Showing posts with label Salvation Army. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salvation Army. Show all posts

Friday, April 1, 2011

Basketball Counselor

Basketball Counselor

I was a counselor coach for children, ages 7 - 13 years old, in April & May of the year 2011 when I was 26 years old. We would meet at the Salvation Army's Moore Street Corps church in Portland, Oregon USA Friday nights for about 2 hours and each Saturday from around 8 - 10 AM, or so.

I guided my dozen or so of kids to the different activities. There were basketball drills, games. We had snack time, games, and other activities.

2011
26 years old
Portland, OR USA
Joey Arnold

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Woof Died

My uncle, Jimmy Williams, AKA the Woof, died on or around Wednesday, the 6th of August of the year 2008 in his home in Warrenton or in Portland, Oregon, USA.

After Revolution Hawaii and Camp Kuratli, I was spending a week at WYI (Western Youth Institute) at Camp Arnold near Seattle, Washington USA, which is a 7-days-long young adults retreat for those associated with The Salvation Army in and around the west coast of the United States. Around 300 people attend annually.

My friend, Lincoln Hawk, suggested that I move to Long Beach, California USA. I first met Lincoln the previous year at WYI 2007 at Camp Redwood Glen in Scotts Valley, California USA.

In 2007, I started getting close to Lincoln, or it at least felt that way. His then-wife (in 2007) suggested that I move to Long Beach (LB), California (CA). From August 2007 to June 2008, I was in Hawaii, but I would talk to Lincoln on the phone, and he visited me and the team (Revolution Hawaii) on my birthday in 2008, and Lincoln suggested that I became the Youth Pastor Assistance at his Salvation Army corps (church) in Long Beach (since Lincoln is the Youth Pastor and Worship Leader, and other things as well, there).

Lincoln would talk in general terms with me, like in code, and it sounded like he was saying that he would get me to Long Beach in August of 2008, find me a job, and get me a place to live.

Lincoln got his friend, Jeanette Whitaker, to talk to me on the phone daily. She was in his youth group and she would call me daily. She started liking me until I accidentally called her ugly.

At WYI, in August 2008, Lincoln was basically telling me no, but not in those exact words, except that he was trying to say that I failed the many tests since he had spies in Hawaii that were reporting everything that I was doing to him. It seems that I failed the tests, which disabled me from joining him in Long Beach, California.


I had no backup.

In December 2007, or before June 2008, I was able to talk to my uncle, Jimmy "The Woof" Williams on my mobile cell phone that I inherited from younger sister. Jim was proud of me and he donated about $50 USD or $200, since I was in need of financial support to pay for my nine months charity missions trip in Hawaii.

That was my last conversation with Jim.

It was a worthy conversation that I will not forget.

I had no backup plan. I was simply going to go to Long Beach, California in August of 2008, but I guess that never happened, and Lincoln may have been saying that it is my fault, but his marriage was also falling apart, since he ended up divorcing and/or separating in 2009.

Therefore, I was at a cross-roads or fork in the road.

I felt uncertain about my future during the summer of 2008.

When I heard that Jim died, it went with the flow of how I already felt inside, which was a bunch of this and that, which means that the death did not sting me because I was already emotionally numb at that point of time.

My mother and her then-husband Mr./Mrs. Bill Williams Cunningham (since he did have alternative male and female personalities, but he is male) picked me up in his van on Thursday evening, the 8th of August 2008.

I did not say bye to people, as I left WYI.

Our planned family reunion in Warrenton, Seaside, and Astoria, Oregon, turned into a funeral for Jim. We were able to reunite with my 2 sisters (not my brother or my dad), uncle Brian Morehead and his family, the wife of Jim, Karen, and their 2 sons, Nathan and Alan, and their families, and my mother's parents, and other relatives. We went to the beach, to Karen's house, to Astoria Columns, too I think, to the graveyard, to a church, and other places as well.

Alan drove me in his truck to my dad's trailer, which is where I was born and raised in Forest Grove, Oregon.

until I moved into former apartment of my younger sister in Portland, Oregon, USA, in October of 2008, as I was working as an after-school assistant at the Daniel Grout Elementary School and the Kells Irish Restaurant in PDX.

In October 2008, my grandfather, the father of my mother, Dick Richard Morehead, died, and we had another funeral and reunion in November, this time including my brother Rick Schuylar Arnold, and his wife, Maria, in Portland and Warrenton as well.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Wilderness Counselor

My sister inspired me to apply at Camp Kuratli of Trestle Glen in Boring, Oregon. The application landed in the lap of Michael Kurtz in 2007, and he became one of my best friends to this day.

He liked how I drew myself in the application, since one of his questions is about drawing yourself, and he allowed me to be a wilderness counselor during the summers of the years of 2007 and 2008 at The Salvation Army's Camp Kuratli.

One of my favorite summers were those 2 years.

My camp name was Oatmeal in 2007.

In 2008, my nick name was the Ice Breaker.

Mike called me Ice Man, because he was Maverick from the film Top Gun.

He called me his right-winged man.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Donald Kamese

Donald Kamese told me that if you are dating a girl, take her to "Bull-fighting" because she will think it is so romantic. This Donald Duck was born in Africa, lived in Europe, and even went on to be a missionary in Mexico.

I met him during my first year working as a wilderness counselor at the Salvation Army's Camp Kuratli of Trestle Glen in Boring, Oregon, United States.

He went on to write a book called Mission Possible.