, I'd done my entire act the year before, and I wasn't sure what I possibly had to offer. But I figured it didn't matter, this was MAD Camp after all.

I headed up to Okiboji on Monday the 6th for an 8 PM show. On the way, I picked up good friend Mike Rottink in Iowa Falls. He's a long time MAD Camp veteran, having worked on the staff before and attending for years. Mike's about the best travel companion you could ask for. There's no need for the radio when he's along, as it's all conversation and laughs.

We, of course, made a stop at the Goldfield Cheese Mart on the way to try a few samples, buy a Sioux City Root Beer, and buy some sweet potato and beet chips. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "I don't think that potato chips made out of beets sounds very good." And if you are thinking that, you're right. They're not. Oh well, at least I can say it's one more thing I've tried in my life.

We hit the lake around 6 PM and headed to our favorite eatery in town - Smokin' Jakes - for a basket of 30 chicken drummies with HOT sauce. I will not waste your time trying to come up with 110 adjectives to adequately describe how warm their sauce can be. I will just leave it at this . . . it's hot. Trust me. The sign out front says, "Sis says, 'Smokin' Jake smokes everything!'" which Mike and I found very amusing.

After supper, we headed to camp to get ready. Once there, and only an hour after eating my first chicken drummie, I immediately had to find a restroom as the drummies began a mad revolt within my gut. It was great.

For the show, out of desperation, I dipped back into something I haven't done in several years. I read some short fiction stories that I wrote while at Iowa State. Mike helped me out, as well as a few people from the crowd, by reading different voices from each one. Now, these stories are strange. Strange. Once again, trust me on this. Maybe in the next couple days, I'll post one on the old blog just so you can see. But they make me laugh, and so I figured I'd give it a shot. I told Mike's brother Jon, that I was expecting to bomb, but the MAD Camp crowd came through once again and we had an absolute blast.

"How do you celebrate a great show like this", you might ask. Easy. Mike and I headed back to Smokin' Jakes for 30 MORE DRUMMIES. I know, I know, I paid for it later. But those things are so good. Then we headed back to the camp to sleep on a couple spare bunks. I got over 20 mosquito bites on just my legs in one night! And it was a little warm thanks to Mike shutting the fan off during the night (he was sleeping next to the window, so he shut it off because he was cold.)

After breakfast in the morning and some good chats with Val, Jon, Hair-ar-ite Pete, and Mike's parents, we hit the road again - making sure to stop at the Sugar Shack before leaving town.

The ride back was quite entertaining. I'm reviewing a book called, "Questions You Can't Ask Your Mama About Sex" for the next Impact magazine, and I'm a little behind on the reading, so I asked Mike to read to me. Needless to say, it was quite entertaining to hear Mike read lines like, "My boyfriend and I have been dating for several years now and we're really in love. How far is too far?" Thanks Mike. (And believe you me, that's a very tamed down version of some of things I had to hear in his voice.)

Once again, we stopped at the Goldfield Cheese Mart, although we avoided the beet chips, and then finally made it back to Mike's. The guy gave me a great birthday gift. It was the Playstation 2 game Katahari Damacy which I will someday have to expound on because of it's addictive qualities and hilarious storyline, but this blog's getting a little long.

After dropping Mike off, I headed to Eldora, IA to visit the lovely Andrea while she's away at camp with some of our high schoolers counselling for an Angel Tree camp. While there, I got some supper, wrestled, and got beat by a middle schooler named Palmer, and lost about 10 pounds in sweat.

After that, I got to make a quick stop home in Prairie City - just long enough to visit Mom and Dad, get brother Chris addicted to Katahari Damacy, and have a Diet Pepsi. Then it was finally home to Pella.

Highlight of the Trip
For my birthday, Chris got me a new WWE T-Shirt that's quite hilarious. On the front is a giant letter "C" with the words "Captain Charisma". The back says, "That's how I roll Christian!" Now, the shirt is worn on TV by a guy who's name is Christian, but when I wear it around, people assume it's some kind of ministry shirt and I get a lot of strange looks. I'm trying to get, "That's how I roll, Christian!" to become the next big catch phrase.

Till next time,

Jason