The Local Bible Bee 2011 and its aftermath

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, it is very hard to get this done when I am studying for BB.

The Local Bible Bee took place on August 27. I will tell you more in detail about that. We left at 7:40 AM and drove into town, getting to the place where it was held by 8:10. We saw many friends that we had seen from previous years. At 9:00 testing began. First of all, there was the Written Test. It consisted of 200 multiple-choice questions, 50 of them from the 500 verses we had memorized and the other 150 from the book we had studied, 1 Peter. The questions had to be finished in an hour. Each question if answered correctly was worth 3 points, with a perfect Written score of 600. I finished all the questions and got a score of 540, having answered incorrectly 20 questions. Courtney’s score was 555. Afterwards we had a short break, followed by the Oral Test. We had to recite up to 25 passages (some of them were as short as one verse) selected and given us to memorize earlier this year in 10 minutes. Each passage, if recited perfectly, was worth 12 points, with one point being dropped off for any mistakes or one-word prompts requested by the contestant. A perfect Oral score would be 300. I got a score of 297 because I requested two prompts and made one mistake besides. Courtney’s score was 292. My total score was 837, and Courtney’s was 847.

After the competition, there was a lunch break, followed by the Local Final Challenge Round. The top 5 scoring contestants from each age group were called up to compete against each other in a single elimination round. Both Courtney and I qualified for this, and ended up placing 1^st and 2^nd in our age division, respectively. We were asked to quote a Bible memory verse or passage from the 500 that we knew, and if we did not recite it perfectly we were disqualified.

The Wednesday after the competition, (Aug. 31) we found out that both Courtney and I made it into the top 100 contestants, and therefore to the National Competition! Courtney placed 20^th and I placed 26^th in our age division, ages 11-14. As National Qualifiers, we are expected to memorize 200 extra verses and study another book, which is 2 Peter. We will be traveling to Nashville, TN where the Nationals are held this year on November 16. The National Competition will have much the same format as the Locals did, with a Written and Oral Test with the same format as Locals. The day after all 100 are tested, the top 15 scoring contestants (more in the event of a tie) will be announced and moved up to the Semi-Final Challenge Round. This will be much the same as the Local Finals, so I won’t take up too much space with it here. Suffice it to say that it is another single elimination round in front of an audience. The top 5 contestants from this round will be moved up to the Final Challenge Round, which is a single elimination round in front of an audience and broadcast on the Internet and the radio. The top 3 contestants from each age division will receive prizes of up to $100,000 and totaling over $260,000. We are so excited about this! Whether or not we go up to the Semi-Finals or farther, we are so happy that we made it! We give God the glory and know that if it is His will, He will take us higher.

I will post about my new baby sister soon, but I have to go now!

Matthew

The 2011 National Bible Bee

Well, two years of the National Bible Bee have come and gone, and the third year is passing quickly. I can’t believe that we have only one month left before the local competitions, and yet that seems like a long time.

There have been a lot of changes from the first Bible Bee to this one, the first being that I am older, and can appreciate the effects of this Bible Bee in my life to the extent that I never could while competing in the first year. The second is that my ‘memory muscle’, as we call it, has become a lot stronger, and it is so much easier to memorize and perfect verses then it was before. The third is the actual changes to the Bible Bee itself! Let’s take the first year primaries, for example, along with this year’s seniors.

If you were a primary in 2009, (ages 7-10), you would have to memorize 800 verses between May 1^st and September 12^th, and 400 more if you made it to nationals. You would also have to study 6 books of the Bible: Genesis, 1&2 Samuel, Matthew, Acts, and Romans. This year, the seniors have to learn 800 verses in between June 1^st and August 27^th. If they make it to nationals, they have to learn 300 more verses in 9 more weeks. They have to study one book in depth (1 Peter) for locals, including cross-references, Greek words and meanings, etc. They have to study another book (unknown to us as of yet) in the same depth for nationals. They’re experimenting, I think, to find the very best way to host the National Bible Bee, and I am pretty sure that they’re getting close!

