For about eight Thursdays last fall, Terry would take his Envoy and trailer around Rapid collecting large appliance boxes from Fishers, Sears, Lowes, and Karls. He then stored them in the storage sheds at church, where they waited for their time on Sunday February 18. We ended up with a large winter storm beginning precisely on that day though, and worried the maze would need to be rescheduled. Terry pushed through and everything ended up being fine. Here is Asher holding the church door open amidst the snow for all the helpers to carry in the 220 boxes.
Although I had to miss that Sunday of church due to Samuel's lingering Influenza B, Terry had many faithful helpers that withstood the storm. Here's Frannie, Elle, and Zoe.
I believe Asher was helping Frannie from the inside of the box. In order to attach boxes together, the helpers outside the boxes would drive two holes through the cardboard, push a zip tie through to their helper, the helper pushed the zip tie back out the second hole, and then outside helper would tighten it. Peace out Asher.
New student with David and Jada.
Evie did some helping but from the video it seemed most of the time she was constructing her own little box houses.
Kendra, Jazmine, Denise, and her guns. Ha! Denise is seriously strong. Asher is the blur.
The maze requires a lot of tape to hold the box ends down.
Here is what it looked like when they were just getting started on Sunday.
It was amazing how much they got done that night by only 5:30pm! Terry's got this thing much better figured out that in 2012 when he stayed until 11pm every night. Thank the Lord for that. And thank the Lord for helpers!!!
The following day, Monday, was what Terry had been banking on to draw a lot of his help since it was Presidents Day and students were off from school. He had so many sign up to help but then weren't able to make it due to the storm. Thankfully others came! This is Jada and her friend working the zip ties together.
They got a lot done that day!
Zeb got stuck the following day. Ha ha.
Wednesday finally came with high anticipation. I was even excited to see it since neither the littles nor I had yet seen it. Once I arrived, I grabbed a camera and headed into the maze with Denise before the Awana kids were set loose. What fun!
I took this handy photo with my phone and when Denise and I got lost we would consult it. Really, I just followed her around. :) The secret exit is above the part that says "BOX."
Frannie took this photo of me coming out of her maze door.
This was my kids at the end of the night while we were waiting for Noah to find his way out so we could go home.
The older kids, Truth and Training, went in first.
Kendra sat atop the ramp and someone, maybe me?, took her photo from below. Oh yeah, the reason it was possible to do that was because Terry installed little slices of plexiglass into the ramp so you could see through it! He also put in little glow sticks so everyone could see that section.
I can't remember her name, Elle's friend, but I love her expression as she looks down through the glass.
Here's me and Denise just like two years ago. Who is that creeping behind us? Lol.
Evie on the bridge.
Henry.
Elle and ?.
Cousin Grace going up the ramp.
Denise found the secret exit!
Zoe under the glass. Ha ha.
Grace again.
Grace, Kendra, and Denise on the ramp.
I liked this pile up of kids.
Abbie had a group glued her at all times.
I found Samuel!
And then Ezra shortly after!
Samuel again. Such a cutie.
Cousin Sarah's turn through.
The Cubbies look like they're hostages. Ha!
Off you go!
Sarah, Abbie, Anna, and Jenna.
Here's Jordyn. And that's it for the big kids. All the photographers, including me, had to leave (or quit taking pictures) when the Awana kids were done so we didn't get hardly any photos of middle or high schoolers. Bummer.
Terry shared the gospel with every single group that went through the maze. He talked so much! Four times on Wednesday, twice on Thursday, and twice on Thursday. That means hundreds of kids heard the gospel!
We went again the following night to help and have more fun. Here's a blurry Samuel.
Smiley Evie.
My kids and two others found the secret exit!
Terry giving directions on Thursday.
Friday night we arrived early to inspect and patch the maze which had gotten pretty beat up the two previous nights. Here is Terry fixing the secret exit.
Side view while Terry's fixing the exit so you can see that it opens onto the little small stage platform.
Fixing, fixing, fixing.
I hadn't been to this section of the maze which was entirely made up of dead ends.
We attempted a selfie with my big camera. Fail.
That's what cell phones are for but why are iPhone cameras so bad, especially in the dark?!
All the leaders dispersed into or outside the exits of the maze to keep order. I found David and Jamin just chilling out in the lounge together, the lovebirds. David wouldn't let me take a picture of them and kept shining a flashlight at me every time I tried. I did manage to capture this one and I love it. They're glowing.
I was laying down somewhere near the ramp when I heard someone approaching, so I stuck my camera over my head and took this picture of this girl, originally upside-down. Shocked much? Ha!
Jack was crazy fast. And notice those gloves? The night before he had cut his hand in the dark and tracked blood virtually everywhere in the maze. Whoops.
Asher!
Asher died.
Jada always wore shorts because it was so hot in there, but how her knees weren't wrecked I don't know. Ah, youth.
And finally Jonah!
I had been crawling around looking for kids who were difficult to find so I decided to plant myself atop the ramp and just wait for them. It was ordained that I do so because I witnessed the plexiglass breaking and was able to prevent any injuries. I called Terry who called David who came with an extra sheet and tape to cover the hole.
Placing the new glass.
And finally taping it down. It was quite fascinating for all the kids to watch.
I got my payback on David and Jazmin with all these pictures though. Muhhahaha.
I entered the maze with that little girl and found out afterwards she wasn't supposed to be in there. Ha ha.
Elle looking down on Asher.
Gospel time!
I needed a change from the stuffy box maze and went to the secret exit to hang out with the group of there that consisted of the love birds, Denise, Frannie, and Todd. I took pictures of the kids who discovered the secret exit.
Frannie's friend and his son managed it all on their own!
I love this picture of Hope getting out.
I don't think they all even meant to stand the same.
Snapped a picture of everyone standing around and caught that David before he could flash me with his light. And look at his face! Ha!
Paybacks David.
Once they finished the game they were playing inside the maze, it was time to tear it apart.
Traditionally they just climb all over it and flatten it like a bunch of ants. Heavy ants.
Happy faces making progress.
Done!
Everyone hung around to tear apart the maze and then carry all the cardboard out to the trailers.
Look at all those helpers! Even the Rimrock crowd stayed until the very end to lend us their aid. They were amazing. They all were!
Everyone dragged cardboard to that exit door, waited in line to get outside, and then passed their pieces to the two guys on the two trailers outside.
It was amazing to me that all those boxes fit! The following day Jason disposed of all that cardboard. He's awesome. It was a very good week, though it's always an exhausting one! Good thing we had a date day to revive us.
A short video of the completed maze.
The fun video Terry made for church.
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