The Florida BSW 2018 was just fantastic!
Unifying, team building, and refreshing would be three words I would use to describe it. This is nothing official, just a personal photo and video journal. Many participants took amazing photos and videos, so here are some compiled and combined. Main photography and videography credits go to Tiffany Watson, Kofi Appiah, Latisha Robertson, and yours truly. Thanks to others who contributed a photograph here and there as well helping to share the experience greater than I could with just my shots. Thanks to Mr. G. Flurry, Mr. J. Hilliker, Mr. I. Harper, and Mr. D. Miller for being the ministerial backbones behind this activity in making it a big success! Thanks to Mr. Heerma too for hosting this in his region. Without their support and hard work under God, this activity would have not been possible. Another ruin restored!
For me, the weekend started Thursday when I flew from my hometown to sunny Tampa, Florida! We won't mention the humidity, but it's definitely there! The flight arrived late into the night after a delay, but I have a great friend in Jamie H. who so kindly picked me up from the airport in her new vehicle at such a late hour. After a good nights rest, Friday was a super hectic day. A special thanks to Jamie H. for allowing me and another friend to stay with her. Jamie was one of the coordinators, along with Justin Yocum as the other coordinator. Fruits of HWAC. I had no idea that Friday was going to be a day of catering basically. Jamie, Tiffany W, and I went to the grocery store, bought the goods, came back to Jamie's place, and ready, set, go! We got everything prepped and cooked just on time before freshening up, loading up, and heading to the singles mixer. I thought this was super fun! Fun fact: basil, black pepper, real garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce, and kosher bacon fat help make quick and tasty hamburger patties for sliders with flavor in bulk, and freshly made berry compote makes brownies pop with a little extra flavor. Below are some of our food endeavors. If all else fails, at least we know we are capable of catering. :-)! Jamie's place had turned into a commercial kitchen wannabe! :-)
Here is the story!
What do you do when out of counter space?....use a washer and dryer top. :-)
...and below is a picture of the food transported to the hall for the first event of the BSW, the Friday evening mixer.
...and here's another table with more food. Apparently, we did half of the food, or something like that, and Mrs. Yocum and Marcella E. did the other half. They had these great chicken Parmesan sliders among many other goodies. Those two ladies are excellent cooks!
...moving on from the food!
The time had come for the guests to arrive and fill the seats and the tables in which Jamie had decorated with lovely simple elegance. Below are pics of arriving guests to the mixer which was the very first event of the weekend.
I guess coordinator Justin was inspecting our food. It must have passed his regulation rules because it was served. :-)
...so the mixer began - food was served - catching up with old friends - making new friends; a lot of kosher Friday evening fellow shipping.....Definitely an evening to remember. One of my favorites! It's was nice to just be able to sit down and talk with no pressure.
BELOW: The prize for the participant who traveled the furthest to attend goes by far to the lovely Corinne. She flew in all the way from France! A lovely lady that I had met some years back when I visited Paris and she gave me a full private Parisian tour along with some other friends! I never forgot how sweet she was. It was so wonderful to see her on this side of the ocean! Our turn to treat her! :-)
Beautiful ladies
The Devletoglou's hosted most of the men in attendance while the Mowell's hosted most of the ladies in attendance. Looks like the men had a quick photo shoot at the Devletoglou's house before they headed to services.
fast forwarding to later that same day.......
Later that day at services a fabulous potluck was served by the Tampa congregation. They really know how to put on a potluck. It was more like a catered meal. Loved it! Thanks to them for treating us to such a royal experience! It was nice catching up and meeting the local members from that congregation. Many lovely people! Here are some shots from that experience.
Later that day at services a fabulous potluck was served by the Tampa congregation. They really know how to put on a potluck. It was more like a catered meal. Loved it! Thanks to them for treating us to such a royal experience! It was nice catching up and meeting the local members from that congregation. Many lovely people! Here are some shots from that experience.
Thanks to, I think, Christine Yocum, for taking the group pictures!
