Ritual Revision Survey

On the edge of an Arabian desert, centuries ago there lived a man named Job. He was a good man who loved God and turned away from evil. God, in His goodness, blessed Job with great wealth. With his wife, seven sons and three daughters, he lived in a valley in peace, happiness and plenty. His vast estates stretched in all directions, providing pasture for his camels,oxen and sheep. Scattered in the valley and shaded by giant palms, were the homes of his sons.

At the close of each day it was the custom of Job's children to gather together to feast at one of their homes. Job, not wishing to impose upon the festivities, remained at his own home in peace. Because they were so wealthy, Job feared that his children, might forget or turn away from God. By regular worship he taught his family to share in his faith.

In heaven, God praised Job for his piety. The Adversary, whose task was to test the
faith of the people of the earth, accused Job of being devoted to God only because He made Job wealthy. The Adversary declared that if God took away Job's riches, his love for God would turn to hate. God permitted the Adversary to test Job's faith by taking away his possessions, but he forbid the Adversary to harm Job. So the Adversary set forth on his mission.

Job live Desert. Job good, hate bad. Job have family be happy. Job's children eat. Job stay home. Job have money fear for family. Job love God. God like Job. Adversary want God test Job. God permits.

Please don't forget to check out the proposed changes, even if you only focus on opening or initiation. Say something if you have an opinion. The revisions are at www.iojd.org

The comment period ends November 1

Leadership Conference and Soups Cook-off

Grand Bethel's Leadership Conference was Saturday October 9th at Freemason's Hall in downtown Indianapolis. Rather than having a traditional leadership conference, we tried to do something a little different this year. In the morning session, we had a self-esteem seminar for the girls. The girls were divided into two groups by age. The adults went over the adult proficiency test- a test over the ritual and constitution and bylaws. We got a lot accomplished and I think we'll have several adults turn in the test this year. We had a baked potato bar for lunch while Raquel spoke to the group about healthy eating options.

After lunch we had a self defense instructor from IU speak to the group and provide some basic lessons.
We learned some basic strikes, kicks, blocks and some situational defense. Everyone got an opportunity to kick full force on a pad and practice kicking someone's shin and escaping. Then we drew for door prizes and awarded certificates for completion of the 2010 Leadership Conference.

The next morning was Statewide Go to Church Sunday followed by the Grand Bethel Soups cook-off and Bazaar. We had a great turn-out for the event. I know some of you may have heard the rumor that there was a contest for whoever sold the most tickets for the event.
Unfortunately, so many of the Grand Bethel Exec sold out of their tickets that we had to call it a draw. Too bad because I had an awesome present but I guess we'll just have to wait until we sell tickets for another event. There were some great items for sale at the Bethel's booths.

Thank you to everyone who entered soups and thank you to Tara Disbrow for coordinating the event.

GB Getaway- so legit you have to admit

Grand Bethel had their getaway the first weekend of October at the DeMolay Chateau in Bloomington. We had a pretty good turnout with about 25 people total. Exec went on Friday night. Saturday everyone joined us for lunch. It was rainy outside and we were worried the weather wouldn't clear up. Right after we ate, we traversed to the covered basketball court at the back of the Chateau grounds. We continued our annual dodgeball competition.
We played girls against adults for awhile but as that was one-sided (and I say that because my team kept winning and winning, we switched teams up. It was pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie. Then we got out the sidewalk chalk and played four square. It was shocking how few people had played four square as children. So we relived our childhood then played some outside games. As our theme was Christmas, we played some Holiday games. One of the games was like hot potato but with a Christmas package. Whenever the music stopped, whoever was holding the package had to unwrap one layer then act out the task that was written in that layer. If you completed the task you got the present that was with the task.

We also learned some awesome moves from Darren's Dance Grooves. I hope all the attendees from getaway will be practicing the dance for Corn Ball and Shrine Youth. We still have a little work for Bye Bye Bye. We made Hobo meals for dinner (each person makes their own meal out of potatoes, meat, corn, green beans, mushrooms, etc.). They were really good and filling. We watched the House Bunny that night and went to bed. The next morning we had breakfast together then tore down and went home. I hope everyone had a great time, I know I did.


After getaway I got to spend a couple of days in Bloomington, catching up on my favorite restaurants...and catching up with friends. It was a nice birthday present to myself.

Beech Grove’s Fall Festival- We came, we saw, we left.

I went to Beech Grove’s Fall Festival today. We had a booth outside the temple with the Silent Auction baskets. We had promotional items and sold silly bands. The Masons had a breakfast in the morning then we served a hot dog lunch for $4 with chips and a drink. There wasn’t a great crowd this year so that was disappointing. Carolyn Winebar came and we learned a lot together. We learned about a politician running for congress, Jeff Spoonamore. He’s running against Andre, if you didn’t know. We didn’t know who he was so we had to ask. We also got our faces painted and were the envy of all the little children waiting in line behind us to get their faces painted.
They had some awesome gift cards and baskets for the silent auction…I brought two of them. Thank you Noblesville Panera for your generous donations! We got to have our council meeting after the festival so my Monday night is now free, which I’m very excited about.