So, as you have probably noticed, there have been plenty of changes. They sent us a Sword Study both this year and last, and they are great! Last year’s book was Colossians. (We did not have another book to study last year for Nationals.) This year’s book is 1 Peter. The study notebook is divided into 12 weeks of study, 5 days per week. We start each day off with prayer, then writing a small section of 1 Peter in the back of our notebooks, then another prayer. The first week is the Aerial View, where we overview the whole book of 1 Peter ‘from the sky’. From Week 2 hereafter we study each individual chapter for a period of 2 weeks, going from Aerial View to Streetview to Under the Rug. We view the chapter ‘from the street’, and then we focus on the small details, including cross-references, Greek word studies, and in depth interviewing of the whole chapter we are focusing on at that time. Then on every tenth day, we do a Day 10 Diagram, which summarizes the whole chapter. At the end of every day we have an Apply! Section that helps us apply the things we have learned that day. Then we pray, using the ACTS prayer model. (A-Adoration, C-Confession, T-Thanksgiving, S-Supplication.)

The competition is at a high level, as no-one ever uses their full memory capacity, and especially youth have a wonderful ability to memorize entire sections of Scripture and other books. Many people are discouraged at the big amounts of Scripture they are required to memorize, and think that nobody with normal memory could do that much in so little time – they won’t ever win anything, so it’s not even worth a try. Let me remind all people who think that way: IT IS NOT THE MONEY THAT COUNTS – IT IS THE PRICELESS WORD OF GOD THAT YOU ARE HIDING IN YOUR HEART! You will never be able to find any more beneficial, wonderful, important, infallible, perfect, fulfilling, treasure-FULL, holy words than those that are written in this book. It is the Christian’s guidebook to godly living. It is a treasure, no matter how much you have.

It has been the opinion of many leading Christians, both in the present and in the past, that one verse of it hidden in your heart is better than gold and silver in abundance, and even if you just had a little bit of silver or gold, would you still consider it a treasure? Absolutely! So should we consider the Word of God. If we have a little bit, we should want more, because it is such a treasure. The psalmist said, ‘I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, more than in all riches.’ We should desire God’s Word more than riches!

That is why I like the Bible Bee so much. It encourages participants to do their best, and they even give us some motivation in the way of prizes, but they strongly emphasize the importance of applying it to your lives, and desiring more, rather than just doing it for the recognition, or good reputation, or money. I hope you will consider signing up next year – we need to get God’s Word in our hearts more than most of us do now. Thank you for reading this!

Courtney

The Life of an Oak Tree Part 3

 This is a continuation of the last blog post.

Life became very pleasant and enjoyable now, and I had a wonderful summer. Then fall
descended again, and those noisy children disturbed the serenity of the woods once again.
Actually, I almost came to enjoy their company, it was quite nice, especially when they would
bend down and tell me what pretty leaves I had, and how much I was growing. The beautiful
snows of winter came and went, and spring came again. I was now 15 inches tall, and beheld the
beauty of spring from a different perspective. I felt warm toward the whole world, as I stood
there, surrounded by violets and primroses, my leaves in full bloom. I wouldn’t mind having to
stay like this the whole year, if I had to, I thought.

Another year passed, and I was 2 feet tall. It was exciting to be a tree, I thought. We are
always changing with the seasons as well, which makes it even more exciting. The moonlit
nights were lovely, with the moon shining down on the forest in all its splendor and glory. The
white roses were even more brilliant on those nights, and there were thousands of them that
autumn. I felt like a king on his throne. I kept growing, the years kept passing, and by the end of
eight more years, I was 15 feet tall. I remember quite well how proud I felt, as I stood there,
taller than any of the other young trees were, and looking down on the world around me. I was
free of all cares. Now, I am 40 feet tall and still growing. I am the tallest tree in the forest by far.
What a miracle, that a 40-foot tall tree was once a tiny acorn, lying on the ground! Wondrous are
Thy works, O Lord.