...moving on...
a few videos having a little karaoke fun before the dance began. Instrumentalist were Mr. A. Hawkins...AKA....Jamie's dad, and Justin Yocum....singers were all of us that participated. :-) Good times!
....moving on....
Let the dance begin!
Getting Happy!
In the middle of the dance, we were treated with some live entertainment by some of the BSW participants. I loved this. I'd love it even more if there was a full entertainment night perhaps in the future. So much talent to share.
Mr. Hawkins...AKA...Jamie's father.....who use to be a professional musician played his guitar for everyone's enjoyment.
..and then getting back to the dance fun!
Sunday morning, bright eyed and not so awake! :-) We went canoeing. Oh, this was an adventure in itself. You will have to ask a person in person who was there about this adventure...pictures and videos cannot express this adventure justly. :-) Let's just say that we saw a few real, live, full sized alligators up close and personal. I have to say, I was truly grateful to have protection from God, and it was nice to see the unity of everyone pulling together to help keep everyone safe. We definitely had some real manly men in our midst there. It was so great to see real Godly men ready to protect and using wisdom as well in the situation. We also had some just absolutely beautiful Godly ladies there who were great in supporting and helping in this. Just a beautiful experience. Also, it was great to see the teamwork that is required in canoeing. One person in the canoe has to direct and steer, and the other person in the canoe has to support them. If you don't do this, you can't canoe as your boat will either go off course, go zigzag, or you'll just be stuck and not move or go anywhere. This should be a final exam for marriage. Just joking!!! All joking aside, it was really an extended family pulling together experience though! Canoeing is not and will never be my personal favorite thing, especially with alligators lurking around in Florida, but it was the experience of seeing many willing to try something new with beautiful attitudes, and then seeing everyone working so unified together that was so wonderful, and we did learn about canoeing too! Thanks also to Mr. Hilliker for giving many, including myself, instruction on how to even do this activity.
A few pics from a casual spontaneous dinner at the Olive Garden. Thanks to Najam B. for paying for all of the ladies, younger and older, unexpectedly. That was super nice of him and all of the ladies appreciated his sacrifice of service in doing it greatly.
A farewell game night at the Mowell's house. Thanks to the Mowell's and the Devletoglou's for hosting many of the men at one house and ladies at the other house for this weekend. Lovely couples who have been blessed with beautiful homes who are setting a fabulous example of using their blessings to serve others. This was definitely a memorable evening.
BELOW: One last farewell.....while the guys had a great time with Jeremy C., the ladies who were still in town were having a brunch on Monday at IHOP before heading back home to our respective states. Thanks to Rishanna C. for the ride back to the airport! Sweet and serving gal!
...so by this time, almost everyone had departed, some via planes, other via vehicles. The time had come to go separate ways back to our individual lives. Old friendships rekindled, new friendships made....one of my favorite aspects of this weekend was being able to fellowship with fellow like singles without any pressure....building more unity. This was definitely a weekend to remember for all who participated, and though many sacrificed their Father's Day celebration to be there since it was Father's Day weekend, it just made us reflect on what a wonderful supreme Father we really do have who loves us so much. Happy belated Father's Day to all, and especially to those who gave of their time to serve all of us who were at this activity. Thanks also to their wives and the children small or fully grown for participating or sharing on this Father's day weekend to remember.
That is my photo story in a nutshell! Thanks again also for all of the photos and videos compiled making this photo story possible to share. - The End
...so by this time, almost everyone had departed, some via planes, other via vehicles. The time had come to go separate ways back to our individual lives. Old friendships rekindled, new friendships made....one of my favorite aspects of this weekend was being able to fellowship with fellow like singles without any pressure....building more unity. This was definitely a weekend to remember for all who participated, and though many sacrificed their Father's Day celebration to be there since it was Father's Day weekend, it just made us reflect on what a wonderful supreme Father we really do have who loves us so much. Happy belated Father's Day to all, and especially to those who gave of their time to serve all of us who were at this activity. Thanks also to their wives and the children small or fully grown for participating or sharing on this Father's day weekend to remember.
That is my photo story in a nutshell! Thanks again also for all of the photos and videos compiled making this photo story possible to share. - The End
