ChristMiVeSt...

As many of you know, I was the St in ChristMiVeSt this past weekend! The shows all went well. This year we got to perform with each other! Judy Buch (the Ve) and I performed an old German folk tale about a clockmaker, Dan (the Mi) and I performed "The Selfish Giant" by Oscar Wilde (a wonderful, sweet story) and Dan and Judy performed a hilarious piece called "Daisy and the Mime" where Daisy, one of Judy's characters, doesn't understand why Dan doesn't talk or use props!

Then we all performed an original story that Dan wrote called "Christmas and the Dragon".

I performed "The Frankincense Monster" by Jim Krueger again, as well as "The Real Story of Christmas".

At the end of the first half, Dan had a special tribute to the men and women serving in our Armed Forces overseas. He then asked if everyone would come downstairs to write a note and say a prayer (tying a knot in a blanket for each one) for several soldiers stationed overseas.

He sent this email, from the group that is sending the notes and prayer blankets to those men.

Dear Friends -

God works in not so mysterious ways. Take soldiers serving their country, talented Christian artists, and prayer blankets - put them all together and you get the work of the Lord!

What a wonderful success this weekend was! CHRISTMIVEST was a wonderful show with plenty of laughs, captivating stories told by a mime, and wonderful classics told by a storyteller. It all started with an attempt to peek at Christmas gifts (and who of hasn't tried that?) to ending with a single voice telling quietly but boldly the true story of Christmas.

But right in the middle, a tribute was made to the men and women serving our country. Serious, painful, graphic and realistic. But did our hearts swell with pride for our servicemen! It made us reflect a bit in the midst of the fun. We were then able to assemble around a prayer blanket to pray for a soldier. And note paper was available for letters of prayer and encouragement to go with the blankets.

We were able to knot and pray a blanket at each show. And we got lots and lots of notes to go with each blanket. We prayed for Jean-Claude, Brian and Jason.

Thank you to Dan, Judy and George for a wonderful show CHRISTMIVEST (Christ first, then mime, ventriloquism and st orytelling). Thank you for inviting the Prayer Blanket Ministry to be a part of it. Thank you Jesus for continuing to work through us. And thank you Jean-Claude, Brian, Jason and all other servicemen for all that you do every hour of every day of every year.

Merry Christmas!

Linda

God bless you all, and have a very Merry Christmas this year!

The Sacrifice of Isaac - World Premier Performance

When I was down in San Antonio at the Independent Christian Film Festival, I told several of the stories off my new CD Defeating Giants for the first time!

One of them was "The Sacrifice of Isaac" which I told at the Awards Ceremony. It is an exciting, thought provoking and inspiring story.

Since it was video taped, I thought I would share that performance with you!



As always, you can hear a sample of the story with music and sound effects, and you can purchase the CD at www.worldsgreateststories.com.

Memorizing Scripture...

A young man just emailed me to ask how I memorize passages, and if there are any "tricks" that can be helpful. Unfortunately, I do not know of any "tricks" that make memorization easier. I've tried several things over the years, but the only principle that seems to actually work is: "Consistent effort applied over time yields significant results." What that means, practically, is - it just takes time and energy to memorize. It's like a muscle, so, to a certain extent, it gets a little easier as you do it, but it's never easy.

What I generally do is read over a section I want to memorize several times, and then record it on a micro-cassette recorder. I then listen to it over and over for a while to get a feel for the passage. During that time, I'll see things that I want to change, so I rerecord the passage to reflect the new changes. Then, after some time, I'll start actually memorizing the passage. By then, I'm familiar with the overall flow, and the memorization comes more quickly. When I basically have it in my brain, I practice it out loud as a performance piece, including the actions I will pantomime and how I will utilize my scarf (which is my basic prop.)

It is helpful if you can speak the words out loud as you are memorizing. It is also very important to focus on understanding the meaning of a passage, and visualizing the action that is taking place. The key is not to simply memorize the words, but to understand what the passage is trying to convey.

Everyone can memorize -it just takes time and effort. For me, it's important enough to spend the time and expend the effort. Again, the real key is: "Consistent effort applied over time yields significant results."

Defeating Giants: The Show!

WHEN: November 9th at 7:30pm

WHERE: The Calvary Family Life Center at 498 White Plains Road, Trumbull, CT

WHAT: An evening of arts entertainment for the whole family, capturing the imagination and inspiring the heart!

WHO: NYC Actor and Storyteller George Sarris, internationally known mime Dan Cossette and interpretive dancer and choreographer Katherine Sarris

For more information, go HERE!

On the road again...

Well, this past week I have been in beautiful Harvey Cedars, NJ (yes, there are pretty areas in New Jersey!) at a conference/retreat for home schooling families. I have been running a storytelling workshop for the teens. God has been blessing that effort. The program on Thursday night went well... now on to round 2 next week! I will be running the same program, but this time for the whole week instead of just the first half of the week.

In between (i.e. this weekend) I am at ANOTHER home school conference, this one in my home state of Connecticut. I am one of the featured speakers.

I will be sharing my "Impacting the Culture" talk, as well as several talks on homeschooling and 2 of my "Waiting on the LORD" talks.

The news on the new CD isn't terribly exciting. I am trying to schedule a time to go up and mix Gideon. I also am toying with several ideas for the other stories on the CD. Again, feel free to suggest anything you think would be interesting!

Hope You Can Make It!

Resurrection is an new show of mime, dance, drama and storytelling that will open your eyes to the life and victory of God, and what it means for every human soul.
Be set free to experience the thrill and exhilaration of life and new life...

7pm, Friday, May 25th.
199 Deming St. Manchester, CT, 06084.
Admission: Free. Refreshments afterwards. Free will offering to be taken.
Info: 860.870.5432. www.AmbassadorArts.org