The Life of an Oak Tree Part 2

This is a continuation of the last blog post.

I was ecstatic! Finally, I was going to be numbered among the majestic oaks that grace the forests! But my peaceful days did not last for long. As has happened to almost every wood on Planet Earth, we began to see strange moving beings trampling through. Laughing and running children, throwing acorns at each other and picking at the bark of trees. Then older, more serious humans came, pacing around, examining trees and looking at flowers. My good friend, the maple, was the first to be examined. The man exclaimed, and called one of his fellows to look at it. There was something about those men that made me want to sink down into the earth and hide.

They finally went away, only to come again. This time they came with fearsome-looking pieces of metal. I cannot allow myself to think of what happened after that – I lost many good friends. I, fortunately, was at that time too small and insignificant to be noticed by those terrible men, so as a result, my life was spared on that horrible day. I kept growing, and I was 8 inches tall before spring was over.

(to be continued)

The Life of an Oak Tree Part 1

I wrote this story to illustrate how God created the wonder of a tree. It was posted in our Family News newsletter in three parts.

I started out as a small seed on the very top of a tree. My, ‘tis wonderful to be so small, and to feel every cool breeze, and then go airborne in the fresh cool air of fall! My cap was connected to another’s, though we soon were separated. He was picked up and transplanted to another wood. I am glad I lived where there was no snow. Feathered friends picked up stories whispered among the trees all the way from the far North, where, it seems, the acorns scarcely fall to the earth before the deep snows come, not giving them a chance to sink downwards into the ground. Many of them die before spring.

I soon was buried beneath the ground and went into a long, deep sleep. I knew no more until spring, when I woke up to a new, colorful world around me. Trees were just putting out new leaves, flowers were starting to bloom, and jays, robins, and mockingbirds sang their bird-like songs joyfully in the trees. It seemed that I could hear the words of their song, which was this:
“Spring is our favorite time of year,
So we all sing with joy and cheer,
Flowers are blooming,
Trees have now robing,
Oh, spring is our favorite time of year.”

But the most startling, yet pleasing change of all was that my head was a good four inches off the ground!

(to be continued)

VBS 2011

I have found it very hard to continue working on this blog when I am very busy with the Bible Bee. I said that I would post more often. That was... uh, three weeks ago? Anyway, here’s what’s happened since then...

Courtney will tell you later about the 2011 Bible Bee. I am here to tell you how our Vacation Bible School went. Our theme was “Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus was a kid”. It was held at our church on June the sixth through the tenth. There were five main parts. I will tell you about each one.

The first element was Recreation. We started off each day at 9 AM with half-an-hour of outdoor games. One of the games was Red Rover; instead of holding hands, though, we used pieces of fabric to hold onto. That way the little ones could get through easier, and it was harder to get hurt.

After Recreation, we came into the building. In this particular VBS, there were not age groups; instead, we integrated all ages into six “Tribes”, each with about 10 children in them. Each tribe now gathers for a “Hometown Huddle”. This is where participants don their costumes and discuss the events of the rest of the day.

At about 9:50, all Tribes gather in the Celebration Room for 15 minutes of singing. Actually, this year I got to be the leader of Celebration. I had never done this before (I had been a student just last year!) Everyone said I did a great job, though. One of my friends, Arabell, was my assistant in teaching the kids the seven songs and the motions that go along with them. We are both a little young for the job (Arabell is 16 and I am 13 ½), but young doesn’t mean we are not qualified!

After Celebration, two-thirds of the Tribes head to the “Marketplace”. The Tribe Leaders gave each child two plastic coins, one for their crafts for the day, and one for their snacks. They got to choose whichever crafts they wanted to do each day. There were 5 shops in the Marketplace: the Bead Bazaar, where kids can make beaded jewelry and paper flowers; the Carpentry Shop, where they can build several wooden models; the Dye Shop, which has a colorable backpack and clay figurines; the Farmer’s Field, which boasts plant potting and sand art (the sand art was kind of a shop in its own); and the Synagogue School, where you can make a money box for your coins (except they didn’t quite fit in the hole). I usually helped over by the sand art. Counting the sand art, three of the shops were run entirely by youth ages 13-16!