I went home last night to Yorktown, IN. My cat Peppi, who lives at my parent’s house, is really sick and they think she might have cancer in her right hip and a tumor in her mouth. They biopsied one of her teeth and her hip and they’ll get the results back in a week. I wanted to go home and see her just in case she takes a turn for the worst. It was a good weekend at home and I was glad to see my parents. Now I’m just getting everything ready for the Exec meeting I have tomorrow. For those of you who don’t know, the executive members of Grand Bethel (5 Line, Advisors, Recorder, Treasurer, 3 committee members and the Jr. Past GBHQ who serves on committee for the year following her term as GBHQ) meet to discuss the business of Grand Bethel about once a month. Tomorrow will be our 3rd meeting for the year. I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys this nice weather.

I can’t do it but I try to do it constantly…but I can’t

Sorry for the song on my profile. I’ve been playing around with trying to play music but I don’t know how to get my music through a url or whatever it’s called. I don’t know things about technology. At least I figured out how to insert music in general, even though it was just some example music this one help site gave me. If anyone does know, please let me know so that I do not look foolish once again.

Job-A-Rama was a good time. The Grand Bethel “Cockroaches” had the middle cabin which is the nurses cabin. For those of you who weren’t there, every cabin was given a bug. Grand Bethel picked cockroaches because like cockroaches, when the world ends we’ll still be here. We shared our cabin with Courtney, the Supreme Bethel Honored Queen. It was nice talking with her and getting to know more about her. We all talked/laughed over the ritual revisions. Leslie, Brittany and I made a bond to watch Mean Girls together every night we sleep in the same room. I hope we are true to our word.

The skits were really great. Bloomington’s Harry Potter dance out was very cute. I liked Bethel #5’s sorting hat. I liked the Pokemon skit too. I almost named my cat Onyx. My friend who gave me my cat takes in kittens, tames them, then finds homes for them. She names all of them after Pokemon. She said there isn’t an animal that you can’t name after a Pokemon. GB’s skit was really fun, even when the wipers on the bus went” wipe, wipe, wipe.”

Grand Bethel’s Sweet Shop was very successful. Thank you to everyone who donated, including Carol Titus, Susan McKendry, Vicki Loughmiller, and Erin Carrico.
I would like to thank everyone who donated blood or attempted to donate at the Blood Drive at Masonic Home Day last Sunday. The Indiana Blood Center was grateful for the donations. We had 31 donations and 6 donors who were turned away during the process. We turned away more donors at the door because of lack of ID. Thank you to everyone who helped or donated sweets, especially Bonita Ramirez, Ed Armantrout, Susan McKendry and Anita Snyder.

An elephant never forgets, but in case you do...

Job-A-Rama and the Masonic Home Festival are coming up this weekend. This is just a reminder to everyone that Grand Bethel is having a blood drive on Sunday at the Masonic Home in Franklin, IN. You must be 17 or 16 with a parental consent form. Please visit www.indianablood.org for consent forms, requirements, and other information. The Blood Mobile will be parked in the circle of the Masonic Home near the tents. There are appointments available between 9 and 2. If you are interested in making an appointment you can email me at Eli1312@hotmail.com or my dad is who is in charge on the day of the Blood Drive, Ed Armantrout at smokeyone@prodigy.net or call him at 765-759-6954.

For those of you going to Job-A-Rama, look for Grand Bethel's sweet shop and Ways and Means Table. We will also be selling Penguin Pops, which are suckers with notecards attached that girls can order to have delivered in our assemblies Saturday morning and night. There will also be shirts, flip-flops, window clings and chapstick. If you missed out on our ways and means items at session, now is your opportunity to get them.

Job's is like a ship- when everyone works together the ship gets home safely.

As many of you know, we have started OVs for the first term. The first day of OVs was 8/21. Brittany and I traveled up north for the OV of Bethel #8/27. There was a good turnout for the Majority Ceremony of Leah Heller, Katherine Piercy, Allie Slater and Becca Cooper. The girls did a really nice job on the ceremony and I'm sure that the girls receving their majority were proud. I awarded a daughter from each Bethel the "You're Totally Legit Award," my version of the daughter of the meeting award. It is based solely on ritual work at the official visit. Lydia Heller and Brooke Pace received the award at the OV. Congratulations to both of them and the girls of both Bethels for their hard work!

The next OV of #115/25 was at Daleville. Lindsey Noland and Emmalee Jones did a great job presiding over the meeting and Obligation Ceremony. I was very proud of Bethel #25 and their work on the ceremony. Katie Fears and Hannah Hawk received the You're Totally Legit Award for their great ritual work.

On August 28, we started the morning off at Clinton for the initiation of Mikayla Cooper and Stefani Nasser, both for Bethel #2. It was another well attended event especially by the Grand Officers. Then we went to Knightsville for the OV of Bethels #121/110. We dedicated Megan Carter's baby Hailey at our first baby dedication. They did the Obligation Ceremony which was very nice. The Bethels had an awesome meal afterward which was great because Kathy Cooper and I had to wait for Lynn to get out of his Exec meeting. Luckily we had some company while we waited, two girls from Fort Wayne and Lila and Genesis Jones. Then we headed home from the long day.