Dancing along His path : wacky week

I feel like I start every single post with an apology for not posting in a while... Sooooo um sorry I haven't posted in a while, I guess I just haven't done anything interesting enough to talk about BUT this week I did!!!

This past week I had the privilege of dancing in Gateway Church's "Wacky Week", which can be best described as vacation bible school on crack. It's insane, in the best way possible and I am so incredibly thankful to have been a part of it. I danced in the opener, day 1 & day 2 closers and got to be a dance-worship leader. (Seeing as I often feel my calling in life is to be a worship hand motion choreographer, the last one was especially fun) Today I want to share a couple of things that made this week so special to me...

I'm not a member at Gateway so I was pretty nervous that Olivia & I would be excluded because we were outsiders. But everybody there was SOOOO nice, it wasn't hard at all to see Jesus in each and every person I met. I made tons of new friends and was welcomed by everybody, by the end of the week I felt like part of their huge family. What I admire the most is that status didn't matter. The dancers shared a dressing room with the actors and singers and nobody was more important than another. The people who on a TV show would be portrayed as the diva or the condescending genius, were the sweetest of them all. The female lead singer, Anna, especially warmed my heart. She is an amazing singer, yet she is incredibly humble and is a ton of fun to hang around with. She constantly praised us dancers and was enthusiastic about taking weird pictures of Olivia and me backstage. It was also surreal getting to hang out with/dance with so many members of Ingredients dance company, which I wrote about in a previous post (read it here). It was crazy getting to dance alongside so many people that I look up to.

I'm gonna try not to get too sappy here but a month ago today, my dance teacher, Connie, had a preventative double mastectomy (meaning she had it to lower her once very high chances of getting cancer - NOT because she had it!). On the way to our first Wacky Week rehearsal, Olivia and I went and visited her in the hospital and yesterday I was dancing with her onstage! God does amazing things for amazing people! One of my new friends said the other day, "Connie, you are literally my inspiration" She laughed off the comment but its so true, and if you know her I think you'd agree. She's inspiring in the simplest ways, and in big ones too. For me, she inspired me to want more from my dancing, showing me that there is more to dance than just steps. Throughout this week Connie has thanked us immensely for helping her out and I always feel like I'm the one that owes her thanks. Most of the other dancers come from Christian studios and companies, so it may not have been that big of a deal to them but this was the first time I had gotten to do dances created specifically to glorify Our Lord! IT WAS AMAZING!!! And now that I know how it feels, I never want to go back! So Connie, if you're reading this I love you, thank you so much for allowing me to dance & worship this week, you're seriously the coolest person I have ever met.

During sound-check one day, Pastor Ken, told us about how every generation seems to say that the generation below them is the "generation that turned their backs on God". He said that it's people like us, people who use their talents to glorify Our Creator, not worldly things and imitation love, who can change that and I truly believe he's right. I wish you all could have seen the kids attending Wacky Week when we danced and led worship - even the boys in the back row were jumping around and lifting their hands in praise. Knowing that I contributed to kids encountering Christ is the most gratifying thing in the world. This week, though for the children, was a retreat for me as well.

When I was little and went to VBS, I always had a "favorite" big kid. There was always one person I watched and looked up to and wanted to be just like. They never knew how much of an impact they made on me and now that I'm a big kid and there's probably a little girl who looks up to me. It sounds so silly, but what made this week so special to me is that idea. I'll never know her name, but I have touched her heart and that fills me with enough joy to last a lifetime.

Once again I'm really thankful for this week, making new friends, growing closer to my already friends and growing closer to God! I'm also excited because I get to do it all again in July!!!

In His Name,

Meredith

questions, comments or prayer requests? Feel free to email me: meredithmunro@icloud.com

**PRAYER REQUESTS**

All of the kids who went to Wacky Week

Connie in her recovery, her caretakers and doctors

Here are links to some short videos from WW...

Opener: http://instagram.com/p/ppWXq0rE3W/

Alive (my arm is on the big screen haha!): http://instagram.com/p/ppWvu9rE3z/

I'm the one in the center-ish, wearing pink pants and a blue jacket.

we waited all week to take a picture smashing our faces against the glass of the drum cage haha

okay this is in SL town square but I've always wanted to open a dance studio in this building and the store is closing so my chance is now (lol I'm not opening a studio any time soon though)