There was also “Mary’s House”, where Mary, the mother of Jesus (played by the pastor’s wife) told the Bible story. Two tribes went there at a time, while the remaining tribes went to the Marketplace. After each Tribe had spent an hour in the marketplace and half-an-hour in Mary’s House, we wrapped up the day with another 15 minutes of Celebration. At the end of the week, the children sang all seven songs as a presentation for the church congregation. And... well, that’s about it! I should really go back now and work on Bible Bee! (More on that later!)

Matthew

Memverse.com

The last five blog posts had an article that was included in Family News, our new family newsletter. Now, I will tell you more about it. FN is a free e-newsletter sent out every month. It has articles like the one just posted, and poems, puzzles, jokes, stories, and much more. Here is another smaller article, for another sample of what is in Family News:

Recently at the 2010 National Bible Bee in Chicago, Daniel Staddon (the winner of the Bible Bee in 2009) told us about a website, called Memverse.com – an online memory verse software. It has really helped me have more fun memorizing verses, and get better at it too! Here is a flyer written by a Memverse user that tells all about it.

“Have you experienced the joy of memorizing Scripture? Whether your answer is yes or no, God desires all of His children to experience the great and many benefits His Word gives to those who diligently study and memorize It.

“Memverse.com makes it easy for the student of God’s Word to do both with free, yet simple and easy to use software that is 100% online! This means there is no software to download, no flashcards to carry around, and no need to keep an organized list of your verses. Memverse takes care of this for you, and allows you to spend less time looking for lost note cards, and more time in God’s Word! Some other cool features include:

• Church, State, Individual, and Country leaderboards for those who enjoy a little friendly competition
• A Popular Verses section so you can see what your friends are memorizing
• Reports that allow you to track your progress over weeks, months, and even years
• User-friendly settings, allowing you to memorize in the translation of your choice
• Accuracy tests to see how well you really know your verses, and more!

“Whether you’re just starting out or have been memorizing faithfully for many years, Memverse.com is the site for you. It just takes a few minutes to sign up, but the benefits can last a lifetime.”
-by Dakota Lynch, long-time Memverse user

This flyer does not have much detail in it, so now I am going to talk a little more about the site in detail. First, the actual “Memverse” part. Once you sign up, the first thing you have to do is add verses that you want to learn to your list. It is better to add only five to 10 verses at most for starters, even if you know hundreds! That is because especially if you will not have very much time for Memverse, you may get very behind and have to quiz a bunch on a certain day.

Once you add your verses, you quiz them and then rate yourself from 1 to 5. 5 means you typed in the verse absolutely perfect, with no self-corrections, mistakes, anything of the sort. 4 means you did it right, but you had just a little bit of hesitation or correction. 3 means you had difficulty typing in your verse. 2 means you do not know the verse yet, but you are familiar with it; and 1 means that you do not know it at all. The online software then puts the next quizzing of the verse into the future, based on what you rated it in the past and the current rating. Once the interval (the distance between the times you quiz it) is over 30 days, it classifies the verse as “Memorized”.

Another way you can quiz your verses is by doing it the other way round; quizzing the references. The site gives you the verse and you type in the reference. This is an optional activity, but is highly recommended. There is also an accuracy test to see how well you really know your memorized verses. The site also has a blog, where they post things every couple of days. For some competition, you can specify your country, state, and church on the Profile page, and then go to the country, state, and church leaderboards to see how your groups are doing! There is also an individual leaderboard. As of right now (April 8, 2011) there are 57,962 verses classified as “Memorized” on Memverse by its thousands of users (although right now, only 654 are active).

There is not enough space to tell of all of the good things about Memverse.com. To close, I will using a quote from Dakota: “Whether you’re just starting out or have been memorizing faithfully for many years, Memverse.com is the site for you. It just takes a few minutes to sign up, but the benefits can last a lifetime.”